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Switched on Pop

Fleetwood Mac perfected turning drama into hits

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.62.7K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2024

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1973, before their ascent to rock superstardom with Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were just two young lovers making music in Los Angeles. Their debut album, Buckingham Nicks, though commercially unsuccessful at the time, would prove to be the catalyst that changed their lives. When Mick Fleetwood happened to walk into Sound City Studios and overheard Buckingham's masterful guitar work, he knew he'd found what his band desperately needed given the departure of their guitarist Peter Green. Fleetwood invited Buckingham to join the group, and Buckingham agreed on one condition: his musical and romantic partner, Stevie Nicks, would come too. This fateful meeting would birth the legendary lineup that created Fleetwood Mac and Rumours, albums that would define a generation. Yet all this time, the band's origin story, captured in Buckingham Nicks, has remained locked away in aging vinyl archives – until now. Grammy-winning guitarist Madison Cunningham and virtuoso multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird have breathed new life into this historic recording with their interpretation, Cunningham Bird. Cunningham, celebrated for her sophisticated fingerpicking and intricate compositions, joins forces with Bird, whose distinctive violin work and plaintive vocals have earned him critical acclaim. Their reimagining of this pivotal album offers fresh insight into both Fleetwood Mac's enduring influence and the rocky romance that sparked their success. I sat down with the duo to discuss their approach to this legendary material and what drew them to resurrect these long-lost songs. Switched On Pop spoke with Madison Cunningham and Andrew Bird about how they adapted Buckingham Nicks into Cunningham Bird Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:36.1

Available feature Bose is a registered trademark of the Bose Corporation

0:39.0

welcome to switchton pop I'm songwriter Charlie Harding.

0:56.8

And I'm musicologist Nate Sloan.

0:59.2

Hey, would you say that we're living in a sort of Fleetwood Mac Renaissance?

1:03.6

The Macassants? Absolutely.

1:05.5

What do you think makes them so appealing to folks?

1:07.6

Okay, if I had to break it down, Fleetwood Mac have incredible songwriting.

1:12.4

Yeah, no, it rings like a bell for the night.

1:16.1

And wouldn't you love to love her?

1:21.3

Stunning vocal harmonies and so much drama these are definitely all true i feel like there are a lot of bands born out of the 1960s that have a lot of these qualities,

1:46.3

and yet very few get to have songs return to the Hot 100 because of their ongoing

1:54.2

multi-generational appeal.

1:55.6

I mean, Fleetwood Mac came out of the late 60s.

1:58.7

They were a British blues group founded by Mick Fleetwood on drums, John McVee on bass,

2:05.2

Peter Green on guitar, eventually Christine McVee joins on keys.

2:09.7

In addition to a number of rotating cast of characters later,

...

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