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Johnny Rivers at
the NYCB Theater,
March 2017
upbringing is never forced or over-em-
phasized, and it adds signature textures
and colors to his songs: When Johnny
Rivers sings, you know it’s Johnny
Rivers.
And that’s why he’s been able to
convincingly inhabit his own songs
and, more prominently, those written
by others—in many cases, songs whose
original versions would seem the ulti-
mate. Rivers’s hazy California vibe on
Bobby Freeman’s
classic “Do You
Want to Dance,” for instance, gives it a
fresh, free, embracing sound.
ough Rivers’s performance alone
promises to make Ravinia’s penultimate
date a hit- lled evening, it’s in fact a de-
lectable double bill also featuring fellow
singer and songwriter Jimmy Webb.
At face value, a Rivers/Webb musical
showcase carries an easy appeal, one
that’s sweetened by the two performers’
shared history and successful teaming
that dates back more than years.
Rivers and the Oklahoma native
Webb rst connected in
, when Riv-
ers recorded several compositions by the
then relatively unknown Jimmy Webb,
including an early version of
“By the Time I Get to Phoe-
nix.” e following year, on
his hit- lled long-player
Rewind
, which included his
satisfying versions of “Baby,
I Need Your Lovin’ ” and
Smokey Robinson’s “Tracks
of my Tears,” Rivers lled
more than half the album
with Webb originals.
At the same time,
Rivers was producing and
keeping an ear open for
new talent and songwriters
to stock his own record
label, Soul City Records. While
Rivers searched for material
to help break one of the label’s
newer acts, e Fi h Dimen-
sion, he keenly heard some
hit-in-the-making potential
and passed along a Webb song
to the group.
e result was the mega-
smash “Up, Up, and Away,” and
the winds of fate and fortune
helped it soar into the top
MICHAEL SHERER
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2018 – MAY 11, 2019
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