By: Arlene R. Weiss
Charlie Sexton is an extraordinary gifted artist, whose lifetime musical odyssey has profoundly touched, as well as likewise been charted, by the extraordinary circumstances, fate, and people of music legend, legend of which the revered Sexton has often arguably been a part of himself.
A child prodigy guitar player versed in a multitude of instruments, from Dobro to mandolin, to piano to drums, Sexton got his first guitar, a gut string Mariachi acoustic, at a mere two years old, and was already playing as a full fledged pro by an astonishing nine years old. At only twelve, the self taught San Antonio native struck out on his own, moving to Austin, gigging the renowned clubs on the local town circuit, instantly coming to be known as seemingly mythic, the blues guitar boy wonder, and thus began building a regarded reputation that led to performing with Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, W.C. Clark, Joe Ely, and much of Austin’s music elite. All who were awestruck mentors of the youthful player’s inspired, scorching, six-string blues chops wizardry.
At sixteen, upon MCA Records signing Sexton to his first record deal, and acclaimed word of the guitar prodigy’s prowess quickly spreading to influential and esteemed international music circles, he found himself thrust into even greater creative heights, doing session work with Ron Wood, Keith Richards, and Bob Dylan, who themselves were admiring fans of this, as Charlie kiddingly and affectionately muses, “The young Tall Tale from Texas!”
Sexton moved forward artistically, spreading his musical wings, branching out into lead vocals and songwriting with the release of two solo albums, 1985’s Pictures For Pleasure and 1989’s Charlie Sexton. Then in 1992, Sexton joined forces with lifelong friends and colleagues, Double Trouble’s Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton, and Doyle Bramhall II, to form the now legendary Austin super group, The Arc Angels.
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Arlene: Now that you’ve finally come into your own as a solo artist, with the release of your three solo albums, in which you have much more creative control, how has that informed you creatively as a guitar player, moving from session work, to being a major music artist in your own right?
Charlie Sexton: It’s always easier for me to work on other people’s projects as far as guitars are considered or in regards to what I do on the guitar. For whatever reason it is, it’s just that step back. Probably because the better the person is singing and playing what the root of the song is to them, it’s easier for me to….all I have to do is hopefully make the right choices around what the song is, to support what the lyrics are doing or the tone of the voice and the instruments. The problem is when it’s my own music, I have to supply that foundation, so then it’s harder for me to look around the circumference of whatever the root of the song is.
Arlene: Is that when you became involved with songwriting and lead vocals, when you started doing solo work?
Charlie Sexton: I was already doing that because my brother Will and I played music when we were kids. I remember writing our first song when I was about nine. We would write little rock and roll….
Arlene: Both music and lyrics?
Charlie Sexton: Yes! They were little blues songs.
Arlene: Songwriting has become very significant to you recently though. Why has that become so important to you in your creative development?
Charlie Sexton: It’s a tricky thing for me because there’s craft and commerce. They’re their own worst enemy. For a long time for me, I would think, “I’ve got to get songs written. I’ve got to do a record.” I had a little success here and there with certain songs, but what I found is that, I could almost not be bothered to sing anything if it didn’t have something deep in it for me. Otherwise, I didn’t believe in it. I couldn’t put my soul into the words. But that becomes a very difficult thing too, because it’s a place you have to go to, that’s not always the most comfortable place to go to, subject wise. It’s also a well you can’t just tap every day like punching a clock, because it does reflect moments of clarity about subjects.
Charlie Sexton - Under The Wishing Tree
Arlene: Your solo album Under The Wishing Tree is a beautiful stellar portrait reflecting very introspective songwriting, informed vocals, and very eclectic music influences. Do you think you’ll be recording more albums as a solo artist in the future?
Charlie Sexton: Yeah! After that record, I began a project with my brother Will. We looked for years trying to get the right recording contract. I was working out a budget with my brother and the record was ill fated from the beginning. That was on A&M, and just prior to finishing the record, we got absorbed and digested in that whole Universal Music takeover and merger.
