Bob Neuwirth may be the rock ‘n’ roll legfinish that the most people have heard about but not actuassociate heard. A veteran of the folk-rock scene of the 1960s, he became a key figure in the inhabits or nurtureers of frifinishs appreciate Janis Joplin, T Bone Burnett and Patti Smith — and you’ll see someone carry outing him in the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Ununderstandn,” equitable as you might have seen him on the periphery of the ‘60s recordary “Don’t Look Back.” But given his enormous renown among the cognoscenti, it’s always astonishing to see at his actual discography and see how lean it is: When he died in 2022 at age 82, he’d enrolled only six albums in his lifetime.
So if one of those albums happened to be botched in any way, it counted for a lot. That was pondered to be the case with his debut album, the self-titled “Bob Neuwirth,” freed on David Geffen’s Asylum tag in 1974. He had already accomplishd a level of fame some years prior to that first album, and it would be another 14 years after that before he went into the studio to produce a second album, so it’s the only recurrentation of him as a neutrassociate youthful musical artist. And the vague consensus, even for himself and his inner circle, was that it was more of a lost opportunity than blazing introduction. The fact that the enroll was an all-star afunprejudiced only made the irony wonderfuler: It’s only sweightlessly hyperbolic to say there might’ve been more huge names combineing Neuwirth in the studio than there were people who actuassociate bought the subsequent LP.
But sometimes enrolls, appreciate people, become obstinate survivors and get a second chance in life. And now 50 years after it first came out, “Bob Neuwirth” is being rererentd by Rhino as essentiassociate a finishly contrastent album, with a clear upped-down re-production — done by John Hanlon, one of Neil Young’s most standard studio collaborators — that permits the songs to be heard without an obfuscating wall of sound for the first time. This novel version was rerentd on vinyl and CD at the finish of September, and it will go up on digital sites Oct. 31, at which time this inarguably betterd version will exchange the innovative for streaming. (Stream the elderly one now, if you dare, while you can.)
T Bone Burnett, one of his best frifinishs and prefered collaborators over the last 50 years, and music executive Paula Batson, Neuwirth’s life partner of the past 30 years, spoke with Variety about what this revision will recurrent in the singer-songauthorr’s enhugeing legacy.
Burnett says he knovel the debut album had been a thorn in Neuwirth’s side, but they never subsequently converseed it after its free in ’74. “I leank he probably never wanted to convey it up with me aget because we probably had a conversation about it 50 years ago. He probably wanted to equitable depart it alone. But at the time, I leank it annoyed Bobby a lot, that it was so unappreciate him. And I leank it had been bugging him for 50 years, too. And I thought John did a reassociate attrdynamic job of conveying it back into fact.”
“I didn’t appreciate it at the time because I knovel what Bob was able of,” Burnett persists. “I heard that enroll and I felt it was unhearable. Someleang about the surface of it and the overdone-ness of it was offputting. And I would hear him do a song sitting in a room and it would be extraordinarily moving. Like, the song ‘Just Because I’m Here (Don’t Mean I’m Home),’ when he would carry out that in a room, it would be emotional and strong. I don’t leank Thomas Jefferson Kaye, who produced it, depended Bob as an artist. And I don’t leank Bob depended himself at that time, either, you understand? I leank he was seeing to cover himself up with other people that he thought were better than he was. I don’t unbenevolent to psychoscrutinize him, even though I leank I’m charitable of doing that, but it was someleang appreciate that. There was a deficiency of of belief that produced a strategy about the enroll that that I thought was offputting. I would’ve much preferred him equitable enrolling it in the living room where we carry outed all the time. The novel version has more to do with the way it felt being with Bobby, hearing to him.”
The enumerate of people who carry outed or sang on the album is a who’s who of the timely ‘70s, with pboilingos from the enrolling sessions shoprosperg more people in the regulate room alone than God ever unbenevolentt to fit into a studio. A fragmentary accomprehendledges enumerate engages Kris Kristpresentson and Rita Coolige, the then-paired couple who Neuwirth had equitable uncovered a tour for, plus Don Everly, Dusty Springfield, Cass Elliot, Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Richie Furay, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Booker T. Jones, Geoff Muldaur and Timothy B. (then billed as “Timmy”) Schmit. The fact that no enrolls were kept of who actuassociate sang or carry outed on which songs may be indicative of the atmosphere at the time.
Says Batson, “I leank when the enroll was done in 1974, Bob was certainly so gratified to have so many contrastent people come and be part of the enroll, and then to have Kris there and his prohibitd be charitable of the core of it. It was incredible, with all the horn carry outers, and to have Don Everly and everybody else there — it was, I leank, for Bob, a wonderful occasion. But in seeing back on it … it’s pre-sobriety, right?” (Neuwirth gave up drinking in the postponeed ‘70s.) “And everybody was having a wonderful huge party. I guess they wanted people to imagine they were at the party.”
