If you read today’s Tribune, you might have seen the piece where Clarence “Big Man” Clemons talks about hanging out at the Pozo Saloon. But that’s not the only local connection he has with San Lus Obispo County.
Clemons, Bruce Springsteen’s sax player since the early 70s, also gave local songwriter Jude Johnstone her first big break. The two first met, Clemons told me, on a plane.
“Her cousin was on a plane with me — in first class — and we started talking, and she told me about her cousin and said, ’She’s in coach, going to LA for the first time,’” Clemons said. “And (Johnstone) gave me some of her music, and I was floored. Her songwriting ability was so unbelievable at a young age. Her mom told me she used to sit under a tree and just write music — when she was 11 or 12 years old.”
Johnstone, who was taking an “exploratory” trip to LA, didn’t think anything would result from the meeting, she told The Tribune in 2002.
“A few weeks later he called and said, ‘I want to help you. Come to Jersey. I’ll introduce you to some people.”
At the airport, Clemons was waiting for her in a Hawaiian shirt.
“I still don’t know what made him do that, but I’ll always be grateful,” said Johnstone, of Cambria. “That was the beginning of my career. That was my first break.”
Eventually, Johnstone’s songs were recorded by Trishia Yearwood, Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash and Stevie Nicks, among others.
“It’s amazing to watch things happen,” Clemons said. “She’s had a couple of big songs. It made me feel good. I felt like her father.”
Of course, I had to ask Clemons about the E Street Band as well. In particular, there was one question I always wondered about: How do you feel when Springsteen writes a song without a sax part?
The sax is part of the band’s trademark sound. But Clemons said it shouldn’t be a component of every tune. Otherwise, he said, it’d get predictable.
“When it does come in, it’s special,” he said. “It’s not just, ’Here comes the saxophone again.’ It’s a special moment in Bruce’s music.”
Besides, he said, when he doesn’t play sax, he’s usually throwing in percusion.
And, while it was still relatively fresh, I also asked him about Springsteen mistakenly shouting out to Ohio when he was performing in Michigan during the recently concluded tour. My question: Why didn’t anyone in the band tell him where he was?
“We did,” he said. “The first time he did it, we just let it go. But then he did it again. And Stevie (Van Zandt) went over and told him, ’You’re in the wrong place, buddy.’ But after so many gigs, it was kind of a Spinal Tap move. It became a joke. We would all write signs or tell him before we’d go on stage where we are. “
Photo: Eric Meola (from the “Born to Run” photo shoot)
Posted on December 19th, 2009 by Pat
Filed under: Music
Jude Johnstone is a great songwriter. Her husband, Charles, was taking classes at Cuesta when I ran into him late last semester. The couple lives in a historic house in Cambria — where the murmur of the pines and the symphony of the sea is a fitting accompaniment to the town’s theme of prosperity and happiness. Huh? The last part is a portion of the tagline that ran under the masthead of The Cambrian for about 25 years starting in the 1930s.
jude is my sister . i live in maine where jude grew up. i remember long ago one day my brother and i were lifting weights in our basement at home in our parents basement. my sister was coming home for a stop and she had someone for us to meet. the door opened and she came down the cellar stairs with this great big guy. it was clarence clemmons of the e street band. i never forget that. how bazzar is that. its true . im a blueberry farmer still to this day and am very proud of my sister. it takes huge courage to just up and follow your dream. wow, if we all could be that brave.