Mike Utley Remembers Bob Neuwirth: Interview

By 1974, singer-songwriter Bob Neuwirth had already appeared on the cover of his friend Bob Dylan’s 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited (albeit only his lower half) and co-written one of the last tracks Janis Joplin ever recorded, “Mercedes Benz.” In other words: he rubbed shoulders with a lot of high profile people.

After years of working with and around others, Neuwirth finally got around to recording his debut, self-titled solo album in 1974, which included contributions from Kris Kristofferson, Booker T. Jones, Rita Coolidge, Chris Hillman, Cass Elliot, Dusty Springfield, Don Everly, Timothy B. Schmit, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and more. Yet, it was a tumultuous time for Neuwirth, who was then struggling with his relationship to alcohol. In the end, Neuwirth himself was rather unhappy with the result and the album was not a commercial success.

Now, 50 years after its original release and two years after Neuwirth’s death, the album has been entirely remixed by engineer John Hanlon, who aimed to keep the music as true to its self as possible, while boosting the clarity and strength of the original analog tapes. Hanlon wasn’t given much instruction by Neuwirth before his passing —  “I just approached it really organically and I just made it sound like great rock ‘n’ roll,” Hanlon said in a press release.

UCR recently caught up with keyboardist Mike Utley, who played on Bob Neuwirth in 1974. At one point, Utley had aspirations of becoming a doctor and even graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in zoology in 1969. Instead, he wound up pursuing music, working in the house band at Criteria Studios in Miami where he played on records by Aretha Franklin, Jerry Jeff Walker, the Allman Brothers Band and others. Later, he joined Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band, whom he recorded and toured with up until Buffett’s passing in 2023, serving as musical director of the band.

Looking back at 1974’s Bob Neuwirth, here’s what Utley had to say.

Your resume has a number of legendary names on it: Aretha Franklin, the Allman Brothers, Kris Kristofferson and a lot of others. Was there something about Bob Neuwirth that made him different or stand out to you?
Well, Bobby was — we called him Bobby back then — when he came on the road and he was doing guest appearances with Kris [Kristofferson] — I joined the band, Kris’ band, through Rita [Coolidge]. [Kristofferson] had started dating Rita, so they were touring together. And he would do like, “Mercedes Benz,” you know as a guest artist. And, you know, it was a crazy time. I mean, the ’70s in rock ‘n’ roll. I never considered Kris or anybody…I never considered us country and Nashville didn’t consider – you know, they didn’t like outsiders…

Bobby, you know, it was just a wild time. It was crazy, and it was fun. We had a lot of laughs. And I mean — well, if you listen to that album, which was 1974, Bobby was — he wasn’t as much a folk singer as a rock ‘n’ roller to me.

There’s a quote in Bob Dylan’s memoir, Chronicles, about Bobby, as you call him, and it goes: “Right from the start, you could tell that Neuwirth had a taste for provocation and that nothing was going to restrict his freedom.” Is that something you’d agree with?
That’s a great quote. I love that. I do agree with that, he was a free spirit. You never knew what — when Bob came on stage, you didn’t know what you were getting.

From what I’ve read, even with having all of these incredibly talented artists contributing to the album, Bobby wasn’t satisfied with the way it ultimately turned out. Now, part of that was because of his own struggles with alcohol that he was dealing with at the time. Do you remember what you thought of it then? Did you like the finished result?
You know, we were just on the rhythm — the tracking dates. It was just a band. It was about six pieces. It was myself, Sammy Creason on drums, Terry Paul on bass, Jerry McGee on guitar, Donnie Fritts on keyboards, along with myself. … It was very raw, you know? And if you listen to the tracks, the rock ‘n’ roll tunes, that’s what I remember about it. And even the ballads, they changed quite a bit when Tommy Kaye, who was the producer, put the strings on. I think when we cut the tracks, in my opinion, it was closer to what Bobby had in mind about what he wanted it to be. I couldn’t tell you that, he never said that, but still, that would be my opinion.

I’d like to ask about the song “Mercedes Benz.” Most people know it through Janis Joplin’s version, but I really quite like Bobby’s — it reminds me very much of Willie Nelson. Do you have any memories of recording that track?
Yeah, that’s basically how we did it live. I was playing B-3 [organ], Donnie Fritts was playing piano. There was basically the Kris band, Stephen [Bruton] and Jerry were playing guitars, electric — and Bob would have been playing acoustic guitar and singing. I mean, it was really the way we played it on stage, and I thought it came out — that’s a funny story. My son, who was a music major at the University of Miami, took a songwriting class and they used “Mercedes Benz” as the perfect form for a sonnet.

Listen to Bob Neuwirth’s ‘Mercedes Benz’

Bobby’s character will definitely be a part of the upcoming Dylan biopic. 
I heard a couple of stories [from Neuwirth]…One of the things was “Like a Rolling Stone,” when they were going to cut that record — [Dylan] was sort of envious of hit records, and he wanted to have a hit record himself, not an album, but a hit single. And Bob Neuwirth said when he went in the studio to cut that record with those guys, that was his intent: to have a hit record. And it was. “Like a Rolling Stone.” Now that’s what Bob told me — Dylan might disagree. This is from, you know, his road buddy, and there’s probably some truth to that. You know, you get out there and you’d like to get some recognition, that kind of recognition.

I’d like to ask about someone you worked with for a very, very long time and that’s Jimmy Buffett. Firstly, condolences on your loss. What kind of legacy do you think he’s leaving behind?
You know, he always – this is like Bob wanting a hit record — Jimmy always wanted respect from songwriters. … Because he wrote songs like, “[Pencil Thin Mustache],” “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” But that’s who Jimmy was. He was an eight-year-old kid that never grew up, but to find out people loved his writing because he was such a great writer. His legacy — the party keeps on going, that’s one thing, and that his songs keep on being played, which they will be.

Listen to Bob Neuwirth’s ‘Rock and Roll Rider’