Yardbirds.US: News

BEN KING THE YARDBIRDS NEW LEAD GUITARIST

[Oct. 2005] Due to conflicting commitments to outside assignments, The Yardbirds and Jerry Donahue have mutually agreed to a parting of ways. The Yardbirds have been honoured to have Jerry as one of their lead guitar players.

The Yardbirds tradition of working with musicians of extreme individual talent and potential has lead us to passing the guitarists mantle to a new generation of player. Twenty one year old Ben King has stunned everyone in the band with his unbelievable natural gifts and feel for our music. Ben will undoubtedly be a future star that we are proud to have discovered and we are very excited to have this young and brilliant prodigy in our ranks.

"Les Paul & Friends: American Made World Played" (Capitol/EMI). The newly released star-studded project features new versions of classic rock and blues tracks performed by big-name vocalists and musicians, and features guitar riffs and trills crafted by Paul himself.
The mastermind behind "Les Paul & Friends," producer Bob Cutarella, says that he has been wanting to do a Paul tribute project for about 10 years.

"I thought it would be cool to have all these guys do their thing and show Les what they'd learnt from him," Cutarella says.

Cutarella called music publishers to ask them to send over their catalogues and pored over countless selections. He also made phone call after phone call to prospective artists.

"I could have put together four Les Paul albums instead of one," Cutarella says. "Who do you choose, whose schedule is available, and will their label allow it? We got Jeff Beck first, and then everything came together."

Cutarella teamed with producer Fran Cathcart for the recording process, which took place primarily at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles.

Peter Frampton says he jumped at the chance to participate. "To be on a track with Les is a great thing to be able to say. They ran about five tracks past me, and I picked 'So Into You' (originally performed by Atlanta Rhythm Section). Everyone loves that track."

Kenny Wayne Shepherd teamed with Edgar Winter for "Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo" (by Rick Derringer). "We just started jamming," Shepherd says. "I was really honoured to be part of a project with a living legend."

Paul's contributions were recorded later at his home in Mahwah, N.J. Though arthritis prevents him from playing "blaring, blazing solos," Cutarella says, Paul made important contributions.

"Les is a perfectionist," Cathcart observes. "He wanted to make sure his parts were fully mature, and he wanted his ideas clearly on the album."

Keith Richards, who participated on the Yardbirds track "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" with Buddy Guy and Derringer, says, "We must all own up that without Les Paul, generations of flash little punks like us would be in jail or cleaning toilets. This man, by his genius, made the road that we still travel today."

Neal Schon, who is featured on the original song "I Wanna Know You" with vocalist Beth Hart, echoes the sentiment. "So many good guitar players nip stuff from him," he says. "I totally admire the man and love him as a human being."

He adds that he wanted to play a slow blues number for the tribute because "it's where I initially came from as a guitar player. We did just that. We picked a key, somewhat arranged where the vocals would be, played live one take, and that was it. It's very real."

Reuters/Billboard