Arlene: How does hearing and playing music from two perspectives, that of a guitarist and of a producer, both inform and texture your songwriting?
Charlie Sexton: It’s a tricky thing because a lot of times, I have such an ear for production, that I’ll get caught up in producing the song before the song has actually arrived. So that’s one thing that I always have to be very aware of. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes I’ll hear something in my head, so I’ll start playing drums. A lot of times I’ll actually write a song on drums, because I start playing a groove. What it is, I’m composing the song in my head, but while I’m doing the arrangement in my head, I’ll put the drum part down and that’s like the map for me, to do the drum part. But I’ll go over to the piano and start playing the basic root of the arrangement, or a progression, and then move on. Sometimes I’ll come up with these tracks and there’s such a vibe to the music, that that will lead me to the subject matter that needs to be talked about.
Arlene: Do you compose on guitar?
Charlie Sexton: Oh yes, that too!
Arlene: How do you put together and develop the chords, riffs, and melodies for guitar?
Charlie Sexton: It depends on where it starts. If it starts on guitar, then that will be the root of it. Sometimes it starts on piano so then I have to find whatever compliments what I’m doing or add something to it. It’s always different. Recently, I’ve been being very stripped down about the process. Maybe writing it strictly on piano…or writing it on guitar only, and I’ll put a track together.
Arlene: What are your main studio guitars, both acoustic and electric?
Charlie Sexton: If something sounds good to me, I don’t care what it is, or where it’s made. If it plays well, and I like the way it sounds, I’ll use it. I have a 1943 Gibson LG-2 that I use as an Octave, high-strung and it sounds great. One of my favorite acoustic guitars that I have is this 1890 Washburn parlor guitar that’s just amazing. Then I have kind of a Frankenstein Strat, that has a 64’ neck and a 70’ body that was in a trailer fire so it’s toast because it’s all charred. I’ve got a really cool old 50’s Gretsch, that’s sort of a jazz box thing.
Arlene: What about Dobros and mandolins?
Charlie Sexton: I had a great old Duolian that I found at a pawn shop. But I had some lean years here and there, so there are certain things that I had to get rid of.
Arlene: Don’t you have a collection of old Voxes, Fender, and Gibson amps?
Charlie: I have several old Fender tweed amps. I’ve got a Tremolux and a Super amp. I really love old Gibson amps. A GA-6 like the kind Ry Cooder used to use in his rig. Voxes, I love Voxes! It started off as an aesthetic thing because I think they’re one of the most beautiful amps ever made. I have some little combo AC30’s and a V15 which I think is from the 70’s. I’ve only ever seen one. That’s the one I have! Then I use AC50’s, and they’re my favorite. I think they’re from the 60’s.
Arleme: What guitars and gear are you using in your live rig and performances?
Charlie Sexton: Right now, I’m using a reissue Gretsch which is about ten years old. Also, a J-200 for acoustic. I have an Advanced Jumbo Gibson that’s fabulous. An ES175 Gibson fat guitar, that’s a big old fat jazzy box thing. Of course I have some Stratocasters and Telecasters. I’ve really gotten into hollow-bodies more and more, and I play these Epiphones. They’re cheap guitars, but they’re great. I have an Epiphone Casino that I put an old bigsby on that made it sound completely different. I have an Epiphone Riviera. They’re inexpensive guitars, but I love the sound of them.
Arlene: Since you play such a vast array of guitars, what qualities do you look for in selecting a guitar to achieve and develop your vast palette of colors of tone, and which guitars in your collection, do you use for those certain tones?
Charlie Sexton: Different guitars don’t necessarily dictate, but they can lead you to play differently. My sound is a lot darker than most guitar players. Most guitar players like a mid-rangy, punchy thing. I don’t really like that. If the track calls for it, I’ll choose Les Paul Juniors which are great for that. If I want a twangy, biting thing, the Tele is the thing. If I want a little more versatility in the sound color, the Stratocaster is the king for me.
