Documentary focuses on acclaimed musician’s environmental efforts
Rolling Stones’ keyboard player Chuck Leavell is the subject of a new documentary that focuses on the Tuscaloosa-raised musician’s commitment to the environment.
“Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man” is available for streaming now through Nov. 28 on the Bama Theatre’s website, https://bamatheatre.org/streaming.php, for $12. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the downtown Tuscaloosa theater.
In addition to touring and recording with rock legends like the Stones, Eric Clapton and John Mayer, Leavell was named National Tree Farmer of the Year in the U.S. in 1999.
Leavell owns a 2,900-acre farm outside of Macon, Georgia, where the main crop is Southern yellow pine trees. He has become a nationally recognized expert in sustainable forestry and environmental protection.
“If you cut a tree down, plant two for the next guy,” Leavell said in a news release promoting the documentary.
The film also features Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band, Keith Richards of the Stones, Lee Ann Womack, Bruce Hornsby, Bonnie Raitt, Julian Lennon, Charlie Daniels, Miranda Lambert and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.
Leavell was born in Birmingham and lived in Montgomery for a short time before his family made its way to Tuscaloosa when he was in the fourth grade.
In his early teens, Leavell formed a band in Tuscaloosa, the Misfitz. The Misfitz played Friday nights at the YMCA downtown, with band members getting paid $6.25 each. Once Tuscaloosa had its first television station, the group played there on Saturday mornings for $25 each.
“That was a lot of money at the time,” Leavell said, laughing, in a 2013 article in The Tuscaloosa News.
As the group aged, the Misfitz played fraternity parties at the University of Alabama in the 1960s.
Playing both keyboards and guitar, he was employed at the acclaimed Muscle Shoals Fame Studio at age 16 and earned his first gold record at that same age. After joining the Allman Brothers Band at age 20, he left and formed his own band, Sea Level.
In 1982, he auditioned and became the keyboard player with the Rolling Stones and has toured with the legendary British rockers ever since. During breaks from touring with the Stones, he has recorded with a who’s who of pop, jazz, country and rock performers. In 2012, he was honored with a lifetime Grammy Award.
He also received the Home Grown Award at the Arts Council of Tuscaloosa’s 2013 Druid Arts Awards ceremony.