Last Firefall member recalls glory days ahead of Shipshewana concert | CPT PPP Coverage

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SHIPSHEWANA — Orleans, Firefall & Pure Prairie League will be at the Blue Gate Theater this Saturday.

Firefall’s last original member, Jock Bartley said, for their part, they’ll play all the songs fans would expect and his fans are lucky because there are a lot of them. Last year, saxophone/keyboard player David Muse passed away, and bassist Mark Andes retired before the band began working on their newest album “Friends & Family.”

It’s not the first time the band has been reformed, though. In the 1980s, when the band dissolved, Bartley found himself as the sole owner of the band name.

“I’ve had a number of incarnations of Firefall and of course the strength of the band has always been our songs,” he said. “There’s tens of thousands of great lead guitar players that can play leads on songs, but if you don’t have the song and the singer to sell it, you ain’t going to get famous that’s for sure.”

The primary audience continues to grow older by the year, but Bartley particularly enjoys it when he finds younger generations in the crowd at concerts.

“They had their parents who listened to The Eagles, and Dan Fogelberg, and Firefall, and those kids grew up with those songs and now love it and a lot of them come to our concerts which is really amazing.”

About a year ago, the band’s manager recalled that many of the original bandmates played in several other bands throughout their years. He suggested to Bartley doing an album of songs from those bands, and Bartley added to his idea, incorporating songs from bands they played alongside in the early years.

“In 1976, when our first album came out, we toured with the Doobie Brothers, The Band’s Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson — and everybody. We toured with Fleetwood Mac, we toured with Lynyrd Skynyrd before the plane crash, toured with Marshall Tucker, (the duo) Loggins and Messina, all these amazing bands when our first album came out …” Bartley said.

When Firefall was formed in Bartley’s hometown of Boulder, Colorado, it was a pivotal point in rock music history as artists were moving away from Los Angeles and into the mountains.

“We’d be playing at a little club in Boulder and Stephen Stills would walk in or Dan Fogelberg would walk in and (my bandmates) would be like ‘Hey, come on! Sit in!’ Because they kind of knew some of the guys in the band,” he recalled. “It’s been a really charmed kind of thing, the intertwining nature of some of those magical times. … It’s amazing how many people played in other bands, sat in on other bands, played on other records.”

Both well-known and obscure songs from the variety of bands were taken for the 2023 album, the first cover album Firefall has done in its more than 50 years of performing.

“We went into this whole project with love for the music and reverence for those bands,” Bartley said. “I’m the producer and I don’t mind saying that it sounds fantastic.”

Current members of Firefall and those who contributed to the new album are Jock Bartley — guitar, vocals (1974-present); John Bisaha — bass, vocals (2022-present); Sandy Ficca — drums (1984–present); Steven Weinmeister — guitar, bass, mandolin, keyboards, vocals (1993-2014, 2022-present); Jim Waddell — keyboards, flute, saxophone (1993, 1995-1996, 1998-2000, 2003, 2022).

“I knew all along I wanted to have some guest stars appear on it,” Bartley admitted, confirming that Heart’s guitarist Howard Leese, who is now in Bad Company, will perform on “What About Love?” and Tris Imboden of Chicago will also join the lineup.

The album release date is scheduled for June 1, with singles being released in April and May.

To purchase tickets to the Orleans, Firefall & Pure Prairie League show, visit www.thebluegate.com. Tickets range from $39.95-84.95.