Govinda Gallery

Donovan’s ‘aide-de-camp’ Chris Murray, Howard Stern, and Donovan. The Howard Stern Show studios, February 5th, 2014. Copyright © Sebastian Leitch. All Rights Reserved.

Donovan’s recent appearance on the Howard Stern Show February 5th was one to remember. Howard Stern has been doing the best interviews of important musical artists of anyone in the media. His recent interviews with Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, Rod Stewart, and Graham Nash have been extraordinary. Donovan’s interview was the latest and one of the greatest.

Stern has a great love and knowledge of rock music and you can appreciate that in his in-depth and insightful approach to these significant interviews. Donovan’s interview went for an hour and twenty minutes live on-air without interruption. It was fascinating to hear Donovan trace the roots of rock and roll to the ballad form that came out of the earlier Irish and English traditions that were then transplanted to America and out of which developed folk, country, and blues music. Donovan told many wonderful stories including his time in India with the Beatles and played portions of a number of his extraordinary hit songs from Catch the Wind to Hurdy Gurdy Man.

The team at the Howard Stern Show was wonderful including executive producer Gary Dell’Abate, Steve Brandano, Will Murray, the great Fred Norris and Robin Quivers, as well as Ronnie ‘the Limo Driver’ and Scott the engineer. It was wonderful to meet Howard after the interview. He could not have been more charming and appreciative of Donovan’s visit. We love Howard Stern.

A few days later Allan Kozinn in the New York Times wrote about Donovan’s induction into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. It is a great honor for Donovan and one that is well deserved.

The New York Times
February 11, 2014
Arts, Briefly
by Allan Kozinn

“The Songwriters Hall of Fame is expected to announce on Tuesday that its 2014 class of inductees will include Donovan, Ray Davies, Graham Gouldman, Mark James and Jim Weatherly. They will be formally inducted in a ceremony in New York on June 12.

The hall, which was founded in 1969, and has a gallery with video exhibits and interactive displays at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, regards its mission as honoring established songwriters and nurturing young ones. It offers educational programs, including master classes, workshops and scholarships.

Though the hall’s more than 400 inductees include songwriters that go back to the 19th century, as well as a hefty representation of Tin Pan Alley composers, this year’s crop is drawn from melodists who came to prominence between the mid-1960s and early 1970s, but who represent several styles.

Donovan, a versatile folk singer whose first hits were Dylanesque pieces like “Catch the Wind” and “Colors,” went on to write late-60s pop classics (“Season of the Witch,” “Sunshine Superman”), epics of early psychedelia (“Mellow Yellow,” “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” “Atlantis”) and in recent years, country-tinged ballads (“Blue Jean Angel,” “Shadows of Blue”)…”