Chewing the Gristle with Greg Koch
Buddy Whittington
What happens when a passion for blues guitar, a serendipitous encounter, and a love for cold pizza collide? You get the legendary Buddy Whittington! Join us for an unforgettable conversation with the Texas blues guitar powerhouse and former member of John Mayall's Blues Breakers. Buddy shares the incredible story of how he landed a 15-year gig with the Blues Breakers, his unique morning rituals, and his humorous attempts to stay healthy. We also dive into his admiration for guitar legends like Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor, making this chat a treasure trove for blues enthusiasts.
But that's not all. This episode is packed with updates on our musical journey, from our thrilling experience opening for ZZ Top to the bittersweet retirement of our 90-year-old bandmate. Discover the behind-the-scenes stories of our home studio setup during COVID and the amusing family dynamics of music practice. Plus, get an inside look at my daughter Isla's budding music career and our collaboration on her new record, providing a glimpse into our family's musical adventures.
For the gearheads, we’ve got an in-depth chat about vintage guitars and amps, featuring the wisdom of Dr. Z and the importance of guitar maintenance. Hear about our favorite axes, the evolving music industry, and the modern musician's toolkit. We also celebrate the legacy of ZZ Top, delve into memories of legendary Blues Breakers guitarist hangouts, and explore the practicalities of touring with backline equipment. From the camaraderie of iconic musicians to the challenges of balancing family and career, this episode has something for everyone. Don't miss it!
Dedicated to helping musicians achieve the truest sound possible whenever they plug-in.
Wildwood Guitars
One of the world’s premier retailers of exceptional electric and acoustic guitars.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
What happens when a passion for blues guitar, a serendipitous encounter, and a love for cold pizza collide? You get the legendary Buddy Whittington! Join us for an unforgettable conversation with the Texas blues guitar powerhouse and former member of John Mayall's Blues Breakers. Buddy shares the incredible story of how he landed a 15-year gig with the Blues Breakers, his unique morning rituals, and his humorous attempts to stay healthy. We also dive into his admiration for guitar legends like Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor, making this chat a treasure trove for blues enthusiasts.
But that's not all. This episode is packed with updates on our musical journey, from our thrilling experience opening for ZZ Top to the bittersweet retirement of our 90-year-old bandmate. Discover the behind-the-scenes stories of our home studio setup during COVID and the amusing family dynamics of music practice. Plus, get an inside look at my daughter Isla's budding music career and our collaboration on her new record, providing a glimpse into our family's musical adventures.
For the gearheads, we’ve got an in-depth chat about vintage guitars and amps, featuring the wisdom of Dr. Z and the importance of guitar maintenance. Hear about our favorite axes, the evolving music industry, and the modern musician's toolkit. We also celebrate the legacy of ZZ Top, delve into memories of legendary Blues Breakers guitarist hangouts, and explore the practicalities of touring with backline equipment. From the camaraderie of iconic musicians to the challenges of balancing family and career, this episode has something for everyone. Don't miss it!
Dedicated to helping musicians achieve the truest sound possible whenever they plug-in.
Wildwood Guitars
One of the world’s premier retailers of exceptional electric and acoustic guitars.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Lo and behold, ladies and gentlemen, season five of Chewing the Gristle is upon us. It's been a little while, folks, but it's going to be worth the wait. We're going to be featuring a lot of convivial conversations with various musical potentates, most of which you've heard of. Some are going to be some new discoveries. That's why I'm here to bring forth the chewable gristle matter to you via the Information Superhighway, brought to you, of course, by our friends at Wildwood Guitars in beautiful Louisville, colorado, and our friends at Fishman Transducers of beautiful Andover, massachusetts. Both I've had great longstanding relationships with, and continue to do so, and we're very grateful for their continued support in this endeavor of giving you the highest quality and chewable gristle possible. Now, without any further ado, folks, let's get down and dirty with some Chewing the Gristle Season 5. Buckle up, buckle up.
Speaker 1:This week, on Chewing the Gristle, we are joined by the majestic and powerful Buddy Whittington, texas blues guitar potentate, member of John Mayles, blues Breakers for about 15 years. Just a heck of a nice guy, great singer, guitar player, songwriter and cat. Let's chew that gristle with Buddy Whittington. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we gather around the gristle fire once again for another edition of Chewing the Gristle. And today we have one of my favorites, hailing from the mighty state of Texas, texas, former axe slinger for John Mayles, blues Breakers but, uh, trailblazer in his own right, leading bands causing trouble, the mighty buddy, whittington buddy, how the heck are you doing? Pretty good, greg. You doing all right, I'm doing all right. I can't complain. I've been bummed. I've been missing you the last couple of years. I've been down in Dallas at the guitar show and we haven't crossed paths.
Speaker 2:I was out of there so fast this last time. I mean, we had had a bunch of stuff going on and we played at our usual 11 o'clock in the morning on Sunday, kind of thing, and man, we played and I didn't even get to look around the show, you know. But I'll catch you somewhere.
Speaker 1:Now how you been doing. What's the latest?
Speaker 2:Oh, not a lot Just doing local gigs mostly and trying to stay with it.
Speaker 1:Yes, Well, that never ends Uh-huh. Now have you been enjoying just playing lately? I mean, are you still as enthused about the actual guitar and playing?
Speaker 2:Oh sure, yeah, always enthused about the actual guitar and playing, as always. But I mean, I'm not playing so much that I'm in really good playing shape. You know what I mean. I got you, uh, you know what I mean when you get out and you do it every night and then you're in the, in the mix and on the road and everything and jumping up every night and playing. I'm probably not to that that, but yeah, I'm still very interested in it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, you know, it's one of those things where it never gets old to me. I mean, it's like I wake up in the morning and I make a little coffee and today was my extra favorite day, buddy, because it's cold pizza and coffee morning. Right, and I sit down and I grab my guitar and just start playing a little bit. Sip a little java, eat a little coffee. What could be better than that?
Speaker 2:A cold pizza the next day is equally good than in the morning, when it was warm.
Speaker 1:Exactly Something about it. I don't know what it's a delight. I don't know if it's that good for you, but you know what. Life is short. Eat cold pizza is my motto.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's right. I've got a doctor's appointment Thursday and a blood work, so I'm having to really watch it this week. I'm, you know, not not just this week, but I I've been trying to get it back and get my. My A1C is higher than my IQ. You know what I mean? I gotcha, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm trying to knock all that down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's fun, isn't it? Good, clean, fun. Well, let's talk a little bit about your past and all that kind of stuff. Obviously, you were in the Blues Breakers for many years, but from what I understand, it's like you did a gig opening for the Coco Montoya era. Blues Breakers, that's right. And is that when John heard you play and you kept in touch after that?
Speaker 2:That's right. Did you ever play at Dallas Alley?
Speaker 1:I never have no.
