Even though I have often recorded alone, I still feel the best music is made by musicians playing off each other. |
I'm now comfortable playing a lot of the old songs, and I've gotten out a lot of the old equipment. |
I wrote that song for my wife, and it's what some guy who's sitting under a tree would be singing to the woman of his life, telling her how wonderful she is. To me, that's more lasting than something that sounds like it belongs on a movie soundtrack. |
I'm much more energetic now; you might say live performance is my mission. |
No, but I've always felt that with true talent, and a commitment to hard work, it is possible to achieve an enduring respect and appreciation. In other words, I don't take my fans for granted. |
And I now think that Stratocasters and Telecasters are way cool. |
You should play with real musicians; the best music comes from real people interacting with each other. |
That song has the full extent of my mandolin abilities; I'm not a good mandolin player at all. |
On Eye of the Zombie, I had so-called studio musicians. |
I thought what I was good at doing was playing real simple guitar licks, since I'd cut my teeth on what Duane Eddy was doing; licks that were simple but had staying power. |
The Telecaster doesn't really sound that good for the kind of rock and roll that a lot of people played. |
I've studied a lot of great people over the years - Pete Seeger, James Brown - and tried to incorporate elements that I've admired, though I can't say I dance like James. |
Even though James Burton was my idol, I didn't think I could carry his shoes back then. |
The ones I have got great necks; of course, all of the Fenders from that era are incredible. |
I went pretty much for one tone, and I knew at that time that I wanted to play a Rickenbacker. |
But I think beautiful is simple and elegant, like a ballad with simple harmony. |
There's just not a lot of guys around playing like that these days; a lot of steel players are plugging into stomp boxes, trying to sound like Jeff Beck on a steel guitar. |
When I made Blue Moon Swamp, there was a lot of trial and error; I was trying to find people who would be simpatico with my style, and with what I had in mind for the album. |
I stuck with that size because I could bend the strings so well, and somewhere along the line I must have gotten it into my mind that I had small hands, so I was thinking I'd never be able to play a full-scale guitar, but I also felt like I was cheating or cutting corners. |
Washburn's an old American name, but this one was assembled overseas. |