John Beaudin - Hi Andrew, it's great to finally connect with you.

Andrew Gold - Hey, John thanks. You know I've been to Calgary?

John - When were you here?

Andrew - When I was thirteen years old. We went to Calgary and Edmonton.

John - That's the year you met Paul McCartney and the Beatles isn't it? Didn't you ask him in jest if you could join the band?

Andrew - What happened was I was so nervous and I kept saying my name but he couldn't hear me. He was saying, "Who are you?" and he couldn't hear me. It was a weird moment with Paul McCartney. Years later I showed him the photo and he said, "You must have had famous parents to be at that party." I remember that party it was filled with celebrities.

John - Well, your parents were in the business big time so they got you there right?

Andrew - No, I was the one that convinced them to do it. I heard about it and I begged them. We had to pay $75.00 to charity to be there. It was a really big deal and we got in and it really was great.

John - I saw your mother (Marni Nixon) in concert years ago in Vancouver and at the time I was familiar with her work and she was great. Something interesting happened on stage when she told the audience who were mostly over fifty a little about herself and then mentioned you and your accomplishments including your hits "Lonely Boy" and "Thank You for Being a Friend" and she got some nice reaction from the crowd with that. Then she added that the latter was the theme song to the "Golden Girls" and the crowd went nuts. (laughing)

Andrew - (laughing) That's the way it works in show business.

John - Was it easier for you because both of your parents were in music?

Andrew - Well, it was only easy in the sense that music was kind of in my blood. They didn't go out of their way to get me into it in any kind of nepotistic way. They may have been encouraging in some sense. I remember when I was very young my mother said, "In case music doesn't work out you should think about getting another job."

John - You didn't listen to that at all right. (laughing)

Andrew - (laughing) Not a bit and it worked out okay.

John - You mentioned to me before that you were in the studio. Are you working on a new album?

Andrew - Yeah, I've always got some sort of thing going on. Right now I'm working on a musical. I'm also producing and continuing to write songs. I always work on my albums though, whether people want them or not. (laughing) I'm always working.

John - The musical is yours or someone else's work?

Andrew - That's the weird thing. It's not my music. We're doing the story of it and we're arranging some traditional songs. We'll see what happens it's just at the early stages.

John - Don't you find in music that sometimes you can work so freakin' hard on a project and then nothing happens with it. The business is filled with false starts. Do you find it happens a lot?

Andrew - It does, yeah. It's funny because people think that you write a song and then you get all this money. (Laughing) Yeah, maybe on one song in two hundred so there's a lot of work that goes behind it but its great when things work out.

John - When you started working with Linda Ronstadt you must have been really young?

Andrew - I was twenty-three or twenty-four.

John - Did you know of her before you worked with her?

Andrew - Her group the Stone Poneys which was Kenny Edwards, Bobby Kimmel and her back when they were a Peter, Paul and Mary kind of thing. They were very folk oriented and they came to our school and played because they were friends with one of the teachers. It was actually the future husband of Wendy Waldman, Ken who taught at the school and he was a bit of a hippie. I remember thinking that Kenny was a great guitar player but I mostly remember how short Linda's dress was (laughing) as my girlfriend was nudging me in the knee and ribs. I really was impressed with them though. This happened in 1965 and in 1969 Kenny who had been very big into transcendental meditation came to this class on Philosophy and with Wendy Waldman in the school I got to know Linda and of course Kenny. I later joined groups with Wendy and Kenny and his then girlfriend, Carla Bonoff.

John - Yeah, in the band Bryndle and you all got back together a while back right?

Andrew - Yeah, we did in 1995. In 1972 Kenny and I formed another band that was sort of a spin off of Bryndle and we actually played for a benefit for George McGovern and for us staunch Democrats and Liberals and Linda saw that and thought I was a good player and called me and asked if I would join her band. Our band wasn't really going anywhere so Kenny also rejoined her band but as a bass player this time.

John - Was "Heart Like a Wheel" your first album with her?

