Drummer Bruce Rowland

 May 22, 1941 — June 29, 2015

Drummer Bruce Rowland

500,000 Stories

If there were 500,000 people surrounding the Woodstock Music and Art Fair that 1969 weekend, then there are 500,000 stories after their Bethel experience.

The same is true for the more than 160  performers. It is easier to track some of their trails away from that momentous event because fame can leave a scorched path. And it is easy to assume that anyone who played there forever feasted on its fame.

Of course that’s a false assumption.

Drummer Bruce Rowland

Grease Band

Bruce Rowland played drums with Joe Cocker’s Grease Band and later with the Fairport Convention.

Rowland was born in the UK and early on taught drumming. It is rumored that he taught Phil Collins how to play.

Drummer Bruce Rowland

Woodstock Music and Art Fair

For those who were there that Sunday for  Joe Cocker’s performance we likely remember watching Cocker and being amazed at his vocal and physical styles. That was me, but with a bit of hindsight, I now realize that Rowland’s drumming was integral to that power. I use a picture I took of Joe (through binoculars) as my computer’s desktop and it wasn’t until I wrote this blog entry that I realized that right behind Joe is a nice shot of Bruce Rowland (click on the picture for an enlarged view).

Drummer Bruce Rowland

Queen’s Golden Jubilee

And you can see Bruce a few times thanks to the split-screen used in the movie Woodstock (in June 2002 when Joe Cocker sang “With a Little Help From My Friends” at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Phil Collins stuck close to Rowland’s pounding fills and parts)

Drummer Bruce Rowland

Life after Grease

After the Grease band dissolved (shortly after Joe Cocker left the band), Rowland worked on various projects including the Jesus Christ Superstar album.

Initially he drummed intermittently with Fairport Convention before becoming their only drummer.  He left that band in 1979 and moved to Denmark.

Drummer Bruce Rowland

Fairport Convention

From the Ultimate Classic Rock site: Fairport multi-instrumentalist Dave Pegg commemorated Rowland’s passing with a post at the band’s official site, calling him a “lovely man and a great drummer” whose “playing and ‘feel’ for music was superb.” Recalling their last conversation, Pegg added, “I spoke to him on the phone a couple of weeks ago when I heard that he was terminally ill and I was scared to make the call. Bruce said – ‘No tears Peggy. I’ve had a great life and have wonderful memories. This hospice is the best hotel I have ever stayed in and the staff are wonderful. No tears.’ We will miss you, Bruce.” [Telegraph obit]

Drummer Bruce Rowland

Joe Cocker OBE

May 20, 1944 — December 22, 2014

Joe Cocker OBE

Not a singer-songwriter

At a time when the singer-songwriter was prominent, especially among the performers preferred by music fana of so-called underground music Joe Cocker was not a singer-songwriter.

Joe Cocker was an interpreter of that music like no other.

Joe Cocker OBE

Beatles at Woodstock

Everyone knows (and many have a theory) why the Beatles were not at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. Most of those theories seem to forget that the Beatles as a group hadn’t played live for years and were all but disbanded by August 1969.

Be that as it may, the Beatles were present nonetheless. Their creative spirit help lead to large outdoor rock festivals and their music was there more than any other group that also wasn’t there.

Crosby, Stills, and Nash had sung “Blackbird.” Richie Havens had done “Strawberry Fields Forever” and had also sung “With a Little Help from My Friends,” but it was Joe Cocker’s “Friends” that topped all the covers.

Joe Cocker OBE

Golden touch

As I’ve written before in other blog entries, some performers didn’t need Woodstock to be propelled forward (e.g., The Who). Some performers got shot into stardom (e.g., Santana). Some got no push and continued in anonymity (e.g..  Quill).

Joe would likely have made it (as would have Santana), but being in the film and on the triple album was a career catalyst.

Why Joe at Woodstock?

Joyce Mitchell was an assistant to Michael Lang. In a message exchange with her, she mentioned this story.

The only performer I brought to Michael’s attention was Joe Cocker and John signed him up. He was performing in a club on the upper west side and someone I had worked with at my previous job had brought my attention to his great blues performance. I went to the club hoping Michael would join me but he never showed. It was a club on Columbus or Amsterdam Ave. They did not serve liquor, but Joe shook the club up.  

It always amazes me how such a little thing can lead to such a huge difference in someone’s career path.

Joe Cocker OBE

Mad Dogs > Solo

He left the Grease Band that had backed him at Woodstock and the famous Mad Dogs and Englishmen band–an amazing conglomerate of musicians that sometimes included George Harrison–whose concerts were always special.

His career included gold albums and hit singles. Sometimes solo sometimes with someone.

Life in the rock music lane has its many potholes and sometimes hitting a few at full speed provides an artistic jolt. At first, but eventually for most the toll outweighs the inspiration.

Joe Cocker made many comebacks and was still performing (having released 23 albums) when he died in 2014.

Thank you for all your music and those star-spangled shoes, too.

Wikipedia accolades link

Joe Cocker OBE