Interview -- Laurence Juber (Wings, solo guitarist, session musician)
"And Paul said,
'What are you doing
for the next few years?'"
~ Laurence Juber ~
Hailing from East London, but now calling L.A. home, Laurence Juber has had plenty of days playing in the sun. With a 30-plus discography of critically acclaimed CDs under his belt, the fellow definitely knows his way around a guitar. Juber is recognized as one of the top acoustic guitar players of all time and was once voted Guitarist of the Year. He has received two Grammys, and his fingers have never once left his hands. The guy can play.
Since moving to California, Juber has put his guitar stylings to good use composing or co-composing soundtracks and scores for shows as diverse as Dateline NBC, Ken Burns documentaries, and even The Brady Bunch. Juber has added his guitar to soundtracks and dozens of films and television shows. From "Good Will Hunting" to "Dirty Dancing." From Eric Carmen To Harry Styles. The man walks through golden halls. And yet, even Laurence Juber knows he will always be recognized as the baby-faced guitarist whom, in 1978, Paul McCartney pulled aside to join his band, Wings. Sir Paul McCartney, that is. And don't misunderstand me, no one is complaining. When the Rock 'n' Roll face on Mt. Rushmore asks you to join his band, you don't wait for the waitress to bring you a to-go box. Laurence Juber has done plenty. But, I mean, what could be any more satisfying than having that ace card in your pocket? Laurence Juber. Here, there, and everywhere. Go get you some.
Laurence Juber Interview -- June 2026
Laurence Juber
[The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.]
Casey Chambers: Let's start with your involvement with Alan Parsons. You were doing a little session work for him before anyone really knew there was actually gonna be a Project! Not exactly, but it was definitely new ground. And this was later to become "Tales of Mystery and Imagination." (1976) How did that come about?
Laurence Juber: That was actually my very first session at Abbey Road in Studio Two. I didn't know when we did the session that it was for that album. I was friends and had been doing some studio work with Francis Monkman, who was the keyboard player from a band called Curved Air, which was kind of one of the early prog rock bands in England. And he was friends with Andrew Powell, who's an orchestrator and arranger. Somehow, I got booked to play guitar for this session. Francis was playing harpsichord. I was on acoustic. There were a couple of mandolin players, and we did this instrumental piece. And when we finished, I just forgot all about it.
Then, probably about 25 years later, I was reading Musician Magazine, which was interviewing Alan Parsons. And he said, 'We had Laurence Juber play guitar.' (laughs) And that was when I learned the session was for "Tales of Mystery and Imagination." Even Terry Sylvester, who sang on the album, said that as far as he knew, it was a secret session. So that was really the extent of my involvement with it. I was on that one session. When the vinyl first came out, my name wasn't even on the credits. I didn't get credited until the CD came out. That's kind of par for the course in the studio world. You don't always get credited for what you do.
Casey Chambers: I wanted to bring this up because "Tales Of Mystery and Imagination" is my favorite Alan Parsons Project album. Most days, anyway. And you contributed your guitar in "Pavane," which is a section of a much larger instrumental suite..."The Fall Of the House of Usher." Everything fits like a tailored suit.
Laurence Juber: Yeah, I thought it was a very cool album.
"The Fall of the House of Usher (Pavane)" - Alan Parsons Project / "Tales of Mystery..." (1976)
Casey Chambers: Not knowing how your contributions would be used in the larger scheme of things is a trip to me. And you find out years later, your credits.
Laurence Juber: That's not so unusual. I had played on an album in Paris for a singer named Charles Aznavour. Very famous singer. Kind of old school. And I learned from my own Wikipedia page that the album that I played on was number one in France for almost the entire year of 1978. (laughs) It's the nature of that stuff. And I'm constantly...people will come up to me at the merch table at a show and hand me an album, and I'll say, 'Why am I signing this?' And then they point to my credit and say, 'Well, you played on it!' (laughs) So you never know.
Casey Chambers: Later in the '70s, you grabbed the golden ring and were asked to join the band Wings.
Laurence Juber: I was, indeed.
Casey Chambers: Tell me how that all came about.
Laurence Juber: Well, as you mentioned, I was working as a studio musician in London. And I was playing lead guitar on a TV show with David Essex, who was a big pop star over there. And Denny Laine was a guest on the show, and he liked my playing and recommended me to Paul and Linda.
Casey Chambers: And so they reached out to you?
