John Ford Coley talks to us about his lifetime in music and his show coming to the George Washington Hotel July 13

70s Music legend John Ford Coley will be on stage for us Saturday July 13th at the George Washington Hotel's "Century of Harmony" concert series! John talks with us about his early days, making music with England Dan, and what his show is like now!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hi's christ Mitchel. There, it'sChris Mitchell right here. This is this
really john Ford Coley I'm talking toI don't know, you know. It's
kind of hearty in the morning forme still, so I have to figure
out who I am yet. Ican't believe that I'm having a conversation with
john Ford Coley. I'm just goingto put it out there before we begin

(00:21):
this interview. I have been afan all my life. When I was
a kid in the seventies, growingup, your music was in our house
all the time, and my parentsloved you, and my extension, I
loved you. And I'm so excited. I could not believe my gosh,
john Ford Coley is going to bein Winchester and that's happening Saturday night George

(00:42):
Washington Hotel. We've been celebrating onehundred years of the George Washington Hotel.
It's the jewel in the crown thatis Old Town Winchester, a century of
Harmony concert series, and you playfor us Saturday night, Doors open at
six, show at seven. Ticketson sale now at event bright dot.
With all that being said, let'sget into the interview. We really appreciate

(01:03):
you being with us this morning.Thank you. I appreciate it as well.
So we're going to start at thebeginning. You started off in high
school, right, It was youand a buddy that the world caught to
know as England Dan England Dan andjohn Ford Coley England Dan we found out
later was Dan Seals. He hada country career of his own after you

(01:23):
guys kind of parted ways. ButEngland Dan, john Ford Coley, you
guys were buddies in high school,right, Yeah, Dan and I started
off in high school. He wasactually a year older than I was,
and so we didn't hardly see Danaround because he was on the work program
and Dan we ended up playing ina band together and it just kind of

(01:46):
went from there. That is,we actually were in the same band the
entire time before Dan and I becamea duo, but we would change the
name of the band. Well,you guys did a lot of hard work.
You put in a lot of timeon stage. Oh man, we
were everywhere. I remember month veryfirst gig with those guys was nineteen sixty

(02:06):
five and we played a good Willand I made five bucks. I mean,
I was ecstatic. Man. Weplayed like four hours and I made
like five bucks. I was ingood shape. Wow. But it is
a thrill, honestly though. Itis a thrill to be paid for something
that you love doing. And I'mso glad that you stuck with it because

(02:27):
you've given the world such great music, so many great hits. So I
know it's a long story, butyou did. Eventually you got a record
deal and then you started having hits. And I think nineteen seventy six was
the big year for you, wasn'tit. That was when it really got
going big. Yeah. We'd hada couple of things internationally. There was
a song called Simone that was numberone in Japan, I think South Africa

(02:51):
and France, and then it justkind of papered off. You know.
We had a thing that's a verybeginning called New Jersey. It got into
the sixties, I think when wewere on A and M records, But
then when really loved to see itand I came out, that was just
where the ball really began to rolldownhill. Were youta it was good?

(03:12):
Were you surprised by the success ofthat song? Yeah, I'm surprised every
day by the success of that song. I listened to it sometimes and go,
oh, okay, okay, evenI can't understand what I'm saying.
Maybe that's the reason why I wasbig. Are you surprised by the resurgence

(03:32):
of a lot of your songs onyacht rock? People in the country loved
to tune into yacht rock radio rightbecause it's so wonderful. We have it
on our iHeartRadio app and people listento it constantly. They're such good songs,
and you guys are a staple ofyacht rock. Does that feel cool
well? Or really got blessed onthat whole deal? I'm on the saying

(03:53):
that I think at a certain pointin my life, God just kind of
reached down, kissed me on thehead and said, SONO has some fun.
And we did. You know,we went everywhere, We played with
everyone. The doors were wide open, there was no restrictions on it once
we got going. But we hadbuilt a strong foundation bread. We traveled

(04:15):
with those guys, for example,and they would literally take us to the
radio stations with them when they wouldgo do an interview, so that we
could be interviewed. Wow, sothe radio stations would remember that. You
know, you came in, yousaid hello to us and then they would
spend the record. So, Imean there was a there was a long,
hard foundation that was being built duringthat time. And can I just

(04:40):
say how generous that was of Breadto do that? Oh those you know,
we traveled with some of the mostastounding people we started out. One
of our first big gigs was theyhad us open for Carol King for a
week at the Troubadour right at thebeginning of Tapestry Wow. So that open

(05:00):
it. Then she took us toBoston with her, and then you know,
we had dates that were canceled outby other people, so they throw
us in with Els and John.We end up being good friends with him.
He takes us to England for amonth, we played over there,
Chicago with the young Bloods. Itjust went down the line, and then
Brad got ahold of us and thoseguys. I mean, I know that

(05:25):
three of them have passed and Davidis the only one that's really alive.
But if David were to call andsay, John, I'm going out next
week, I wouldn't ask him where, how much moneymoud getting paid or anything
else. I'd just say tell mewhere I need to be. That's that's
all I mean, they were suchgreat guys. That is so great to
hear. It's refreshing. You know, these days there is a lot of

