How Paul Rodgers learned to stop worrying and love Free classic ‘All Right Now’

Paul Rodgers put one of his biggest hits — a song that's been played on the radio more than 4 million times — on the shelf for two decades.

Rodgers didn't sing "All Right Now," the 1970 classic-rock smash he recorded as a member of the band Free, throughout the time he made hit recordings and toured with Bad Company (four Top 5 albums on Billboard magazine's Top 200 chart) and the Firm (a collaboration with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page).

The English vocalist said he doesn't like to blur the lines between phases in his career. Even after Bad Company and the Firm disbanded, Rodgers had no intention of singing "All Right Now" when he toured to promote 1993 solo album "Muddy Water Blues."

Rodgers, who will share a bill with Jeff Beck Friday at Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center, credits Jason Bonham — drummer on the "Muddy Water Blues" tour and son of Led Zeppelin's John Bonham — for nudging "All Right Now" back into circulation. 

"Jason would be behind me saying, ‘Let’s do “All Right Now.” ’ I would say, ‘Shhh. This is a blues tour, man,’ " Rodgers said during a phone interview. "But the front of the audience picked up on that: ‘Yeah, “All Right Now.” ’ So I had the band behind me and the audience in front of me calling for ‘All Right Now.’ In the end, I relented and we played the song."

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There's zero chance "All Right Now" will be left off Friday's set list in Indiana.

Rodgers is emphasizing his work in Free on the tour that pairs one of rock's most celebrated guitarists (Beck) and one of rock's most celebrated vocalists (himself).

Free Spirit, the name adopted by Rodgers and his supporting cast of Free-loving musicians, performs around seven Free songs and six Bad Company tunes each night.

Formed in 1968 by Rodgers, guitarist Paul Kossoff (1950-1976), bass player Andy Fraser (1952-2015) and drummer Simon Kirke (a co-founding member of Bad Company), Free specialized in gritty blues-rock heard on minor hits "Mr. Big" and "Wishing Well."

The quartet aimed for the mainstream with "All Right Now," which began as a challenge to surpass a cover in Free's repertoire: Albert King's "The Hunter."

“That was always our best song," Rodgers said. "I said to Andy, ‘We need a song that’s better than ‘The Hunter.’ Come on, let’s see what we can do.’ ”

"All Right Now" came together quickly for bass player Fraser and Rodgers, who merely needed a story to accompany the phrase that served as the song's title.

"What's all right now? Something is all right now," Rodgers recalled. "What is it? I said, 'It has to be a girl.' There she stood in the street. What was she doing? Smiling from her head to her feet. Hey, what’s this? Maybe she’s in need of a kiss. It just flowed out. Of course, those are the best songs. They almost write themselves."

Nearly 50 years later, "All Right Now" remains a staple at classic rock radio. The song has racked up more than 4 million spins, according to music-rights organization BMI, and the free-spirit marching band at Stanford University has played "All Right Now" as an unofficial fight song dating to 1972. 

"The story is so simple, and the story is universal: Boy meets girl," Rodgers said. "That story is eternal. It’s always happening, and it’s always different every time it happens. Just about everybody in the world has experienced it personally."

Jeff Beck, Paul Rodgers

>> WITH: Ann Wilson, Deborah Bonham.

>> WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Aug. 10.

>> WHERE: Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center, 12800 E. 146th St., Noblesville.

>> TICKETS: $19 to $208.50.

>> INFO: Visit LiveNation.com or call 800-745-3000.

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Call IndyStar reporter David Lindquist at 317-444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.

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