Laurence Juber: Yeah, I mean, about six months later. It wasn't like an instant thing. And I knew Wings were looking for a new lead guitarist, but I was so busy with my studio work at that time that I didn't really pursue it. But as luck would have it, it ended up pursuing me.
Casey Chambers: So you go in and meet Paul and Linda. And then you have to do your thing. What was that like?
Laurence Juber: I was a little nervous 'cause I really didn't know any Wings tunes. (laughs) But as it turned out, we did some Chuck Berry and some reggae grooves, and then Steve Holley and I, you know, were both auditioning at the same time, he on drums. And Paul said, 'What are you doing for the next few years?' (laughs) So I think I fit the suit, as it were. They were looking for somebody versatile. My predecessor, Jimmy McCulloch, was a great rock guitar player, but I covered a lot more stylistic ground.
Casey Chambers: "Back To The Egg" has a lot of meat on the bone. And I love kicking cobwebs with "Spin It On." It's a great burner.
"Spin It On" - Wings / "Back To The Egg" (1979)
Laurence Juber: Yeah, well, the guitar solo was done after we had cut the track. I was in the control room, sitting with Paul eye to eye, when we did that recording. And it was really kind of a revelation to me. I had worked with some major record producers before, but I'd never worked with somebody who was bringing stuff out of me to the extent that Paul was. I think it was a mark of his capabilities as a producer to dig deep and really guide me in the direction of doing something that really matched the intensity of the punk rockabilly character of that song.
Casey Chambers: Which Wings songs are you proudest of?
Laurence Juber: Oh, you know, it's kind of been a shifting perspective. I've found that the "Back To The Egg" album is coming around to the point where it's like fine wine that's been lying down for nearly 50 years and is finally ready to drink. People are starting to really realize the strengths of that record. In fact, Mojo magazine just put it at #10 in their Top 10 of all of Paul's post-Beatles work. I'm certainly fond of "Spin It On" because it was kind of rockabilly, but beyond. That was really cool. I really like the intro I did on "Baby's Request." That was a very nice spontaneous jazzy moment. And "Rockestra..." was an amazing session, and we won the first Grammy for Rock Instrumental for that. There are aspects to all the songs on that album that I'm very fond of, but "Spin It On" is just an important one.
Casey Chambers: It's a good song. It was the B-side of the single, "Getting Closer."
Laurence Juber: Right. Yes, it was. You know, to be honest, the big hit single was "Goodnight Tonight," which wasn't even on the album. And I did this flamenco-ish solo on that, which was one of my favorite ever one-take solos. We were so busy getting the album promotion going that I wasn't really paying attention to which singles were out, because they were different in England than in America. Another one of my favorite songs from that period was actually "Daytime Nighttime Suffering," the B-side of "Goodnight Tonight."
Casey Chambers: Oh yeah. I first heard "Daytime Nighttime Suffering" as a bonus track on the "Back To The Egg" CD. That's a deep cut that got some airplay in its own right.
Laurence Juber: Yes, it did. Some radio stations wouldn't play "Goodnight Tonight" because they considered it too disco. But having played on a number of French disco records by an artist named Cerrone, which were big club hits at the time, I knew very well that "Goodnight Tonight" was more of a Latin rock thing than a disco record. Nonetheless, the record company described it that way and released a 12-inch disco single.
Casey Chambers: Wings made a whole bunch of music videos around this period, and this was before MTV. Any of them memorable for you?
"Back To The Egg" - Wings (1979)
Laurence Juber: Yeah, it was fun doing that kind of thing. The "Goodnight Tonight" video was probably the more interesting one to do because that was the first one we had done of those particular tracks. And we did that one at a dance hall called the Hammersmith Palais. When I was just getting started as a studio musician, I used to play in the house band there. And so I was very used to the revolving stage they used at the end of the video. Of all of them...I like the "Getting Closer" video. "Love Awake" was especially cool because you can see the castle where we recorded. I didn't play on the record, but we did a video for "I've Had Enough" from the album "London Town," and that was interesting because it was an all-nighter, shot with a single camera. It was almost like a film-like approach.
Casey Chambers: Were you feeling much pressure to catch up on the backlog of Wings and Beatles songs before you guys headed out on tour? I'm guessing a crash course.
Laurence Juber: Well, yeah, we had a set list. And you just study the songs and rehearse them until they become second nature. Many songs have specific guitar parts, while others allow for a little more play. I mean, for example, we would open the show with The Beatles' song "Got To Get You Into My Life," and much of the Beatles' repertoire has very specific guitar parts. But there are also a few songs where you could take liberties. With "Let It Be," for example, there was really no definitive guitar part or guitar solo I had to play, so I could just craft my own approach to it. And that was great fun. One that I really enjoy playing.
