Pevar: (laughs) Well, besides being one of my favorite players, Robben has also been a huge influence on my playing. Basically, I'm a self-taught musician. I learned how to play guitar by listening to records and watching people play. I was blown away by Robben Ford the first time I saw him play - before I even knew who he was! On my first trip to California, my cousin Doug brought me to a Blues Club where Jimmy Witherspoon was performing. I think I was about fourteen years old at the time. I had just started to play guitar about two or three years earlier. I was enthralled watching this guy playing the living hell out of his hollow body jazz-box guitar! Up to that point, it was one of the most profound musical experiences of my life. It was like seeing my dreams realized - he expressed so much depth and soul in his playing.

A number of years later I went to see Joni Mitchell in concert, and the supporting act was Tom Scott and the LA Express. I was very impressed with their music and especially their guitarist. After they did their own set, they joined Joni during her set. I became an LA Express fan from that concert. I went out and bought some of their records and when I read the liner notes, I saw that the guitarist was a guy named Robben Ford. I started playing some of their tunes with a jazz-fusion band that I was in at the time. Then one day I saw some older footage on TV featuring Jimmy Witherspoon, and I looked and realized that the guy playing with "Spoon" all those years ago was Robben Ford! I became more involved with seeking out his work. I would try to see him perform whenever I could. A number of years later, I went to see him play one night in Long Island with his own band around the time his "Inside Story" record was released. The performance was also a live radio show, which someone taped for me. That one tape became my guitar lessons for about a year. I studied his use of melodic lines and phrasing. He has this wonderful melodic vocabulary and phrasing that's unique and very soulful. I had eventually met him a few times through mutual friends.

Around the early 90's, I played many Sunday nights in New York City at The Bitter End. One day I called Robben and invited him down to play with my band.... Kinda like, "Hey Robben, I'm playing Sunday night and I've got an extra amp - if you feel like playing, I'd love to have you come down and jam with us.... you know, very low key." So he came to play and we had a wonderful time. I was so thrilled as it all had come full circle... from the guy who impressed me when I was in my teens and an up-and-coming guitarist - then as one of my guitar teachers, and finally sitting in with my band for an evening.... I was so stoked. I'm sure I had a smile from ear to ear...

So to get back to your question, Robben surely doesn't need any advice from me. (laughter)

I'm actually very curious to come to some of the other Phil and Friends shows with these different combinations of great musicians just to check it out because it's going to be totally different.Phil conveys the concept that he encourages the musicians he's working with to interpret the music in their own way. It's like, "Hey, I have an idea of what the answer might be, but I don't propose to have all the answers, myself. Maybe you guys have an idea and we can all try to find out what the answers are together." (laughter)

PZ: OK, let's turn to some CPR stuff - you David Crosby and James Raymond have been performing for a few years now. How did you hook up with David Crosby?

Pevar: Around 1992 I was touring with a very talented singer/songwriter/musician named Marc Cohn - Marc had an amazing debut album that included his top 10 single, Walkin' in Memphis. Marc and I were touring as a duo in support of his first record in the states and in Europe. It was a phenomenal experience for me because I had mostly been involved with much larger ensembles up to that time. To perform in front of two or three thousand people as a duo was a wonderful and challenging experience for me. It really helped me learn and grow and become a stronger musician.

We opened up for CSN when they were touring as an acoustic trio. As Graham and David were both fans of Marc Cohn's music, they wanted Marc to open for them. They had offered Marc dates on the East Coast, but unfortunately I had prior commitments to work on a French record for a producer I met while playing in Paris. Because Marc and I had toured together for the better part of a year together, he didn't want to do the CSN dates without me so Marc reluctantly turned the offer down. I remember getting off the phone with Marc, practically bawling because I couldn't cancel my prior commitment. I really wanted to do it as I'd been such a huge fan of CSN's music.

As fate would have it, CSN came back and asked if we could join up with them later on in the tour!! Somehow I knew there was a connection that was going to be made. At the very first sound check Marc and I did, Crosby walks out on stage while we were tuning up. I saw him there so I started playing one of his tunes - Triad. It was just a sort of tip of the hat as if to say to him, "Hey man, you might not know me yet, but I know you." (laughter) He looked at me and smiled. There was a bond there immediately. David and Graham sat in with Marc and me and we were both so thrilled to be playing and singing with them. About two or three shows into tour Crosby pulled me aside and said, "Hey listen man, Nash and I have been watching you and we really dig the way you play. We do a lot of Crosby/Nash shows and we think you'd be the perfect addition." My jaw dropped.

