Q&A With Legendary Session Musician Mike Finnigan

Hey everyone-
Just thought I'd let you all know. I'm sure that many of you are familiar with Finnigan's work. I run his website over at www.mikefinnigan.net. All the info for the Q&A is over there on the News page. Please don't post the questions for Mike here, I'd rather have you use the e-mail address provided on his website. (But please feel free to start a discussion here).

For those of you who don't know Mike. Here's just a handful of musicians he has played with over the years:

Jimi Hendrix
Dave Mason
Crosby Stills & Nash
Cher
Santana
Maria Muldaur
Etta James
Taj Mahal..... and countless others

I'll bump this thread once the Q&A is done.

Peace,
~Kyle

 

Add Tommy Bolin- and he sings on the new Whips & Roses Vol 2 track Sooner or Later.

Here a peice from the Bolin website-
MIKE FINNIGAN

After leaving the James Gang in August, 1974 Tommy attempted to form a band with noted keyboardist/vocalist Mike Finnigan, who had played with artists including Jimi Hendrix and Dave Mason. The proposed band would consist of Mike Finnigan on keyboards and vocals, Stanley Sheldon on bass, Guille Garcia on percussion and Marty Rodriguez on drums and vocals. Garcia and Rodriguez had played on Captain Beyond’s Sufficiently Breathless album with ex-Deep Purple member Rod Evans in 1973, Garcia also played on Joe Walsh’s So What album in 1974. The new band lasted only three weeks before Tommy left, in large part because Mike Finnigan was trying to dominate the group and wanted to bring his own drummer in.

 

I used to have his first solo lp. Loved his cover of Expressway to Your Heart with Les D on slide. He also had a cool original about sailing, Sailfish, that had a really evocative string arrangement.

 

He is interviewed on the Classic Album Electric Ladyland DVD. He's a funny guy.

 

I loved the Finnigan and Wood LP. "Tend To Your Business" is a classic and gets airplay whenever I want to choogle.

Frank G

 

I have a recording of him singing Compared To What. I recently found out it was recorded with the Santana band circa 3rd album. He sounds great.

 

Didn't he show up on an episode of Cop Rock way back when?

 

Just wanted to bump this thread in case anyone missed it. I'll keep the Q&A open for another week or so... so send those questions in!

And yes, Mike was on Cop Rock. What a hoot! Here he is as Lt. Kellogg:

 

may i ask here why none of mr. finnigan's solo albus are on CD?

renny

 

also add stephen stills solo, i've seen him with stills a couple times.

renny

 

My guess would be the same reason that a ton of other obscure albums aren't on CD. The bottom line is money. I feel that the record companies who own his solo albums think "why would they buy it now if they didn't buy it then?" His self titled 1976 solo LP was on CD (in Japan I believe) but it went out of print in about five minutes.

 

Anyone know if the Finnigan & Wood album ever made it to CD?

Frank G

 

so i can assume that mike finnigan does not own the rights to his own albums.

if he did he could put them out himself and sell them through his website like many artists are doing.

renny

 

Correct.

BTW, the Finnigan & Wood LP has been booted on CD many times. Never officially. I've seen quite a few copies on ebay. Most likely they are copies of a boot that a record store owner in Kansas did in the 90s sometime. It would definitely be a great album to be remastered. I think the original mastering is pretty shoddy. We also need The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood remastered!

 

He is still a legend here in Lawrence, KS (where he started in music).

Cody