The Immediate Family Opt for Instant Success

Supergroups come and go, but oftentimes they are fragile arrangements at best, often sheared apart prematurely as the result of conflicting egos, the desire to go in different directions or simply a willingness to dispense with the need to conform to the other individuals’ desires. Consider Crosby, Stills, Nash (and sometimes Young), Blind Faith, Them Crooked Vultures or any number of other all-star alliances that sometimes didn’t last longer than a single album.

Then there’s the ensemble known as The Immediate Family apart. Most of the band’s members have played and/or performed together for the better part of the past 50 years. The group, which consists of guitarists Danny Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel and Steve Postell, bassist Leland Sklar and drummer Russ Kunkel, have collectively served as support musicians for Jackson Browne, Carole King, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt, Don Henley, James Taylor, Warren Zevon, Stevie Nicks, Phil Collins and many other iconic individuals who graced stages and studios while changing the trajectory of modern music in the process. Kortchmar (or “Kootch” as he’s often referred to), Kunkel and Sklar first played together almost 50 years ago in The Section, although they and the others opted to form the new band after Kortchmar invited Kunkel, Sklar, Wachtel and Postell to share credits on a 2018 album that had originally been envisioned as a solo set. That album, , and a subsequent live album were — and a newer EP called . A full length self-titled outing is due to arrive later this year.