Don Stevenson

Don Stevenson was born in Seattle on October 15, 1941. He got his first drum kit at twelve. He talked his way into his first gig by claiming he could already play, then borrowed a red sparkle Slingerland kit to prove it. By his early twenties he was playing Seattle clubs and working the Chitlin’ Circuit, backing Big Mama Thornton and Etta Jones.

In 1965 he joined The Frantics with a Tacoma guitarist named Jerry Miller. The band moved to San Francisco, met bassist Bob Mosley, and in 1966 became the core of Moby Grape, with Skip Spence and Peter Lewis. “The chemistry was undeniable,” Don remembers. “Three guitars blending together. It was magic.”

Moby Grape’s 1967 debut reached No. 24 in the United States, and Columbia released five singles from it on the same day. That June the band played the Monterey International Pop Festival. Don and Jerry had become a songwriting team, writing “Hey Grandma” and “8:05” for the first record and “Murder in My Heart for the Judge” for 1968’s Wow. “Jerry and I had our own thing going on,” Don says. “It was easy. I have never been interested in writing with anyone else.” Those songs have since been recorded by The Move, Three Dog Night, Lee Michaels and Robert Plant.

Don kept writing for the Grape through 20 Granite Creek (1971) and Legendary Grape (1989). His first solo album, King of the Fools, came out in 2010 with Jerry Miller on guitar; David Fricke called it “an engaging blend of country, blues and R&B.” Since then he has released Buskin’ in the Subway (2018) and the two volumes of Limited Engagement on Toronto’s SoundSuite Records, leading on guitar now as well as drums. At 82 he played Massey Hall for the first time.

“There are only two kinds of music,” he says, “the good and not good. I always try to represent the good stuff.”