Andrew - That was it yeah. It was 1973 when I joined her band and we toured a little before we recorded and she had no regular drummer so I did a lot of that on "Heart Like a Wheel." Later we settled on Mike Botts and then later Russ Kunkel.

John - Yeah, didn't Russ appear on everyone's albums in the seventies? (laughing)

Andrew - (laughing) Yeah, he was always around in fact in 1970 I briefly worked at A&M records as a second engineer there and I was trying to learn the ropes and I remember seeing Russel playing all the time. It was neat back then I remember seeing Carly Simon and Peter Asher long before I ever worked with them. I would also see James Taylor.

John - And that really was a powerful time in music specifically the growth of the singer songwriter.

Andrew - Very much.

John - We were talking about James Taylor for instance before the tape started rolling and how he just keeps getting better and better.

Andrew - You know there are some artists that just get spent after a while. Maybe they're not that interested in it or something.

John - Or they loose their edge.

Andrew - Yeah. Some artists, well it's not just a matter of better because it's hard to judge that still some people say he never did do anything past "Fire and Rain." So, I'm just talking about hearing an artist who's been around so long who comes up with a really thoughtful song that's well arranged. It may not be as currently commercial as "Fire and Rain" was back then but his albums are still very powerful even though they may not be bought at the same numbers. I always feel good about people who keep trying you know?

John - In what capacity did you work with James Taylor?

Andrew - I've been a friend of his on and off. I haven't seen him for years but if I saw him it would be easy. To answer your question we worked together live a lot. I did a bunch of tours with Carla Bonoff where she opened up for James so we all became one big happy family. James and I did some recording at my house once and he was of course managed by Peter Asher who also managed Linda so I was always around that.

John - So much has been said about Peter Asher something's not so good. I'm curious what was your first opinion of Peter Asher?

Andrew - My first impression of Peter Asher was "Hey, there goes one half of Peter and Gordon."

John - Yeah, from where you were standing and your era sure.

Andrew - He had an English kind of haircut and I remember seeing him a couple of times before I'd ever really met him. Peter and I always got a long very well. I always had fun with him and we had a similar sense of humor and there was a lot of good stuff. Peter was very bright but (laughing) he was as cut throat as the next guy. He's pretty honest about it.

John - From my end talking to artists I got the impression he is a no-nonsense kind of guy. Some have asked the question if Linda and James would have gotten as far without him. I certainly don't want to take away anything from them though.

Andrew - Well, it's hard to tell. He certainly had a lot to do with their success in terms of managing their careers and producing their records. Whether it would have been the same without him is hard to say. He was very smart in the thing that he did for their careers. He certainly knew how to ride the wave that was coming their way.

John - Especially in the seventies. It was coming on strong!

Andrew - Yeah. There was a period there between 1972 to 1980 where it was just unstoppable. He was producer and manager of the year.

John - On the second album with Linda Ronstadt "Prisoner in Disguise" did you start doing more in the studio?

Andrew - Actually, I started doing less because I didn't do the drumming on the second album. I may have drummed on one song. On "Heart Like a Wheel" there was a subtle sense of "Well, we don't know who we're going to work with and we don't know what we're doing." We kind of put that one together anyway we could but it did work out really great. One the second album we started having a regular band for her. I remember Don Francisco doing the vocals on "Tracks of my Tears" and James Taylor and I did the acoustic guitars together on that. I remember thinking wow, I'm sitting here playing guitar with James Taylor.

John - I want you to point something out for me. In high school my best buddy John Scott always told me that you played that guitar solo on my favorite Ronstadt tune "Your No Good" from the next album "Hasten Down the Wind."

Andrew - Actually, there's millions of guitars on it. There's one small piece of guitar that goes chick, chick, chick, chicka well that's not me that's Ed Black and that was part of the basic track. That was Ed on electric guitar, Kenny Edwards on bass and my self on drums. Later all the overdubs and the lead stuff, the sort of Beatle-esque stuff went on and then I put keyboards on it and arranged the strings.

