In Her Own Words… Part Two
FIRST SHOT AT STARDOM
In January of 1974, John Denver invites Liberty to come to LA and record an album! We are thrilled. This is obviously a Big Deal. The guys are excited about our prospects and so am I....sort of....I guess....except that I am also remembering those TV shows we did with John earlier last year where I was whisked into "Hair and Make-up" and made to wear some really cheesy outfits that reminded me of those chicks on the Lawrence Welk Show.
Personal historical context: In 1973 I am quite content with being a scrappy happy little mountain hippie girl, wearing long home-made dresses and hiking boots and applying my own eye liner, freely singing my ass off. And now John Denver's "management" wants to hair-spray me and put me into a little dress that looks like a cheerful Bavarian dirndl, something you would see at an Oktoberfest after too many beers.
I rebel. Hey man, I'm an artist!
I’m not some commodity to be shoe-horned into somebody else's idea of how I should look and act, just to make money for someone else. This does not go over well with the Hair and Make-up people, and the management snorts. But eventually the Suits give in, and they pretty much let me be myself. But it's a fight. And I don't like fighting. So, I'm asking myself....is this really what I want to be doing? Do I want to be a star under these conditions? Under their conditions?
Liberty arrives at RCA studios in Hollywood, and we set up in Studio B. John Denver and his manager Chris O'Connor are enthusiastically cheering us on. Milt Okun, the legendary producer of Peter, Paul, and Mary and Placido Domingo, sits on the sidelines behind his coke-bottle glasses, buried in his newspaper, "Variety." All is unfolding as planned.
The recording is going OK....sort of, I guess....but I notice that I am feeling restless and resistant. Something isn't right. I can't put my finger on it, but I am getting that shoe-horn feeling again. I become weepy and unreasonable, and I can't clearly explain why. But I can sense the road ahead, and all that commercial crap. Hair and make-up. Dirndls. Cheesy music chosen by someone else. And what about my spiritual journey? I freak out. I can't do it.
The boys in the band go crazy. (Except for maybe Larry.) I am the emotional chick singer who is ruining our big chance at fame & fortune. Can I seriously put a stop to this serendipitous invitation just because of some hysterical female intuition? I can. I do.
The band falls apart.
John Sommers leaves to go and be a part of John Denver's back-up band. He makes a fortune when his tune "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" goes multi-platinum. The rest of us slink quietly home and sit out the worst of the winter storms without gigs.
But in early March, Danny and some of the guys from "Lost in the Shuffle” (Jerry Fletcher and Kent Lewis) show up in Aspen. We all start singing and playing together, just for fun. It is magic! By the time they arrive, Larry, Danny, and Jerry have all received knowledge from Maharaji, and they bring that soulful depth into the musical equation, along with great enthusiasm and cheerful good humor. The result is stellar, just what I was hoping for, and we all fall in love with each other. The new Liberty is born.
We sing. We play. We perform, we evolve. We are free to try out whatever crazy tunes tickle our creative fancy....Straight-ahead country, western swing, early jazz, blues, bluegrass, Crosby Stills and Nash, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Delaney and Bonnie, Leon Russell. We are quite delighted with ourselves and with the music. And so, it seems, are a lot of other people in town.
John Denver is loving this new incarnation of Liberty as well. In the winter of 1975, at his invitation, we go into the RCA studios again to record a new album. This will be the first one on John's new Windstar label. He asks Liberty to be the opening act on his 1975 40-city US spring tour. This time we are all truly ecstatic. And we are ready.
Much of that tour is a happy blur for me. We fly from city to city on John Denver's private jet, "The Starship." We stay in fancy hotels. We sing and play for huge audiences, and they love us. John has a 40-person entourage: Musicians in his personal band, guys who take care of all the travel arrangements, and some who drive the equipment trucks. His management team is on board as well, veteran star-maker Jerry Weintraub and his production sidekick Sal Bonafede.
I am the only woman in that entire entourage.
Except for the 2 flight attendants. This is the music business in 1975. I miss being in the soulful and easy company of my girlfriends at home. But it's great having Larry, Dan, and Jerry around so we can share satsang, and sometimes do meditation together.
Throughout the tour I am loving this spiritual practice. It feels delicious to be surrounded by....and infused with....so much big love, always accessible, nearer than my breathing, closer than my own thoughts. I want to live my life from the inside out, and then pass the miracles around. Hopefully I can learn to be an instrument for that beautiful aliveness to flow through, and end up doing what I came here to do, moment by moment, one step at a time. As one of my dearest friends always says, "The chance of a lifetime is to be yourself." I am drop-to-my-knees grateful. The sense of present-moment possibility is exhilarating.
To be continued…
