In 1968, 19-year-old Don Freed found himself backstage at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium with an acoustic guitar, harmonica and Johnny Cash.
He had five minutes with the Man in Black.
A film crew working on the documentary Johnny Cash! The Man, His World, His Music captured an exchange between the country icon and the slim teen from Saskatoon in hollow sound and grainy colour.
"You write songs? I'd like to hear some of your stuff," said Cash.
"Let's get this done. I've come all this way," Freed responded.
He played Come Away From The Roadside, a plaintive and earnest ballad, then Bank of Mariposa.
Cash was attentive and complimentary, promising to arrange a record company meeting. The final scene of the documentary sequence has Freed doing a grinning pirouette.
Ha! Great, Nick! Thanks! Apparently (as I'm looking him up), Freed was ultimately signed to Capitol (not Cash's label, Columbia) for a 1972 (coincidentally enough!) album that was never released! Looks like he recorded in the early '80s, and was mostly popular in Canada.
Yes, he only had modest success as a recording artist (I think he was more successful as a performer and songwriter, and that profile tells an interesting story about his recent work with First Nations youth).
Side note: The list of people who have recorded albums at McCabe's is interesting (and shorter than I would have guessed given that I immediately recognized the name -- I have the Tom Paxton album, and I almost bought the Henry Rollins, but I don't think I did): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_at_McCabe%27s
I think a couple of jazz albums have been recorded there, too. I recognize the name (I lived in L.A. '80-'93, so that helps!), and while not a guitar player, I know some of their old "haunts"! As Stephen wrote, they cleared out some room on the weekends in one area to house about 200 for gigs!
Wow - great insight into building a song from scratch to demo to studio to master recording - thanks so much Brad and Steve for this look back to a great era in music!!
And, an impromptu "audition" for two eventual legends!! Thanks, Michael--you're right! So much to un-pack in this story, including Stephen's later keen introspection on his bold action backstage!
Youngsters in the biz can learn a lot about their own "chutzpah" (could I be that confident?), as well as the importance of daring to reflect on an action or a performance! And, again, thanks a ton, Stephen!
I found the misunderstanding around the radiator and the album name to be hilarious. I’d never seen a radiator until 2014 and the idea of a radiator bag is alien to me now as it was six years ago!
That's a great story (and I have at least one album recorded live at McCabes!)
There are some funny parallels to the story that opens this profile of Don Freed (also, coincidentally associated with Joni Mitchell) though in slightly better circumstances -- https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/don-free-metis-musician-1.4970162
In 1968, 19-year-old Don Freed found himself backstage at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium with an acoustic guitar, harmonica and Johnny Cash.
He had five minutes with the Man in Black.
A film crew working on the documentary Johnny Cash! The Man, His World, His Music captured an exchange between the country icon and the slim teen from Saskatoon in hollow sound and grainy colour.
"You write songs? I'd like to hear some of your stuff," said Cash.
"Let's get this done. I've come all this way," Freed responded.
He played Come Away From The Roadside, a plaintive and earnest ballad, then Bank of Mariposa.
Cash was attentive and complimentary, promising to arrange a record company meeting. The final scene of the documentary sequence has Freed doing a grinning pirouette.
...
Ha! Great, Nick! Thanks! Apparently (as I'm looking him up), Freed was ultimately signed to Capitol (not Cash's label, Columbia) for a 1972 (coincidentally enough!) album that was never released! Looks like he recorded in the early '80s, and was mostly popular in Canada.
Yes, he only had modest success as a recording artist (I think he was more successful as a performer and songwriter, and that profile tells an interesting story about his recent work with First Nations youth).
Side note: The list of people who have recorded albums at McCabe's is interesting (and shorter than I would have guessed given that I immediately recognized the name -- I have the Tom Paxton album, and I almost bought the Henry Rollins, but I don't think I did): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_at_McCabe%27s
I think a couple of jazz albums have been recorded there, too. I recognize the name (I lived in L.A. '80-'93, so that helps!), and while not a guitar player, I know some of their old "haunts"! As Stephen wrote, they cleared out some room on the weekends in one area to house about 200 for gigs!
Wow - great insight into building a song from scratch to demo to studio to master recording - thanks so much Brad and Steve for this look back to a great era in music!!
And, an impromptu "audition" for two eventual legends!! Thanks, Michael--you're right! So much to un-pack in this story, including Stephen's later keen introspection on his bold action backstage!
Youngsters in the biz can learn a lot about their own "chutzpah" (could I be that confident?), as well as the importance of daring to reflect on an action or a performance! And, again, thanks a ton, Stephen!
I found the misunderstanding around the radiator and the album name to be hilarious. I’d never seen a radiator until 2014 and the idea of a radiator bag is alien to me now as it was six years ago!