The Immediate Family (L-R): Waddy Wachtel, Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, Danny Kortchmar and Steve Postell
Some of rock music’s most respected performers are recording together. The Immediate Family, as they call themselves, are Danny Kortchmar (guitar and vocals), Waddy Wachtel (guitar and vocals), Leland Sklar (bass), Russ Kunkel (drums) and Steve Postell (guitar and vocals). Combined, they are some of the most recorded, respected and sought-after players in modern music. Classic rock fans will recognize all of their names from their work on legendary albums from Carole King, Jackson Browne, Don Henley, David Crosby, James Taylor, Stevie Nicks, Phil Collins, Warren Zevon, and scores more.
The band has released a second new song, “Slippin’ and Slidin,” the title cut from their upcoming five-song EP, which arrives on October 16 via Quarto Valley Records. The song was co-written by Wachtel with Kortchmar and Tito Larriva, and Wachtel handles lead vocals.
The track follows an earlier release, “Cruel Twist.” A full album is expected in early 2021.
Watch the “Cruel Twist” video, made in quarantine
“We’re a cover band that does originals…”
The band’s 2018 debut album
The recording is the follow-up album to Honey Don’t Leave L.A. When they tour, the Immediate Family’s setlist will include songs from both albums, as well as tracks penned by Kortchmar such as “Dirty Laundry,” “All She Wants to Do Is Dance” and “New York Minute,” which were recorded by Henley, and Browne’s “Somebody’s Baby” and “Shaky Town”; as well as “Werewolves of London,” which Waddy Wachtel co-wrote with Zevon.
Watch them perform “Lawyers, Guns and Money” at the Iridium in NYC in 2018
Kortchmar’s resume reads like a who’s-who of the music industry. A renowned guitarist, producer, songwriter, and session musician, he has played, produced, and/or written for James Taylor, Don Henley, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt, and Jackson Browne, among many others.
Watch them perform “All She Wants to Do is Dance” in 2019 (Kunkel was not behind the drum kit for the performance)
Sklar has served as a session player on a reported 2000 albums across most popular music genres for such artists as Crosby, Stills and Nash, Phil Collins, Hall and Oates, and Dolly Parton. Likewise, Kunkel has contributed to recordings by such performers as Carly Simon, Dan Fogelberg, Joni Mitchell, Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, and countless others.
Together, Kortchmar, Kunkel and Sklar made up three-quarters of The Section, best known for both their studio and live work in support of some of the biggest selling singer-songwriters and solo artists in popular music. A documentary about The Section is being made by Denny Tedesco, who produced and directed the acclaimed film on the the 1960s studio musicians known as The Wrecking Crew.
Fellow legend Wachtel has played with many of the same artists as Kortchmar, as well as such stars as Keith Richards, Stevie Nicks, and Linda Ronstadt. He produced Zevon’s Excitable Boy album with Browne.
The Immediate Family also includes Steve Postell, a seasoned touring and session player who has worked with Jennifer Warnes, John Oates, Robben Ford, among many others.
Related: Our review of Goodnight, L.A., about the legendary studio sessions of the ’70s and ’80s
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