Classic rock star Randy Bachman recently auctioned far more than $1 million worth of his top-flight, historic guitars at New York City’s Hard Rock Cafe.
“Somebody has to adopt my children,” he said with a chuckle days before the high-profile event, speaking by phone from his home in Victoria, British Columbia, in Canada. “It’s time for them to leave home.”
But the 80-year-old has a literal warehouse of axes remaining to power his was way through a 7:30 p.m. June 16 show with a revamped Bachman-Turner Overdrive at Brown County Music Center in Nashville. He last performed in this area in 2018 when he headlined the Our Hospice of South Central Indiana Labor Day Weekend Concert before an estimated 9,000 people at Mill Race Park in downtown Columbus.
He played a staggering string of at least 14 hits he either wrote or co-wrote. He opened with Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “Roll On Down the Highway” and drove a rock rig overflowing with a trailer of favorites, from his first mid-1960s The Guess Who hit of “Shakin’ All Over” to the 1970 smash “American Woman” to the relaxed jazz of “Lookin’ Out For Number One” from 1975.
The crowd loved the journey. And yes, he notices that many in his audiences these days are as young as teens and as old as him.
“The high school students send me sheet music of their marching band arrangements of ‘American Woman’ and ‘Taking Care of Business,’” he said. “They’re such easy songs to play.”
It helps that his songs are featured in current video games and have been re-recorded by such stars as Lenny Kravitz or performed by such luminaries as Kelly Clarkson. Plus, they’ve landed in dozens of movies, commercials, you name it, keeping the tunes relevant.
“Suddenly, these songs have become new and novel to a whole new generation,” he said. “And then many of the listeners will go back and listen to the original.”
The current BTO lineup includes son Tal, who performed his 1999 pop hit “She’s So High” here (and will do so at this show), plus Mick Dalla-Vee, Marc LaFrance and Brent Knudsen.
Bachman takes the physical nature of his work, including lugging a 20-pound guitar for a two-hour show, so seriously that he travels with a personal trainer, cycles regularly, does aquatic therapy, and works out with weights.
“You’ve got to do things like that every day,” he said. “And you’ve got to have a good ‘mechanic.’ You become an athlete, basically.”
Via his musical muscle, he has amassed 120 gold and platinum album/singles awards around the world. His songwriting has landed him on radio playlists in more than 20 countries. He has sold more than 40 million records. Elvis Presley, who inspired Bachman’s early guitar interest after a preschool Bachman had learned some violin, loved BTO’s music so much that he used the initials TCB (Taking Care of Business) on some of his own merchandise and for the name of his band for a few years.
On internet guitar sites, people know his prowess through the years, and seem to figure that it matters little that he generally sings mostly only harmony in concert these days.
“Jazz to blues to hard rock was no problem for him” in the ’60s and ’70s, wrote one visitor to thegearpage.net.
Yet, the greatest music to his ears these days is that of his cellphone ringing — with one of his eight grown kids or 29 grandchildren or one of many great-grandchildren on the other end.
“My greatest honor comes on Father’s Day — to get those calls,” he said, his voice filed with pride. “When you have a grandkid or a great-grandkid come to a show, they just have no idea (what to expect). They’ve pretty much casually grown up with my songs just naturally in the house.
“Afterward, they look at me like ‘Who are you?’” Bachman said, laughing.
The general pop-rock music world knows very well who Randy Bachman is. And now the uninitiated can get some idea, too.
About the concert
Who: Randy Bachman with a revamped Bachman Turner Overdrive, plus hits from The Guess Who.
When: 7:30 p.m. June 16.
Where: Brown County Music Center, 200 Maple Leaf Drive in Nashville.
Information and tickets: browncountymusiccenter.com.