John - Well, that clears up a lot for me. That same friend John Scott and I use to argue about who was the technically better singer Ronstadt or Barbra Streisand. I was a rocker but I liked Streisand more. Linda certainly came into her own later as a singer.

Andrew - Well, that was Linda's favorite thing about the whole experience. I think when she was younger I don't think she minded all the touring but later on she really started hating all the traveling but you know she always loved to sing. She was never going to do major pyrotechnics because that didn't interest her, sure she did her fair share of show business but she basically wanted to stand up there and sing.

John - I know that Linda was certainly not know as a writer but on "Hasten Down the Wind" you co-wrote one tune "Try Me Again" with her.

Andrew - "Hasten Down the Wind" was funny because she's never written a song before then. Well, maybe as a kid but nothing major. (Laughing) She was kind of shy and she was telling Peter (Asher) and I that she'd written this little melody with a few words and it wasn't finished and maybe she could sing it but she was just too shy. It's funny now because she's not shy at all. So, anyway she finally said, "I'll sing it for Andrew" so I went up to her room, closed the door and she sat on one bed and I in the other and she just sang it. I had a guitar and tried to put some chords to it. It was so funny because (laughing) we opened up the door and it was like one of those cartoons where all these people fell. (laughing). It was Peter and the band just dying to know what this song was. On that song I just added some chords and made a few suggestions and I think I wrote music to the bridge but it's mainly all Linda's song. She co-wrote "Lo Siento Mi Vida" which is also on that album so she was going through a writing jag. I think she and her dad and Kenny wrote that one. I remember we had to sing it on stage and I couldn't speak Spanish so I just learned it phonetically so I never really knew what I was singing. (laughing) Well, I sort of knew.

John - One last thing about the Ronstadt years, you know there are websites out there saying that you played every instrument on "Your No Good."

Andrew - I'm sure there are and really that sort of true on some of the songs.

John - Do you get fans who know intricate yet trivial details about your work?

Andrew - Yeah, especially in Japan but a lot of fans know stuff that I don't remember anymore. Maybe because they weren't very exciting moments or whatever but if a fan reminds me it'll come back. Remember some of the stuff that I played on I haven't heard since the day I recorded it and that's thirty years ago. The funniest story is for a long time after Linda came out I was one of the top L.A. guitar session players and I got a lot of calls. I remember going to one place and setting up my stuff, going into the control room and the producer saying could you play something like this and then he puts on "When Will I be Loved" which was me. (laughing) He didn't know that it was me but the engineer knew and he was kind of looking up at the ceiling going "Oh my God, this is so embarrassing." (laughing) I just played along with it and said, "Well, I think I can do it a lot better than that guy." (Laughing) Later the producer came out with his tail between his legs and said "Oh god sorry I was just told."

John - So did you out do yourself? (laughing)

Andrew - (laughing) Probably.

John - Man, I'm sure you have so many great stories. Some you can tell and others would get you sued. (laughing) Any good stories about working with Carly Simon?

Andrew - Oh yeah. I was playing drums on Carly Simon's "Playing Possum" album. You know the one with her wearing a negligee on the cover.

John - Yeah, I remember it. What was it 1975?

Andrew - Yeah. Anyway she had just come back from the photo session where she did that cover with the negligee. That day like I said I was playing drums and it really wasn't happening so then Carly came in and she had a couple of drinks but she wasn't drunk or anything she was just feeling kind of gay in the old version of the word. (Laughing) She had this huge fur coat on and she said, "Oh, I'll give them some inspiration." So she came in the studio and took off her fur coat standing there in this little shimmering negligee dancing around. (laughing) It was just hilarious.

John - I think the term "You lucky dog" comes to mind. (laughing)

Andrew - (laughing) Yeah, I love showbiz. That was a fun thing. I mean she was just playing around.

John - How was it for you recording your first album. Obviously you'd had done so much stuff with other acts and had been in the business a long time.