Speaker 2:At the West End Marketplace. It's been gone for years now but that's where we met. We knew a guy Jerry Thompson was the guy that used to book us in there and he had John and the Coco version of the band playing there and he stuck. We had a band called the Sidemen and they stuck us in there to open for them and I met him that night and it was a couple of years before we ever actually got moving on it. But he said I'm planning coming up, coco is actually got moving on it. But he said I'm I'm planning coming up, coco is thinking about moving on and I'm gonna have to have somebody to jump in the band and maybe we can talk about that. Maybe have you out to record a little bit. I'm going okay, yeah, I could do that, but it was a. It was a great 15 years, you know, went, went by like a shot, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they were glorious years. Now I'm sure you were, as many of us of a certain age were just lovers of the old Blues Breakers with Clapton and then with Peter Green and then with Mick Taylor. So were you. I mean it must have just been a gasp that just talking to him and just mentioning it that it might be a possibility.
Speaker 2:And that worked, actually happened. I did get to hang around with all those guys a little bit and I did some shows that Greeny was on and we never did actually play together, but we did. You know, we played the same show when he had the splinter group going.
Speaker 1:Right, I remember that, yeah.
Speaker 2:And Mick showed up and played with us fairly often and we did the thing the 70th birthday uh deal that clapped and mick were both on and uh great days.
Speaker 1:Yes, indeed, absolutely so. When you started playing, it's kind of interesting because you were you, you kind of had a similar experience. I was exposed to all the music I got into as a result of my older siblings my, my older brother specifically. But you know, my sister, um, my oldest sister had some cool taste in music and she had various different records and so on and so forth and and that kind of cued me into music that maybe I wouldn't have been into had I just been hanging out with my other friends who were perhaps the oldest in their family and they were just exposed to whatever you know music of the day. So was that kind of one of those things. You started listening to these you know stuff that you got into for your sister's record collection and then you read into like well, who did the Stones listen to and who did Cream listen to? And then they got you into the blues stuff. Or was that also kind of at the same time where you heard you?
Speaker 2:know it took a while to work my way back and I'm actually still doing it, you know. But just her, like you say, her records. And then my parents were Western Swing fans oh cool, and you know Bob Wills had the Crystal Springs Club here and they used to go see him back then years ago and they were. We had some local TV shows, country western TV shows Big D Jamboree and Cowtown Jamboree, one in Fort Worth and one in Dallas, and I used to watch that with my dad. It came on like 5 o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday and he would sit there until 10 when it was all over with before he went to bed. I would mainly just watch that just to see who had a 335 or a Tele or a Strat and a Super Reverb and a Tron or whatever. I was way sucked into all that stuff a long time ago.
Speaker 1:So who in the dallas area would you go and see? I mean was, was freddie king playing around at that point in time?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, you know I didn't get to see freddie quite a bit and even talk to him a little bit. I was nervous to talk to him but uh, there was a club called mother blues in dallas. That was kind of his hangout when he was home and he would be him and Bugs Henderson would be sitting in, you know, and John Nitzinger was playing over there a lot and I've got a photo of Freddie playing John's 335, you know, when he jumped up there to play with him one time I saw let's see who was it I think it was Rusty Weir, blood Sweat and Tears, blue Oyster Cult and Freddie on the same show, wow, on the steps of the Cotton Bowl. One time they used to just pick guys up that were close by and say, hey, come play over here. You know, wild, yeah, crazy.
Speaker 1:Now, when you go see Freddie King and he had that quad reverb was it just loud as hell.
Speaker 2:It was pretty loud. It had 412 JBLs in it, you know, oh good God, and they were all Showco Jack Halmees' company that managed and booked those guys. Right, they went and bought a bunch of quads factory quads and then built them up and made them extra stout, you know, and put them into a fiberglass case so they couldn't put wheels on it and stuff, you know. And yeah, they were, they were, they were pretty, pretty snappy to go see them and Bugs and Nitzinger had the same, the same thing I was trying to run down one time we opened for Albert Collins at a little club in Arlington over here and I was trying to run down a quad for him because he wasn't in his bus.
Speaker 2:You know, right, I didn't have an example with him. I wound up, I came up with a couple of twins and one of them worked and one of them quit work and he was back there kicking it and bouncing around. I was like looking for a place to dive under a table. So you know, it wouldn't be that we finally got through it. But yeah, man, those were some heady days back there seeing those guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Albert used one of those quad reverbs too. Now did he use one with JBLs as well that you know of, or not?
Speaker 2:I don't seem to remember him having JBLs in it, but I do remember him. He just comes up and spins everything on 10 and turn the base down. You know everything else all the way up.
Speaker 1:Oh my, I can't even imagine. You know that's. That's one of my big regrets is like he's one of the only guys of that ilk that I well. I didn't see Freddie cause you know he died early on. But you know I could have seen Albert Collins, but but it just never happened. And that was the my, one of my main regrets. I never saw him live, but I was.
Speaker 2:I was just wondering how loud that must've been. Pretty loud, I mean, as loud as you would think it would have been. You know what I mean. And uh, I only saw Albert a couple of times, but you know, coco Montoya used to play drums in Albert's band. That's so wild it is crazy, you know. And then learned a lot from him and he kind of got him started on the guitar trail, you know. And all those guys in LA that were in John's band, they were all old friends of his, you know. And Joe Ueli, our drummer, had played with him quite a bit, you know. But I was aware of his work and stuff, but uh, not as much as I was, you know, like having Freddy right here in town, you know right exactly.
Speaker 2:Albert was from Houston, which is not two, three hours down there, like four hours, but I didn't get to see him as much as I did Freddy and he moved out to Vegas or LA right.
Speaker 1:Albert was living out there for quite some time. You know, I don't know. Okay, interesting, yeah, cause I remember my uh Rick Vito was telling me that he'd do gigs with Albert and he goes. I can't tell you how many times I've I've carried that quad reverb upstairs. I thought, well, you know exercise, you got to get it in any way that you can.
Speaker 2:At eight o'clock in the morning, after you played all night.
Speaker 1:Oh, good Lord, almighty. So when you were playing with, with male, what was a typical year like for you? How many, how many days you ordered? It fluctuate.
Speaker 2:Well, it would fluctuate. We, like I said, we tried our best to do a hundred dates anyway. He wouldn't do much more than that, got it. And he would get to the point where I wouldn't be talking to Joe on the phone about the drummer talking about man. We got to, we got to see we can get some more work going here, you know. So Joe would call John Gabriziak who was the guy that was booking us at Monterey International. I go, man, please talk to John so you can get into books and dates, because John had young kids at the time.
Speaker 2:You know, like we were on an opening for ZZ Top which was for me. That was it. You know what I mean. I could have, you know, I could have just went to work at Payless after that was over, with work at Payless after that was over. But anyway, the ZZ guys were asking us if we wanted to. They wanted us to go to Sturgis and play the big thing at Sturgis and meet us in Europe this fall and we'll continue the tour and we're going, please. You know. Well, take my son camping, you know we're all going. Oh man, come on. Anyway, we would try our best to get as many dates out of him as we could. You know, I mean he he was he he pretty much considered as part-time employees but but I mean we did between 80 and a hundred days most, most years.
Speaker 1:Wild, yeah. And then figure that you know, male was oldish then, and now I mean he just retired.
Speaker 2:He was 60 when I met him. I went flew out to Burbank and met him and his son, zach, at the airport. He was 60 that day and or not not his birthday, but I mean that's when he was 60. And then now he's 90 years old.
Speaker 1:That's so crazy.
Speaker 2:And he's still like I say, I don't get to talk to him very much. We text a little bit, send pictures back and forth and stuff, but he seems like he's doing it.
