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O'Donnells celebrate a magical era, when LA musicians were high on life, and a few other things
October 25, 2023
By Peter Holmes
In a 2015 article about Laurel Canyon in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Vanity Fair’s Lisa Robinson wrote: “Nearly everyone who was there was, at one time or another, stoned; nobody remembers everything the same way.
“ … from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s some of the most melodic, atmospheric, and subtly political American popular music was written by residents of, or those associated with, Laurel Canyon — including Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Chris Hillman, Roger McGuinn, J. D. Souther, Judee Sill, the Mamas and the Papas, Carole King, the Eagles … They made music together, played songs for one another with acoustic guitars in all-night jam sessions in each other’s houses.
“They took drugs together, formed bands together, broke up those bands, and formed other bands. Many of them slept with each other. The music was mislabeled ‘soft rock’ or ‘folk rock’ ... But in truth, it was an amalgam of influences that included blues, rock and roll, jazz, Latin, country and western, psychedelia, bluegrass, and folk.”
The music created in Laurel Canyon 50 and 60 years ago will live forever. In a new show The Road to Laurel Canyon, Wild Things Run (Orange musicians and singers Andy, Pat and Kellie O’Donnell) celebrate the music that emerged from that part of Los Angeles.
The show, which runs about two hours, features music by the likes of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Carole King, Neil Young, The Mamas & The Papas, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Harry Nilsson.
The Orange News Examiner started a some sentences and asked Pat O’Donnell to finish them …
The first time we all sang together was ...
It’s a long story – over 40 years ago for Andy and Pat O’Donnell, who started singing in 1982 at family functions. Pat and [wife] Kellie first sang together in Alice Springs in 2002.
[Interestingly, Joni Mitchell released the LP Wild Things Run Fast, which included a song of the same name, in 1982 - Editor.]
As kids, music was ...
Singing together in harmony trying to sound like Simon and Garfunkel or the Eagles. Kellie sang to early country greats that her mum had shown her, like Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton. She also loved the 1950s bands like The Platters, and Aretha Franklin.
The best gig I've ever played was …
The O’Donnell 3 live at Orange Civic Theatre just after Covid. An acoustic concert together singing our favourite influences and a few originals. A very intimate performance with no talking at the bar or loud people.
And the worst ...
Hmm, there are a few, but too few to remember. Maybe for the O’Donnell Brothers it was the disco upstairs at the Paragon Hotel in Circular Quay. We were competing against the doof doof music between sets. Impossible!
GREAT CHRISTMAS IDEAS - SHOP LOCAL!
My favourite chord is ...
Dm
New strings on an acoustic guitar are ...
A blessing.
We sort out three-part harmonies by ...
Kellie the top harmony, Pat in the middle and Andy at the bottom. Our timbres work best this way.
We love these songs because ...
It’s our history and culture. We grew up on these songs, inheriting them from our parents or older siblings. Naturally we were drawn to them.
We love harmonies and earthy music – nothing too loud and distorted! The legacy of Laurel Canyon is everything we love about songwriting, camaraderie and music, maybe without the drugs these days!
The greatest challenge in performing these songs is ...
Pitching is so important to us. Getting them sonically right on the night. It’s not too hard but we set ourselves a high benchmark; we want the audience to really have a moving experience through song. We’re ready though!
The best concert I've ever seen was ...
Crosby, Stills and Nash at the State Theatre in Sydney in 1990. Three guitars, three vocals and immaculate singing and playing. I was in my favourite place!
With this show, we hope to ...
Present a journey to our audience, involving them in the history of this unique place (Laurel Canyon). We like to think we are carrying the torch for these iconic artists.
We want to tour this show to theatres across Australia and NZ, then to the USA and Europe in a few years.
If we argue about music, it's usually ...
We don’t argue too often about it, but if we do it’s usually about getting the pitch right and presentation right. We’ve all been around the block a few times before so we usually keep the arguing to a minimum.
If we have a deadline for something we can get focused and it can be a testing time, but we bring the goods in the end.
In the 30 minutes before showtime I'm ....
In the dressing room with Andy and Kellie. We are usually all happy and excited. Talking about the show and anything to consider. We are relaxing.
A musician's life is ...
A great journey. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not a great career and that there is no money in it. It has helped us put our kids through school, put food on the table and we have travelled all over the world because of it.
I am proud to say it was a good choice … Well, it chose me really, a long, long time ago.
The Road to Laurel Canyon is at Orange Civic Theatre on November 24, 2023. You can book seats here.
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