Arlene: Don’t you have a preference for open tunings?
Charlie Sexton: On the Wishing Tree album I used a lot of open tunings. A lot of that comes from….You can have the same progression, but if you use a modal tuning, like DADGAD, the same old chords ring a completely different way. At certain points I’ve done shows with that record, with all the open tunings that I use. Then maybe I’d do an acoustic thing so I’d only bring a couple guitars and not have as many of the open tunings. But I found that some of the uniqueness of the songs was lost when it wasn’t done with that particular tuning.
Also, when I worked with Bob (Dylan) on his record, I tuned down a lot. When we would transpose, we’d do one take, one key, then another take, another key. So you have to transpose sometimes to get it to sit right for the song. I have to tune way down, like down to C. And the characteristics of the guitar completely changes, sometimes into a really mysterious and cool way. Guitars have these wolf tones and that’s whenever you hit these certain notes. The way I understand it to be, is certain resonant qualities or frequencies, you’ll hit one note and the thing will just sing! When you tune down out of the pitch, your wolf tones go to different places.
Been a Long Time - Double Trouble
Arlene: Do you pluck, pick, or strum?
Charlie Sexton: I do everything. I use a pick. I’ve got long nails, so I can do straight finger picking. Sometimes I’ll use a thumb pick or pick with three fingers. Whatever it takes.
Arlene: “Cry Sky,” which is my favorite song on Double Trouble’s album, Been A Long Time, and several cuts on Lucinda Williams’ Essence greatly showcase your beautiful implementation of chime harmonics. Your technique is wonderful. What guitars, playing methods, and techniques did you use, and do you typically use to achieve that, and particularly on those songs?
Charlie Sexton: Part of that chime thing….I do that on acoustic sometimes. I do it on solid body electrics. I do it a lot on hollow-bodies. My whole life, I’ve been trying to make the guitar sound like anything but a guitar.
Arlene: That’s a good thing though, to give it a different tonal sound and do something new and beautiful.
Charlie Sexton: A lot of times, I’m trying to get a vibe thing across and I’ll use delays too, so I can play a chord and then the delay will catch the chord. Then I can swell back, do a chime, and fade it in. I did a lot of it on Essence. I overdubbed maybe four guitars on that.
Arlene: You played Mando guitar, twelve string guitar, different acoustic guitars, electric guitars, bass guitar, all on that one album.
Charlie Sexton: We did the basic tracking and most of those other things are little snippets that I spliced into the tracks. But the other thing I like doing too, when we did Essence… I was running loops that I would make as the song was going on and play chords over the loops. But it’s all coming out of one amp and it’s all live. It creates sort of an orchestral thing, where I’ve got a foundation of something that’s droning or going around and I’m playing things around it. I’ll play a chord and the delay will catch that. Then there will be some chimes and I’ll blend that back in with the chord.
Arlene: What’s your playing technique for those chimes? Are you finger picking or using a pick?
Charlie Sexton: I do it with a pick.
Essence - Lucinda Williams
Arlene: How do you create certain chords with the chimes?
Charlie Sexton: I’ll flap them on the frets that are corresponding, twelve frets up, on the Octave. If I flap it, I’ll volume pedal back so you don’t actually hear the attack, and I’ll swell it in real quick. Then what that does, sometimes you only get a certain amount of the notes out of the chord that will come through. Then other times, I’ll do more of a pick, chime thing.
Arlene: When did you become involved with playing twelve string guitar, and is it any more of a challenge for you than playing a standard six string in terms of positioning your fingers, your technique, and so forth?
Charlie Sexton: The biggest challenge of the twelve string guitar is getting it in tune! [Laughing] That’s an old inside joke with guitar players because twelve string guitars are very finicky! You’ve got extra tension on the strings, plus the extra six strings, the small strings play way high and low strings that are regular. But harmonics are such an important thing to me, and it’s not just harmonics within the guitar, it’s harmonics within how two instruments relate to each other.
