Tim Krekel …friend and music master

The Dubois County Bombers baseball team had a game tonight against the Madisonville Miners.  My dear wife, Carrie, and I were in attendance in the small town of Huntingburg, Indiana in Dubois County.  Also with us were our two sons Jarrett and Cody, and Carrie’s brother Stevarino.   It was a hot night for baseball with a temp well into the 90s at the 6 PM first pitch.  A cold front is on the way now as it is after 10 PM.

The Bombers were winning after 7 innings by the score of 6 to 3.  Minor League Baseball, even a college league game like the one we saw tonight, is usually a great thing to behold.  Though we have not been there but a few times, the visit to League Stadium where the Bombers play is a treat.  It was the “home stadium” of the Rockford Peaches in the movie about women playing baseball during World War II.  The movie was called “A League of Their Own”.

In between innings there is usually some wholesome tom-foolery going like a musical chairs contest or kids trying to hit the most water balloons…or the obligatory musical numbers that play before the next batter.

Tonight the song “I Can Help” by Billy Swan was playing in between innings.  I can say that other than the music I listened to in church…we actually talked about Zacchaeus this morning during preaching, you probably remember the song about the “wee little man”…Billy Swan’s 1974 hit song “I Can Help” is THEE song that caught my attention and opened up a new world of sound for me.  I was six years old when I heard that song the first time.  It left me wanting to hear it over and over and over and over again.  I stayed as close to the radio as I could.

There is a guitar lick in the middle of the song that repeats a couple of times.  If you know the song, you can hear it now.  If you don’t know it, well, it’s not hard to find these days.  It would be worth listening to.

Though it is a very long story and one I will no doubt divulge one of these days,  I, at the age of thirty, began to write words and music to go along with them and eventually did some recording.  I still enjoy playing immensely.  I pick up my guitar often.  My guitar playing  prowess is nothing like I wish it was.  Seems every time I pick up the guitar I want to write a song.  I have let others do the heavy guitar lifting.  My favorite guitar player to play on my material was a guy called Tim Krekel.

If you have heard the studio version of Jimmy Buffett’s “Cheeseburger in Paradise” you have heard Tim Krekel play guitar. His handy work is all over Buffett’s “Son of a Son of a Sailor” album.  I add this reference for the sake of mainstream recognition.  Tim was much more than this.  He was one of the greatest guitar players I have ever seen or heard.  He was economical in his playing.  He could get a great deal out of minimal effort.  He was a virtuoso of the rock and roll guitar. He was also a gifted songwriter and released many great solo efforts.   Look into it.  You won’t be disappointed.

Tim Krekel had recorded some albums with my friend Jeff Carpenter.  When Jeff knew I was wanting to get back in the studio to record another cd,  he told drummer Mike Alger I was down for another session of recordings.  Tim Krekel was in the room.  He asked if I was the guy that recorded a song called “The Lewis Grizzard Highway”…as it gotten some local airplay on the public radio station in Louisville.  Jeff told Tim I was that guy.  He then asked Jeff if he could talk to me about playing on and producing my next cd during those recording sessions.  I have never been so flattered in all my musical life.

One day, late in the recording process, after all the rhythm  tracks were finished, Tim, Jeff, and I were sitting in the studio chewing the fat as we were trying to decide what direction we were going to take some of the numbers.  Tim scratched his scraggly little beard and said, “I got a call from Billy Swan last night.  He said he’s tired of the L.A. scene and he is moving back to Nashville.”

I immediately quizzed Tim about Billy Swan.  It turned out that Tim played lead guitar for Billy as they toured Europe with Willie Nelson in 1974 and Tim routinely played the guitar lick on the song that changed my life.  And here we were in a recording studio together.

Tim produced my finest musical recording work.  “The Best Thing You Did Yesterday” is a cd with my name on it.  It was a finished product thanks to Tim Krekel and Jeff Carpenter….the best recording partners a guy could ever ask for.

Tim Krekel died of cancer on June 24th, 2009.  Carrie and I saw him on his wedding day, June 14th, 2009.  We told him we loved him.

In his music, Tim Krekel always spoke the rights.

Danny Johnson