More about Dan Ealey

After I re-watched the video I just added to the blog, I decided to see if I could find any more information about Dan and his time with Paul McCartney in Tennessee in 1974. I was a little surprised to find him selling his Paul and Linda autographs on ebay. I was happy to find the story from the video in print form (because I am sure the video will not last but a few months). So here is the story again.

When Paul McCartney and Wings took over a farmhouse in Lebanon 36 years ago, Dan Ealey used his teenage ingenuity to get past the gate.

In the summer of 1974, Ealey had a plan. The newspaper said McCartney and his new band were hanging out at a Wilson County farm. Ealey convinced Melody Maker magazine that he was an experienced reporter who could get a scoop. With a typewritten letter and a name to drop, he found the front gate of songwriter Curly Putman's farm and spotted McCartney's band members killing time on the lawn.

"I said, 'Hey we got a guitar in the car. You guys want to see this Les Paul?'" said Ealey. "And they say, 'Hey, bring it out,' and my first question is, 'Hey, can you show us the opening lick to "Band On the Run?"' And Jimmy McCullough shows us the opening riff, and after that, we were just hanging out and talking about music."

He was in every day for three weeks, often bearing gifts, like an embroidered Henley shirt for McCartney. Ealey was trusted to man the gate one night when special guests -- Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins and Roy Orbison -- arrived.

"I could see Paul in the binoculars, and he's got the shirt on I had given him," Ealey said.

Soon, Ealey got brave enough to take a borrowed cassette recorder to the farm. His tapes, never broadcast before, capture "Let Me Roll It," "My Love," "Go Now," "Maybe I'm Amazed" and a new tune the group seemed to be practicing forever.

"Two months after they leave, I'm driving down the road, and I've got my radio on," Ealey said. "And he says, 'A new song by Paul and Wings: Junior's Farm.'"

It's been 36 years, but not a single detail has faded.

"He went out of his way to be nice to me," Ealey said. "I was behind the doors and behind the gates and hanging out with him, and it was a magical time for someone who's always been a Paul McCartney fan."