John Surge and the Haymakers - Gold

John Surge and the Haymakers “Gold” - Re-Imagining Folk Hero’s Hit Song With a Visual Commentary on Today’s Music Industry

In a video where Hollywood musical landmarks and Malibu hill country play prominent roles, John Surge and the Haymakers deliver a visual commentary on today’s music industry via a cover of John Stewart’s “Gold,” a tale of a bygone music industry era that was released more than 45 years ago.

“We’ve been playing ‘Gold’ live off and on,” says Surge of the song that originally had a disco beat and featured Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham for a very Fleetwood Mac sounding record. “We reimagined it as if John Stewart had played it with more of a country feel with fiddle, pedal steel, and harmonica.”

Surge re-arranged the tune to be shorter and a bit quicker in tempo and decided to include it on the band’s just released EP Maybe You Don’t Know Me on Blackbird Record Label. Tommy Detamore’s production (Jesse Daniel, Dallas Wayne) makes the instrumentation jump from the speakers while Brennen Leigh reprises the Stevie Nicks’ harmony part with her own unique honky tonk take.

In addition to Haymakers’ Randy Volin on guitar, the musicians on the track are what Surge calls the “Austin Haymakers”: Brad Fordham, bass (Dave Alvin, Hayes Carll), Tom Lewis, drums (Sunny Sweeney, Junior Brown), Floyd Domino, piano (Asleep at the Wheel, Merle Haggard), Jess Meador, fiddle (Ty Myers), Detamore, steel (Doug Sahm, Jim Lauderdale) and LA’s Dave Bernal, harmonica (Culture Club).

The video stars Frankie Lawson from LA’s Smoky Mountains band while Surge plays himself and the evil music industry executive (that gold suit)!