Speaker 1:That's so wild. I met his nephew, who's like a sax player, yeah, lee. Yeah, yeah, I met him. We were doing a gig somewhere in Germany and he was playing with this guy that used to be in chicken shack I'm trying to think of his last the other guy. It wasn't Stan Webb, it was boy. He has a kind of weird first name. Anyway, they just happened to be staying at the same hotel so we ended up, you know, hanging out for quite a few hours and we got back from our uh different gigs and and Lee was saying he's like, yeah, you know, uh, john, he goes. He's like I'm not going to retire until I've saved enough money. And and he was saying and he was inferring to that John was a very thrifty soul as it was, and was probably doing just fine and could have retired a long time ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he took care of us. I mean people say that about him, but I mean he was always took good care of us, sure, and he would, he would. I have stories I could tell. I don't know if I should or not, but I mean as far as, as far as being thrifty, and I mean you know he would like do things like we had pizzas on the on the rider pizzas and four rotisserie chickens every night Delicious.
Speaker 2:You know, he had a thing where he had an old avocado, green 70s looking electric coffee pot and a couple of hot water bottles and a couple of hot water bottles and he would boil water in a coffee pot and fill them up, plug them, and then he would take some pizza that he had left over from the night before and put between these hot water bottles and then put both of them between the mattress and the box springs and then go do the gig and we'd be on the way back. He goes. My pizza should be getting hot about now. You're just making me jealous of all those cool guitars and amps you got back there.
Speaker 1:Well, this is my room that I finally moved into. There we go. I moved back, I moved into this room. This is a room over our. We rebuilt a garage and put a room over it, because during COVID and I was doing all the live streams in the house, my wife, uh, was like listen, you, you need to get this shit out of the house. And so, yeah, so we went through quite an ordeal to get this place built, but now it's it's all said and done and I gotta say it's awesome so I can come out here that's pretty solid man looking good back there yeah, I got a few little morsels and then you know, during when we do the live streams, dylan sets up over here, the drums and the bass is over here, and we got rooms for guitars over here and over here.
Speaker 1:So I got everything. Everything's pretty much out of the house. I might have a couple things in there that I like to have my hands on, but anytime I start noodling on the guitar, my wife gives me that look like if only there was a place you could go.
Speaker 2:You could do this from now on. And then, 30 years ago, I was turn down.
Speaker 1:Dad, oh yeah, absolutely. Well. What's funny now is that my daughter Isla, who just moved back home. She graduated from college and had a job up in Minneapolis and she moved back home. She's got a different job. Now she might go to graduate school, but she's been writing songs and playing guitar and we're working on a record for her and she's going out and doing some open mics and stuff, getting her chops together and she likes to noodle now. So now she'll be sitting around the house noodling and my wife will look over and go sitting around the house noodling and my wife will look over and goes can you stop doing that? And my wife was bugging the shit out of her for a long time, like you need to play guitar more, you need to play guitar more. And she's like you wanted me to play it. Now you I was like yes, now you're a fellow noodler, my dear. So anyway, it's kind of funny. So yeah, we're going to get her out doing some gigs. But that surprised me.
Speaker 1:About a year ago or so, my daughter Isla posted some stuff online. I showed her a couple of chords on a guitar and when she was moving from one college haunt to the next, I let her have this nylon string guitar to use and I was sitting in the corner and I picked it up and I played a chord and the guitar wasn't perfectly in tune. I thought interesting. And then all of a sudden, randomly, she put up a video online of her singing and playing the song and I was like what is this? She's like oh, I wrote that and so she's got all these, you know little pop tunes that she's been writing and cool chord progression.
Speaker 2:Apple, don't fall too far from the tree man.
Speaker 1:It's crazy, Crazy stuff. So we'll see what happens there. That's just kind of fun. So she's at home causing trouble and of course my son's playing in the band with me. My youngest is actually joining the Air Force and he's going to be going down to Texas. Actually, his basic is going to be in San Antonio and then his training for the job that he's going to do is right outside of Dallas. So he'll be a Texan for a period of time anyway. Good for him.
Speaker 1:That's great. It's crazy. Now, what about your kids? How many kids you've got?
Speaker 2:We have two. I have one that's 33 and one that's 30. Oh nice, one of them, he works for Honda. And then my daughter, she has an arts leadership master's Nice, and she had a pretty good job with a lady that she was like the lady that got the nonprofit thing going and when she decided to retire, the whole structure of the business changed and my daughter wound up losing her job. But she's looking for another one right now in the same area. You know, oh nice. You know trying to get back in. I mean, you know she's. She went to work in a flower shop for a couple of days just doing whatever, absolutely Looking for the. You know for the for a good of days just doing whatever. Absolutely looking for the. You know for the for a good replacement job absolutely.
Speaker 2:In this day and age, you got to do what you got to do by jimmy I'm telling you, and my wife's still working, you know she's, she's a patient representative for an oncologist and uh, she, she does that eight hours a day. And then, like I say, I'm playing as much as I can and actually been playing quite a bit just locally stuff, cool, just trying to stay with it.
Speaker 1:Yes, you know I was going to ask you when you got asked to be in Males Band, did you feel any pressure or sense of I don't know historical reference to think I should really play a Les Paul through a little Marshall? Or do you just say no, I'm going to do my thing and that's what he wants me to do anyway. So was there any of that? Like, well, maybe some parts of the night I'll put on that, you know, get that classic thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I always thought about it. I mean, I've got an old Black Beauty custom that I've had since 1977. I gave $400 for it. You know, right, it's a 69, I think, and I mean I've had that one forever. It's a hammer. It's not a great one. You know what I mean, right, and I've never owned a Les Paul Standard and I always wanted to get one and I thought, man, everybody's had one of these but me. So let's just leave it there.
Speaker 2:I've been playing my 335 a little bit and I did play through a marshall, for I still got a couple of marshals. You know, I've been doing the thing with dr z for so long and he's been taking care of me, help me out, and we've become great friends, you know. So I try to help him as much as I can. Yeah, those are great amps. I do. I've got several that I use quite a bit. You know, almost all, almost all the time, and once in a while I'll crank one of the old 50 watts up. But they both need work now. You know what I mean, right, they just sit around and the old electrolytics dry up in them. You know, right, you don't want to burn them up, transformers, by trying them without getting everything replaced, you know.
Speaker 1:Exactly so of the Dr, dr z ones you use. Are they more like like ac30s or well?
Speaker 2:not really like an ac30. They are, uh, el84 based, you know, and you know they do have that sort of bright, high-end chime kind of thing going on right. Bass, junior, mass, senior, 18 watts of 38. I've used both of those a lot, uh, and I've got one now, that's it's. It's called a z lux that I play quite a bit. It's. It's got two driven tremolo and a real nice spring reverb and it's switchable 20 or 40 watts, which is good, and uh, he's got a.
Speaker 2:Uh, I mean you remember the early boogies where they had the eq bypass thing where, yeah, just it's got a. You remember the early boogies where they had the EQ bypass thing where you just it's got that sort of thing. It works better with a humbucker guitar for me than it does with a single coil. But I use that when I can get away with it because I mean you hit the button and it's like you've got a pot on the foot switch where you can govern how loud it is. But it's not like it. It gives you any more gain or anything, it's just the volume of what's coming out. You know it's gotta be the right room or. Next thing, you know everybody's on your case about playing too loud.
Speaker 1:You wouldn't know anything about that. No, no, of course not. I'm never, never getting volume complaints. So are you still playing the Lentz guitars? Those are some awesome.
Speaker 2:I do. I've got I have a Strat that a friend of mine named John Clardy gave me a body, a 50s Strat body that he that his father had passed and he was having to clear a building out real quick. And he called me up and goes man, I got some stuff over here. If you want it, come get it. You know, and he gave me this old strap body that was painted like a camouflage thing and it's a pretty heavy body. I didn't realize how heavy it was until I sent it out to Scott. I said man, I'd love to have this in Sherwood green with a matching headstock.
Speaker 2:Scott says I got red and black. Which one do you want? So he sends me the red one back and I've been playing it. Plus, I've been playing the HSL with the P90. Actually he calls it the L9. That's his take on it and then a Tele lead pickup. I've been playing that one a little bit and I've got one that's he calls a b caster. That's pretty much his body style, with just a telly setup, you know, and I had my old 63 strat I still play it quite a bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's pretty beat, it's. It's really. I need another new neck on it. But I kind of you, I kind of hate to have to just keep changing stuff on it. You know, yes, indeed, one piece at a time, you know.
Speaker 1:Now, do you have many vintage pieces or you just have a few choice morsels.
Speaker 2:I've got a couple I don't have much old stuff. I've got a couple, like I say, I've got a couple of straps that I bought back when the getting was kind of good, you know, and, and I I don't really play them much I've got the, I've got the ones that work for me that I, you know, take out.
Speaker 1:I understand. Yep, I remember back in the day when my they were guys that I, local guys that were a little bit older than I was, and I'd go into the music store when I was, you know, either in late. I think I was in college at the time and I've come home to visit and I would go in and at that time I was kind of, um, I was playing three, 35 a lot, but I was thinking about, you know, I'd always played a tally and I was thinking about getting a strat and these guys were big strat heads and they're like man, man, you know, we can get you one. You know, like a early 60 strat you can get for about 1200 bucks, and to me, 1200 bucks at that point in time we're talking 1986 or something that was a fuck ton of money. So I was like, no, I can't of course now in comparison, it would have been you know you kidding me it would have bounced. You know you kidding me, I would have bounced on it, no problem. But yeah, it's always one of those things where I I had a 63 strat for a little while, I don't know, maybe seven years or so, and it was a reef in and reef fret and you know all that other kind.
Speaker 1:But it was cool. It was kind of a uh, it was kind of um, it had morphed into surf green, but it was probably more of a like a Sonic blue and um, but it was one of those things where I'd use it for a session here and there, but I'd never dig with it ever. And uh, then I was like, well, why, why have it if I'm not going to play it? So then I got rid of it and uh, and then I really didn't have anything vintage until I I ended up getting this 53 telly. But that was, you know it's, it's a bastard, you know it's been, um, it's, it's a spray over and you know it's the everything's original ish. But, um, you know it was the which made it affordable.
Speaker 1:But you know I, I hemorrhaged a lot of gear in order to get it and finally I just broke down. The neck pickup was howling and I was finally like it sounds so good, clean. But you know I go, I got to get a dipped or something, cause I want to use it. So I just got it back yesterday. As a matter of fact, the neck pickup sounds great, but now the bridge pickups, howling a little bit, I'm like, well shit, if the guy did a good job of the next pickup, I'll just have him dip the, because I want to play it and I'm not going to, I'm not going to sell it. You know what I mean? Sure, so it's going back in for a dipping.
Speaker 2:You get it. You'll get it like you want it and like you like it, and I know you'll take it out and play it. Then I know what you mean.
Speaker 1:We know. What's so wild about it is that you know it's like when you played, like you were talking about Les Pauls. It's like when you play an old Les Paul from the 50s. It bears so little resemblance to the Les Pauls that we all had, you know, could play in the 70s and 80s that we've come across. I mean some of the custom shop stuff now gets you know closer, but man, it's just like with this telly. I mean this sounds like no other tally I've ever played. I mean we all think of tallies as being this bright, you know, searing thing, but this thing is Woody as hell. I mean it does have the bite, but it's like a. It's like a velvet ice pick.
Speaker 2:I've never, never really, I think one time but my same, my friend. I was talking about John Clardy. He bought a 59 in the late 70s and I think he got it for like $3,800 or something like that. Of course he didn't have $38. Right, I understand, but that's the only one that I've ever really got to play. I would like to have one, but I keep looking. I keep seeing new guys showing up and they're all playing at Sunburst Les Paul and I'm just going, man, isn't there something else we can play?
Speaker 1:Right, I agree, you know it's, it's, which is a shame because I think is you know what's so bizarre about that whole thing? I mean, we've I've talked about this a lot with a lot of folks and you know, you think about, you know what Clapton did and I don't even think he was necessarily cognizant of what he was doing when he grabbed a Les Paul, summers, les Paul and put it through the marshal and got that sound, certainly. I mean, you know, freddie King obviously played the, the gold top with, with P90s, but there was really no one before that that was like hey, summers, les Pauls are the shit. So he was really the first guy to do it. And then you know Bloomfield, who was playing a P90 Les Paul saw Clapton and thought I need one of those. And then, of course, peter Green, yada, yada, yada, yada yada.
Speaker 1:But when you, it's just there's just something so pure about that guitar into that kind of an amplifier, because really it's all in your hands at that point and it's just so. Not that I'm, you know, judging, buddy, I'm not judging, but it's just. It's just one of those things where now it's been so I don't know, I don't want to say commercialized, but it's such a badge of whatever to have a sunburst less Paul into whatever. And of course, the old the old ones have become such unobtainium that it's really taken it away from the people that should really have them. Because of just what an organic tool it is for making all the finger vibrato and all the things that blues guitar is all about, that is like one of the ultimate weapons to do it with.
Speaker 2:That's right. And even the new ones, now that they're trying to make you know as much like the old ones as they can. I guess they're trying to, but they're all unaffordable to me. You know what I?
Speaker 1:mean they're like 13 grand. I mean it's crazy. But you know, I go out to Wildwood and I do those videos and it's so fun Cause I get to play all these different guitars and I always find watching you do that. Oh well, thank you Every time.
Speaker 1:I was just out there and they had a 1960 custom shop guitar that someone had returned and it was the most beautiful top, because it was weird. It was not a perfect flame, it looked like the wood had been exposed to radiation. You know which I like. I like a screwed up looking top and it had a smaller neck. I usually like a little bit more realistic, like a 58 type neck, but for some reason I was like, no, this is totally doable. And I was like, man, this guitar is awesome.
Speaker 1:And I took and they, let me take them back to the hotel. If they're a relic, you know, cause, what else? What else am I going to do to it? You know, or it's uh, I shouldn't say relic, but you know, murphy, aged as they say, um, and then I bring it back and they're like you're going to get that one. I was like, well, here's the thing, I'm going to come out here again next month and I'm going to find another one of these and I'm going to take it back to my room and I'm going to enjoy. But those guitars sell all day, every day. It's the most amazing thing. As a matter of fact, the one that I was playing and I brought it back to the room.
Speaker 1:I took a little snapshot and I posted it on Instagram or whatever, saying, hey, this was my roommate last night and a guy purchased it but for some reason didn't like it and brought it back. And then he saw my post saying that I liked it and he's like man, I should really get that back. I think he, I think he procured it back. And then he saw my post saying that I liked it and he's like man, I should really get that back. I think he, I think he procured it back again. But it's like, every day those guitars go and a lot of times I'll like pick out a couple that I really like, um, and we'll do little videos on them and they'll. People just buy them, like, like. It's nothing. So I mean good for them, but it's it's just, it's crazy nothing, so I mean good for them but it's, it's just, it's crazy.
Speaker 1:Doctors and lawyers is all I can figure. You know right, right, I guess. So people who've got well, you know what. We had kids and we decided to be musicians, so that puts a little dent in the guitar budget I was just thinking about that not.
Speaker 2:The other day I had been watching a guy named Rory Hoffman. Are you familiar with him? That sounds familiar. He's a swing jazz kind of guy. He is visually challenged. He plays every instrument.
Speaker 1:I do know, rory, I do know, yes, I know who that is.
Speaker 2:That guy, I mean it made me think. What was I thinking when I was making my mind up that I was going to make this my life's work? Why didn't I know there were guys like him on the planet? Right, yeah, he's a super freak and there are so many guys like that, you know. And now I mean, you know it's. Not only do you have to be young, good-looking looking and thin and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:Now you got to be a girl in a short dress, you know Right, so that makes it a little, a little challenging, you know. Well, I was just thinking about that again.
Speaker 2:you know, I got no complaints, and there's some good ones doing that too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, I know, you've got no complaints. I got no complaints, you know, just to be alive at this point and being able to be able to play and make a living, I'm all good. But I do think it's funny that you know when, when we were coming up, music was one of the ways that people who weren't necessarily good looking or organized per se could find a conduit to actually hyper-focus on their, their craft and actually be able to blaze some kind of a career path, Whereas now it's like you know, I tell youngins, you know, and their parents more like well, what should we do? I go, well, everyone's path is different, but you got to do everything now. I mean, especially, you know, if you're cultivating something online. I mean, I know just enough techno stuff to get me in trouble as far as, like, posting things and understanding algorithms and when to post. I mean, I know enough of it, as I said, to maintain, but I don't do any of the sophisticated editing that you see these youngins doing with their videos and going on YouTube and making sure I've got some little you know splash page that shows how old I am, but you know the little bookmark thing with their face looking like all surprised, you know, and some kind of graphic and so on and so forth. I don't know how to do any of that crap, but that's I mean.
Speaker 1:You basically need to know some kind of editing software. You got to be handy with recording software. You got to know about internet stuff, and then, of course, you need to know about music. You need to know about booking, you need to know about getting an A all the stuff that we used to have to worry about.
Speaker 1:But you literally have to do it all yourself because unless, as you said, you're unbelievably good looking and have some kind of undeniable lowest common denominator appeal, no one's going to help you out, no one. You got to do it all yourself, and in a way that's good because, I mean, there are ways of doing it. But I just wonder how many really unbelievable talents you might hear of if it didn't just apply to people who were, you know, as we described. It's just kind of a. It's an interesting time. I always say, you know, with the whole internet thing, it's really the golden era of learning guitar. You, I mean. I mean, I'm sure you're the same way, remember we used to get like guitar player magazine and you'd find somebody that you were really into.
Speaker 1:And just an example like the first time I heard Albert Lee and I was like an eighth grade or something you know, and I really didn't know that much about country guitar at all because I didn't really grow up surrounded by anybody who was familiar with that genre, and so I would. You know, you read the article in Guitar Player Magazine and he would mention people like you know. You know James Burton and Jimmy Bryant and of course you know Chet Atkins and so on and so forth, and other than, of course, chet, trying to find those records was like impossible unless you were really one of those persons that would go find, like the real eclectic you know record store.
Speaker 1:When you're like an eighth grade, you go to the mall and you go to whatever record store and they just have music landers of shit and but nowadays it's like you can read, like if I'm reading a biography. I remember a few years back I was reading there was a new jango reinhardt biography. It was really excellent. I'm reading through it and it would bring would have examples of things that he listened to and artists that he liked when he was growing up.
Speaker 1:Then I immediately went on YouTube and, by God, if someone has uploaded these old 78s or whatever, so you could hear these records or you actually see footage of these people playing. You know old movie footage that somebody has uploaded. So and then, of course, a lot of times you read about somebody and there's an instructional thing of that person showing stuff. So there's like, literally, the quest is not. What it was when we were younger when you had to find the vinyl and then either you saw someone play it actually live or you had the the older brother down the street or older sister, whatever the case may be that you had that going on.
Speaker 2:I had a guy that was. He played locally every night and of course he'd sleep until two or three o'clock in the afternoon and I'd go down there in the afternoon, knock on his door and go hey, show me that honky tonk, lick man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Stuff like that. That's what we had.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, I used to love that. Then you'd go home and you would experiment, but nowadays it's just all there, which I wonder if that's even more intimidating to folk to realize that all of that is available.
Speaker 2:But you still got to put the time in and there's a lot more of it that you have to glean through to see what you need to do to make it work for you. Right Exactly, I've been doing some gigs with Wanda King, freddie's daughter.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like it's a horn band. You know a lot of fun, we have a lot of fun doing it. But we were talking a while back about Steve Miller and Boss Gags came to their house on Sunday and knocked on the door and asked Freddie to show them some stuff and he'd come out in his bathrobe, you know, and sit in the living room and play to them. You know You're kidding me?
Speaker 1:That's wild, that's great stuff. We interrupt this regularly scheduled Gristle Infested conversation to give a special shout-out to our friends at Fishman Transducers, makers of the Greg Koch signature Fluence Gristle Tone pickup set Can you dig that? And our friends at Wildwood Guitars of Louisville, colorado, bringing the heat in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. You know it never gets old playing that old Freddie King stuff Just sitting down. A lot of times I'll just grab my phone, like if I'm at Wildwood. Last time I was out I was on a total, you know early Freddie King jag, so I just put on that instrumental record and just sit down and play along with those tunes. There's just endless joy in just playing those simple tunes with those tunes. There's just endless joy in just playing those simple tunes.
Speaker 2:I have a friend that has a I believe it's a 6335, and he is doing his best to caused that guitar to be one of Freddy's old ones and it's amazing what he's gone through to verify it and have the providence and he's pretty much figured out that it is, you know. So I mean you know what I mean. He has done so much. He's got thousands of pictures of Freddie, you know, with every guitar. And there's a guy that we know that that knew Freddie and said that he said Freddie told him that he had never played the gold, less Paul, on any of the records. Oh, you're kidding me. It sounds to me like that's what that is. You know, through a PA head or something. Yeah, some weird. You know through a PA head or something, right, yeah, some weird. You know, or maybe a fender lamp with a bad tube in it or whatever, right?
Speaker 1:So he says it wasn't actually the Les Paul, it was probably a 335 or a 345 or some damn thing.
Speaker 2:Well, you know that's what he said. He never recorded any of those records with that gold top Les Paul, which is hard for me to believe, but that's what Jay says and he was there. So you know that is wild yeah.