Andrew - Actually John, I had a fair amount of insecurity. I enjoyed doing it and I really enjoyed making that record. There are a lot of fans of mine who really prefer that album to any of the others. It has a certain sound to it because it was recorded at a different studio than I'd ever used afterwards. It was the Sound Factory but not the one that we used with Linda (Ronstadt) it was another one that was actually owned by the same people. It was sixteen track which was the thing back then of course that went to twenty four and now its five thousand track. (laughing) To this day what I don't like about it is my singing. I thought for the most part the singing was bad. (laughing) I think I sounded like a bad teenager and I was very insecure about that. Some where on the second album that drastically changed. I think particularly on "Lonely Boy."

John - What brought on the change?

Andrew - Well, one of the things that changed was using a different mic and a way of compressing my vocal that made it sound a little more like it sounded in my head, you know?

John - Going back to the first one it's understandable though because now it was your name on there.

Andrew - Yeah, I wasn't so worried about the playing. There are some songs there with a lot of other players but there still was a lot of me. Actually, my new albums are even more of me then there was back then. I still play a little bit of the drums just not as much now.

John - So, whatever happened to Andrew Gold the drummer?

Andrew - Well, I have the kit set up but I very rarely ever play them. If I ever want real drums on a record I'll play them.

John - Since we touched on "Lonely Boy" and trust me I know you've been asked this a zillion times…

Andrew - (laughing) Is it autobiographical?

John - Was it?

Andrew - Well, sort of but not really. When I wrote the song I did put in real dates I did have a sister in 1953, I was born in 1951 and I did leave home in 1969 but apart from that it wasn't really particularly about anything. It was sort of about me but in some ways only between the lines that only I would understand. I wasn't particularly upset about having a sister. Its funny there was one book that said that it was one of the worse songs ever recorded. (Laughing) They said what is this horrible tragedy that had befallen him? He had a sister? (laughing) I thought it was very funny because I could completely agree from that standpoint. It's ridiculous however it was written originally with the intention to be a ten minute song. It was going to be this big epic like one of those Billy Joel songs.

John - Like "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant?'

Andrew - Yeah "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" that kind of thing exactly but I kind of got bored with it after three minutes so I just ended it and thought okay it'll be just about this. If I was writing the song now I'd probably write it very differently but it probably wouldn't have been a hit. So you never know.

John - Did you have any idea it was going to be such a big hit once you had laid down the final track and heard the finished product? It's a freakin' catchy tune.

Andrew - I sort of knew that it was a strong song and I knew that when we went in to arrange it with the band which was Linda Ronstadt's band. It was Mike Botts on Drums, Kenny Edwards on Bass, Guitar, Waddy Wachtel on Guitar and my self. We rehearsed it before we went out on tour and I was opening up for Linda (Ronstadt) during this period of 1976. We arranged it before we went out and originally the bridge was going to be this soft little thing and Waddy said. "Why don't you kick it up" to give it more energy so I thought okay lets try it and it sounded great. So, the band really had a good hand in the arrangement of that song. I played piano and the lead on that is Waddy not me. I will say that when we went out on tour that song was really popular even before people heard it on the radio, before it was a hit. I remember a couple of times people would applaud right after that big guitar solo. It was just very dramatic and so we sort of knew that it was going to be a big single. We cut it once after the first tour and then Peter (Asher) said, "I think we can get a better take" so we recorded it again.

John - Do you still have that first version?

Andrew - I haven't heard that first take of it. It was basically live. I mean I added my vocal afterwards and added some strings.

John - That cover for the second album "What's wrong With This Picture" was very interesting.

Andrew - Ethan Russel came up with that. He had a lot of covers that looked kind of the same. Where there was kind of a set and a full person on the cover and there would be very little special effects. Of course special effects were not as easy as they are now. For the cover we set up this set of just two walls and a floor with fake windows and posters of the sea behind them. That's one of the things wrong with it the sea levels were deliberately different in both windows. The window that's closed is blowing the curtain and the window that's open has a curtain hanging straight so there all kinds of stuff working on that cover.

