Director's Statement


I had been hesitant to make a follow up to "The Wrecking Crew". But when I was approached with the idea of "The Immediate Family", I didn't think twice. The Immediate Family consists of Danny 'Kootch' Kortchmar Guitar/Vocal, Leland Sklar Bass, Russ Kunkel on Drums, Waddy Wachtel Guitar/Vocal and Steve Postell Guitar/Vocal.

They were at the genesis of the Singer Songwriter Era in the 1970s...

Denny Tedesco, Director

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"This film is a window into the lives of my musical brothers, whose gold standard is to make sure that every song they play on comes out even better than the songwriter imagined. Now they're doing that for their own songs, and this film tells their story beautifully." - Carole King

"A wonderful and fascinating encomium to the unsung heroes of the music of the 70s and so much more. I was thrilled to watch my favourite musicians (and dearest friends) celebrated for their musical brilliance, their prodigious influence and creativity - and for how much fun we all had (and, by the way, continue to have!)". - Peter Asher

"Waddy and I sometimes, I think we're the same person, except from California and New York, because we are like two sides of a coin and that's why we have been working together for so long I think. Because I would never want anybody else to be my musical director, or my lead guitarist, because Waddy makes me feel safe and always has in any situation, no matter how frightening the situation, as long as he's standing next to me, I know I'm safe." - Stevie Nicks

"One of the things about the comradery was the knowledge of what it's like to make music together and to collaborate. on something like that. Like put down a tune and everybody work together as a sort of team or a community on this tune. It's a bond, it's such a special thing to be able to do. "The creative input of these session guys cannot be overstated. It can't be overstated. I mean it just can't be overstated." -- James Taylor


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"Well, I have over a hundred gold and platinum records, and they probably played on 95% of them. Just to give you a number." - Val Garay (Producer, Engineer)

"Seeing those names on other recordings and thinking that, 'Wow, these are the guys!' And in a way these new independent players that were brought in by new artists like Carole King in those days, in a way the baton was handed to them and they became the new Wrecking Crew. - Lyle Lovett

'A', those cats are fucking good, and "B", they're talking to each other." There was chemistry. And it was there. There's two universal languages that nobody needs to be taught and everybody gets them, music and math. It was unmistakable and it was one of the things that made everybody fall in love with those guys and that was they had respect for each other and, along with the talent, they had a gift for communicating with each other. - David Crosby