Paul McCartney and Wings in 1974, drummer Geoff Britton, far right. Photo by Michael Putland.

Drummer Geoff Britton’s best-known work is heard on Paul McCartney and Wings’ 1974 single “Junior’s Farm,” which connects to a piece of Middle Tennessee history: the song was recorded in Nashville after being prepared on a rural retreat in Wilson County. Britton, whose stint with Wings was brief, hasn’t been anywhere near the area in decades. Soon, he’ll be winging his way back to Tennessee for one of his first concert appearances on an American stage in more than 40 years. Billed as the Junior’s Farm 45th Anniversary Featuring Wings Drummer Geoff Britton, the one-off event is slated for 3 p.m. on June 2 at the Cookeville Community Center. While in the States, he’ll revisit the site where the hit song first came to life, kicking off with this intriguing lyric:

You should have seen me with the poker man.

This otherwise anonymous character is one of a few whimsical images contained in “Junior’s Farm,” a No. 3 U.S. hit that also mentioned an Eskimo, a frisky sea lion and the early 20th-century film comedian Oliver Hardy. But that cryptic opening line about a poker dealer may now hold particular meaning for Middle Tennessee native Dan Ealey, who met and spent time with McCartney and Wings during their working vacation in the summer of 1974. You see, anyone who was in the immediate vicinity could have indeed spotted Ealey with “the poker man.” Perhaps some explanation would be in order here. . . .

In a somewhat novel move, McCartney decided to have the members of Wings take on roles of characters from “Junior’s Farm” for the song’s promotional campaign (wisely casting wife Linda as a glamorous accomplice). Geoff Britton cut an especially dashing figure as the lanky card dealer known as “the poker man.” Britton was a new member of Wings in June of 1974, when leader McCartney brought his family and band for an extended stay on the Lebanon farm of hit country songwriter Claude “Curly” Putman Jr. Yes, we said Junior. Perhaps you’ve guessed by now that Putman’s rural spread is indeed the “Junior’s Farm” that inspired one of McCartney’s hardest-rocking post-Beatles efforts, no little thanks to Britton’s steady, sure-handed drumming. (As the song was being recorded at Nashville’s Sound Shop, Britton in fact played the drum kit with his right foot broken, the result of a martial arts mishap prior to departing for America.)

Britton had been chosen two months earlier from more than 50 drummers in an open audition held in London. As Ealey explains, the then little-known Britton emerged victorious over fierce competition including Jimi Hendrix Experience skinsman Mitch Mitchell, Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart timekeeper Mickey Waller, and future Dire Straits drummer Terry Williams. Britton, tall and athletic, was a practicing black belt in karate; in fact, Ealey recalls that his first glimpse of the drummer “was Geoff working out doing his knuckle push-ups, dressed in his karate uniform on the concrete porch of the guest house at the farm.” As part of his discipline, Britton chose not to partake in alcohol or drug use. This evidently made him the odd man out among his Wings colleagues at the Lebanon-based living accommodations where he was basically a six-week roommate with fellow musicians Denny Laine and Jimmy McCulloch.

Though accounts vary as to how the inter-band tension actually began, it appears to have been most intense between Britton and McCulloch, another newly enlisted member of the group. The guitarist, though only 21 at the time, did have a bit of band seniority over Britton (who was 30 years old at the time) and the added advantage of an already established working relationship with McCartney and company. McCulloch, according to some who’d met him in Music City, was the wild card in the Wings deck, capable of volatile moods but a vital contributor who brought to the quintet an astonishing prowess on lead guitar that trumped Britton’s position when push came to shove. In the end, the poker man was dealt a losing hand. He was asked to leave Wings early in 1975, midway through the recording of the album Venus and Mars. He left his mark on a few tracks, though, including the soulful, mid-tempo rocker “Letting Go.”

It’s hard to know exactly how deeply this career snafu affected Britton, as he’s basically remained mum about the whole affair ever since, with only the barest of exceptions. Though he went on to play with a variety of notables including Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and the underrated, all but forgotten Fleetwood Mac guitarist and songwriter Danny Kirwan, Britton largely laid low, ending up at some point in Spain. Ealey had initially kept in touch with him, but lost contact along the way.

The upcoming June 2nd show—featuring Britton at the skins along with Ealey and his longtime friend and MerseySide bandmate Billy Dyer (who also hung out with Wings in ’74)—wouldn’t be happening had Ealey not embarked on a four-year search that culminated in a phone reunion with Britton late last summer. During one of their several conversations that followed, Ealey mentioned that June of 2019 marked the 45th anniversary of Wings’ extended Tennessee stay.

“When I told him that if he came over we could go back and visit it together,” Ealey says, “he was in.”

Dan Ealey (L ) with Geoff Britton in 1974, during Paul McCartney and Wings’ stay in Lebanon, Tennessee.

Britton’s return will not only offer Beatlephiles their first-ever opportunity to hear him discuss his decades-old association with McCartney; it will also mark the first time he and Ealey have seen one another since Wings flew out of Nashville in mid-July of ’74. Ealey, still amazed by his McCartney and Wings adventure more than four decades ago, is equally flabbergasted that Britton agreed to play drums for a one-off reunion of Ealey’s band, MerseySide.

Though the band—named for the Liverpool-centered music scene in the early 1960s that bore The Beatles themselves—was a celebration of Ealey’s passion for the music of that period, the reunited MerseySide will be largely accommodating Britton’s desire to play old American rock ’n’ roll. The set list, in addition to a smattering of British Invasion-era music (and, naturally, “Junior’s Farm”), will include vintage numbers recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison. (Orbison, incidentally, was among the small coterie of celebrity guests at McCartney’s 32nd birthday party, held outside on the Putman property, with Ealey himself onsite to witness the memorable event).

The Cookeville concert is primarily designed to afford fans a chance to see and hear Britton in person, of course, but playing with the blokes he met while visiting Tennessee will likely lend the affair a casual, homespun flavor not unlike the climate in which the men originally became acquainted. Britton will also partake in an onstage question-and-answer session along with Ealey and Dyer, and meet fans for photos and autographs after the show, to be opened by locally based acoustic acts doing Beatles- and Wings-related material.

“I am very excited to be returning to the U.S., playing a few dates at [Louisville-area festival] Abbey Road on the River with The Cryers and coming down to Cookeville to visit my old friend Dan Ealey and perform with his band MerseySide,” Britton said from his home in Spain. “Without Dan, none of this would have happened. We are going to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Junior’s Farm together in Cookeville, and he and I will revisit the farm in Lebanon to talk about the wonderful memories and good times there during the summer of 1974. I would like to encourage everyone to come out,” says Britton, “and we can all have some great fun together.”

A panel from a vintage-comic-strip-styled ad for “Junior’s Farm” published upon the single’s release in late October of ’74 and featuring cartoon depictions of Paul McCartney and his band Wings. On the far right is Geoff Britton as “the poker man.”

A late-breaking development, Ealey reports, is that Paul McCartney and members of his current band—who are performing in Lexington, Kentucky the night prior to Britton’s Cookeville appearance—have been officially invited. When it comes to Sir Paul, who’s been known to embark on a magical mystery tour now and again when the urge strikes, you just never know what he might end up doing. But even if he turns up at the table, ready to be dealt in, that doesn’t change the simple fact that this long-awaited day belongs to the poker man. On that, friends, you can safely bet a grand.

Tickets, $20 in advance and $25 at the door, can be obtained by searching for the event at eventbrite.com. Questions about the event can be emailed to Ealey in care of nemsassociates@aol.com.