Jack Tempchin & Rocket Science
From humble beginnings at coffeehouse hootenannies, to landing two songs on the best-selling album of the 20th century, Jack Tempchin has been a pivotal figure in the genre-defining country-rock music movement of the 1970’s that’s come to be known as the Southern California sound.
Tempchin’s musical influences were formed during the 60’s… first, as an impassioned music fan and college student in San Diego, where he immersed himself by booking blues and folk luminaries at the SDSU BackDoor music club. Inevitably, he took to the stage himself; first on harmonica and later on guitar.
As fellow artists rolled through town, Jack frequently would extend invitations to those needing a place to crash for the night. Among these were Lightning Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Jackson Browne and Johnny Rivers.
Fatefully, Jack’s gracious hospitality also endeared him to the members of a band called Longbranch Pennywhistle and a soon-to-be friend and co-writer: future Eagle Glenn Frey. His comrades would reciprocate the favor in time, thus introducing Jack to the fertile Southern California folk country-rock scene of the early 1970s. It was here that Jack’s own song penmanship began to acknowledged by his peers with their requests to co-write and cover his songs.
Jack’s own PEACEFUL EASY FEELING was recorded by the Eagles during this time. And soon, his co-write with Robb Strandlund of ALREADY GONE would also be covered by the band, with both tracks ultimately making it on to The Eagles Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975.
