Don Harrison

Don Harrison - Not Far From Free - 1977 - Mercury

Don Harrison grew up in an integrated Louisville, Kentucky neighbourhood. He first performed as a singer in an otherwise all black acapella group. He relocated to Los Angeles where he performed in bars and as a studio musician. He played with his own Don Harrison Band, an American roots outfit during the 1970's that featured Don, himself on vocals, guitar and keyboards, Stu Cook on bass and piano and Doug Clifford on drums and percussion. Stu Cook and Doug "Cosmo" Clifford were both former members of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Rounding out the line-up was Russell DaShiell formerly of Crowfoot on lead and rhythm guitar, piano and vocals. The band merged elements of folk, country, rhythm & blues and rock & roll in a sound reminiscent of CCR.Originally Russell DaShiell formerly of Crowfoot and Stu Cook and Doug Clifford of Creedence Clearwater revival intended to produce Harrison, but they then decided to launch the band together with him instead. The Don Harrison Band released two albums on the Atlantic Records label: "The Don Harrison Band" in April, 1976 which featured the Memphis Horns and "Red Hot" in January 1977. They made the charts in Australia with a remake of Tennessee Ernie Ford's, 1955 hit Sixteen Tons. A highlight for the band was performing as opening act at the 1976 Knebworth Festival headlined by the Rolling Stones. After the band split, Don Harrison recorded the album posted here and then seemingly disappeared from the music scene. DaShiell continues to work and record in the Los Angeles area. The ex CCR members, Cook and Clifford, are now back on tour performing with their band, Creedence Clearwater Revisited.

"Not Far From Free" has no exceptional tracks, and not surprisingly much of the sound is in the CCR/John Fogerty mould. Listen to "Kick Ass Rock And Roll". It's still quite listenable as Don Harrison was a good vocalist and artists like guitarist Dan Stickler, and saxophonist Joel Peskin were great musicians. There is an interesting cover of the Beatle's "Helter Skelter". Rick Davies' "Art School Credentials" is a good jazzy soul number as is Don Harrison's own "American Dream". An above average album with a lot of musical merit

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

A1 Honey Do - Don Harrison 4:09
A2 Art School Credentials - Rick Davies 3:47
A3 American Dream - Don Harrison 6:30
A4 Helter Skelter - John Lennon, Paul McCartney 5:07

B1 Kick Ass Rock And Roll - Don Harrison 3:26
B2 Not Far From Free - Don Harrison 5:30
B3 Funky Monkey - Don Harrison 3:48
B4 Alone Tonight - Don Harrison 5:49

MUSICIANS

Don Harrison - Guitar, Vocals
Michael Carroll - Bass
Drums - Gary Gossett
Dan Stickler - Guitar
Jeff Morrow - Keyboards
Joel Peskin - Saxophone
Novi - Viola
Background Vocals - Karen Friedman, Pat Mata

N.B: Some music reference sites credit CCR's Doug Clifford and Stu Cook, and Crowfoot's "Russell DaShiell" as playing on this album. However, there is no mention of these musicians on the LP sleeve credits