Bob Neuwirth Liner Notes

Kris Kristofferson once called Neuwirth “a guardian angel of sorts during a magical time of my life…. A Shakespearean jester who’s wiser than all the rest.”

At the same time, Neuwirth always said he liked doing things for fun and for free. And he believed he could get a lot more done being anonymous.

Guitarist, songwriter and producer Steven Soles has referred to his longtime friend as “this unsung American master of the postwar era. After you spent time with Neuwirth, you felt smarter and inspired. He always challenged you.”

Those who knew him best, to a person, frequently cite his passion about art for art’s sake, music for music’s sake.

As one of his many musical disciples, singer-songwriter Peter Case, put it at a 2022 memorial concert in Los Angeles after his death at age 82, “These songs weren’t written for money. These songs were written to sing one-on-one to people in the middle of the night, if you know what I mean.”

Among others singing both Neuwirth’s songs and his praises at that event: Burnett and Soles, Maria Muldaur and her daughter Jenni, Happy Traum, Victoria Williams, Laura Cantrell, Sam Phillips and her daughter Simone, Vince Bell, Phranc, Bob Thiele and Eric Clapton. 

Neuwirth has long been celebrated both for his longstanding compassion for others’ suffering, as well as his rapier wit.

“When my sister Mimi and I lived in Belmont, outside of Boston, she was struggling through school,” Baez said. “I was pretending I was going to college, which was just awful. We were unhappy all the time. We would call Bobby Neuwirth, and he would come up there and make us laugh. He was just totally reliable. It was refreshing and renewed our lives.

Even among celebrated musicians, Neuwirth stood out. 

“He was a wonderful friend,” said Maria Muldaur, who remembered meeting him in 1962, “and just the coolest, hippest, funniest guy I ever met in my whole 80 years of life.”

In many ways Neuwirth approached making music the same way he approached the artwork that was at least as important a part of his life and legacy has the songs he wrote, sang and fed to other musicians.

Kris Kristofferson remembers meeting Neuwirth in New York in the late-‘60s, when Kris had visited with fellow Texan Mickey Newbury, who was playing at the Bitter End at the time. All were part of a community of musicians and visual artists that also included Patti Smith, Andy Warhol, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, actor Michael J. Pollard, folk singer Odetta and artist Larry Poons, among others.

As he often did throughout his life, Neuwirth was singing the praises of one of his artist friends to the others. “When l came back from Peru,” Kristofferson once wrote about his trip to the Andes in 1970 to compose the score for Dennis Hopper’s film “The Last Movie,” “one of the first things I heard from a photographer friend was that Janis Joplin had sung ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ at a concert. Bobby taught her that song before I ever met him. So l was indebted.” 

Kristofferson brought Coolidge out on the road with him and his band, which included guitarist Stephen Bruton, keyboardist Donnie Fritts and bassist Terry Paul. Coolidge invited keyboardist Mike Utley to come play on her portions of their shows, and soon the community spirit found members of each entourage backing the others. 

Utley, the longtime musical director for Jimmy Buffett’s band, already had been playing for Coolidge as part of the Dixie Flyers when she and Kristofferson teamed. At the time, Kristofferson had been bringing Neuwirth onstage during his shows, which is how Neuwirth and Utley met. 

Between his commitment to his visual art activities and a wish to maintain some degree of anonymity after he became sober and committed himself to helping others wanting to do the same, he had time for making albums of his own only sporadically.

But there was never a shortage of esteemed collaborators ready and willing to work with him, whether on his 1988 album “Back to the Front” (produced by Soles and featuring support from Burnett, Mansfield, Eagles member Bernie Leadon, Willie Nelson’s longtime harmonica player Mickey Raphael, stringed instrument whiz Sandy Bull, and longtime Linda Ronstadt associate Kenny Edwards); his 1994 song cycle collaboration with John Cale, “Last Day on Earth”; or his exquisite deep dive in 2000 into the musical riches of Cuba with arranger, conductor and pianist Jose Maria Vitier, “Havana Midnight.”  

“One thing for sure: Bob always had boundless energy and creativity,” David Mansfield said recently. “When he got sober, he channeled both not only into his art, but also into tirelessly serving others. He became a first responder, albeit the hippest one you’d ever seen. Which is, maybe, part of how he literally saved so many lives.”