Episode 27: The Yardbirds Drummer, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Member, & Author Jim McCarty
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Jim McCarty
Jim McCarty is an original member of The Yardbirds, the legendary 1960s British psychedelic blues band that launched the careers of three of rock’s greatest guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page.
Jim is recognized world-wide for the innovative drumming style he introduced on Yardbirds songs that are now classics, such as “For Your Love,” “Heart Full of Soul,” “Shapes of Things,” “The Train Kept A-Rollin’,” “You’re a Better Man Than I,” “Over Under Sideways Down,” and “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago.”
Since the end of The Yardbirds in the late ‘60s, Jim has formed a number of successful bands and released three solo albums of his own songs. He is the author of the book ‘Nobody Told Me: My Life with the Yardbirds, Renaissance and Other Stories’, published in 2018, and the 2021 book ‘She Walks In Beauty: My Quest For The Bigger Picture’, both written with Dave Thompson.
The Yardbirds (left to right): Chris Dreja, Paul Samwell-Smith, Jim McCarty, Keith Relf, Jeff Beck
About the Episode
Jim McCarty
EPISODE SUMMARY:
Before there was Led Zeppelin, before Jimmy Page first bowed his electric guitar or worked his magic on the theremin, there was The Yardbirds—the legendary 1960s British psychedelic blues band that launched the careers of three of rock’s greatest guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page.
In this special episode of Rock is Lit, one of the original members of The Yardbirds joins me, and I couldn’t be more excited. Drummer and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Member Jim McCarty is here.
Rock is Lit is a podcast about rock novels, and I’d originally contacted Jim to be a guest in the episode celebrating the audiobook release of my rock novel, ‘Searching for Jimmy Page’, but we were not able to make that happen. Later, after that episode aired and after I read Jim’s book ‘She Walks In Beauty: My Quest for the Bigger Picture’, inspired by the loss of his beloved wife, Lizzie, and his efforts to connect with her following her death, AND after Jim and I finally did make contact and scheduled an interview, I decided to devote an entire episode to him.
In this episode, we talk about Jim’s family and childhood during WWII-torn Britain, his music career and experience as a member of The Yardbirds, his interest in and exploration of the paranormal and spirituality, his endearing and enduring relationship with Lizzie, and ‘She Walks In Beauty’, the fascinating book that details that relationship as well as Jim’s quest for the bigger picture, as the book’s subtitle states.
The interview is uncut and only minimally edited. I hope you enjoy it. It was an honor and a thrill to spend some time with one of rock’s legends: Jim McCarty.
Watch my second interview with Jim about his new song, “Breath of the Wind,” released on Sept 15, 2023, and more on his quest to communicate with his late wife, Lizzie.
LINKS:
Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451
Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350
Jim McCarty’s website: http://www.jamesmccarty.com/
Jim’s 2018 album ‘Walking in the Wild Land’ is available to stream and download now: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02dnzoj4U768gqvbrEc4Ma7F8HHfqhTLLRTPP7CrEXh4izsgTyuiueN3QFaVeg4q9Xl&id=100063547871100
*Purchase Jim’s books and albums at his website
*All of Jim’s social media links can be found on his website
Jim McCarty
The Yardbirds (left to right): Jeff Beck, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja, Jimmy Page, Keith Relf
The Yardbirds (left to right): Chris Dreja, (back) Jim McCarty, Eric Clapton, Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith
Jim McCarty (middle)
