Beth's Tuesdays with Jack Tempchin & Alfred Johnson

JACK TEMPCHIN

Jack Tempchin is a legendary hit songwriter, whose compositions “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Already Gone” are synonymous with the Southern California Sound. These songs can be found on the Eagles’ compilation Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, which the RIAA named the Best-Selling U.S. Album of the 20th Century.

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Jack Tempchin songs have been performed or recorded by several artists, including George Jones, Buck Owens, Emmylou Harris, Glen Campbell, Jackson Browne, Dwight Yoakam, Linda Ronstadt, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Tanya Tucker, Richie Havens, Sammy Kershaw, Kate Wolf, Tom Rush and more.

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Jack Tempchin has also performed live with 3 Eagles—Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit. He’s also played with greats like Poco, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Chicago, Chris Hillman, Herb Pedersen, Jimmy Webb, Al Kooper, Kenny Loggins, Karla Bonoff, Christopher Cross and Dolly Parton, among others. In the mid-90s, Jack toured as the opening act for Ringo Starr and His All Star Band at major venues Radio City Music Hall and The Hollywood Bowl.

A San Diego native, In 1976, Jack Tempchin was first signed by Clive Davis to Arista Records, along with Jules Shear and Richard Stekol, in the band The Funky Kings. Retro-rocker Johnny Rivers recorded The Funky Kings’ track “Slow Dancing (Swayin’ To the Music)” written by Tempchin, and made it a Billboard Top 10 in 1977.

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In the 1980s, Tempchin co-wrote a dozen radio hits for Glenn Frey’s solo career, including “True Love,” “The One You Love,” “Sexy Girl,” “Party Town,” “I Found Somebody,” “Soul Searchin,” and “Livin’ Right.” Other Tempchin/Frey co-writes include Top 40 hits “Smuggler’s Blues” and “You Belong to The City” for the original ‘Miami Vice’ TV show soundtrack. These two songs were later sampled in the 90s by platinum rappers Coolio (“Nature of the Business”) and Jay-Z (“City Is Mine”).

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Famously, Tempchin’s tune “Peaceful Easy Feeling” was featured in a notorious taxi scene in the Coen Brothers cult classic The Big Lebowski where Jeff Bridges’ character is unceremoniously tossed from a cab. “Part Of Me, Part Of You,” another Tempchin/Frey classic, was the end-title theme song for the Oscar-award winning film Thelma & Louise. In 2015, a Tempchin/Frey co-write was featured in David O. Russell’s Joy starring Jennifer Lawrence. In 2014, Jack’s lyrical manuscripts for “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Already Gone” as well as his original Stella guitar were on view at The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, CA. Prior to that, his lyrics were featured at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2019, Jack was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City. His latest album, “One More Time With Feeling,” was released on Jimmy Buffett’s Mailboat record label.

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Additional Jack Tempchin Credits

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Jack co-wrote the theme song (with Johnny Rivers and Steve Plunkett) for the Aaron Spelling produced TV series "7th Heaven", which ran for 11 seasons on The WB / UPN / The CW.

Listen Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obr9NNNU8IQ 

- Other songs featured in films:

• Sgt. Bilko (1996, Steve Martin) - "Party Town"

• The Lonely Guy (1984, Steve Martin) - "The Lonely Guy"

• Girls Just Want To Have Fun (1985, Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Hunt) - "On The Loose"

• Homer and Eddie (1989, Jim Belushi, Whoopi Goldberg) - "Bad Seeds"

• Season of Fear (1989) - "I Did It For Your Love"

- The city of San Diego declared December 1st 2012 to be "Peaceful Easy Feeling Day" to honor Jack and the 40th anniversary of the song.

- And of course, in 2012 Jack received a coveted 18k Golden Weiner award from der Wienerschnitzel, as well as a plaque on the table where he was sitting when he wrote Peaceful Easy Feeling.

ALFRED JOHNSON

The highly regarded singer/songwriter and funky piano player, Alfred Johnson, is considered by some as one of this century’s most animated and original songwriters. His energetic style of playing the keys brings a wonderful compliment to his music.

Alfred co-wrote three songs with Rickie Lee Jones on her Platinum Grammy Award winning premiere album containing the hit single ‘Chuck E’s In Love’. Alfred’s songs have been covered by Diane Reeves and Ernie Watts. Recognized as a true craftsman of his art, his musical influences include: Taj Mahal, Leon Russell, Dr. John, Randy Newman, Danny O’Keefe, David Wilcox and Bill Champlin.

He is best known for his amazing lyric-driven tunes that will keep you captivated. Alfred’s musical style is quite diverse and encompasses Funk, New Orleans, Pop, Rock ‘n’ Soul, Gospel, “Rhythm & Bluegrass,” and music that will have you wanting to dance. The emphasis is always on the lyric. Alfred has written about 900 tunes, and at least 70 of them are published. He loves co-writing and has written several songs with Jodi Siegel. Alfred’s been playing the circuit of live venues around Los Angeles for nearly 40 years. Recently, Alfred had a wonderful reunion with Ricki Lee Jones opening for her at the Coach House and that is apparently going to happen again!

The NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SONGWRITERS is quoted as describing Alfred Johnson as “…a talent of this caliber is a rare treat…”, but most everyone else just knows him as an amazing person and prolific writer with unique spirit and drive.

“Alfred Johnson is one of those writers writers who, like Cole Porter, Marie Caine and Stephen Soundheim, takes your breath away with the sheer craft of it, and makes you proud to be in this often under-acknowledged profession of songwriting.” – HARRIET SHOCK, 1993

“I think he is a genius lyricist, and I really enjoyed his singing. And if that’s him playing the piano, my hats off to [him] in that department, too.” – DAVID FRESHBERG