The phrase, “If you know, you know,” certainly applies to musician Nick Gravenites. While the name may not be familiar to some casual fans, hardcore music geeks are well aware of his contributions.
The son of Greek immigrants, Gravenites grew up in Chicago, where he haunted the city’s blues clubs with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield and Elvin Bishop, soaking up the music directly from the greats. Artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Buddy Guy. He wrote “Born in Chicago,” recorded by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. A few years later, in 1967, Gravenites and guitarist Mike Bloomfield formed The Electric Flag, an outfit that fused rock, soul and blues.
After moving to San Francisco in the mid ‘60s, Gravenites wrote songs for Janis Joplin, produced the debut album by Quicksilver Messenger Service and scored the 1967 Roger Corman film The Trip, written by Jack Nicholson and starring Peter Fonda. He also produced Brewer and Shipley’s hit single “One Toke Over the Line,” but let’s not hold that against him.
Over the years, Gravenites has made many friends in the community of musicians, and now they are turning out to help their old compadre. At the age of 85, Gravenites has just released a new album, Rogue Blues, produced by longtime friend and fellow Bay Area musician Pete Sears, with other musical pals pitching in.
Sears has quite an impressive resume himself, playing bass and keyboards with Jefferson Starship and Rod Stewart, among many others. That’s him on “Every Picture Tells a Story” and “Maggie May.”
Due to recent health issues, Gravenites is not currently able to speak with members of the media, so Sears has jumped into the fray. Speaking from his recording studio at his home in San Francisco, Sears explains that the album was assembled over the course of the past two years.
“We did three sessions, two in 2022 and one in 2023. I laid the groundwork here. We recorded Nick’s vocals and the piano tracks,” Sears says. Though not in the best of health, Gravenites was enthusiastic about the recording sessions.
“Nick showed up here,” Sears recalls. “He made it up the stairs somehow. He came up the front steps and just gathered himself. The first take, he just went for it. And he’s such an amazing vocalist, because he knows how to sing around the beat naturally. He’s always been that way. That’s what he’s kind of known for.”
“He’s getting medical care and everything, but he would rather be home in his own bed smoking dope.”
Other musicians’ contributions were recorded elsewhere. “[Harmonica player] Charlie Musselwhite was recorded in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where he lives now. I sent him the track with Nick singing and my piano and Wally Ingram [Sheryl Crow, Timbuk 3, David Lindley] on drums. [Guitarist] Jimmy Vivino [Conan O’Brien] and Wally Ingram were recorded down in Los Angeles. And, of course, I was on the phone with them while it was being done, in the producer role.”
Gravenites and Sears have worked together on music projects for over 50 years, and during that time, they have developed a long-lasting friendship. “We used to go fishing together,” Sears recalls. “And he used to come over for poker nights at our house. It’s a deep friendship. He’s a man who will tell people what he thinks. He’s upset people over the years, including [San Francisco concert promoter] Bill Graham, famously. Bill told him he’d never work in this town again. He’s very honest that way. But Nick is a fiercely loyal friend.”
A number of Gravenites’ musical friends, including Maria Muldaur (“Midnight at the Oasis”), recently organized a benefit concert to raise funds to help with his medical expenses. “We’re trying to improve his situation,” Sears says. “To get him into some facility where he can have his own room. Right now, he’s sharing a room with three other guys. He’s getting medical care and everything, but he would rather be home in his own bed smoking dope.”
The impetus for Rogue Blues came from a somewhat unlikely source. “Thomas Yeats, he’s a comic book illustrator of some renown,” Sears says. “He does the Prince Valiant comic strip in the Sunday newspaper. He’s also a blues fan, and he loves Nick. He’s been a good friend of Nick’s for some time. He drives him around and that sort of thing. Very supportive of Nick.
“Thomas came to me and asked if I’d make an album with Nick, just piano and voice, because Nick is no longer able to play guitar because of arthritis. I was resistant at first. I didn’t feel comfortable doing it that way, so I started adding friends.”
In addition to Musselwhite, Vivino and Ingram, Sears recruited harmonicist Larry Chambers (Chambers Brothers), guitarist Barry Sless (Bob Weir and the Wolf Brothers) and drummer Roy Blumenfeld (The Blues Project).
“Thomas chose the songs, because he had done a lot of research on live gigs with Nick, many of them that I was playing on,” Sears says. “He was looking for songs that hadn’t been recorded. That’s how it went down. Just trying to give it that old-time early blues recording on the porch type feel.”
The musicians’ level of experience and familiarity with Gravenites’ style contributed to a smooth recording process. “Everybody that played on the album has been around the block. Each person I’ve played with in other settings. They’ve been doing it for a long time. But there is a freshness coming from the fact that everybody loves the blues and they enjoyed doing it. And everybody likes each other.
“The whole thing was a labor of love for everybody involved,” Sears says. “Nobody was paying me to do it, and I had no idea it would turn into something.”
For more information on Rogue’s Blues, visit MC-Records.com. For more information on Nick Gravenites, visit NickGravenites.com.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
