ML - Aspen Peak

2014 - Issue 1 - Summer

Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak

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ILLUSTRATION BY PAUL DICKINSON Mountain as Muse MORE THAN 40 YEARS AGO, STEVIE NICKS SOUGHT SOLACE IN ASPEN WHILE PENNING HER GROUNDBREAKING SINGLE "LANDSLIDE," ROUSED FROM RED MOUNTAIN VISTAS. BY JULIET IZON M ost any music aficionado can hum the chorus to Stevie Nicks's seminal ballad "Landslide," yet few realize the chanteuse penned the chart-topper in 1973 while in Aspen. Those "snow-covered hills" men- tioned? That's Nicks conjuring the Rocky Mountains, which framed her view while strumming the guitar and, as she told VH1 Storytellers in 1998, "looking out over the incredible, like, Aspen skyway." In fact, "… it's the only time in my life that I've lived in the snow," Nicks said in a 2003 interview with Performing Songwriter magazine. The aspir- ing songwriter was in Aspen with her partner—in both love and music—Lindsey Buckingham, who was booked to play gigs with Don Everly of the Everly Brothers. "Landslide" was Nicks's most valiant attempt to secure her future—both personally and professionally. The song was written for Buckingham, and the lyrics deal with whether their relationship can withstand myriad outside pressures, including money woes and careers. "It's dear to both of us because it's about us," Nicks told Q Magazine. "We're out there singing about our lives." Indeed, just before Nicks set out for Aspen over 40 years ago, her father had given her an ultimatum: Try and make it for six more months as a musician and then find a more reliable profession. Luckily for her future fans, just three months after writ- ing the song, Mick Fleetwood called, inviting the duo to join Fleetwood Mac. But perhaps Nicks had a premonition that all would unfold in her favor: She recalled, "Looking up at those Rocky Mountains, [I said,] 'Okay, we can do it. I'm sure we can do it.'" AP 208 ASPENPEAK-MAGAZINE.COM Aspen inspired . . . 208_AP_BOB_AndFinally_V2_SUM_FALL_14.indd 208 5/6/14 2:07 PM

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