(05:47):
collaboration, but most artists they're init for themselves and it's self promotion and
it's and it just was a differenttime and a different caliber of people.
I think so generous to share thespotlight the limelight, and that's the kind
of thing I really kind of missin a lot of modern music. So

(06:09):
I'm wondering, didn't you work withTodd run Gren? Were you friends with
him? Ong love is the answer. But they brought that to us.
Oh when I heard that song thatthey brought it, I went, that's
a rung Gren science utopia song.Man, Yeah, I'll do that.
But I had to tell you ofall the concerts that I've been to,
and I've been to hundreds of them, but mainly watching things from the side,

(06:31):
I could not wait for that manto stop. I just wanted him
to stop and get off the stagebecause the only thing that I always think
he's brilliant, and he was abrilliant producer as well. He produced some
of XTC's music and when I thinkmaybe their best album, Skylarking, and
they ended up hating it. ButI thought it was brilliant. But isn't

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that something You really did get achance to work with the best, and
really you got to andage point thatmost of us didn't get. We love
those artists, but boy, youwere really you had a special place in
a special moment. You're right,God just said, go, dude,
this is your You were blessed,weren't you. Well, I tell you,

(07:13):
the people that were back then,they really were for one another.
They were helping one another, likeyou know, Poco and and all these
different we're known in your life terriblechess player, but he was really a
good guy. And then they go, we got to play chess with him,
and I got Tyler Beatman. Youknow, it's like, come on,
we're on the road. That's great. So when you think back,

(07:38):
who do you think inspired you themost? Who did something that really shaped
you more than any of the others? Is there one that stands out or
a moment that ye know, Iwas not trained musically. I was clanned
classically with opera and show tunes,and then Porter Wagner and then you know,
and Bill Anderson. Then you canjump over to h to the gospel

(08:01):
group. I mean, I hada very eclectic training. So when it
came to rock and roll, andthat's what most people think of, you
know, for the influences, that'sgoing to be people like Buffalo's Springfield or
you know, Joni Mitchell, greatartists like that. But prior to g
Mayor and Dan says, well,I can't play to your E tuning,

(08:22):
so we need to tune to yourF. Well that threw me a half
step up. So when they're playingin C, I'm playing in C sharp.
When they're playing in F, I'min F shorp A and B flat.
You know, so I'm all inthe black keys. Well most people
would stumble all over that, butI'm classically trained in everything. Pretty much

(08:45):
is in the black keys. Soif somebody yells at me, you know,
we're playing a thing and we're playingin the key of E and I'm
playing along and somebody else take it, John, you know, take a
solo. I just got to lookat him and go and I don't think
so move it up to F willbe I can do it. But I
mean it was great. It wasa great proving ground. We are talking

(09:09):
with the one end only John FordKohley with a lifetime of incredible music that
he is going to come and sharewith us at the George Washington Hotel Saturday
night again. Doors open at six, shows at seven, and tickets on
sale at event bright dot com.John, what is your show like these
days? You know, I getI love to play. First of all,

(09:31):
I've always been a player, neverconsidered myself really a vocalist. I
was more of a musician, andmost people are surprised by the fact that
Dan and I could actually play.Dan play saxophone, I played, you
know, keyboards, and then weboth picked up guitar. But when I
play these days, and especially ina in an acoustics show, which I

(09:54):
prefer to do, it's you're gonnagot a memory lane. Of course,
there's no way that you can avoidthat. And I don't expect to,
you know, get up and playmy new album. People came there to
hear songs that they want to hear. I'm not going to disappoint them.
I'm not gonna all of a sudden, you know, take really love to
see tonight, and it's going tobe in a Lithuanian disco poka style now,

(10:18):
you know, because I'm bored good. You play the things that people
want to hear. I play somenew songs. I tell a lot of
stories because I've written books and stuffand I love stories. And I find
out that people enjoy the stories justas much, if not more than the
music. And we laugh a lot. We tell a lot of jokes.
There's nothing there's nothing controversial political oryou know that's going to stand up and

(10:43):
divide people. You came there tohave a good time. We're going to
have a good time. So andwe will. I mean, if you
leave there laughing, I'm happy boy. I can't wait for this Saturday night
at the George Washington Hotel, theOne and Only john Ford Cooley. When
you look back and you do havethat collection of the hits, right,

(11:03):
is there one that you still justevery time you play it, You're like,
I really love this song. Iwas so lucky to get this song
to sing. I'm very fortunate becauseI've never gotten tired of any of the
hit songs. That to me,is a testament to the song itself.
But again, it's different every night. But the audience generally they look for

(11:28):
things that they're familiar with, andI just try to stay in that vein,
and that's what you'll get Saturday nightat the George Washington Hotel, john
Ford Kohley, do not miss thisagain. Tickets are available event bright dot
com. Doors open at six,shows at seven. I hope to meet
you there and cannot wait. I'llbe in the audience and I'll be clapping

(11:48):
and cheering and singing along. Okay. I would forward to seeing everyone.
Thank you so much, John,appreciate you so so much and can't wait
to hear you a full night ofmusic on forward cold everybody. Thank you
for being our guest. We sureappreciate it. Thank you. I appreciate
it as well. We'll see usSaturday