Casey Chambers: What was the famous show where you played that song, and...there was Pete Townshend, and The Pretenders, and just a bunch of biggies on stage?
Laurence Juber: Oh, that was the Kampuchea concert. We did "Let It Be" as part of the Rockestra set there. I think that perhaps the "Let It Be" solo I did at the Glasgow concert is probably my favorite. But it's close.
"Getting Closer" - Wings / "Back To The Egg" (1979)
Casey Chambers: What show stands out for you the most?
Laurence Juber: The one that really stands out was the last night show of the UK tour in Glasgow, which is the show that the live version of "Coming Up" came from. And I think that was an interesting juxtaposition because Paul was busy promoting his "McCartney II" version of it, which he made a very cool video for. But the radio flipped it over and played the live version instead of the studio version because it was more of a rock-and-roll record. And that record was number one for three weeks. (laughs) But that whole concert, I think, was kind of the epitome of where that band was going after it had been on the road for a month or so.
Casey Chambers: Recording at one of those beautiful castles must feel really different than recording in town at Abbey Road. I'm thinking in terms of privacy. When Wings were recording at Abbey, were there a lot of drop-ins and howdy-dos?
Laurence Juber: Oh, yeah. When we were at Abbey Road, people loved to drop by. I remember when we were in Studio Three one time, doing the horns on the song "Arrow Through Me," Paul Simon came in. He was marveling at the bass sound on that track. But in fact, there was no bass guitar on that record. It was just the left hand of a Fender Rhodes electric piano. (laughs) He just wanted to come in and say hello. People would show up quite a bit just to say hello. I remember David Bowie dropping by, and another time, Abba came in when they were at the height of their success. They were just like little kids around Paul. It was fun.
Casey Chambers: After Wings, and that's a golden ticket right there, you wound up in Hollywood, making music for television and films as well as doing session work for big artists with big hits. How did all that happen?
Laurence Juber: Yeah, well, what had happened was that after Wings, I moved to New York. And it was while in New York that I met Hope, who became my wife. She was from L.A., so I moved out there and started getting into studio work. It was at that point that I hooked up with various record producers and started doing a lot of session work. I played on "Mad About You" for Belinda Carlisle and Eric Carmen's single, "Make Me Lose Control," that you mentioned earlier. Both top three. As well as the "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack on "She's Like the Wind" and "The Time Of My Life." I also got to play on the last Top 20 single by The Monkees, the song "That Was Then, This Is Now." The '80s were especially busy times.
"She's Like The Wind" - Patrick Swayze / "Dirty Dancing" (1987)
And during that period, I was also getting to do a lot of television and movies. Over the years, I was involved with "Good Will Hunting" and the song from "Pocohontas"..."Colors of the Wind." I'm going back, but I think "Splash" was the first movie I did. And I was very fortunate to do a great many TV shows, including "Roseanne" and "Home Improvement." There was also a show called "7th Heaven" that ran for 11 years, and I did all the acoustic guitar work. I mean, I'm still finding things that I played on that I didn't even know I'd done. (laughs)
Casey Chambers: Your mailbox must be like opening a Cracker Jack box! (laughs) I'm going to throw this out at you because this movie has become a silly, nostalgic holiday tradition around our house. It was one of those made-for-TV movies, and my family watches it every year. "A Very Brady Christmas." We love it. (laughs)
Laurence Juber: Oh, yeah, "...Brady Christmas," I actually did the score for.
Casey Chambers: Right! And catching a Christmas gig is always a cool thing. A year after year thing.
Laurence Juber: Well, you have to understand that Hope's father, my late father-in-law, was Sherwood Schwartz, who created "The Brady Bunch." And "Gilligan's Island." And when they had the idea for the Brady Christmas movie, he asked me to score it. And it was a very fun experience. Especially recording at Paramount on a big scoring stage. I had a fairly decent-sized orchestra. I had Vinnie Colaiuta playing drums on it. And a great horn section made up of some of the top L.A. horn players. I got to write a lot of the strings and the orchestral side of it. And of course, being Christmasy, there's a certain kind of stylistic area that occupies. It was a fun project to do.
Casey Chambers: Hey, I love the Brady Bunch. (laughs)
Laurence Juber: Well, Hope was on "The Brady Bunch." She played Greg's girlfriend. She's the one with the frog on her head. (laughs)
Casey Chambers: No kidding! Don't eat the pizza! (laughs) If ya know, ya know.
