Jeff Coffey, on ‘Origins,’ Ex-Chicago Bandmates and What’s Next: Something Else! Interview

Don Felder sideman Jeff Coffey stopped by for a Something Else! Sitdown to discuss his new solo project, ‘Origins: Singers and Songs That Made Me,’ what it’s been like reconnecting with former Chicago bandmates and his plans for what’s next:

PRESTON FRAZIER: Jeff, it’s good to catch up with you. It’s been about two years.
JEFF COFFEY: Thanks for reaching out.

PRESTON FRAZIER: Your new album, Origins, came out last December on your website via Jet Pack Label Group.
JEFF COFFEY: Yes, we have been releasing several singles since the album came out.

PRESTON FRAZIER: Yes, let’s talk about some of the songs from Origins. The current single is the Don Henley song, “New York Minute.” That seems like an unlikely cover for you, since the song is so dark.
JEFF COFFEY: It’s a great song! When I initially put my list together for Origins, I had two pages of songs. I eventually narrowed it down to the 14 songs on the record. Don Henley was one of the vocalists I wanted to honor on the record. He has an iconic voice. The song always resonated with me. It has a mood and tells a dark tale. I always enjoyed the original production of the song, with Pino Palladino’s fretless bass and David Paich’s piano.
We decided to strip all that away, and just have piano, vocal, and strings. I’m thrilled with how it turned out. The essence of the song shows how great it is.

PRESTON FRAZIER: Michael Omartian is on the song. How did he become involved with the album?
JEFF COFFEY: I met Michael a few years ago, when I was with Chicago. He came to a show, and the band was trying to make new studio music and wanted him involved. He came to a show, and I met him. Flash forward to when I was in Nashville working on this album, I reached out to my manager and asked him to reach out to Michael. Michael graciously accepted the opportunity to work on the album. It was great; he played on four songs. He’s got such an ear, and is a great piano. He played on “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and the Christmas single I did since we where recording before the holiday, “I’ll be Home for Christmas.”

PRESTON FRAZIER: Let’s discuss the recording process for Origins.
JEFF COFFEY: The songs span from the ’70s to the ’90s. We didn’t want to use a lot of the ’80s keyboard sound, though. On the opening song, Journey’s “Ask The Lonely,” there is an iconic keyboard part which opens the song. We used cellos in its place. There are little parts like that that we used on some of the ’80s songs that we used to give it a more contemporary feel. The Foreigner song “I’ve Been Waiting for a Girl Like You” was also updated similarly. Then there were songs like Rod Stewart’s “Maggie Mae,” where we stayed closer to the original version. On the Queen song “Who Wants To Live Forever,” we had [former Chicago drummer] Tris Imboden and long-time Kenny Loggins guitarist Chris Rodriquez in the studio.

PRESTON FRAZIER: Chris Rodriquez had one of my favorite albums of 2019. How did he become involved in Origins?
JEFF COFFEY: I remember seeing him on a Kenny Loggins VHS tape [Outside: From the Redwoods] a while ago. He was amazing. Tris introduced us, and we hit it off. We’ve done a few live gigs together.

PRESTON FRAZIER: “This Is It” sounds amazing.
JEFF COFFEY: Kenny Loggins was a significant influence on me. The groove of that song is infectious. On the live Kenny Loggins album, there is a fantastic version with Chris on acoustic and Sonny Landreth on slide guitar. When Chris and I performed live in Nashville, we did an acoustic version. I wanted to capture the original groove and feel and, fortunately, I got a play with Tris for a couple of years in Chicago. It was fantastic that he was there to recreate his groove from 40 years ago. We had a blast! Any chance I have to work with Tris, I jump on it.

PRESTON FRAZIER: Who else did you work with for Origins?
JEFF COFFEY: Rex Schnelle co-produced the album with John Pisciotta and me. He played most of the instruments on the other songs, though he’s primarily a guitarist. He mixed the album. Rex built most of the tracks, and when I went to Nashville, we would work on them. It was a great process.

PRESTON FRAZIER: It’s a very eclectic group of songs. There would seem to be a big gulf between “Maggie Mae” to “Maybe I’m Amazed.”
JEFF COFFEY: Interesting that you bring those songs up. We scheduled those two songs to sing the same day I was in Nashville. Paul McCartney is a bad mofo! That song is very rangy! When you get behind a mic, you realize it. We started with that song, and after a couple of takes, we moved to “Maggie Mae,” which is a mid-range song. After I pulled that off, I was warmed up for go back to “Maybe I’m Amazed.” I love how both the sings turned out.

PRESTON FRAZIER: Origins was released in December –
JEFF COFFEY: Yes, but right now, via my website. It will be out digitally on the standard download sites soon. The CD does include liner notes, which talks about why these songs are special to me. The current single in “New York Minute.” The next single is “It’s Only Love,” the Bryan Adams / Tina Turner song. Payton Taylor, best known for being on American Idol, is singing with me. The song rocks.

PRESTON FRAZIER: Beyond Origins, what else have you been up to?
JEFF COFFEY: As we speak, I’m on a classic-rock tour performing with Don Felder in his band. “Fingers” is still amazing and it’s great to perform classic Eagles songs, night after night.

PRESTON FRAZIER: I saw a performance of you and [former Chicago vocalist / bass player] Jason Scheff.
JEFF COFFEY: Yes, we were on another cruise and during his set he asked me to come up and perform the closer to his set, “25 or 6 To 4.” It was great fun. He’s got a lot of stuff going on too, with a new solo album. Beyond my work with Don Felder, I’d like to put some solo shows together to promote Origins in the Southern U.S. and East Coast. Look for show dates; check out my website and Facebook.