Country

September 18, 2005 in Tinley Park, Illinois. For about 30 years, starting in 1989, I was the official photographer of Farm Aid, the organization founded by Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp. Getting to meet Willie was one of the thrills of my life. My favorite Willie saying was “If you do it wrong enough times, it becomes right.” Words to live by!!

May 12th, 1994 in Merrilville, Indiana. In the 90’s country got very popular (thanks to Garth Brooks) and a bunch of country magazines cropped up. One was called New Country. They asked me to go to Indiana to photograph Johnny Cash. I was already packing before I hung up the phone!! I packed a black background (he was, after all, the man in black). I set up backstage, and Johnny walked in, larger than life with a smile on his face. I could have talked to him all night, but instead shot 3 amazing rolls of film.

November 5th, 1998 in Nashville, Tennessee. I met the Oak Ridge Boys when I was assigned to do a picture story on their custom designed bus in the summer of 1984. That started a long relationship with them and their team. In 1998, I got a call from Brenda Golden, William Lee’s wife (and the band’s publicist) asking me to come to Nashville and photograph William Lee’s first solo album cover. Landed in Nashville, and William Lee was waiting at the gate to pick me up. People at the gate were trying to figure out who I was to have a big country star pick me up at the airport. We drove out to his house where I was escorted to the guest bedroom. The next morning we were having breakfast when there was a knock on the door and Marty Stuart was standing there having dropped by while taking his morning walk. Great conversation and then a great photo shoot in the backyard by the stream running through the property.

September 19, 2015 in Chicago. I met Kacey in 2013 backstage at a Farm Aid concert. Then I heard her sing and immediately went out and bought her CD when I got home. A few years later she played at the Farm Aid concert in Chicago, and was, by that time a full on superstar. She played midafternoon and the crowd went crazy! I would have hated to be the artist that had to follow her that day.

September 21, 2002 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I traveled all night to get to Farm Aid in Pittsburgh. When I got there I chugged a couple of iced teas to try to stay awake and started shooting. Midday they introduced Keith Urban and his guitar playing finished the job that the iced tea had started!

February 26, 1996 in New York City. In 1996, New Country Magazine sent me to New York to spend a couple of days with Shania Twain for a cover shoot. The first day was a rehearsal day with pretty boring rehearsal hall photographs. The second day we got in a van which took us to The David Letterman Show, where she performed for the first time on national television.

May 20th, 1995 in Wheeling, Illinois. I was assigned by Country Weekly Magazine to do a “day in the life’ photo story on Billy Ray Cyrus. So I met his private jet at a corporate airport in the northern suburbs of Chicago. We had the jet park in the corner of the taxiway and I did a shoot of him in and out of the jet. We then got in a van and drove to the venue for soundcheck and the show. I am still not sure how I got my car back!

April 7th, 1990 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The lineup of Farm Aid 1990 included Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Guns and Roses and many more but the highlight of the day was seeing Bill Monroe, the father of Bluegrass. I’ll bet he never envisioned playing in a football stadium in front of 60,000 people!

April 7th, 1990 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Kenny and Dolly were touring together on the strength of their hit song “Islands in the Sun.’ So everybody in the house knew they were going to do a duet. It was just a matter of waiting them out!

October 1st, 1993 in Rosemont, Illinois. Garth was playing his first arena tour, and Rolling Stone Magazine asked me to capture the excitement.

March 13, 1977 in Chicago. Emmylou is the most beautiful woman I have ever photographed, She also has the most beautiful voice in music. That being said- to this day, whenever I am in a room with her I get completely tongue tied, and have to leave the room before I make a fool of myself!!

July 12th, 1997 in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. I was photographing a big country music festival, and was set up to photograph one of the artists backstage. I saw LeAnn walking by and asked her to jump in for a few shots. I had heard she was pretty good! She was!!! The guy I was there to photograph was a one hit wonder, but LeAnn is still going strong.

March 14, 1992 in Dallas, Texas. I set up backstage at Farm Aid in the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders dressing room and artists were ushered in all day (The cheerleaders- in full uniform- were my assistants). Waylon appreciated the assistance of the cheerleaders more than most!!!

August 30th, 1990 in Chicago. In 1985, a record company guy brought Steve over to my house for a photo shoot. We bonded and I have been photographing him ever since, in Chicago and also at many Farm Aid concerts. I have met many of the great songwriters of our time (Mick and Keith, Bruce, John Prine) but to this day I think Steve Earle is the best in class!!

November 18th, 1994 in Rosemont, Illinois. I had photographed Tim a few times at Farm Aid concerts, but this was my first portrait of him. I set up and waited for him to arrive which he did about 2 minutes before showtime. This was one of my patented 1 minute photo shoots.

November 2, 2000 in Rosemont, Illinois. I first met Faith when her publicist brought her to Chicago to be interviewed by the big country station in town. I was to meet her outside the building afterwords and take her to a nearby park to photograph her. When she came out, she told me that the radio guys didn’t think she would ever make it in music, so they didn’t even put her on the air. They just had her record some “Liners” (this is Faith Hill and you are listening to…) just in case they were wrong and she did become famous!! So she was pretty bummed and wasn’t really into the shoot. About 6 months later she had the number one song in the country and the same station was begging her to come up and be on the air. She made it up to me by inviting me to Nashville to do a great shoot, and to give me access whenever she came to town!

May 25th, 2001 in Tinley Park, Illinois. I didn’t really know who George was until the Dixie Chicks flew me to New Orleans to photograph them. They were one of the opening acts at the George Strait Country Music Festival. When I saw that he had sold 60,000 tickets, I figured that I should take notice. So the next time he came to the Chicago area, I gained access and went out to photograph the whole extravaganza.

October 27nd, 1996 in Rosemont, Illinois. The OG of country music. I photographed him many times but never in portrait mode until this time. I was pretty nervous, but he couldn’t have been nicer. He knew what his place was in the country music world, and wore it well.