All images courtesy of Nancy Kerns @ BuckinghamNicks.net

Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks - 1977

So much of this site is inspired by the music of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks that I had to acknowledge their contribution to my fan fiction. It all started for me in 2000, when I saw a slideshow from the now-defunct website "Wicked Games" which was devoted to a General Hospital couple, Sonny Corinthos and Carly Benson. The song was one I'd heard many times before: "Leather and Lace" by Stevie Nicks. Further research yielded the invaluable resource, The Nicks Fix. It was there that I discovered the "Queen of Rock 'n Roll", as she was dubbed by Rolling Stone in 1981.

For quite a long time, I was fixated on her. She was this gorgeous, touchable priestess of passion and pathos and I spent a lot of time collecting her music, from her solo works to the FM records to my most precious acquisition - a much-used but flawless rendering of the album, Buckingham Nicks, that she made with her then-partner, Lindsey Buckingham in 1973. This led to forays into Fleetwood Mac-dom, which led me to the live 1997 album, The Dance. It was track 7, a song that was destined for Lindsey's solo album that had been in the works for release in a few years. Truth be told I was only listening to it because it had a catchy "Wolverine-Is-a-Masochist" title: "Bleed To Love Her". Well, hello, Lindsey. Make me plunge the grapefruit spoon into my heart and twist it, who don't you?

Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks - 1979

Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks - 1980

No matter how much I loved Stevie's solo albums, I must concede that much of her best work was done while Lindsey was producing. Her tracks from the Rumours era ("Dreams", "The Chain," "Silver Springs", "Gold Dust Woman") and Tusk ("Sara", "Storms", "Sisters of the Moon", "Angel", "Beautiful Child") are some of the most timeless and perfect examples of how to distill emotion. Her lyrics bleed with pain, loneliness and heartache, and he made sure that her words were presented in a format that showcased them to their best advantage. His work on their recent album, Say You Will is especially dynamic. When she first showed the poem, "Illume(9/11)" which would later become the song, to Lindsey, she recalls that "[He] had tears in his eyes. He put his hand on my knee and said 'How do you do this?'" Lindsey somehow blended in a gentle, eerie metallic background that perfectly captured the terror Stevie experienced during the attack on the World Trade Center - she had flown in the night before and was staying in the Waldorf Astoria during 9/11.

Stevie has always said that she felt that Lindsey was a musical genius and I happen to agree. His incendiary guitar-playing coupled with his banjo-esque fingerpicking brought a hard edge to Fleetwood Mac when he and Stevie joined in 1975, but it was his skills in the studio that helped the band to mature into the dominating force of the late 1970's. Stevie may have written their only #1 song to date - "Dreams" from the 1977 Rumours album - but it was Lindsey who produced it. Lindsey's production has always been impeccable. He has worked with many artists including one of his boyhood idols, John Stewart. Stewart, formerly of the Kingston Trio, had Lindsey in the booth for many of the songs on his comeback album, Bombs Away Dream Babies. You can hear Stevie singing the harmony on Stewart's hit song, "Gold" (peaked at #5 on the charts), and yes, that is most definitely Lindsey on guitar. Lindsey also worked with Walter Egan and Warren Zevon during that time frame.

Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham - 1983

Unfortunately, Lindsey's solo work went largely unnoticed because of the shift from the guitar-centered sound of the 60's and 70's to the synthesizer music of the 80's, the grunge movement and then the hip-hop/rap domination of the 90's. His refusal to sacrifice his artistic vision (for which I commend him) for the sake of record sales didn't help either. In fact, my only memory of Lindsey as a solo artist was a vague recollection of seeing the music video for his single "Countdown" from his 1992 release Out of the Cradle. It was catchy and sexy in a growling sort of way, but all too soon I forgot about the handsome man with the soulful blue eyes and gravelly voice.

Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks - 2001

It was track 7 from The Dance, "Bleed To Love Her", that hooked me. His simple lyrics combined with his intense guitar work made the live performance memorable, but it was the way he sang that caught me - like a man in mourning for his soul. I couldn't get the song out of my mind. I played "Bleed to Love Her" for my beta-reader, Anna, and she agreed that it was incredibly passionate and powerful. Then I thought about how Wolverine put his claws through his own body to save Rogue in X-Men. I thought about how he gave her his healing factor so that she could live. I remembered the way he looked at her when he left at the end of the first movie. And then in X2, that first moment he sees that she's grown up, moved on and definitely no longer available...well, let's just say I was reaching for the grapefruit spoon and at the same time silently praising Bryan Singer for daring to hint that all those Logan/Jean 'shippers better give it up because it's Marie who's caught his eye this time around.

I loved listening to Stevie and Lindsey make love on Fleetwood Mac, break-up on Rumours, deny their pain on Tusk, wish for the past on Mirage and fight for their identities on Tango in the Night. They came back together and partook of nostalgia on The Dance and finally reunited with Mick Fleetwood and John McVie on the latest FM album, Say You Will, on which we get a studio version of "Bleed to Love Her". Lindsey's guitar cries out as much as his voice did on The Dance and Stevie's harmony vocals seem to underscore the emotion the song evokes. Both Lindsey and Stevie are intuitive musicians. John Stewart described Lindsey's creativity in the production booth: "Lindsey came down when we were doing the mix, and he was turning all the pots, layering the guitars. I was watching him and I said' 'Lindsey, some time you've got to tell me what you're doing.' He said, 'I'm turning the knobs till it sounds right.' A few people I know of really know how to make that mystical 'thing' happen with a record. Brian Wilson is one; Lindsey Buckingham is the master at it." In Stevie's case, she was much the same: "If I have any discipline at all, it's come slowly over the years. I was never trained. Nobody ever sat down and taught me how to play the guitar or write a song or play the piano. I love to do it to this day, it's the greatest love of my life." (Stevie Nicks, High Times, March '82)

Together with Fleetwood Mac's founding members, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie (Christine chose to not participate in the latest incarnation), they continue to be an unstoppable force in the music industry. I see them as complimentary to each other; Stevie is the heart and Lindsey is the soul. For a taste of their work together, try The Very Best of Fleetwod Mac and their new album, Say You Will. As for solo work, I highly recommend Stevie's 1998 compilation, Enchanted, and Lindsey's magnificent 1992 release, Out of the Cradle, to anyone who would like to experience their magic.

Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham - 2003

Copyrighted � 2003 Silver Thistle Publishing.