OK, Joe, here you go. And for everyone else, too, to enjoy. Here are the first couple I took of Emmy during a one song stretch during her top billing performance at the 1976 Banjo, Fiddle and Guitar Festival at Long Beach State in California. The sun was low so the natural light was perfect. I was using a Canon F-1 with a motor drive, so once I got it dialed in I just kept shooting. Nearly every shot was a keeper. Normally, I was lucky if I got one good photo per show, and here I got a dozen in the matter of seconds. From 1975 through 1980, Emmy and the Hot Band were considered by many of us to be the house band for Long Beach State. She first appeared at the 1975 Festival as an opening act with Linda Ronstadt getting top billing. I was told that during the negotiations, Ronstadt said shed play the festival if they also booked her good friend, Emmylou Harris. Emmy ended up headlining the festival from 1976 through 1980, with other acts including Jimmy Buffet, Guy Clark, Jerry Garcia, Doc Watson, Steve Goodman and many, many others. It was considered the best student run music festival in the nation at the time. Emmy and the Hot Band often played in the center quad at noon at Long Beach State when they wanted a live rehearsal before a live audience, prior to going on the road. Thered always been at least a thousand students watching. Emmy still talks about the love that the Long Beach community gave her at the start of her career. As for the first shot here, it was the one of the series that the Warner Brothers publicity department decided they wanted to use. But they thought the photo was too crowed and airbrushed everything but Emmy. They also darkened her hair. I didnt mind too much. They paid me the customary $25 plus they gave me a photo credit on the photo they sent out. Later that year, the photo was on page 1 of Melody Maker (Vol. 51, No. 44) in advance of her 1977 European tour. As an added note on Linda Ronstadt, between the time they negotiated her appearance at the Festival and the event itself, her Heart Like a Wheel album had reached number one on the charts, so the 8,000-plus fans that day got a special treat -- the top singer in the world along with Emmylou Harris coming out party (of sorts), who had recently released Pieces of the Sky.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 22:54:50 +0000
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