Fleetwood Mac – Luegra

The Scruggs/Buckingham Connection

A few months ago, my buddy Ken gave me some food for thought: Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham has stated in a few interviews that bluegrass banjo hero Earl Scruggs was a big influence on his playing.

That thought has stuck in the back of my mind for a while. The more that I thought about it, the more it made sense. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album has always been one of my favorites. Buckingham’s playing style is finger picking instead of using a pick, which he has done since he started playing in folk bands in the 1960s. When he and Stevie Nicks joined the band in 1974, the melding of folk-rock with the British blues style rhythm section was magic. The first album with this lineup was the self-titled disc from 1975.

On that album, listen to “Say You Love Me.” Yes, Buckingham throws banjo onto the track, which gives it a great country music feel. Then check out “Rhiannon.” He plucks the strings similar to what banjo great Don Reno was doing on some of Reno & Smiley cuts.

Then we go to Rumours. “Gold Dust Woman” not only has Buckingham picking banjo style, but he even includes some dobro. His bluegrass-tinges playing can also be heard on “You Make Loving Fun” and “Don’t Stop.” Check out his more folky picking with “The Chain.”

While Tusk from 1979 was a bit more experimental, Mirage from 1982 had Buckingham implementing his picking style into a few tracks, namely “Hold Me” and “Gypsy.” One cannot see the similarities of his guitar playing with instances that Scruggs picked up a six-string on some of the Flatt & Scruggs recordings.

As for Mr. Scruggs, the Earl Scruggs Revue did cover Fleetwood Mac’s song “Landslide” as a country-rock number. The band did a number of live shows with Fleetwood Mac in the early 1970s (before Buckingham and Nicks were members). On his 1983 Top of the World album, Scruggs recorded a composition titled “Lindsey.” He claimed that it was not about Buckingham but instead about his granddaughter. Fast forward to today, Lindsey Scruggs is now a singer-songwriter and performs a number of Fleetwood Mac songs in her live performances, as well as recording a version of “Gypsy.”

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Christine McVie RIP

Earlier this week, Christine McVie passed away after a short serious illness. She was 79 years old. It seems that the media was a bit slow to pick up on it, as most of the news reporting that I witnessed mentioned it either Thursday evening or Friday morning.

Christine was the keyboardist, co-vocalist, and contributing songwriter for the classic rock band Fleetwood Mac. She joined the band around 1970, as it was moving away from a hard English blues sound to try and sound more mainstream. She married (and later divorced) band bassist John McVie, and when the duo of Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the fold, there was music magic.

Christine would sing and write on some of the band’s most memorable songs, including “You Make Loving Fun,” “Over My Head,” “Say You Love Me.” and “Don’t Stop.” The band had a great pop-rock sound that could be appreciated by both classic rock fans and jaded popsters. A lot of that had to do with Christine’s keyboard work. Her clavinet playing in “You Make Loving Fun” sets the entire sexy mood of the song. The string-imitating synth sound in “Don’t Stop” coinciding with the barroom honky-tonk piano is hauntingly beautiful.

Rumours, from 1977 and a Grammy winner, to me is one of the greatest rock albums of all time. There are no flashy guitar solos. It is the combination of three great vocalists (Christine, Lindsay and Stevie), as well as very smart musicians as a band, knowing that the song is the most important thing. All of the musicians know exactly what will fit into each verse or chorus. Rumours, along with the 1975 self-titled album, are extremely special. There is not a bad track on either one of them. I blew out cassette copies of both of them a while back.

Christine semi-retired form the band and music in general back in 1998, although she made some appearances and re-joined Fleetwood Mac for a tour in 2014 and recorded/toured with Lindsay in 2017. While none of her solo work never achieved the popularity of the 70s-era Fleetwood Mac output, she was always kicking out quality music that any other songwriter would be proud of.

She had a motherly voice, but it was angelic as well. I never turn off a Fleetwood Mac song when it comes on the radio. My personal downhearted feeling this week was telling someone at work that she passed away (he is about 15 years younger than me) and he didn’t know of her. THEN, I told him about Fleetwood Mac, and he said that he never heard of the band. I know that I am a music fanatic, but you must be really sheltered if you never heard of Fleetwood Mac!

Rest in Peace, Ms. McVie. Your magic will never be forgotten.

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