A decade before he joined Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, Nils Lofgren was flirting with the idea of joining another rock institution when he heard Mick Taylor was quitting the Rolling Stones.
For any player in the mid 1970s, the chance to join the Stones as Taylor’s replacement would likely be the gig of a lifetime.
So, when Taylor’s eventual successor Ronnie Wood was having second thoughts about the gig full-time, Lofgren volunteered his services.
Taylor left the Stones in late 1974, having played a starring role in classic Stones albums. A fleet of big-name players were linked with his vacated spot.
Wayne Perkins, Harvey Mandel and Jeff Beck, who turned the band down, were among those considered, while Wood came in as a temporary replacement. The Black and Blue recording sessions taking place across Europe at the time of Taylor's departure were going to be used as a trial by fire for the aspiring suitors.
Lofgren wanted to be on that shortlist. In the September 1988 issue of Guitar World, he recalled how he volunteered his talents. Soon afterward, he says, “I pulled another U and went bowling because I remembered, ‘Ronnie Wood! Of course they’ll get him.’”
His intuition turned out to be correct but that didn’t stop him from shooting his shot. Ironically, Wood was his inroad.
“I had been pretty friendly with Ronnie Wood and decided to give him a call,” he explained. “Just to find out what was up so I could get it out of my head.
“He wasn’t so sure about joining, ’cause he felt loyal to the Faces. So he gave me the number where to call up Keith Richards. And I’m shaking and nervous and call Keith. You know... ‘Hi, Keith, this is Nils Lofgren, Ron Wood might have mentioned me...’
“And I hear him go, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah, how’s it goin’, mate?’”
Richards was getting tired of the lack of progress in finding a replacement. Lofgren was poised to audition. Then the door slammed shut.
“They were trying out a lot of people,” he says. “Rather than take two years and follow up every lead, the Stones decided to hold open auditions, play as a band, and have guitar players go up, play a song or two, [then onto the] next guy, and do the same.
“I was all set to get on the plane to Geneva,” he adds. “But, as it turned out, Ronnie decided to do it.” It paved the way for his iconic weaving partnership with Keith Richards.
Mandel, who also played on Black and Blue, has since stated he would have been a better fit for the band than Wood, who remains in post today. Both he and Lofgren can now only look back and think about what could have been.
By the time Springsteen came calling, Lofgren was broke and living with his parents. He said linking up with the Boss saved his life. The heartbreak of missing out on the Stones gig was remedied overnight.
