In December, Colorado Public Radio interviewed band member Chris Daniels for Colorado Matters. Daniels explained how numerous record deals fell through in the 1970s, due to bad advice from label executives. Just as an offer from Flying Fish Records arrived in 1976, the band broke up after six years.
“We would have loved to have gotten a record out. We really weren’t interested in changing the way [we sounded]. We weren’t listening to radio, we weren’t listening to other things going on,” Daniels said.
He added that the band members stayed friends and followed each other’s careers. Magic Music’s longtime ally Tim Goodman – a founding member of country band Southern Pacific -- got involved with producing the new album after a reunion concert in 2015 and Daniels’ recovery from leukemia.
“Tim got involved and brought his expertise to it, and really took the tunes that were of an era and tried to make them feel universal – and they really do. You listen to these songs and they have that ‘70s exuberance, but they also have that modern sound to them,” Daniels said.
Will Luckey, one of the band’s founding members, called in to Colorado Matters to talk about the songs the band wrote in the 1970s. He noted, “Some of the stuff that was written was pretty wild, pretty euphoric, you know? We went in and tried to change a few things around to try to make it more grown up, and it became apparent that you can’t change anything in those snapshots. Those songs are pretty much like we wrote them.”
The new collection draws on the feel-good material that gained Magic Music a substantial following in Denver and Boulder, as well as an invitation to play the second and third Telluride Bluegrass Festivals.
Today the lineup includes Daniels, Goodman, Luckey, founding member/flute player George Cahill (aka Tode), bassist Jimmy Haslip, percussionist Tommy Major and violinist Scarlet Rivera. The new project features guests like Newgrass Revival’s Sam Bush, The Doobie Brothers’ John McFee and Little Feat’s Bill Payne.
A documentary about Magic Music titled Everything is Floating, created by longtime fan and Two and a Half Men producer Lee Aronsohn, is expected to be released in 2018.
Hear the album.
