Cliff Goodwin

Super six-stringer Cliff Goodwin’s father played sax and piano but his own biggest early influences included The Beatles and he soon discovered the British blues scene and the great guitarists who set the stage for his colossal career: Clapton, Beck and Page. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on August 4th, 1953, he formed a Beatles-inspired band around age 13, The Exit Left, then assembled two ‘60s-inspired R&B groups, The End and Appleton’s Journal, before moving into Americana, eventually becoming a local legend with the band Albatross.

American Standard Band, Joe Cocker, Robert Palmer

Goodwin’s next group, the Worcester-based American Standard Band, was soul-singing legend Joe Cocker’s touring and recording outfit from 1976 to 1978, and Goodwin stayed with Cocker for 12 years in total, playing on the world’s biggest stages and on Cocker hits “Shelter Me,” “Leave Your Hat On,” ‘Fun Time” and “Up Where We Belong.” He says those years taught him more than he could ever explain. “The importance of my time with Joe, almost a dozen years, is immeasurable,” he says. “Most of all, he taught us how to ‘serve the song” because that’s why we are here. It’s about the song! That’s been a foundation to everything I play.”

In between tours with Cocker, Goodwin played on Robert Palmer’s 1979 album Secrets, which includes “Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor Doctor),” his biggest hit. On the local level, he and Jon Butcher started trading licks. “I was there almost at the beginning of Axis and we had so much fun,” he says, referring to Jon Butcher Axis. “There was never a dull moment with Jon, Chris (Martin) and Derek (Blevins).”

Leaving the road, Recent activity, Comments on venues

Following his whirlwind touring and recording days, he decided that life at home beat life on the road for months on end. “First of all, the road wasn’t a grind,” he says, “It was an alternate parallel universe. And in some ways not based in normal reality. Every day is the same yet different, the same by way of the music and fantastic experience but different in that it was a new country or continent. All very good, but very fast moving.” Since then, Goodwin has played mostly small gigs as venues around New England with Christine Ohlman and Rebel Montez, The Mohegan Sun All-Stars, James Montgomery, and as part of The Silverbacks with Mike Lynch, Jim Perry (from Albatross), Deric Dyer (from Joe Cocker’s band), Glenn D’tomasso and Bill Macgilvray (from his early Worcester days).

Asked if he likes playing smaller places after having played so many stadiums over the decades, he said he likes mid-sized venues best. “Arenas and stadiums are quite an odd animal. Fun yes, but difficult to reach all the people,” he said. “One thing you never realize until you experience it is that the sound of 80,000 to 100,000 people simply breathing is really loud. To me, the best gigs are theatres of about 3,000 to 5,000. You can touch every one of them especially with ballads, which was Joe’s strength. With the smaller bar gigs, those can be a real blast cause you are all in the same swimming pool so to speak. Much more intimate.”

Rhythm and Blues Union, Mad Dogs Unchained

In 2015, Goodwin began talking to his friends in the Goodwin universe about wanting to do his own recording with a number of the great musicians he has worked with over the years. After bringing in bassist David Hull (The Joe Perry Project, James Montgomery Band) and Grammy-winning engineer Ducky Carlisle, his recorded the solo album Rhythm And Blues Union, which CD Baby released in the spring of 2018. Goodwin plays lead, slide and acoustic guitar and has Dyer, Jon Butcher, Montgomery and former Cocker back up vocalist Ann Lang adding their talents to the mix.

In 2016, Goodwin and former Cocker band mate Derek Dyer formed Mad Dogs Unchained as a way to celebrate Cocker’s legacy following the singer’s death in 2014. The band toured Europe for a month, recorded a CD and a live DVD and plan on going back to Europe in the near future. Goodwin has always been an in-demand session player and in 2019 he played guitar on some new material from Boston-based ‘60s band Orpheus.

Selected Discography

• American Standard Band – LP 1 (Island, 1976)
• Joe Cocker – Luxury You Can Afford (Electra Asylum, 1978)
• American Standard Band – LP 2 (Island, 1979)
• Robert Palmer – Secrets (Island, 1979)
• Joe Cocker – Live in Berlin (Liberation, 1980)
• Joe Cocker – Live in New York City (Liberation, 1981)
• Joe Cocker – Live in Tokyo/Sydney (Liberation, 1990
• Joe Cocker – Cocker (Capitol, 1986)
• New City Rockers – New City Rockers (Atlantic, 1988)
• Joe Cocker – The Best of Joe Cocker (Capitol, 1982)
• Joe Cocker – The Anthology (A&M, 1999)
• Joe Cocker – Standing Here (Fruit Tree, 2001)
• Mohegan Sun All-Stars – Live at the Wolf Den (2001)
• Joe Cocker – The Ultimate Collection (Hip-O/A&M, 2004)
• Joe Cocker – Gold (Hip-O/A&M, 2006)
• Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez – Re-Hive (HMG, 2008)
• Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez – The Deep End (HMG, 2009)
• Deric Dyer – Renaissance Man (Delboy,2012)
• The Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra – Vol. 2 (2013)
• James Montgomery Band – Live at the Larcom (2015
• Cliff Goodwin – Rhythm and Blues Union (G., 2018)

(by A.J. Wachtel)