The British Invasion was reaching its height when the Rolling Stones made their first tour of America in 1965. Session guitar ace Waddy Wachtel cut school to see them perform at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on May 1. Although the Stones were typically greeted by throngs of screaming fans wherever they appeared, the Brooklyn crowd gave them an atypically cool reception.
“People were there to see the Tokens, this vocal group from New York who were opening for them,” the guitarist recalls. “They left when the Stones came on.
“The place was almost empty, and there’s the Stones coming out, starting with ‘Not Fade Away.’ It was so fantastic. It just took you away.”
Wachtel would go on to become a top-tier guitarist himself, performing with the likes of Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Warren Zevon, Bob Dylan, and many others. Given his résumé, it’s no surprise he eventually crossed paths with Richards. The first time came while Wachtel was on tour with Ronstadt’s band.
“When we were on tour in England back in the mid ’70s, Keith came to the show and we spent a lot of quality time together,” he remembers
It must have been time well spent, because Richards had Wachtel in mind when he formed his backing group, the X-Pensive Winos, for his 1988 debut solo album, Talk Is Cheap.
“I got a call from an English attorney saying Keith was trying to find me. I went, ‘Well, you found me — why don’t you give him my number?’ The guy said, ‘Listen, he’s at Larrabee Studios.’
“They were working on the Hail! Hail! Rock ’n’ Roll movie,” he says, referring to the 1987 Chuck Berry biopic for which Richards served as guitarist and bandleader.
“He says, ‘Give him a call.’”
“So I called Keith up, and he says, ‘Waddy, I’m putting a band together, and you’re the other guitar player.’ I went, ‘Really?!’ He says, ‘Really. No auditions for this band. You’re it,’ which knocked me out of the park.”
When Wachtel joined Richards and drummer Steve Jordan for rehearsals in New York City, he learned Keith had even picked out the guitar he wanted him to play.
“Keith goes, ‘You don’t need to bring a guitar.’ So I get there and open up this case he had for me.” Inside was a Gibson Les Paul TV model, the same instrument that had been Wachtel’s first electric guitar.
“I open it up and there it is. I go, ‘Well, this is my first electric guitar!’ He goes, ‘Yeah, that’s the ‘Tumbling Dice’ guitar.’”
Wachtel went on to play on all three of Richards’ solo albums with the Winos and co-produce the second, 1992’s Main Offender. He says Richards was a joy to work with through all of it.
“There’d be times where things would bog down — you know how it is in the studio. Things break down, and you can’t get the right setup. I’d look at him and go, ‘Keith, I’m sorry it’s taking so long.’ He’d say, ‘No worries, mate, no worries. I’ve been here before. It’s no biggie.’”
One memory, in particular, sums up Richards’ history and his effortless cool. It comes from when they were tracking Main Offender at the Site in San Rafael, California.
“One day we were in this living room area — Keith’s bedroom was above it. We were taking a break, late afternoon, and he went upstairs to lie down for a bit. We were watching TV, and all of a sudden this Beatles concert comes on — at Shea Stadium or something like that. It was just monstrous screaming — girls losing their minds.
“We’re sitting there watching this, and all of a sudden Keith comes walking down the stairs. He looks at the TV from across the room and just goes, ‘Done that.’
“Steve and I looked at each other and went, ‘Yeah, right. It’s that guy.’
“He’s such a lovely guy — so warm and personable and beautiful. But he’s that guy — he’s that Rolling Stone who was screamed at for the first five years. They never heard anything they were playing onstage.”
Unless, of course, you count that first Rolling Stones show Wachtel caught years earlier in Brooklyn.
