David Carradine - Music Career

Music Career

In addition to his acting career, David Carradine was also a musician. He sang and played the piano, the guitar and the flute among other instruments. In 1970, Carradine played one half of a flower power beatnik duo in the season 4 Ironside episode 'The Quincunx', performing the songs 'I Stepped On A Flower', 'Lonesome Stranger' and 'Sorrow Of The Singing Tree'. He recorded an album titled Grasshopper, which was released on Jet Records in 1975. His musical talents were often integrated into his screen performances. He performed several of Woody Guthrie's songs for the movie Bound for Glory. For the Kung Fu series he made flutes out of bamboo that he had planted on the Warner Brothers lot which he played on the program. He later made several flutes for the movie Circle of Iron, one of which he later played in Kill Bill. Carradine wrote and performed the theme songs for at least two movies that he starred in, Americana and Sonny Boy. The first line from the Sonny Boy theme, "Paint", which he wrote while filming Americana in Drury, Kansas in 1973, is engraved on his headstone. He wrote and performed several songs for American Reel (2003) and wrote the score for You and Me. He and his brother, Robert, also performed with a band, the Cosmic Rescue Team (also known as Soul Dogs). The band primarily performed in small venues and benefits.