Liberty and the “Big Time Road”

For the remainder of 1974, the new Liberty played many club dates in Aspen.  During that time, we learned lots of new songs and honed a stage show that we and our audiences enjoyed.  All of us played multiple instruments (I was playing electric bass, pedal steel guitar, and dobro at that point), so there was lots of activity on stage, even a brief choreographed dance number featuring Jan and Jerry in the middle of one of the songs.  We were having fun, and it showed. 

It became evident that our relationship with John Denver had not yet played itself out.  Near the end of the year, he once again invited Liberty to make a record.  And once again we found ourselves in Los Angeles.  This time we got it done.  However, after the recording sessions were complete, our band was fifteen thousand dollars in debt.  I don’t know if we actually sold enough records to pay off that debt.  No one has ever asked us to settle up.

John Denver was apparently happy with the record and our new band, because he announced that he was going to do a six-week tour in the spring of 1975, and he wanted us to again be his opening act.  By then, John qualified as a superstar.  In addition to his band and ours, the team included orchestra section leaders, including a conductor, and large-screen projections of movies and stills.  It’s worth noting that a new orchestra had to be assembled and rehearsed in each city.  These were “big-time” music events, and I was thrilled to be a participant.  Even though I’m not a surfer, I draw a parallel to the feelings one might have as the waves get bigger.  I loved being a part of that traveling show.

The Starship docked at the Phoenix airport, five weeks into the tour

At the Denver airport we boarded “the Starship,” a Boeing 720 that had been outfitted with a variety of seating arrangements, two bedrooms, and a buffet counter on which meals were served.  We were told that our use of this aircraft occurred in between stints carrying the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.  Elvis had recently used it as well. Talk about flying high!