It finally came to light a number of months later, and that's how it all started. Crosby, Nash and I went out on a number of trio tours starting around '93, which were an absolute joy to do together. I think that they found a freedom in our ensemble together. Since I was so familiar with their music they could do whatever they wanted. I would throw in some harmony vocals and play electric or acoustic guitar... some mandolin or lap steel. In fact, we only did one or two rehearsals before the first tour. About five or six dates into tour they took the setlists, ripped them up, and asked people what they wanted to hear. So we did this thing called, "Setlist Bingo" and the fans at the shows would request songs they wanted to hear. We played tunes that they hadn’t even tried in years. There were some really magical nights. It was amazing to play with people who were my teachers - to all of a sudden have a chance to sing and perform with them. They are both such wonderful musicians and great people. What an incredible opportunity! It was a phenomenal experience for me. I can't tell you how much it's taught me and instilled some very important lessons in my musicality.

PZ: CPR started out as a trio and then you expanded to a quintet. Can you give us a little bit of background on the other members?

Pevar: CPR started off as a trio. It was sort of an experiment. As you may know, David was reunited around that time with his son, James Raymond. Because I had been playing w/ Crosby and Nash, David suggested that we try this CPR combination out as a trio. We went out and booked a dozen shows in January of '97. We recorded a live double CD from that first tour, "Live at Cuesta College" which was the seventh show we ever played together. From the very beginning, the chemistry between us clicked. We got together after the end of the tour and wrote a number of songs together. When we finally went into the studio to record our debut record, we wanted a larger ensemble on many of the songs, so we brought in a couple different musicians for the sessions. Russ Kunkle played on drums as well as Michael Bland, a phenomenal drummer who played with Prince, and finally, an astounding player, who is James' best friend, Steve DiStanislao, a/k/a Stevie D!. He came in and played on a number of the songs, and he played so great that he was offered the gig. When it was time to do some touring for the record, we auditioned a couple bass players - and another of James' friends was chosen for the spot – Andrew Ford. They've all known each other for a long time. Everyone lives in California but me. I'm the East coast guy. I feel at home in New England.

PZ: Mostly with CPR you'd been singing harmonies, but you recently started singing your own song, Gravy Train. Do you plan on singing more lead vocals in CPR?

Pevar: Sure. Although my focus has been on my playing for many years, I always try to push the envelope and forge new territory. Singing has become very important to me more recently. There is such a communication and expression there. I have my own band that I perform with and I sing much of the material. On our last CPR tour, we were performing Gravy Train but that eventually got pulled from the set for one reason or another. We're all partners in CPR musically, but ultimately it's David's baby. We'll see what happens, but I'm hoping I get a chance to sing more in that band. Of course, I plan to make my own records, too. The CPR fans seemed to like Gravy Train a lot so I'll have to include it on my own record if it doesn't make the next CPR record.

PZ: You've played with Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, James Taylor, just to name a few. Would you care to comment on playing with any of those musicians?

Pevar: Back in '84 or '85, when I joined the Ray Charles Orchestra, I had never played in an actual "big band" before. Most of my background up until that time was playing in smaller R&B or jazz-fusion bands consisting of me on guitar, a basic rhythm section, a keyboardist, and often a horn player or two, or maybe a harmonica player. The first time I saw Ray Charles perform, a friend of mine from CT, a talented multi-instrumentalist named Morris Pleasure (now a member of Earth, Wind and Fire) was filling in on guitar for the evening because Ray's guitar player had left the band suddenly. Wondering if the guitar spot was actually available, I got down to the theater early and found Ray's band leader, Clifford Solomon, and told him that I was interested in the gig. He told me to watch the show and then we could talk afterwards. There I stood watching the band on the sidelines - the musicians in their tuxedos with their music stands reading all those big band charts. At that point and time, having very little experience in music reading skills, I thought to myself, "Who am I kidding?!... I don't know how to read music well enough to do this!".... But I was so enthralled by the performance and the challenge of trying out for the band that it overwhelmed me. Halfway through the show I start thinking, "Damn, I HAVE to try to do this!! I'll never know unless I try!" (laughter)

So it was during the intermission when Ray's bandleader came over to me and said, "By the way, do you have any kind of demo tape of your playing?" I didn't have one with me, but I had recently been recording some of my music at my friend’s recording studio, about an hour away in Hartford, CT. I had the keys to his studio with me, so I got in my car and drove to the studio – ran off a cassette of two or three appropriately bluesy tunes and got back into the car to drive the hour back to the theater. As luck would have it, I got back just as they were boarding the bus to leave and I handed the tape off to them. The next day I got a phone call asking me to come to New York to audition for the Ray Charles Orchestra and I got the gig.

