PETER ASHER: FROM LONDON TO MUDDY CREEK - by Billy Heath
In early 2017, I got an email from a booking agent saying that he had legendary guitar player Albert Lee, along with legendary producer and performer Peter Asher, coming through our area, and wanted to know if I would be interested in booking them to play at Muddy Creek. I had vaguely heard of Albert Lee before—and for some reason, when I was thinking about him, the term "Mr. One Take" came to mind. I hadn’t heard of Peter Asher to that point, so I googled him… and about two minutes later, I responded with a resounding yes!
Peter Asher‘s career is phenomenal! From being the only manager—at the time he was managing James Taylor and Carly Simon—to be on the cover of Rolling Stone, to listening to Paul McCartney and John Lennon write "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on his mother’s piano while Paul was living with them and dating his sister Jane, to being an inspiration for the character Austin Powers, the list just goes on and on…
The first time Peter came through with Albert, it was a phenomenal show! He is such a graceful and pleasant person to be around. That show was on June 19, 2016, and the Winston-Salem Journal proclaimed that "star power" was coming to Muddy Creek!
His manager told me that Peter would need someone to pick him up at the Greensboro airport, and I was more than happy to do it! After really studying Peter‘s career, I had many questions to ask him, and the first one was going to be to ask him about being a character model for Austin Powers… I got there just a couple of minutes late, and Peter was not pleased! Once we got in the car and were riding down the road, I was getting ready to ask him about the Austin Powers thing, and he took off his glasses and stuck them in the thermos cup of water that I had set up for him, so I decided not to ask him about that!
The Memoir Tour and the Glass House
The following spring, the same booking agent sent me a message stating that Peter was doing a musical memoir of the '60s and beyond, and asked if I was interested in having him perform at Muddy Creek. I could not reply fast enough!
When Peter arrived, he had a former member of Badfinger with him, who was the keyboard player in that band. The house music was playing "Band on the Run," and I was kind of singing along to it while setting up. The guy that was with Peter came out and told me to turn off that GD song, or he was leaving immediately! Turns out, he wasn’t a big fan of Paul!
The show was incredible! Peter's story is a phenomenal one—he’s kind of like the Forrest Gump of the music world! After the show, we went to where Peter was staying, which was the only glass house in Bethania, complete with a swimming pool! The mayor of Winston and other notable dignitaries were there. I was sitting beside Peter, with Shana on the other side of me. We were asking Peter about all the legendary people he'd worked with, and Shana, being a big Steely Dan fan, asked him if he’d ever worked with Donald Fagen. Peter said there are two people that he would never work with again, and Donald was one of them. Right when Shana was getting ready to ask him why, I tapped her on the let to let her know that might not be a good idea!
Sir Elton and Steve Martin
Peter had a great big cell phone about the size of an iPad, and it was facing upward. A name popped up on it that said "Sir Elton." Peter mumbled and hit the end call button. I had to ask… Peter, was that Elton John?
He said yes, reluctantly—he wanted Peter to produce him another album. That album won Peter a Grammy! And when Peter left the next day, he was on his way to Asheville to record with Steve Martin, which also won a Grammy!
That experience left us amazed at how someone with such an amazing history would come play a little place like Muddy Creek, and we will always be grateful for that!