Speaker 1:So the 70s era, late 60s, 70s era of Freddie, when he's playing, it looked like he was at 345, and then he had a 355, right, there were two different ones. Yeah, he had a three 45 and then he had a three 55, right, there were two different ones.
Speaker 2:Yeah, had a red three 45 for the longest and then he started playing a walnut sort of three 55.
Speaker 1:That's it. That's it. That's right. And then Gibson did a uh tribute guitar a while back and I remember why I would had a few of them and had a huge neck on that thing.
Speaker 2:Probably not the neck that would have been on one you know right exactly to me. That was a little chunky. I've seen a couple of them. I know a guy that's got one of them but it was in stereo.
Speaker 1:Now was freddie's in stereo, you think, or do you?
Speaker 2:think he ever used the baritone thing. Well, I know he used the baritone for some of that. You know he'll get that clanky tone on some of his stuff, you know Right, but I don't think he ever played in stereo.
Speaker 1:That's crazy. And of course, all those finger picks, or he just had the one finger he used the thumb and one finger pick right.
Speaker 2:That's what my friend says about verifying whose guitar it was. He says, because you can always tell between the pickups there's a chunk of wood out of there where he played with that, you know. Ah, I mean, he's got it down to a science, you know.
Speaker 1:Isn't that crazy. So when you were coming up, do you think you were a little more partial to Freddie than some, like, say, Albert or BB, just because those are always mentioned in the same grouping?
Speaker 2:Me and my wife used to go see BB King every chance we got when he would come, and he would come through town fairly often, you know, and Bobby Bland would be on the show and stuff like that you know. But, like I say, freddie was available, you know. And then, of course, you know, billy Gibbons showed up when I was about 16. Right Altered my, you know, billy Gibbons showed up when I was about 16. Right Altered my. You know chromosomes, right, and you know, I saw them for 250, I think, the first time I saw them in Dallas in 1972. And that was the real ZZ Top, right there, right, I understand that you know how things come along and you start paying attention to the metronome a little bit and your playing gets a little better. But, man, just the force of the way they were in those days, it was nothing else like it for me.
Speaker 1:I was pleased that a few years back people started uploading some bootlegs of them in early years and it is glorious and everything's about.
Speaker 2:You know, 900 beats a minute.
Speaker 1:It's yeah, exactly fast and and but it's really good, you know, yeah, that tone, you know, for me it's like Billy's, that vibrato, it's just skanky and filthy. It's my favorite. And I used to say, you know, obviously, when Steve Ray came out, you know, and people are talking about the greatest Strat tones, of course it was an awesome tone, but Billy Gibb and Strat tones were always some of my favorite, especially like on that Deguaylo record when, like some of those Strat solos on there, it just sounds so damn good. He was a tone Smith. Now he looks like he needs to eat some food. I just want to just take them out. I'm just like Billy, let's, let's get, let's get you something to eat.
Speaker 2:But I mean, you know, it's been, like I say, quite a while since I've actually got to sit down with him. I have a friend that drives him around when he's in, okay, and uh, and you know we would see him once in a blue moon, but he's he, I guess he's still out doing it.
Speaker 1:He's got elwood playing bass you know I saw him not too long ago, but my buddy guthrie trap is hanging out with him in nashville, like all the time they're always. He's always going out and seeing Guthrie play and they're hitting restaurants and letting the good times roll. So it's good to see that he's living it up. But I guess he's up in Nashville now. Yes, but he's from Houston originally, or was he from the Dallas area? Okay, that's one of my favorite lines from that, one of those songs off of Al Loker, some sin-infested street corner in Houston Texas.
Speaker 2:And Frank was from Irving, which is right in between Fort Worth and Dallas.
Speaker 1:Got it. Yeah, he's a drumming fool. I mean I loved.
Speaker 2:I loved, you know, like, like shaking your tree, and the lick the groove that he played on that. I love that stuff yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, I don't know what it is I think my my favorite for whatever reason record is Tejas. It's my favorite one.
Speaker 2:They started branching out a little bit there as far as getting different sounds and stuff. Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1:There's some glorious morsels on there, but they're all good. They all have their moment. But I do remember viscerally, initially just not liking Eliminator. Here I'm ready to hear El Loco 2 and all of a sudden this record, because I'm like that tone. I fucking hate it.
Speaker 2:But I came around as everyone else did I went out and bought it and I thought, well, I, I see that they're turning a corner. You know what I mean, and that's when. That's when they got really big, you know. So, right, argue with it, I guess. But uh, yeah, I think he was playing through that. Uh, what was the? What was the amp? I?
Speaker 1:think it was a Rockman, wasn't he playing like a little time show?
Speaker 2:I'll send you a link where, oh gosh, what's the guy that produced Price Ombrase he's talking about? He said there is no Rockman on that record. Oh, interesting, all right. And you know what? I can't think of the name of the little wood namp, the first one that showed up with it, solid State Preamp. I can't think of it. I knew I'd get this way, but I had a friend offer me one of those a while back and I thought well, you know, I'd like to have one in the stack of amps but I probably wouldn't play it much. But stack of amps, but probably wouldn't play it much. But that was the amp he used was this.
Speaker 1:That's what I understand Interesting.
Speaker 2:Nobody will ever really know. That's just like on the first album and all that stuff. Robin Bryan, robin Hood, the guy that owns the studio, he won't talk about it. I think Billy's got him paid him hush money or something. He's letting it out because I've talked to him a couple of times. He won't talk about it. But but uh, I would have loved to have been around over here in Tyler, texas, about 80 miles from here. I wish I'd have been around when they were doing that Crazy yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cause everyone always says it's a, it's a tweed deluxe on that first ZZ top record. That's that.
Speaker 2:But how could it be on all that stuff? Yeah, Maybe the intro, like on brown sugar, when he plays it, when he's playing by himself, but when the song comes in and you get some horsepower going, that's you know that's gotta be a Marshall.
Speaker 1:Yeah, You'd think you'd think by God. Fun stuff though by by cracky those old. Uh, that stuff never gets old to me, either sitting down and playing along with a zz top record, or two is always, is always fun I still pick up.
Speaker 2:I'll go to half price books and start looking at records and if I find a copy of real grand mud or first, I'm always picking up, just so I'll happen. You think I have a turntable that works at this point, you know.
Speaker 1:There's something about vinyl. I'll tell you what I mean. I do have a nicer stereo. That's not hooked up right now, but I've just got a little. You know, one of those things you get at Target, one of those little you know portable jobbers, and there's still something about it. Popping those records on and hearing that thing, plus the digestion of you know the one side of the record, having to pause and put it on the other side, I mean the programming of that is the best to assimilate the jams into your consciousness, I think, as opposed to. I mean, how many times have you bought a CD and you like listen to the first five tunes and that's pretty much it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the artwork on an album cover. You know where a CD you're looking at it going, who played on this and you know, trying to find that information, where you got the whole story on an album cover Exactly correct.
