Jeff "Skunk" Baxter - Founding member Steely Dan, Doobie Bros. guitarist at the Sutter Creek Theatre

WOW! Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member AND member of two of my favorite bands! “Skunk” Baxter has had an amazing musical career and is releasing a new album in June this year!

Baxter joined his first band at age 11. In junior high school in Mexico City, Jeff formed a surf band that hit the top 10 on radio in Mexico. While still a high school student, he worked at Jimmy’s Music Shop in Manhattan in 1965 and 1966. At Jimmy’s, Baxter met guitarist Jimi James (later to become Jimi Hendrix), who was just beginning his career as a frontman, and provided him with his first custom left-handed Fender Stratocaster. Baxter and Hendrix went on to become good friends.

In 1972 he became a founding member of the band Steely Dan, along with guitarist Denny Dias, bassist Walter Becker, keyboardist-vocalist Donald Fagen, drummer/vocalist Jim Hodder and vocalist David Palmer. Baxter appeared with Steely Dan on their first three albums, Can’t Buy a Thrill in 1972, Countdown to Ecstasy in 1973, and Pretzel Logic in 1974. He contributed the guitar fills and signature solo heard on the group’s highest charting hit ” Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.”

Baxter left the band in 1974 to join The Doobie Brothers, who at the time were touring in support of their fourth album. Baxter suggested bringing in singer-keyboardist Michael McDonald, with whom Baxter had worked in Steely Dan. McDonald soon was invited to join the band full-time. McDonald’s vocal and songwriting contributions, as well as Baxter’s jazzier guitar style, marked a new direction for the band. They went on to continued success with the 1976 album Takin’ It to the Streets, 1977’s Livin’ on the Fault Line, and particularly 1978’s Minute by Minute, which spent five weeks as the #1 album in the U.S. and spawned several hit singles; Baxter’s work on the album includes a performance at the end of “How Do the Fools Survive?”.

Baxter has continued working as a session guitarist for a diverse group of artists, including Willy DeVille, Bryan Adams, Hoyt Axton, Eric Clapton, Sean O’Bryan Smith, Gene Clark, Sheryl Crow, Freddie Hubbard, Tim Weisberg, Joni Mitchell, Ricky Nelson, Dolly Parton, Carly Simon, Ringo Starr, Gene Simmons, Rod Stewart, Burton Cummings, Barbra Streisand, and Donna Summer. He has worked as a touring musician for Elton John and Linda Ronstadt.

Baxter is excited to starting touring after the CD is released in June 2022.

The award winning historic Sutter Creek Theatre is an intimate 215 seat former silent film theatre with superb sound. Voted Best Indie Theatre multiple times (KCRA A-List).