The list of singer-songwriter-musicians who’ve had their backing vocals sung by Paul McCartney is a pretty short list. And probably no one save for John Lennon—God rest his soul—has enjoyed as many McCartney collaborations as Denny Laine, co-founding member of Wings and the band’s only permanent member whose last name wasn’t McCartney. Now, that particular name has the tendency to overshadow most others with whom it’s associated, so let’s quickly set the record straight on the standalone musical pedigree of Denny Laine, who will appear at Nashville’s City Winery at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19. Laine’s “Up Close and Personal” tour is his most intimate presentation to date, with just himself, songs and stories of his memorable life in music.
While his tenure with the McCartney mister and missus afforded many, many highlights, Laine had already tasted major success before the ex-Beatle ever came calling. The two had been friendly competitors in their youth, with Laine a fixture of the Birmingham music scene, about 100 miles from McCartney’s Liverpool home base where The Beatles were birthed. As the lead vocalist and co-founding member of The Moody Blues, Laine sang the band’s only single to ever reach the number-one spot in his homeland. “Go Now,” a little-known American R&B number Laine quickly—and rightly—recognized for its hit potential, points to the vast influence that U.S. soul artists had exerted on the British pop sound that dominated the American airwaves from 1964 until early ’66.
“Go Now” was re-popularized during the Wings Over America tour and resulting live album in the mid-’70s, when the band was flying high on a trio of consecutive hit albums—the 1973 breakthrough Band on the Run, 1975’s Venus and Mars, and ’76’s Wings at the Speed of Sound. Laine was given increasing visibility, with turns on lead vocal and songwriting collaborations with McCartney including the delightfully folksy and wise “Deliver Your Children” and the wistful “Mull of Kintyre,” an ode to their adopted Scotland home. Released in late 1977, it was the first UK single to sell two million copies nationwide and remains one of the country’s all-time top-sellers.
Something that often gets overlooked in the musician’s story is that he played a vital part in helping McCartney find his musical feet as the ex-Beatle navigated through a foggy period in the wake of his former band’s messy divorce. Laine has also created a body of his own solo work as well as having played a significant part in The Moody Blues’ debut album, which topped the U.S. charts in 1965. Laine, who last year was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with The Moody Blues, had departed the band prior to the orchestral experiments that created such Moodies’ classics as “Nights in White Satin” and “Tuesday Afternoon.” But Laine himself, in fact, had been experimenting on his own with the fusion of rock and classical instrumentation in his ahead-of-its-time, short-lived Electric String Band, which opened for Jimi Hendrix in London a few years prior to Laine’s involvement with Wings. The memory of that January 1967 performance, in fact, had stayed with McCartney, which factored into his decision to invite the musician to form a new band with him in 1971.
For Laine, who now lives in New York City, every trip to Tennessee is a homecoming of sorts. In 1974, the Wings entourage spent six weeks in the area, living and rehearsing on a farm in Lebanon and recording on Music Row, where the classic Wings single “Junior’s Farm” was cut.
“Wings seemed to be well rehearsed,” remembers Nashville audio engineer Ernie Winfrey, “because it didn’t take very long to finish the new tracks they brought to Nashville.” Winfrey had the amazing good fortune to be sitting behind the console the night Paul and Linda McCartney unexpectedly strolled into Sound Shop, where the engineer was on staff. He manned the board for several Wings sessions that took place over a two-week period in July of ’74.
Though Winfrey says he largely worked one on one with McCartney in the control room, he also noticed the strengths of each musician in the band. He describes Laine as a “jovial lad” and “an excellent musician who always tried to enhance the groove that Paul and [drummer] Geoff Britton laid down. Denny was a real asset to that rhythm section.” Having observed that the McCartneys were “very active and energetic,” Winfrey reckons that the more laid-back Laine “was the perfect balance to Paul.”
Stories of Wings over Tennessee are only some of the tales concertgoers will likely hear at Laine’s City Winery show, the first in this area to feature his songs-and-stories solo format. Tickets are available onsite at the Winery, 609 Lafayette St., Nashville, or via the classy establishment’s website, citywinery.com.