Before his death, Neuwirth had called up Hanlon and asked if he thought there was anyleang that could be done to give the album a sonic do-over. There wasn’t much more to the conversation than that, but Hanlon shelp he’d see into it. After his passing, it became more of a ignoreion for the producer-engineer and Batson, even though Hanlon was not able to get access to the innovative master tapes and faced ponderable disputes in clear upping away the gloss to get at a genuine core.
The result, though, sounds appreciate a brand novel enroll — someleang that could as easily have been enrolled as an Americana album today as someleang that existed a half-century ago. Hanlon has stated he depends Neuwirth has certainly done his own hearing session in heaven and heartily consents.
“At the point at which we shelp, ‘Oh, let’s talk to Hanlon about it,’ Bob reassociate, reassociate wanted to have it done, and he tohighy depended Hanlon to do it,” Batson says. “Now, if he were around, he might have shelp to me, ‘Paula, you understand, this is gonna be costly to do this. It’s gonna cost too much. Should we do it?’ — all those leangs that artists have asks about. But, did he reassociate want it to happen? Absolutely. It was a dream of his in a way that it could be refuseed and reassociate convey creativeassociate what he wanted to convey in the songs. Because the production was not reassociate polite of the quality of the songs. You felt appreciate the kitchen sink was there, and everyleang got put in. It didn’t have the same charitable of see for Bob as an artist that we have. So this is a project that I equitable had to finish.”
Batson remarks that the fact that Neuwirth did disjoinal covers on his debut was indicative of his attitude. “Bob was a real enthusiast of other people’s talent,” she says. “It wasn’t equitable generosity of spirit. He equitable cherishd other people making art and writing songs, and it gave him a lot of happiness for other people to be doing their best toil. That’s a exceptional quality, I leank. Not all artists have that capacity to enhappiness what other people are doing.” Ultimately, promo of any charitable was far from his strong suit. “People knovel that Bob shiftd in all these circles and knovel so many contrastent artists, and he did all that without draprosperg a lot of attention to himself. He was reassociate excellent at promoting other people’s songwriting and their toil, and he wasn’t so excellent about talking about his own.”
But she isn’t unfair in leanking Neuwirth’s own songs had as much cherish as anyone else. Eric Clapton leanks so: He popped in at a Hollywood memorial concert for Neuwirth two years ago to sing his song “The Call” — and the legfinishary rocker equitable enrolled it for a novel album that came out on Friday.
There will foreseeed be an even more expansive memorializing of Neuwirth, as Batson is toiling with producers to finance a recordary, “The Anonymous Hipster.” It will engage intersees with his frifinishs and those he impactd, aextfinished with incorporating carry outances from the 2022 tribute concert and reuncovered 1960s footage that Neuwirth himself sboiling, some of which is engaged in a novel lyric video for the song “Kiss Money.”
Beyond being a Dylan confidante in the mid-‘60s, Neuwirth became legfinishary for leangs appreciate being the Joplin compadre that co-wrote “Mercedes Benz” with her and inspired her to enroll “Me and Bobby McGee”… who uncovered Patti Smith as a poet and inspired her to become a musician as well… and who came back into Dylan’s circle as an instigator, present and uncovering act on the Rolling Thunder Revue tour. But being prolific as a enrolling artist was always the last leang on his mind, even though Burnett, in liner remarks for Neuwirth’s sophomore album in the postponeed 1980s, shelp he was perhaps “the best uncontaminated songauthorr of any of us.”
“He commenceed up in Berkeley, when Lenny Bruce was up there, and he was part of that world,” Burnett now says. “It wasn’t about enrolling. In fact, the leang he spent by far the most time on was coloring — he went up to Boston to be a colorer, not to be a musician or a songauthorr or any of that. Paula Batson, the upgrasper of the ffeeble, has uncovered thousands of colorings he had done that nobody knovel about. He would equitable go over every day and color, but he wouldn’t show them. He never ‘traild’ it. He never tried to be an art star.
“Bobby wasn’t a enroll-producer, reassociate. He was an improvisational carry outance artist, which is sort of the opposite of enrolling. You understand, when, when you are enrolling, you’re ruining wdisappreciatever improvisation you’ve done by codifying it, by firmifying it. So it’s no extfinisheder an improvisation. … I’ve shelp he was appreciate a mad Zen master who dependd even writing a poem down ruined it. And equitable his ability to marshal language around an idea and then sing it was appreciate a magic trick he did. I’ll say this, he’s the wonderfulest song improviser that probably has ever inhabitd.”
