Blog

Concert featuring Robert McDuffie, Mike Mills, Chuck Leavell and Mercer’s McDuffie Center for Strings to be Taped for Distribution to PBS Stations Across AmericaMACON – Tickets for A Night of Georgia Music, a March 5, 2022, concert at Macon’s historic Grand Opera House featuring students from Mercer University’s Robert McDuffie Center for Strings, internationally renowned violin […]

Longtime Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell calls it “not much short of a miracle” that the legendary band’s mammoth U.S. “No Filter” tour has happened at all. After being unceremoniously shelved for a year due to the COVID pandemic, the rescheduled tour suffered an even bigger blow when beloved drummer Charlie Watts passed away just a month […]

By 1982, at the age of 30, I’d already spent half of my life working my way up the ranks of the music industry. Music played an integral part in my life ever since my childhood days when I’d tug on my mother’s skirt and beg her to play the piano for me. When I was […]

“Just like I consider myself a student of the piano, I consider myself a student of the environment and of forestry in particular,” observes Chuck Leavell, who is the subject of the new documentary film, The Tree-Man.The title originates from Leavell’s stewardship of over 2,500 acres of land at his Charlane Plantation in Twiggs County, Ga. […]

Through an amazing and multi-faceted career, Chuck Leavell never lost sight of his Southern roots.The Alabama native learned piano and keyboards (mainly self-taught) as a youngster. started a band by the time he was 13, played on several records at the Muscle Shoals studios, and moved to Macon in 1970, attracted by the music scene […]

My dear friend and co-writer of two of my books, Jeff Craig, has sadly passed away of a severe head injury recently. His beautiful wife, Kris, is going through a tough time recovering from this devastating blow. Friends have put together a GoFundMe page for help…please have a look and contribute if at all possible. […]

A film about one of the best rock musicians you have never known you’ve listened to is coming to Yellow Springs this week. Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man, directed by local filmmaker Allen Farst, is a documentary detailing the career of Leavell, keyboardist with the Allman Brothers Band, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, and […]

Chuck Leavell is the principal keyboardist for The Rolling Stones and has toured since 1982. Besides being a musician, Leavell is also a tree farmer and owns land in Georgia with his wife. Here’s what his jobs are like, as told to writer Jenny Powers.  This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Chuck […]

The Rolling Stones musical director and keyboard player Chuck Leavell says the ‘No Filter’ tour of 2021 even happening was “a miracle”. ‘No Filter’ was first sidelined in 2020 due to Covid. The resumption of the tour was announced for 2021 but then tragedy struck … Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts died just a month […]