Jeff “Skunk” Baxter’s two professions – guitar player and national security analyst – are a most unique mix. He will discuss both with Indiana Chamber members as part of the organization’s Volunteer Awards Luncheon and Annual Membership Meeting on November 8.
Fans will recognize Baxter’s musical work with Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers throughout the 1970s. His interest in technology, and his unconventional approach to tackling new challenges, eventually led to work with the military and the private defense industry.
A full story on Baxter’s careers will appear in the September-October edition of BizVoice® (in the mail and available online on August 31). Below are a few thoughts from Baxter that you won’t see in the magazine.
BizVoice®: Is the technology that has evolved had positive impacts for the music industry?
Jeff Baxter: “I would say, for the most part, it is a very good thing. At one time, at least when I was very young, first starting and getting involved in the business of music, it was pretty much run by the record companies. Access to recording studios, which was the medium by which you would take your music and communicate to other folks, was pretty much controlled by the recording companies and even the independent studios were not cheap.
“Recording technology was the purvey of a very small group of people. (The creation of ) a multi-track recorder allowed you to build music tracks and that started a huge revolution. The other thing I think is fascinating is the fact that the record companies, not having any kind of real business plan to deal with the world of digital music and the Internet, sort of dropped the ball. What filled that vacuum were entrepreneur musicians who saw the opportunity to not only take advantage of the technology but take advantage of things like the Internet to be able to distribute their music. I think that is a wonderful thing, because the idea of having someone or some entity control all of the art in a particular country or particular area is kind of scary. As a matter of fact if you see what happens in totalitarian countries or countries with dictatorships, one of the first things they try to do is control the arts. All and all I, think it is a good thing.”
BizVoice®: Can you discuss some of the war games you have been involved in and the strategies that emerge from those exercises?
JB: “Some of the solutions that we came up with were very non-military and had very little to do with what would be accepted as military doctrine. In one of the scenarios I am going to lay out, we really didn’t use any military capability at all to defeat the United States. It just goes to show if you keep an open mind and you keep focused on your goal, you can accomplish an awful lot. It amazes people how we pull this off. We are still trying to explain it to some members of the military on one of these particular cases that I will give an example of – Iran and Iraq taking on the United States Navy in the Persian Gulf. They are still trying to understand what we did.”
BizVoice®: What are you doing currently in your music career?
JB: “I am well into my first solo record. I have never done anything like that. I have always been either working on everybody else’s records as a studio musician or been a member of a band. I’ve always wanted to do a solo record and I’ve been encouraged to do it by a number of folks. The good news is that, taking advantage of the new technology, I can sit in my hotel room and do guitar dubs on my record simply on my laptop. Whereas before, (it involved) booking time in a large studio and using lots of big bulky equipment.
“I’ve been going out with Ricky Nelson’s kids, Gunnar and Matt. They were very successful in the music business on their own and then they decided to do something called “An Evening with our Father.” I knew Ricky Nelson fairly well, and I had done a few records for him. I always loved Ricky Nelson’s music so it’s a delight to be able to play pedal steel in that Stone Canyon Band with the kids. I’ve been going out and doing some of those tours.
“I will probably do less of the day-to-day on the national security level and more of the strategic outlook stuff. I certainly want to get back to playing. I love to play the guitar. People tell me I’m fairly good at it, so I would like to share that with as many people as I could.”
Baxter Still Making his Mark in Music