Russell DaShiell (born July 23, 1947) is an American guitarist who has recorded as a solo artist as well as playing in bands such as
Crowfoot
Crowfoot (c. 1830 – 25 April 1890) or Isapo-Muxika (; syllabics: ) was a chief of the Siksika. His father, (Packs a Knife), and mother, (Attacked Towards Home), were Kainai. He was five years old when was killed during a raid on the Crow ...
and the
Don Harrison Band, and with
Harvey Mandel
Harvey "The Snake" Mandel (born March 11, 1945) is an American guitarist best known as a member of Canned Heat. He also played with Charlie Musselwhite and John Mayall as well as maintaining a solo career.
Early life
Mandel was born in Detroit ...
,
Phil Everly
Phillip Everly (January 19, 1939 – January 3, 2014) was an American musician, who was one half of the duo The Everly Brothers alongside his older brother Don.
Early life
Phil was born in Chicago in 1939 to Isaac Milford "Ike" Everly, Jr. (190 ...
and
Norman Greenbaum
Norman Joel Greenbaum (born November 20, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter, known for his 1969–1970 hit song "Spirit in the Sky". The song made him one of the most famous acts with a best-selling one-hit wonder for all time.
Early life a ...
. Russell was also one of the first people to have a Les Paul humbucker bridge pickup in a strat in 1970.
Career
Born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, DaShiell lived on
Oahu
Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...
, Hawaii between the ages of three and fifteen, taking up guitar at the age of fourteen.
[Ruhlmann, William]
Russell DaShiell Biography
, Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
. Retrieved June 29, 2013 He moved with his parents to Florida in 1963, where he formed a band that played cover songs in the local beach clubs. He then joined
Doug Killmer's band The Sonics, which after the addition of drummer Rick Jaeger became The Beau Gentry in 1965.
[Accardi, Joseph J. (2008) ''Beloit's ]Club Pop House
Club Pop House (called The Pop House) was a private teenage social and dance club located near downtown Beloit, Wisconsin, United States, at the intersection of Portland Avenue and 5th Street. The Pop House was a popular gathering spot for local hi ...
'', Arcadia Publishing, , p. 96 The Beau Gentry spent the next year in Florida developing a following, and in 1966 they were booked for a summer tour of Wisconsin by Ken Adamany (who would later manage
Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1970 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. Their work bridged elements of '60s pop rock, guitar pop, '70s har ...
). The tour went so well they decided to stay in the area. After two years of gigging in the midwest, the band evolved into
Crowfoot
Crowfoot (c. 1830 – 25 April 1890) or Isapo-Muxika (; syllabics: ) was a chief of the Siksika. His father, (Packs a Knife), and mother, (Attacked Towards Home), were Kainai. He was five years old when was killed during a raid on the Crow ...
and relocated to San Francisco in December, 1968.
With Crowfoot struggling to make ends meet, DaShiell began working as a session guitarist in the S.F. Bay area, playing on
A.B. Skhy's 1969 debut album, and going on to play in
Harvey Mandel
Harvey "The Snake" Mandel (born March 11, 1945) is an American guitarist best known as a member of Canned Heat. He also played with Charlie Musselwhite and John Mayall as well as maintaining a solo career.
Early life
Mandel was born in Detroit ...
's band with Rick Jaeger.
He also played on
Norman Greenbaum
Norman Joel Greenbaum (born November 20, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter, known for his 1969–1970 hit song "Spirit in the Sky". The song made him one of the most famous acts with a best-selling one-hit wonder for all time.
Early life a ...
's ''
Spirit in the Sky
"Spirit in the Sky" is a song by American singer-songwriter Norman Greenbaum, originally written and recorded by Greenbaum and released in December 1969 from his album '' Spirit in the Sky''. The single became a gold record in the United S ...
'' album, with Doug Killmer on bass, which included the chart-topping
title track
A title track is a song that has the same name as the album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...
. He then toured with Greenbaum and played on his next two albums.
His success prompted him to revive Crowfoot, securing a record deal with Paramount Records, although the band's self-titled 1970 album was largely a DaShiell solo effort, as was its 1971 follow-up ''Find the Sun'' on ABC Dunhill.