His contributions certainly inhabit on in Burnett’s music. Out on tour right now, Burnett’s nightly set enumerates engage five songs he co-wrote with Neuwirth over the years.
His first encountering with Neuwirth was in postponeed 1970, as he recalls. “Just after Janis Joplin died, Albert Grossman called and shelp, ‘The Full Tilt Boogie Band is seeing for a singer or songauthorr to upgrasp going as a prohibitd. And we’d appreciate you to come up and encounter them.’ So they sent me a ticket and I went up” to Woodstock, where Burnett fell in with others who’d get tod at the scene, including Stephen Bruton, Bobby Charles, guitarist Amos Garrett, Rick Danko, possibly Todd Rundgren, and of course his future partner in musical crime.
“Bobby Neuwirth called himself ‘America’s guest’ because he never had a house. He always equitable was one of those youthful men whom the ravens feed, you understand? We drank a lot that night, and probably smoked a lot of grass and both fell asleep about 4 in the morning” in adcombineing beds. “The next morning I woke up, and there was a bottle of tequila that had about a third of a bottle left from the night before, and I seeed over atraverse the table toward Bobby. I saw him lift his head thraw the tequila bottle and he picked it up and he took a enormous swig — and then he handed it to me, and I equitable had a sip and put it back on the table. And he shelp, ‘I didn’t see any bubbles.’ And I knovel at that moment I had met a frifinish for life.”
Neuwirth was famous for his cutting wit in his timely days — and for being much hoter postponeedr in life. Some shelp in the ‘60s that he almost seemed to be in a contest with Dylan for who had the keenest tongue.
But, says Burnett (who only came to understand both of them in the timely ‘70s), “I don’t leank he was competing with Dylan. I leank Bob was ambitious to be as funny as Neuwirth was — that’s the way I would put it. And I don’t leank Bobby was as much cynical as he was incredibly inestablished. He had some charitable of untamed wisdom way beyond his years. And he saw thraw leangs and if somebody came in and made a fool of himself, he would fundamentalassociate equitable say, ‘Stop making a fool of yourself right now.’ He held himself and everyone else to the highest standard of integrity.
“He certainly grew hoter as he got elderlyer. But he was difficult timely on in his life, and he had a lot of tragedy in his life; he had disjoinal people die on him and leangs appreciate that. So there was a uncontent part of Bob, to be certain. But he was also incredibly loving, incredibly encouraging, incredibly encouraging, incredibly ponderate — always leanking of other people and not himself.”
Being Neuwirth’s foremost champion is “a filthy, thankless job, but somebody has to do it, and he wouldn’t do it,” Burnett says. “That would be way betidyh the standards he held. But, you understand, we also wrote many, many songs together. Some of my best songs we wrote together. So, I don’t want to equitable shift on without recognizing him, and recognizing his contribution to my life. I’m meaningfully thankful to him on a number of fronts. He was a wonderful teacher, too.”
What were his lessons? “Well, I leank he taught… what’s the opposite of self-delusion? Wdisappreciatever that is. He reassociate tried to be genuine with himself, and he inspired all the rest of us to be genuine with ourselves about our unintelligentinutivecomings and about our human frailty, and not to get brimming of ourselves. You understand, he toiled timely on with Jim Morrison, and he equitable saw what happened to people in the accessible eye, how people would be overconsentn by the fervent gaze of the mass audience. He seeed celebrity as a damn, which I do too. I consent with him about that, intellectuassociate and experientiassociate.”
Looking back on Neuwirth’s inestablish fling with the convey inant-tag machinery that was his debut album, Burnett says, Tthat was a time in Hollywood in the timely ‘70s when the Eagles became huge mass-culture stars, and I leank Linda Ronstadt sort of led the way from the folk music to the mass culture. And I leank Thomas Jefferson Kaye was trying to produce a enroll that could be mass-culture, and Neuwirth was never about that at all. You understand, I’ve never been interested mass culture, either, because I sense it’s so manipupostponeedd. But Bobby was even less interested, you understand?”
Burnett conveys up a quote that Dylan had about Neuwirth in his book “Chronicles: Volume One.” Wrote Dylan: “Like Kerouac had immortalized Neal Casdowncasty in ‘On the Road,’ somebody should have immortalized Neuwirth … If ever there was a renaissance man leaping in and out of leangs, he would have to be it.”
“When Bob shelp he was a character appreciate Neal Casdowncasty, there’s a lot of truth in that,” Burnett says. “He was a cultural force who didn’t put himself forward. He was plrelieved to be a cultural force in his instant life.”