Luckily there wasn't a lot of written out melody lines for me to sight-read like the horn players... it was mostly chord charts. When it was time for me to play lead, my R&B roots prevailed. I would play the blues, and Ray Charles would practically jump off his chair. (laughter) "The less is more" thing. If anybody understood that, it was Ray. It was quite an affirmation for me as a player. I realized I must be doing something right because here's Ray Charles, the Godfather of Soul, and I'm playing one well placed note or emotive phrase and he's really reacting, yelling [in a higher pitched tone] "Oooh, ow, you nasty boy!! Oooh! Oww! Ooh!" (explosive laughter!) I was my nightly challenge to see if I could get him going... make him squirm on his piano bench playing the blues. It was almost like going to a skeet shoot at the carnival, trying to hit the target to make that sound...[makes the sound of a gun shooting] "Ooh!" [trigger shooting] "Ow!" "Oooh!"

It was such a great learning experience for me. I was going to The Ray Charles learn-as-you-go music college. I started learning more complex chords (that I was supposed to already know how to play) from the music that we were performing every night- Hearing the notes that all the horns were playing, I could finally figure out all those complex structures ...Sharp 11th chords..... Flat Five chords.... Talk about a learning experience!

PZ: What other musicians have had a big influence on you?

Pevar: I've gone through several different learning periods in my life where I'll have a new main influence on the guitar. Of course, the Beatles, Jeff Beck, Clapton, Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Alvin Lee and Ten Years After, The Allman Bros Band, even Creedence - they all had a major impact on how I listened to and played music. John Fogarty was one of the first guys that I sat down and learned lead guitar from. When I just started out, Fogarty's stuff with Creedence was rudimentary yet unbelievably soulful - so I was able to listen to his licks and I figured out, "Hey, I can do that!" Later on, Larry Carlton and Robben Ford were both huge influences... Ry Cooder and Lowell George were also huge influences. I think Little Feat was one of the most amazing bands America ever produced... and Lowell - I mean, the guy just had the gift. He was just amazing! Those records are just some of my favorite records of all time. They captured this melding of Folk, Country, R&B, Creole and Funk - oh man, it just had it all! The list of my influences goes on and on....

PZ: What do you have planned for the upcoming months?

Pevar: This next CPR record is very important for us and we'll be working on that this summer when we reconvene but we’ll be doing some gigs. David and James are quite prolific writers. I've been so busy doing other stuff so I'm trying to get my butt in gear and try to write too - whether it goes to a CPR album or one of my own – we’ll see. With writing, it's kind of like a muscle that you have to just start flexing. So that's what’s coming up and you just never know what's gonna happen next week! (laughter)

PZ: Well, thank you so much!

Pevar: Thanks for your interest and support!!

For more info on Jeff Pevar see his website - Pevar.com
For more info on CPR see crosbycpr.com
See a BUNCH of excellent photos here

Upcoming Pevar/CPR Show Dates (Latest here)
July 29 Camp Creek - Indian Lookout Country Club Mariaville, NY
July 31-Aug 1 BB King Club Midtown, NY
August 18 Rocky Mountain Folk Festival - Planet Bluegrass Lyons, CO
August 19 Milwaukee Co. Zoo - Main Stage Milwaukee, WI
Sept 2 Ekoostik Hookah Festival- Buckeye Lake Center, OH
Sept 11-12 CPR & Jackson Browne
3rd Annual Valley Music Festival Solvang, CA

Conducted 5.10.00 - CT
by Bret Heisler and Andy Gimigliano
Interview written & produced by 2012 Productions.
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All photos ©1999-2000 by photographers noted.
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without the express written consent of the photographer and Philzone.com.
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