Speaker 1:Well, I was just thinking so. When you got to hang, got to hang with the, uh, the other luminaries of the Blues Breakers, did you have any memorable experiences that you can share, like when you hung out with Clapton and Peter Green and Mick Taylor? Did you have any? Uh, was there honor among thieves, as it were, being all compatriots of the six string of appendage?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, john hadn't seen Eric in like 38 years when that thing happened for his birthday. But you know, lee Dixon, the guy that was his tech at the time, yeah, yeah, he and Lee came up to Liverpool to do it and he was a real nice guy, very unassuming, I mean. You know, I'm sure he knew that everybody thought, oh it's him, you know Right, sure, but he was great about it and John turned around in a blues and gave it to Eric and Eric turns around to me and goes you want one? And I'm like, well, what am I going to say? You know Right, I'll probably never get another chance like this. You know Right In doing so, I think I probably.
Speaker 2:You know, I looked up and here's the keyboard player, tom Canning's, over here going do it all. Man, I don't want to overdo it here. I was trying to hold it all in, but I think I probably spewed a little more than I should have. But I must say that I had a great time and it was a wonderful time to be able to do that. Yeah, awesome, and Greeny, like I said, he didn't say much at that point, but we had a couple of laughs and we had a thing where one night John would introduce the Splinter Group and then the next night Peter would come out and very tentatively he didn't say much, it was kind of hard for him to communicate and he would introduce us the next night.
Speaker 2:And he comes out one day John Mayall goes, famous for having guitar players in his band. I was one of them and he turned around, looks at me and goes doesn't have anyone at the moment, and I'm and I'm going wait a minute, man, son of a bitch. All the other guys in the band were back there howling, you know, in his band. He said don't worry about that man. He said he's having you on. You know, yes, but it was quite a time.
Speaker 1:And old Mick Taylor as well. You know, the first, one of the first concerts I ever went to was they reunited the Blues Breakers with Mick Taylor, john McVie, colin Allen, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah and I remember the drummer, colin Colin Allen. Colin Allen, yeah, yeah, yeah, and I was like a sophomore in high school or something and it was an awesome thing to behold. And because I was, like you, knowick taylor was one of those guys that he seemed to just get a little wiser, to maybe just a hair of jazz savvy to his playing and, uh, and I always loved his vibrato, both his finger vibrato and his slide vibrato was always I like the way he sneaks the slide in and out. Yes.
Speaker 2:He'll be playing, doing a solo. You go, is he playing slide? Now, you know, like on the listen to wake up call on that, that album, this, that uh, john got uh, it's not Grammy nominated on song called wake up, call it a guy named David Egan from Louisiana road and uh and mix playing that intro and I'm going, man, is he playing slide or what you know? Like you said, his vibrato is so cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Absolutely so. Do you think John was? Did he ever get tired of the affiliation, of having, you know, these guitar players kind of having the shining moments in his band? Or was he just like? It is what it is?
Speaker 2:I don't give a shit. Well, that had always been that you know he had. He had always been the band leader and he always supposedly had a great guitar player. You know my myself not included, but I but I just mean the guys that with the guys that we know that have gone through there, um, it was, it was just part of his thing to you go in there and you you start playing a solo and he's going do it again, play longer. You know I'm running out of fuel. You know crazy.
Speaker 1:I remember years ago when the when the internet first started and and I don't know how it happened, but out of the blue I got a email through my website from Roger Dean. Yeah, that's me, roger. It was just like, out of the blue, just like, hey, I've been watching your stuff online or whatever and I'm a fan. I'm like that's so weird because obviously, growing up with I remember that record, looking Back the John Mayall record, and of course he was on there.
Speaker 2:That's one my sister had back before I knew who John Mayall record and of course he was on there. But yeah, that's one of my sister had back before I knew who John Mayall was, you know? Yes, indeed, roger was a nice guy and a good player too. He sent me some classical stuff that he had recorded at Abbey road and he's playing a gut string guitar and one. I remember one of them because one of the names of one of the songs, kathy, and my wife's name is Kathy, so I hung on to that one and he really played some cool stuff and I had that great reverb in that room. Oh, yeah, you know, and a really good player.
Speaker 1:Now, how much touring in England would you do with John Was there, some of you know, visiting a lot of the old haunts that he'd been playing since time began.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, quite a bit. I mean, the last time I went over was in 2017, and I opened for them 40 shows in a row. I mean, I don't think we had any days off, you know, and I'd just go out and play. And this was at the time that, you know, rocky Athos was in the band and Rocky had a flight cancel on him Wasn't his fault, you know. And uh, they John decided to go ahead. They had already gone to Europe and Rocky missed his flight. He didn't be missed it because it was canceled, wasn't his fault. But uh, john decided to become the guitar player and it was like and the promoter showed up and he's going, what's?
Speaker 1:going on here. Where's the guitar player?
Speaker 2:Right and I was opening for him so he would call me out. You know, not every night, but every other night or so I'd come out play a few tunes with him. You know, uh-huh it was. It was a, like, I say, 40 days in a row and we only played 30 or 40 minutes on the show. But it was a good tour to be on because all we had to do was walk in, plug in and go Right.
Speaker 1:When you're using backline, what do you usually request?
Speaker 2:If I can't, I try to get a Z. Actually I've got a Maz 38 and a Z28 Z amp over in England that's been living over there for some time. But if I you know Hot Rod Deluxe or one of them, something like that, they usually, if you get one that works, that's the main thing.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly.
Speaker 2:You get one with all the computer grade, no soldered plugs, and you know Right Inputs are made out of plastic and stuff like that. But it's not a bad sound, a little empty if you get one that works.
Speaker 1:Yeah, many is the time I've had to plug into a Deluxe or a Hot Rod, deville or whatever. And usually you just set that clean channel and away you go, and it works. Use a little screaming shit box on the floor to give you a little gas and away you go, and it's. It works. There's a little screaming shit box on the floor to give you a little, a little gas, and away you go how's your, how's our pedal buddy tim yarny he's doing good.
Speaker 1:I haven't seen him in a while, but I've talked to him not too long ago. Uh, he for those of you don't know, tim is the one who invented the gristle king and all kinds of different pedals.
Speaker 2:He's great.
Speaker 1:And he's a great dude Smart guy too. Very much so he retired from his day gig, his engineering gig, and he works at. Dave's Guitar has a location in Marshfield, wisconsin, and I think he's working there. So, dave, you know.
Speaker 2:Tell him I said hi, I haven't talked to him?
Speaker 1:I definitely will. Yeah, he's doing good. Uh yeah, dave's guitars is branched out, of course. Their main places in lacrosse. They've actually got a place in Milwaukee Now that's where I had my telly worked on and then they got a place up in Marshfield. I think they've got a place in Madison now too, so he's branching out a little bit. Have you been to Dave's guitars in lac now too? So he's branching out a little bit. Have you been to Dave's Guitars in La Crosse, where he's got his?
Speaker 2:collection upstairs. Oh man, I ran into Gibbons in there one day when we were out opening for them and it was funny. I said man, I got some pretty cool stuff here, and he looks at me like pricey well, billy's got to have a collection from hell, I would imagine uh, did you know, uh? Quest's report, david Wilson Did you know David at all?
Speaker 1:I don't think I ever met him.
Speaker 2:David, he actually went to Billy's warehouse and was talking about. You know, he took a few pictures. He says man, it was just these industrial gray metal racks with fender cases stacked up on them, you know, and fender tweed amps. You know, as far as you can see and I've heard the same thing about, like Chris crack boats and all kinds of stuff that he's, he's had over the years, you know, I wish I had had a chance to see some of that, but he's, you know, he's got, if he doesn't have 10 of them, you know.
