Spring 2024

e’s quite possibly the most famous musician you’ve never heard of. A newly minted Pebble Beach resident, John Beland has lent his guitar and vocal chops to countless recordings and live performances. A conversation with him is liberally peppered with a plethora of mid- to late-20th century musical household names such as Arlo Guthrie, Ricky Nelson, Rita Coolidge, Glen Frey, Kim Carnes, Johnny Cash, Slash, The Bellamy Brothers and The Flying Burrito Brothers. Beland’s memoir, “Best Seat in the House,” features jacket blurbs from some with whom he's played and remained friends: Garth Brooks, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt. His story is an American dream writ large, and it spans recording studios from Los Angeles to Nashville and stages around the globe. Beland was born in a place with the Hollywood-script-sounding tag of Hometown, Illinois (yes, it’s real). It was a typical post-WWII suburban Chicago neighborhood, full of ex-GIs and their growing families of baby boomer chil- dren. That was an innocent America, when the word “helicopter” only applied to flying machines, not to parenting. For his sixth birth- day, young Beland received a prophetic gift, an official Davy Crockett guitar. “It wasn’t a toy,” he writes, “but a real guitar with six strings and a red rope lariat for a strap.” He was in love and, like many guitar heroes, such as Keith Richards and Jimi Hendrix, became inseparable from it, even sleeping with it. This lifelong Cubs fan came a long way from Chicago. (Above) He’s performed with many country music luminaries, including Dolly Parton. (Below) Beland’s been an in-demand guitarist since he was a teenager. 142 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G 2 0 2 4 H Photos: Courtesy of John Beland

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