Laurence Juber: Yeah, all of that. She was on a few episodes. She was also in the one where she got uninvited to Marcia's slumber party, too. (laughs)
Casey Chambers: Good for Hope! That was my show when I got home from school growing up, you know, before starting on my homework. I'd watch "The Brady Bunch." Whaddyagonnado?
Laurence Juber: Well, "The Brady Bunch" really became the long-running success because it went into syndication. Repeat viewings. It was in that 'come home from school' time slot, and you'd watch it.
Casey Chambers: Along with all that, you've recorded quite a few albums yourself. The two I'm most familiar with are "Between The Wars" (1995), which you recorded with Al Stewart. And the beautiful acoustic Wings tribute called appropriately..."One Wing" (2005). A really chill square to listen to in the evenings.
"Another Day" - Laurence Juber / "One Wing" (2005)
Laurence Juber: Thank you. What happened was I recorded "LJ Plays The Beatles" (2000), and Paul said, "Well, what about Wings?' (laughs) And Hope, who had produced it, just kept asking me to tackle that repertoire. And so I did. I think my favorite track on that is probably "Another Day" because it's just so much fun to play. I mean, playing that is like playing Bach.
Casey Chambers: I also like what you did with "Listen to What the Man Said."
Laurence Juber: Thank you.
Casey Chambers: Before I let you go, how about recommending a couple of albums by other artists you've enjoyed?
Laurence Juber: Oh, that's a tough call. Clearly, The Beatles' "Abbey Road"...such a classic album. And sometimes I'll go back and listen to "Disraeli Gears." The Cream album was very influential when I was a teenager. Listening to it now, I realize the guitar sounds aren't quite what I thought they were at the time. But one that's always been a favorite of mine is the John Mayall Bluesbreakers album. Known as 'The Beano Album,' with Eric Clapton reading a Beano comic on the cover. I think that's kind of a definitive album for many guitar players. The guitar tone that Clapton got on that record. It really launched a million Les Paul sales. So that really has got to be in my top three.
There's also an album by John Renbourn that was a big influence on me. The full title of it is "Sir John Alot of Merrie Englandes Musyk Thyng and ye Grene Knyghte." But it's known as "Sir John Alot..." That was a very important album for me because it really demonstrated what a solo guitar was capable of doing. And John Renbourn was a member of Pentangle, which was very much a definitive English folk-rock band. They were basically traditional folk, but with a jazz rhythm section and guitar players who could stretch out in either direction. Either the folk or the more improvisational end of things. Stuff like that. Important material.
And Nick Drake did some really amazing work, and of course, never lived to get the accolades for it. I think he committed suicide. And it wasn't until many, many years later that his music started to get the kind of traction that it should have gotten originally. It has since appeared in TV shows like "Dawson's Creek" and those kinds of shows. It's kind of the nature of the music business that sometimes music takes a long time to find its audience. You should really listen to Nick Drake. I mean, he was very influential in later years.
Casey Chambers: Which album should I grab first?
Laurence Juber: Oh, there's "Pink Moon." Well, his first album is called "Five Leaves Left." And there's a song called "River Man" on it that's very, very cool. Also, that album was produced with some amazing strings. And it's in 5/4 time too. Very, very cool. Oh, and this kind of relates to what I was talking about earlier with Pentangle. Nick Drake really is considered part of the folk-baroque style that came out of England, which also, to some extent, includes early Fairport Convention. And the kind of crossover between folk music, jazz, and rock. And also, Baroque and Renaissance music were very much part of the English musical scene I grew up in. But to pinpoint any one particular artist, I would probably say that the Bluesbreakers album is one of the most influential things for me.
Another artist I should absolutely recommend is my daughter, Ilsey. She put out an album on Elektra a couple of years ago called "From The Valley." She's also written or co-written many, many hits over the years. Panic! at the Disco's "High Hopes." She wrote "Mercy" with Shawn Mendes and "All Night" for Beyoncé's "Lemonade" album. "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" with Miley Cyrus. She has seven cuts on Jelly Roll's latest album. And she also wrote and is featured on the latest Chainsmokers.
Casey Chambers: That's good stuff. Ilsey is all over the place. What a talented family. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. It's been a real treat.
Laurence Juber: You're welcome. And thank you.
"Goodnight Tonight" - Wings / Non-LP Single (1979)
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