About Jeff “Skunk” Baxter
Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, a multi-Grammy winner and member of the Rock & Roll Hall Fame first reached a wide rock audience in 1968 as a member of Boston’s psychedelic rock band Ultimate Spinach.
Baxter eventually moved to Los Angeles, finding work as a session guitarist including guitar on such classics as “9 to 5”, Donna Summers’ “Hot Stuff,” and producing the #1 song “At This Moment” for Billy and the Beaters. In 1972 he became a founding member of Steely Dan. He played 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.”
While finishing work on Pretzel Logic, Baxter became aware of Becker and Fagen’s intentions to retire Steely Dan from touring and work almost exclusively with session players. With that in mind, Baxter left the band in 1974 and immediately was asked to join The Doobie Brothers. After bringing vocalist Michael McDonald into The Doobies, Baxter’s jazzier guitar style combined with McDonald’s vocal and songwriting contributions marked a new direction for the band. They went on to continued success with the albums Takin’ It to the Streets, 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.
The latest phase of Skunk came with his long-time collaboration with keyboardist and producer CJ Vanston. A wide range of songs were written and recorded representing the diversity of genres of music for which Skunk is known. They then decided that adding vocals, both from Baxter and guest artists would provide even more depth to the project. The result was signing with BMG and the release of “Speed of Heat” in June of 2022. Skunk Baxter hasn’t stopped touring since.