Speaker 1:Right, that's so crazy, he went.
Speaker 2:I know he was getting dual professionals for a while. Oh, I remember those Yep, the metal thing in the middle, yep, he was buying all those that he could find, you know, isn't that wild buying all those that he could find.
Speaker 1:You know, isn't that wild. I've been going through my Neil Young resurgence. When I first started playing guitar, I used to love playing along to Neil Young records as well. And you know he's going out on that tour with Crazy Horse and he's still using the same shit he's been using forever. He's got that funky Les Paul and a Deluxe Reverb.
Speaker 2:It sounds awesome. He's got that big. I don't know if he's playing through it, but he's got that big magnetone cabinet, that old magnetone oh yeah, exactly Huge. I remember seeing one in a Montgomery Ward store when I was a kid, going man, what's that?
Speaker 1:But yeah, he's still out there doing it, by God, in that tone, like they open up the show with that Cortez the killer and I'm just like, oh my God, I I started getting on a jet cause I realized that he was out touring and I didn't. I didn't think he got anywhere around here, but I started. You know, every time I'm going to bed at night I'll just go on YouTube and find something to listen to as I'm going to sleep and I've been listening to his shows cause people have been posting them and uh, from this latest tour, and they open up with that tune and man, it's uh, it is some primeval shit, but good God, it rocks.
Speaker 2:How much are you home Right? What's?
Speaker 1:that? How much are you at home? Uh, that's a good question. Um, last year, uh, we were out with the band 171 days, which was a record, that's a lot and then I'm right, of course, now they're all.
Speaker 1:The only reason why I was able to do is that one was with me and, um, and my youngest is in college, so the girls were gone as well. So, uh, you know, my wife would say it as you know, for the first few days it's fun having you not around, but you know it's a lot different now, of course, with you know, facetime and all that other kind of you know. Right it makes it a little easier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I always say you're a hero of mine because you raise four kids playing music.
Speaker 1:Well, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:It has worked out. I mean none of them. I used to always say that you know I don't want to. I didn't want to get into a situation where, you know, my wife and my kids were on Montel Williams complaining about what a horrible dad I was. So you know I've tried to. You know I waited, I mean because we never really had an agent in the States until five years ago. I mean, I had one in Europe, you know, and we'd go over there and I would probably be in Europe a month out of the year maybe.
Speaker 2:That's what I was doing when I was doing it with Pete Stroud and Darby Todd and Roger Cotton, before, of course, roger passed on and Darby's playing with. I think last time I saw him he was playing with Devin Townsend. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yep, and he was also playing with Martin Barr. Oh, okay, big hero of mine. Oh, absolutely, and we saw. We've seen him twice in the last couple years. He's come through close by. I got to talk to him a little bit. I mean, those guys are 75 years old and they're running around like 16 year olds, right, yeah, it sounds so good.
Speaker 1:It'll keep you young, that rock music, if you don't let it kill you, right? Well, that's one of the things. When we go out now, I mean it's basically it's my son, myself and toby, the organ player, and um, and we do everything. Obviously we load up our gear. I, I sell all the merch book in all the hotels, you know, but it's a long day. It's a long day but it's fun, you know. I mean, the best thing about it, I think, is you know, we're not playing the clubs where it's 50 people show up or more than that or less than that. You're just everyone's there to come and see you and and it's been working out where enough people have been showing up and they buy a bunch of merch. And then you realize you started eight, you're done and packed up by you know 1030, 11 o'clock and you're back in your hotel and it's awesome.
Speaker 2:That's great man. I'm so proud for you. Glad you're doing good.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, we've been having fun. So we've been home for a little stretch here, and then in July we go out for a couple three weeks. July we're going to be down by you guys, we're going to play the Guitar Sanctuary over there in McKinney, oh yeah. And then we're going to play the Saxon Pub and then Sam's Burger Joint, and then there's a different place in Houston now I can't remember what it's called and then we're going up to New Orleans, or over to New Orleans, I should say. And then back home.
Speaker 1:So I've got this new touring vehicle that I bit the bullet and bought and it's been a lot of fun because we fit everything in there. It's one of those Ford Transit 250s, oh yeah, we got a second row seat and a bulkhead, so we fit all of our gear and merch and everything in the back and we ride up front and it fits in a regular parking space and the gas mileage isn't horrible. It's all wheel drive. And so I mean no trailer or anything like no trailer. We're done with trailers. Good, yeah, so that's been awesome and um, and now I can write it off for the next a pretty sizable stipend for the next four years, which is good. So anyways, well listen.
Speaker 1:It's been an absolute pleasure talking with you. Thanks for taking some time. It was great to be able to catch up and I hope you're around when we come down there in August. It'd be good to catch up. It'd be great to have you sit in, if you'd be amenable.
Speaker 2:If you wouldn't cut me to ribbons, I wouldn't.
Speaker 1:Malarkey, that would be a black. You were very gracious in having me sit in with you and the male ensemble when you played at the Pabst Theater. I remember that Pabst Theater, yeah, exactly Right, that was wild, that was fun.
Speaker 2:I used to be able to do stuff like that back then he didn't mind. I mean, we played the Bronco Bowl over here toward the end of our tenure in the band and my friend Rocky at this time I've known rocky since the 70s, you know, and their band was opening and uh, next thing I know john's calling me telling me what's what's going down and that we're all about to be kicked out of the nest. He goes and I've hired your friend rocky.
Speaker 2:okay, you know crazy and I've hired your friend rocky yeah, I mean we, like I said, we, we've never had any hard feelings about that at all. And then, and even, uh, you know he had, he had carolyn wonderland, which was, I mean, what's he gonna do after he's had every good guitar player and some maybe not so good, but what's he going to do? His next move is hire a girl. You know what I mean? Right, and Carolyn did a good job too.
Speaker 1:Yep, absolutely All right, my friend. Well, you have a good one. Thanks again, and this will be posted, I would imagine, in the next couple of weeks it comes out. They usually come out on Thursdays, so people have been tuning in and we appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Let me tell you one more quick plug.
Speaker 1:I have a record. Yes, please.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I have a record sort of out Me and Jim Suler. You know Jim, right, yeah, jim Suler and Vince Converse, who's a Houston guy that's currently living in Denver. I think 15 years ago we went to Dover, new Jersey, to record some tunes for Arnie Do you know, Arnie Goodman.
Speaker 2:No, in New York he had a label called Bluestorm back then. Anyway, we cut this album and it never saw the light of day until recently. Last September Quarto Valley Records picked it up and put it out. The album is called Texas Scratch. I just want people to maybe take a look at it.
Speaker 1:Now, is it under your name or under a group name?
Speaker 2:Texas Scratch is the name Okay. It's me and Jim Sewell and Vince Converse.
Speaker 1:Texas Scratch, I'll check it out. Hey man, so great to see you, my friend. You take care of yourself. Okay, thanks for having me, greg. Thanks a lot, pleasure. See you later, folks. Thanks so much for tuning in. We certainly do appreciate you stopping by and partaking in the most savory chewable gristle this side of Cucamonga. Gregory Cock, looking forward to seeing you again next week, even though I won't actually see you, but I'll sense your presence.
