The next sidetrack came in the form of a phone call from Elton John, asking John to join Elton's band for an 18-month world tour. Needing a "guitarist who can do lots of harmony vocals," Elton ended up getting much more, as John contributed not only guitar and vocals, but also mandolin, pedal steel guitar, and saxophone to his live shows and CD’s. 18 months stretched into 6 years, and John still planned to pursue a solo career....
Unable to postpone it any longer, John left Elton’s band to devote himself entirely to promoting his own music. 1999 saw the release of John’s first true solo effort -- "Emotional Savant." An eclectic offering, the album highlights many of John’s musical influences melded together in a well-crafted pop format. British rock guitar supports California vocal harmonies, with Celtic and gypsy-jazz guitars bringing spice to the personal nature of John’s lyrics. The album testifies to John's skills as a solo artist: John played nearly all the instruments on the album. Additionally, John wrote the music and lyrics, and produced, arranged, engineered, and mixed the album, and even designed the CD artwork.
To promote the CD, John assembled a band of friends and A-list musicians: Elton John bandmate Charlie Morgan, a "drummer’s drummer" who has played with Sir Paul McCartney among others; Glasgow based bassist Alan Thomson, whose work with Rick Wakeman and John Martyn is stellar; the multi-talented Jeff Ross, former Badfinger member who contibutes keyboards, guitar, and vocals. The diverse skills of these musicians allows John to include material from all phases of his career, which he enthusiastically does in his current shows.
"When did John find time to play with all the other artists listed in the discoraphy?" From 1986 onwards he has had a very active career as an "A team" session musician in Los Angeles, Nashville, and London, and has worked on many TV shows and movies over the years.
With all these accomplishments and accolades, is there one thing that John is most personally proud of? John says that his biggest honor has been to have his composition "Back on Terra Firma" performed live at the Closing Ceremonies of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australiia... at least that is his favorite achievement so far!
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