MEMOIR WITH TWIN GUITAR LEADS                                                           The Life and Times of The James-Younger Band

Part 4 - No One Left To Run With

              I expected 1982 to be the year where we could take the band to another level.  With Louie now on drums, I began to plan ways to play an extended geographic area, reach a broader fan base, and, of course, make more money.  The band sounded tight, the music was drawing crowds, and we had developed a real good reputation with the club owners.  What I couldn’t predict was Guy Greco.

              Guy began to go through a really rough patch in 1982.  He had some very serious personal and family issues that year, and he became much more difficult to deal with.  More drinking, more cursing, more attitude.  As it progressed I became fixated on how it (i.e. Guy) was keeping us from reaching that next level.  Finally, I made a decision, a decision I have always regretted; I fired him.  Today, I can’t imagine how I ever thought that was a good idea, not only musically, but more importantly, on a personal level.  I was Guy’s manager and friend.  I needed to have been more patient, and much more understanding.   Firing Guy Greco from The James-Younger Band wasn’t my biggest mistake (my second marriage earned that distinction), but it’s certainly up there.

              Mike McDonough and Guy Greco had played music together from the time they were kids so it came as no surprise that, as the James-Younger front men, their styles meshed perfectly.  I knew Mike would be a lot easier to manage, and that would relieve quite a bit of the stress in running the band.  After all, managing a band is difficult enough in the best of times.  You have to deal with loudly clashing egos and constantly shifting agendas.  “I have a job so I have to play less”, “I lost my job so I need to play more”, “I just saw this band, and we should add this material”; the frustration of trying to “herd cats” (really big cats!) just never ended.  Without Guy there would be one less opinionated voice, one less headache.

              All we needed was to find a lead guitarist...who could sing.

              And I figured Mike could front the band.  

              I figured wrong.

              Mike certainly had (and has) the talent to be a front man.  It was just that he couldn’t be The James-Younger front man. The rawness, the energy, even the raunchiness that made me crazy also made us what we were, what we were known for.  And Guy had a knack for picking music that seemed totally wrong for us and yet somehow we would make it work.  While our roots were in southern rock, we also did Tower of Power, Van Morrison, Orleans, Steely Dan, and of course there was always Guy pushing his love of funk and Motown.  Maybe I wasn’t completely comfortable with the image we had created, but with Mike wanting to sing Asia’s Heat of the Moment, it was clear we were moving at light speed away from what our fans expected.  I began to worry that we weren’t The James-Younger Band any more.  In fact, we were right in the middle of a severe identity crisis.

               We advertised for Guy’s replacement, and I thought our ad was perfectly clear: “Southern rock band looking for singer / lead guitarist. Should be familiar with music by the Allman Brothers, The Outlaws, and .38 Special.” I guess my mistake was not adding “All others need not apply!” because apparently musicians only see the words “looking for”.  We got a lot of responses.

              Most of them were awful. 

              The worst was a nice enough kid who serenaded us for an hour playing James Taylor on acoustic guitar.  Eventually, the auditions did bring us Buddy Polito.  Buddy was a very accomplished guitarist and singer who had toured with a number of different bands, including The Funky Huns and their legendary bass player, Harvey Brooks.  Jeff Jones joined us as we added keyboards for the first time.  A Berklee School of Music graduate, he had recently played with Onyx.

              Long-time friend, the remarkable Joe Martino, took over on drums.  Joe started playing guitar and drums at the age of five, when he would sit in with his older brother Anthony’s bands.  To this day, he can go months, maybe even years, without picking up drum sticks and then sit down behind a kit and make it sound like he’s been practicing daily. And sound? Hell, Joe could play on overturned garbage cans, and get them to sound like a custom kit. Excellent chops, killer instincts, and his flourishes open up the music so much you have to think, “Why didn’t it always sound like this?”  He’s easy going and never complains. He’s been an absolute joy to work with.

              The “new” configuration played out for a while, but then, with the steady erosion of clubs and venues to play, slowly, inevitably, the James-Younger Band faded away.

              Our band members formed new bands or started playing in various other groups.  I once ran into Guy who now owned a bar in Rosendale, and he said he had been approached by a band to play in his club.  Their bios mentioned that each had played in The James-Younger Band.  Guy just looked at me and shook his head, “You know, I didn’t know any of them!”

              Eleven years passed.    

              I decided it was time for a reunion.