John - Yeah, deliberate continuity craziness.

Andrew - Yeah, we did every little tiny thing that we could think of and I think at the end there was thirty-three or thirty-four things wrong with the picture. I brought in a coat with the letters A.G. you know my initials on the coat arm and we had them sewn on backwards and they were facing backwards but in the mirror you see A.G. the right way. So anyway those kinds of things were really fun to do. Most of the ideals were Ethan's. We had a contest around that cover that was quite popular actually and the test was to find all the things wrong with the cover then you get a date with Andrew Gold. (Laughing) I don't remember what the prize was but anyway someone wrote in and said, "There's nothing wrong with the front cover but on the back that shirt doesn't match that jacket. (laughing)

John - (laughing) Your glaring lack of fashion sense overshadowed everything. You know of all your album covers you've got the grooviest hair on that one.

Andrew - (laughing) Yeah that was my peak period of hair. That was about as long as it ever got. Long hair would just bother me after a while so I always had to cut it.

John - In radio I played "All This and Heaven Too" a lot more than the others. I found more radio friendly tracks on it and that album cover was not your usual rock star cover. I noticed on your website you have the original cover or what you originally wanted to use.

Andrew - Yeah, I think it was Jim Shae's idea or John Koch who also worked with Linda. John listened to the album and thought the record sounded kind of artsy so he thought it would be interesting if I took a picture in the exact pose of this painting of Vincent Van Gogh in this self portrait. We were then going to do a painting from that picture in the Van Gogh style but anyway later after listening to the album I though that I knew better. Looking at it now I don't mind it but maybe the first idea was better. I was going to call that album "Here Today and Gone Tomorrow" but I kept getting this vision of me in white tails and top hat under the stars maybe I was listening to too much E.L.O.(laughing)

John - That's my favorite album of yours.

Andrew - That's my favorite album of mine of that era. I think back then that was my most realized album. I had the most fun making it. There's just something about it. It was me and Brock Walsh.

John - Plus don't you think it being your third you were starting to get comfortable in your skin as a solo artist?

Andrew - Oh yeah, I was already comfortable halfway through the second album and around "Lonely Boy" I started getting comfortable around my vocals.

John - Didn't "All This and Heaven Too" get a lot of album track FM radio airplay? Obviously "Thanks You For Being a Friend" was a huge hit but I played "Still You Linger on" on an N.A.C. format and "Genevieve" and "Never Let Her Slip Away" on A.C. radio and the other tracks got some good airplay, right?

Andrew - Well "Never Let Her Slip Away" was actually my biggest hit in England. It was bigger than "Lonely Boy."

John - The rhythm of "Never Let Her Slip Away" was very infectious.

Andrew - Yeah. We were doing interesting things back then and it wasn't so easy to get interesting effects but that made it a little more fun. In that particular case it was Brock and I hitting our hands against the wall to make a thud and we did it twenty two times and we clapped twenty two times and made a loop out of it. It kind of sounded like "We Will Rock You" but mine came out first. One Eagle and one Eagle friend Timothy B. Schmit and J.D. Souther came to the session and sang one line (singing) "On a school date, Afternoon" They were going on to do something else so they only did that line. Later I'm hearing "Heartache Tonight" and hear the same rhythm done in a similar way. (laughing)

John - Hey, where's a good lawyer when you need one? (laughing)

Andrew - (laughing) Yeah. I told Glen (Frey) later, "Hey, nice intro" and he just said, "Well!"

John - "Still You Linger On" is my favorite song of yours. It helped me get through a breakup in the late eighties.

Andrew - It was written in a hotel room on tour. I was missing a girl I had broken up with named Tara and yeah that was a pretty song.

John - Did she ever know it was about her?

Andrew - I never saw her after that so I don't think so.

     Watch for Part two of our Interview with Andrew Gold Coming Soon.

Check out this great Linda Ronstadt tribute Site