In the 1970s, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter played guitar for two of the eras most popular rock groups. Then he turned his attention to missile defense systems.
He took up playing guitar at age 9 when he and his family lived in Mexico City. Later in his teenage years, he worked at a guitar shop in Manhattan.
That was where he met a talented left-handed guitarist named Jimi James. They became friends and jammed together in Greenwich Village. He later changed his name to Jimi Hendrix.
Baxter eventually attended college in Boston and continued working in music repair shops while perfecting his own guitar chops.
After joining a short-lived band named Ultimate Spinach, Baxter became an established studio musician in the New York City scene.
Los Angeles, 1972: Along with Walter Becker, Donald Fagen, and others, Jeff Baxter formed Steely Dan. He appeared on their first three albums - Can’t Buy a Thrill, Countdown to Ecstasy, and Pretzel Logic.
Among his many contributions to Steely Dan’s sound was his guitar solo on the band’s biggest hit song Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.
On stage during the band’s tours, rather than standing like most guitarists, Baxter would commonly sit on a chair while playing his instrument.
He was also instantly recognizable for his eyeglasses and long bushy, walrus-like mustache.
When Fagen and Becker stopped touring and revamped Steely Dan primarily with studio musicians, Baxter left the group and joined The Doobie Brothers. They were already successful and touring after their fourth record. He had already contributed some work to their previous albums, so he was a natural fit.
The Doobie Brothers’ lead vocalist, Tom Johnston, suffered medical issues, and someone was needed to take his place. Baxter knew Michael McDonald from their studio sessions with Steely Dan and recommended him. McDonald then joined the group.
When the ‘70s came to a close, however, Jeff Baxter left the Doobie Brothers and spent more time as a studio musician and producer. He played on albums for disco star Donna Summer as well as country legend Hoyt Axton, toured with James Brown, Elton John, and Linda Ronstadt, and worked with all manner of artists across the spectrum.
Then he took up a completely new career from scratch.
1990s: Skunk Baxter got acquainted with a neighbor who happened to work at the Pentagon as an engineer. Technology had always been one of Baxter’s fascinations, so he dove into the field of aviation and missile defense systems.
Despite having no college degree, no military background, or any expertise in the subject, Baxter wrote a five-page dissertation on how the Navy’s Aegis anti-aircraft system could be reconfigured for missile defense purposes.
He presented his findings to California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. The paper impressed him and his colleagues so much that Baxter was hired as a consultant.
His expertise was in unconventional thinking.
By the late 1990s, Skunk got involved in war game scenarios in which he played the parts of Iraqi and Iranian forces trying to drive the US military out of the Persian Gulf. His game-winning solution: a bacteria that “eats” oil and renders it useless, which he imagined threatening against the Saudis. (Whether or not such a bacteria exists is unknown.)
Baxter has had consulting contracts with Northrup Grumman, the Pentagon, and other government agencies. He received high security clearance from the Department of Defense.
World leaders - including George H.W. Bush and his son George W. Bush - referred to Baxter by his nickname. They called him Skunk.
In 2020, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Doobie Brothers.
Jeff “Skunk” Baxter still tours to this day, and he also gives lectures on “asymmetrical warfare, next-generation technologies and unconventional strategies.”
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