Six Strong Silver Bullet Band Work for Bob Seger

Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band are a very successful band in American classic rock. In this article, I decided to feature six songs of theirs focusing on a contribution on each one from a Silver Bullet Band member. I will give my thoughts on the importance of their part/s in the song.

Robyn Robbins - Organ on Live Version of Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man (1976)

Keyboardist Robyn Robbins who was in the Silver Bullet Band in the 70s provides great rock organ playing in the live version of Bob Seger’s first US hit. He improves upon the instrument’s part in the original recording. Robyn’s organ is the lead instrument and gives a good musical base for this song. Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man gives a unique sound fusioning rock and soul.

David Teegarden - Double Drums on Hollywood Nights (1978)

Drummer David Teegarden plays two sets of drums on “Hollywood Nights”. This provides a powerful rock beat with it frequently having the drum effects where it sounds like it’s going up and then down. David’s drums work very well for this intense rock song which has a hard rock feel.

Bob Seger - Piano & Acoustic Guitars on Still the Same (1978)

I wanted to feature an instrumental contribution from Bob Seger himself. He’s on double duty on this ballad playing both piano and acoustic guitars. His acoustic guitars contribute to the musical texture of this song. I’m focusing specifically on his piano playing. Bob’s piano playing suits this ballad well. His piano has detail and is the song’s lead instrument. Bob gives us a nice piano solo.

Alto Reed - Saxophone on Old Time Rock & Roll (1978)

This is probably Bob Seger’s most popular song which pays tribute to 50s rock & roll music. It’s interesting as Bob recorded his vocals to the original demo of the song by the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (a group of session musicians Bob worked with in the 70s & 80s). Silver Bullet Band saxophonist Alto Reed recorded his solo as an overdub. Alto’s sax part has a warm and soulful feel suiting a rock & roll song. It provides a good contrast to Forrest McDonald’s guitar solo which came earlier in the song.

Drew Abbott - Lead Guitar on Feel Like a Number (1978)

For this intense rock song, I’m focusing on original guitarist Drew Abbott. I don’t know if Drew is playing all the guitars, but he is definitely playing the lead guitar. There is an intense rock guitar which matches well with the piano. The opening guitar riffs are catchy. These riffs also appear throughout the song. Drew plays a powerful guitar solo which is recognisably his style. This solo is fast and has a lot of energy. This song showcases what a great rock guitarist Drew Abbott is.

Craig Frost - Piano & Organ on The Ring (1986)

Craig Frost who joined the Silver Bullet Band as the keyboardist in 1979 plays piano & organ on this song. His piano part is prominent, but his organ part is low in the mix. The Ring has a pop rock feel. The guitar parts are acoustic, which gives the keyboards more room to rock. Craig plays a powerful melodic heartland rock piano sound which Bob Seger uses in his songs. There are two incredible piano solos. When Craig’s piano rocks in this song, it’s in sync with the drums played by session drummer Gary Mallaber.

These songs show what a great rock band Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band are. They can rock very well and also deliver strong ballads. The songs above are musically diverse, reflecting their creativity.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Bob Seger & the Silver Band’s breakthrough. The Silver Bullet Band had toured with him for a few years and appeared on his albums, but it was in 1976 that they started being credited with Bob on his albums. The Silver Bullet Band haven’t made an album with Bob Seger since 1995. I would like Bob Seger to make a new album with the Silver Bullet Band again. I would want an album to have the melodic songwriting and great piano use of their 1978 album “Stranger in Town”.

Sadly, Alto Reed passed away in 2020. The only remaining band members other than Bob are Chris Campbell (bass) and Craig Frost (keyboards). I’d like to see former members Drew Abbott (guitar), David Teegarden (drums) and Robyn Robins (keyboards) come back for this. Bob Seger can produce this album with his manager Punch Andrews as they produced some of his best work in many Silver Bullet Band recordings in the 70s and 80s.

News of Bob Seger's Upcoming Album I Knew You When

In a November 2015 Billboard magazine interview with Bob Seger, the introductory paragraph said “in 2016, the Lincoln Park, Mich., native will mark his 50th year in the music business with I Knew You When, an album of unreleased songs that he has updated”. So it looked as if Bob Seger would be releasing an album consisting of re-recordings of unreleased songs this year. Also, the title track is reported to come from the late 1990s. However in February this year, the Detroit radio station WOMC had a short article titled “Bob Seger: Back In the Studio” which started off by saying “Bob Seger is in the studio working on his 18th album. It will be all new songs, but seeing as how Bob likes to take his time, there’s no word on when it will be out.” This seemed to imply that his next album would not consist of unreleased songs, but completely new songs contradicting what was reported previously in Billboard. This week Bob was interviewed for “In The Garage with Jim O’Brien” on the Detroit radio station WCSX, and did give a little bit of information on his upcoming album. I’ll give some quotes from that interview relating to the upcoming album, mention some songs that appear to be on the album as well as my theory on what is taking place.

Bob made reference to a track originally written in 1976 which will appear on the album when asked by Jim O’Brien if he ever re-wrote a song title saying “Well, there is one and it’s coming out on the next record. I completely re-wrote the song and the reason I want it on the next record is cause Charlie Martin’s playing drums on it. It’s a 40 year old track from 1976 and it’s of course Chris and it’s Alto and Charlie and I think we had then was Robyn Robbins on piano. I re-wrote the song completely, you know because I just didn’t like what the subject matter was … I’m just excited for everybody to hear Charlie play drums 40 years later. It’s a rocker too”. This seems to go with the “I Knew You When” project, of updating a song for the album.

Bob revealed in the WCSX interview that he goes out to drive and think about songs which helps the creative process. Jim then asked him if there was a song that he changed or revisited when driving. He said, “Well, on the new record which I don’t know exactly when it’s gonna come out, but there’s a song called ‘The Highway’ which makes sense, you know. “Headin for the highway” is like, the chorus.” Also, if you search Bob Seger in the U.S. Copyright Office you will find the song ‘Hannah’ registered last year, implying that song may be featured on the upcoming album. I heard that these two songs are outtakes from his last album “Ride Out”.

Jim asked Bob if he’s feeling good about the new album and he said “I really am. I’m still writing a little bit. One more and a little bit. ... I just wrote two songs in the last month so hopefully they’ll be on it too.”

Bob mentioned that he doesn’t know when the album will come out so it is disappointing to hear that there won’t be a new album this year in celebration of Bob Seger’s 50 years in music. However, it’s good to know that Bob is still working on the album. I suspect that Bob began the “I Knew You When” album, working on re-recording unreleased songs, some of which he re-wrote the lyrics. Assuming all these four songs will end up on the album, there are unreleased songs from the 1970s, 1990s, 2000s (The U.S. Copyright Office lists the song ‘Hannah’ as being from 2008) and 2010s with at least two songs having the lyrics re-written, one of which was completely re-written. It looks as if Bob then decided to start writing new songs as he mentioned that he’s still writing songs for it, thus resulting in an album that will have a mix of unreleased songs and new songs.

I hope that Bob won’t take a few years to finish this album as he tends to take a long time working on albums. I would love it if it would come out next year. The fact that he mentioned that he’s “still writing a little bit” could mean that he doesn’t have a lot more songwriting to do to finish the album. It’s unlikely, but I hope that more information about the album will come out soon. Feel free to comment giving your thoughts on Bob Seger’s next album. If you liked this article, you might also be interested in my previous article about Bob Seger titled “We Need a Bob Seger Biography”.