Bob: Your learning process over the years… You obviously know your music theory. Did you learn it on your own or did you have a teacher? Did you ever study formally or just kind of pick it up?
Yeah, I had a ‘chat’ with a guitar teacher from Fort Wayne, Indiana. I had some guys back then that I played with and we’d play a little jazz… We played a little Hank Garland and stuff like that. There was a guitar player in that group that kind of played like a Hank Garland… which I love. “Jazz Winds from a New Direction” (Hank Garland album), I was a fan of that one.
I like the fact that Hank was based in Nashville playing on records you know, and then he would do his jazz prowess at night.
Bob: What musical style intrigues you currently?
Well, I listen to… more so just compositions – way back when I started I’d listen to James Taylor and stuff. It got to be more about the song than just about the instrumentals or the chord changes or how well it was played or if you could jam on it… it was also about putting beautiful lyrics to a song and the music together, I kind of got into that when I heard James Taylor and those kinds of artists.
Bob: Yeah I’m a huge fan of James Taylor.
Yeah…I heard stuff like Ricky Lee Jones and James Taylor… these days my wife and I listen to a lot of R&B… she just goes crazy over Chaka Kahn, Earth, Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder; she loves Donald Fagen, that’s her favorite and Steely Dan.
So here’s what I do… When we go to Maui or Key West on vacation, I don’t even take a guitar. I may be there two weeks and while I don’t touch a guitar, I might pick up a Ukulele or something – people go “whoa – play that again” – I’d say, “yeah, I don’t know this thing, I’m just messin’ with it”.
But we’ll sit around and play songs we like and both know… Steely Dan all the time or George Benson. We have a play list of all kinds of stuff.
Corinne Bailey Ray or anything that she (my wife) likes, I like!… and it inspires me, but I don’t touch a guitar
It’s just like when I get home I really want to play… I’m like deprived. I need to pick it up and play (guitar), so taking that time off really clears my head out. We’re not listening to Bill Evans or Keith Jarrett, which probably, if I was by myself I might have thrown in some of those too… brain cleanser. I’d listen to Keith Jarrett on the way home from all those Honky Tonk Sessions and stuff.
Bob: Really!!
Yeah, on the way home I’d like to stick to the standards by Keith Jarrett and stuff you know, I love that stuff! Just something different!
Bob: No, I understand
You know when you’re playing on records and stuff, that gets to be pretty deliberate and redundant…
Bob: Love your story about playing the same kick-off, 4-bar intro into two different records, recorded a year apart but released at the same time
You got that, I tell that story all the time!