Lindsey Buckingham remembers his failed tour with Don Everly: ‘He couldn’t take it’
The name Fleetwood Mac is attached to some of the biggest hits in soft rock history, if not in the entire history of the genre. Between Stevie Nicks’ wondrously witchy songwriting, Lindsey Buckingham’s mastery of a guitar, and Christine McVie’s talent behind the keys, the band forged a myriad of all-time greats, from the sparkling ‘Everywhere’ to the fabled Rumours. They’re now one of the best-selling bands of all time, but it wasn’t always that way.
Before Mick Fleetwood recruited them to join his band of soft-rockers, Nicks and Buckingham were struggling to make ends meet. After meeting in school, the pair embarked upon a simultaneous creative and romantic relationship, making music as Buckingham Nicks. Though they experienced some success, including signing with Polydor, they didn’t immediately fall into the glitz and glam of the industry.
Instead, Nicks was working tirelessly to support the couple so that Buckingham could hone his craft. As Buckingham recalled to Magnet, “Economics entered into the situation, and Stevie (Nicks) and I were trying to do whatever we could to pay our rent.” He explained that their debut, the self-titled Buckingham Nicks, had not helped them out much financially, and their management company had bigger names to focus on, such as The Carpenters.
During this time, Buckingham landed a slot on tour with one of The Everly Brothers, Don Everly. The Everly Brothers had called it a day in 1973, and Everly was on a quest to go solo. Buckingham was recruited to play guitar for the tour, but things didn’t go quite as planned. “Don was wrestling with the idea of wanting to be Don Everly on his own,” Buckingham remembered, “which was understandable.”
Unfortunately, Everly’s fans weren’t quite ready to say goodbye to The Everly Brothers. According to Buckingham, audiences would shout out requests for songs by his old band, describing the scenes as “heartbreaking”. Fairly soon into the tour, it all became too much for Don, who made the tough decision to cancel the rest of the planned dates.
“He was coming right out of being [in the Everly Brothers] and couldn’t take it,” Buckingham surmised, “After about three cities, he pulled the plug on the tour. He said, ‘I can’t do this.’” Buckingham had lost out on another opportunity, but, fortunately, Fleetwood Mac was just around the corner.
In 1974, Fleetwood asked Buckingham to join him in the band, a request he accepted on the condition that Nicks would also be brought into the fold. Fleetwood accepted a decision that would soon pay off as Buckingham and Nicks became two of the primary songwriting sources in the band, as well as a main source of the relationship drama that would inspire so many of their hits.
Buckingham didn’t have long to dwell on the failure of his tour with Don Everly, as he was soon playing arenas and stadiums around the world, not just as a session musician but as a permanent and crucial member of the band. Rather than fans screaming for Everly tunes, they were screaming for songs he had written. He was no longer a hopeful musician struggling to make ends meet, desperate to make session musician slots work’; he was the lead guitarist of one of the greatest rock bands of all time.