The same thing when you make tape loops. You create other harmonics from what your loop is, and the chord you’re playing against it. I use an Experience Pedal that I found years ago that I love, that basically is a fuzz box and an octave pedal, and this thing called Swell, which makes it sound like a guitar’s back width. The octaver creates all kinds of harmonics. If you play single notes, you’re basically getting a fuzz tone, a fundamental you’ll get a harmonic an octave above. It’s like the old Hendrix thing. If you play chords against that, sometimes it will just freak! You can tune your guitar like a strobe tuner does with distortion, if it’s out of tune. If you want to tune your guitar, you can hit octaves to see if it’s in tune. If it’s out of tune, it will start strobing, like womp, womp, womp, womp…if it’s flat. Then if you go above it, it will get faster again. The whole idea that I’m making are harmonics working each other. The sound waves start wavering because the notes are a little bit off. Then once you get the waves exactly on, you won’t hear any of that wavering.
Arlene: What gauge strings do you usually use for both acoustic and electric?
Charlie Sexton: I use T&T, GHS which is a heavy low end and a light top, because the bigger strings I use, the more tone I get. But I’m not as strong as I use to be because I had a bad motorcycle accident about, fifteen years ago or more, so my wrist was damaged fairly badly. I can’t wear my guitar the way I used to. I used to wear my guitar a lot lower. I use .010 on the high E string, .015 and .018 on the G, and then it gets bigger, like a .050 or a .052. They’re thick and thin. The high E, B, and D strings are a normal gauge. The A and the low end E strings are bigger.
Arlene: What effects are you currently using in your rig?
Charlie Sexton: I’m playing through the Vox AC50 amp. I was originally using an AC30 for my second amp, but I’ve been using this Valvetronix by Vox that looks like an AC30. It’s their new model, but it’s a completely different theory behind it. It’s got this natural sound that I like. This Valvetronix has a digital front end, but it has a tube power section. I can’t believe that it is what it is. Most of the other companies’ amps that I’ve played through, they’re like a modeling top thing and I usually laugh in about one minute of playing, thinking, “Ok.” This Valvetronix I plugged in, in a shop one day, and I played through it for some thirty minutes. I couldn’t believe the sound. So those are the amps. On the pedal board, I have a Rotosphere Leslie Clock which is the only one of those things that does it for me. On the rest of the pedal board, I have Electro-Harmonix Hot Tubes, which is a distortion box. It’s amazing. It’s got that Billy Gibbons quality!
I’ve been through a million distortion pedals and I don’t like any of them. The Hot Tubes is great with distortion. But there was nothing else that I could find that had sort of a little, edgy thing. So through a friend of mine, we designed a thing that he named the Sexdrive Pedal! [Laughs] It’s basically a line driver. Whatever the characteristics of your amps, it just makes it sound better.
Arlene: Are you thinking of marketing it?
Charlie Sexton: Right now, it’s just a boutique thing. It started off with this friend of mine that works on my amplifiers.
Arlene: You could take it up to Fender or something.
Charlie Sexton: Yeah! Well so far, everyone that hears it, buys it and loves it. There’s probably been fifty made so far. It started when I wanted a certain kind of sound and so my friend started working on it. He’d go, “What about this?” and I’d say, “Nope, that’s not right.” It took about a year to get it down.
Arlene: Well they say, necessity is the mother of invention. You don’t hear what you like that’s out there, so you create your own that sounds like what you’re hearing in your head.
Charlie Sexton: It really colors your sound. It makes your sound do more of what you want. I love it.
Arlene: Is it digital or analog?
Charlie Sexton: It’s analog,and there’s such a soul to the sound of analog.
© Copyright June 27, 2011 By Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved
© Copyright October 19, 2002 By Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved
