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Ashland's own rock star Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Craig Chaquico's long journey has taken him from rock and roll heights to a quieter, but still musical, life in Ashland. The former Jefferson Starship guitarist plays tonight at Britt. By BILL VARBLE ASHLAND - On the wall of Craig Chaquico's home recording studio is a picture of him at 12 with his first electric guitar. It's 1967, and he's in a Sacramento, Calif., hospital, busted up by a drunken driver. He could play only the top E string. Chaquico went on to be a guitar hero, playing lead with rock icons Jefferson Starship while still in his teens and later lighting up the New Age charts. He performs tonight at Britt with his band, Acoustic Highway, before Lee Ritenour. In part it's a local coming-out party for the gold album-winning and Grammy-nominated guitarist. Chaquico moved to the Rogue Valley in the fall. "I just love it," he says. "It reminds me of Northern California when I was a kid." Chaquico grew up around Sacramento and later lived in Mill Valley north of San Francisco and saw it become choked with people. The family visited Southern Oregon when he was a kid, fishing, camping, drifting the Rogue. Later he came with his wife to see plays in Ashland. "We said, 'Where can we find a place?' And we came up here, and it hadn't gotten to that point. We got lucky." Chaquico grew up on a dairy farm. The drunk broke both his arms, a leg, wrist and thumb. He had a long convalescence. A doctor named Elizabeth encouraged him to play that E string on his first electric guitar, a Les Paul model. Years later there, a song called "E-Lizabeth's Song" popped up on his album "Acoustic Planet." Chaquico was still in his teens and gigging around the Bay Area when he was discovered by singer Grace Slick and brought into the Starship. After spending the late 1970s and '80s as a rock star, he says it was his wife's pregnancy that led him into quieter acoustic spaces. In 1993 he released "Acoustic Highway," arguably the most important album of his career. The artistic turnaround was Billboard's No. 1 adult alternative/New Age album of the year and won a Bammie. He cemented the transition with 1994's "Acoustic Planet," a paean to living lightly on Earth. It contained the song "Just One World," which was rocketed into space as part of NASA's Space Ark project announcing humankind to the universe. His most recent album, "Panorama," is a retrospective that documents his career in the '90s, featuring highly emotional instrumentals. "We all have the same emotions," he says. "That's why we can relate to a movie or a good book. I hope my music does that." Nowadays he talks on-stage about his songs. "I was afraid to at first," he says. "Now when I talk about an eagle flying, people go, 'Man, I know what you mean.' It's sort of like an interactive art form." The band in part is a rock band in smooth jazz clothing. "I still get off on flashy playing," he admits. He says his career has been like a drive on Highway 101. "If you stay on that road all the way north you get to the Redwood Highway," he says. "Go south and it's the Hollywood Freeway. It's funny to think about redwoods and Hollywood and how they're connected. I was this rock and roll guy, and down the road I'm an acoustic solo artist. It's a journey, and the points are connected." He says life is pretty much the same as it was in the Bay area. "When I go on the road, I go to the airport. When I record, I go into my studio." Except that now he's a 46-year-old dad in a big old comfortable house with dogs on the porch and flowers in front. And it's the Medford airport instead of San Francisco International. Look close to his heart and you'll find music therapy for kids. He plays for hospitalized kids, Down syndrome patients, Ronald McDonald House things. He doesn't exactly blow his horn about it, but he's given away some instruments. "Music helped me get through a scary time," he says. "It really works." Across from the picture of himself as a kid is a picture of a boy of about the same age. Forget the rows of gold records lining the walls. It's in its own spot. It's a picture of Zachary, an 11-year-old Sacramento boy with leukemia. Zach got a drum set from Chaquico, then joined the band on-stage in concert front of thousands of people. "Thank you so much for the wonderful day," the note begins. There's Zach and all his family members and Chaquico. His baldness covered by a baseball cap, Zach looks a bit like a future rock star. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.