[Album Reviews: Special Merit Picks]
, ''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'', September 26, 1970, p. 64. Retrieved June 29, 2013[Album Reviews: Crowfoot – Find the Sun]
, ''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'', October 2, 1971, p. 48. Retrieved June 29, 2013
DaShiell relocated to Hollywood in the early 1970s and continued his session work, recording with artists such as
Phil Everly
Phillip Everly (January 19, 1939 – January 3, 2014) was an American musician, who was one half of the duo The Everly Brothers alongside his older brother Don.
Early life
Phil was born in Chicago in 1939 to Isaac Milford "Ike" Everly, Jr. (190 ...
,
Danny O'Keefe
Danny O'Keefe (born May 20, 1943) is an American folk singer and songwriter.
Career
In 1968, O'Keefe was a member of a four-man heavy psychedelic rock band named the Calliope. The group recorded one album, ''Steamed'', for Buddah Records befor ...
,
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist and singer who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, including Buddy ...
,
John Sebastian
John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who founded the rock band the Lovin' Spoonful in 1964 with Zal Yanovsky. During his time in the Lovin Spoonful, Sebastian wrote and sang some of the ban ...
, and former
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American Rock music, rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, h ...
member
Tom Fogerty
Thomas Richard Fogerty (November 9, 1941 – September 6, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist for Creedence Clearwater Revival. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
Biography ...
, recording his album ''Myopia'' with
Stu Cook and
Doug Clifford
Douglas Raymond Clifford (born April 24, 1945) is an American drummer who is nicknamed "Cosmo". He is best known as a founding member of Creedence Clearwater Revival for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. After th ...
, also former Creedence members.
He went on to work with Cook and Clifford on solo material and joined them in the
Don Harrison Band, recording two albums for
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
in 1976 and opening for the
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
at Knebworth that year.
[Whitburn, Joel (2009) ''Music Stars'', Record Research Inc., , p. 112][Lewis, Barbara (1976)]
Don Harrison Band Has Hit Single
, ''Lakeland Ledger
''The Ledger'' is a daily newspaper serving Lakeland, Florida, and the Polk County area.
History
The paper was founded on August 22, 1924, as the ''Lakeland Evening Ledger''. In 1927, it bought its main competitor, the morning ''Lakeland S ...
'', June 28, 1976, p. 2D. Retrieved June 29, 2013
DaShiell finally released solo material after signing with
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...
. The ''Elevator'' album, featuring his collaborations with Cook and Clifford, was released in 1978.
[Salloum, Rod (1978)]
Russel DaShiell, Elevator, Epic
, '' Star Phoenix'', April 15, 1978, p. 8 (Accent section). Retrieved June 29, 2013
Although his solo career was initially short-lived, he continued to work on various projects, including a single and album with new band 'I Spy' in the 1980s with Doug Clifford on drums, signing with Sonet in Sweden.
[Dupler, Steven (1985)]
Audio Track
, ''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'', March 9, 1985, p. 43. Retrieved June 29, 2013 He also worked on a solo album by Doug Clifford.
By the end of the 1980s he had moved into television soundtrack and editing work, notably on ''
In Living Color
''In Living Color'' is an American sketch comedy television series that originally ran on Fox from April 15, 1990, to May 19, 1994. Keenen Ivory Wayans created, wrote and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions ...
''.
In the early 1990s he and his former Crowfoot bandmates Doug Killmer and Rick Jaeger were reunited to record the
EP ''Mesenger'' in 1994.
In the late 1990s DaShiell moved to Lake Tahoe and composed for advertising while continuing to record solo material. In 2000 he moved to Maui, writing and recording the album ''Island Life'', which he is currently updating for a 2024 release via his website spiritguitar.com.
He’s also been developing a project called ''Foreverland Forest'', initially intended as a children’s book with music, expanded to be an animated film featuring 10 original songs from his upcoming solo album ''Foreverland''.
Discography
Albums
*''Crowfoot'' (1970), Paramount
*''Find the Sun'' (1971), ABC Dunhill
*''Elevator'' (1978),
Epic
Epic commonly refers to:
* Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation
* Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale
Epic(s) ...
*''Island Life'' (2024), Aerial View
*''Foreverland'' (2024), Aerial View
Singles, EPs
*''In the Fire'' (1978), Epic
*''Fool For Your Love'' (1984), Sonet
*''Mesenger'' (1994), Aerial View
References
External links
spiritguitar.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dashiell, Russell
1947 births
Living people
American rock guitarists
American male guitarists
Guitarists from Philadelphia
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians