Tom Guerra Talks About Sudden Signs of Grace, COVID-19 and Howlin’ Wolf

By: Rick Landers

The multi-talented Tom Guerra is back at it with another album, soon after releasing his 2018 release, American Garden, and I have to hand it to him that each album has it’s own theme and signature sounds with Tom on vocals and his trusty Stratocasters.

“Reeling in the years, Tom Guerra keeps his guitar locked into vibes of the ’60s and ’70s. With his small arsenal of vintage guitars on hand to anchor the sound to classic rock sounds, Tom cues up riffs reminiscent of those days when hair was shoulder length, garage bands could nail #1 hits, and kids showed up at parties with bottles of Ripple wine for a good buzz.” – Modern Guitar Magazine

Tom’s also a highly regarded music journalist having worked the pages of Vintage Guitar magazine since 1998, as well as had a column in Guitar International magazine, when it was called Modern Guitar.

Guerra’s also been with his group, Mambo Sons for over a decade and the group has blended its ambitions with its altruism by offering all of the proceeds of its Racket of Three albums sales for September 2005 to help the victims of devastating floods in New Orleans. And some of Tom’s original compositions offer up socially relevant and honorable nods, including a reverential track in 2012, “Love Comes to Us All” to honor those lost during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and in 2013 his song, “Put Up Their Names – The Ballad of the U.S.S. Frank E. Evans”, honoring 74 Sailors who were lost aboard the USS Frank E. Evans in 1969.

Prior to the release of his new release, Sudden Signs of Grace, Tom gifted us with his debut/solo album, All of the Above (2014) and two years later, Trampling Out the Vintage (2016) followed by American Garden in 2018.

Sudden Signs of Grace kicks off things right with a driving track, “It’s All in the Skies” and the album continues song after song of easy listening melodic rock, with cool hooks that draw us in track after track. Solid guitar work all around, including the sweetest thematic lick that could go on forever.

Guitar International always enjoys talking with Tom who’s a collector of vintage guitars, including a Stratocaster once owned by the legendary blues master, Howlin’ Wolf; a musician well-versed and knowledgeable in the rock music genre, and a fellow journalist who offers up smart insightful interviews when on the other side of the recorder. But, to be frank, the big draw here is Tom’s talent to craft songs that grab us, whether they’re rockers or ballads, raunchy guitar-hooked tracks or melodic and sweet bended licks.

******

Rick Landers:  I was surprised to see your new release, Sudden Signs of Grace, since it didn’t seem all that long ago that you put out your earlier album, American Garden. Did you have a backlog of songs that were gnawing at you to be put out? 

Tom Guerra: I really didn’t. Garden came out in 2018 and after spending about six months promoting it, I returned to writing and got into a nice groove of working up songs on this old Gibson LG-1 acoustic.

Rick: Your album starts out exceptionally strong, “It’s All in the Skies”. How did that one come about and was it your idea to plant that as the album’s first track?

Tom Guerra: Thank you, Rick. During the time that I wrote that track, I was spending a lot of time out on the Connecticut River.  One cool clear spring day I was out there and think I had an almost out of body experience, feeling like I was being drawn up into the skies like I stepped into a Maxfield Parrish painting.  It was at that point that I came up with the chorus, which is about the grace and truth of the skies.  The verses came later that day.

As far as the positioning of that song as the first track…this was the first album I’ve ever made where the intro song wasn’t the biggest rocker because this album isn’t really a collection of rockers. I chose “Skies” because it sort of sets the tone for the record. 

Rick: All the songs make a cool blend of your music, and I was a bit surprised when I got to the instrumental. It’s got such a cool sweet melancholy lick, a hook that’s very captivating. Did you catch that one when you were noodling around?

Tom Guerra: Exactly. Right before I wrote that I had gotten this great 1959 Stratocaster, a beautiful lightweight guitar that someone had put these big frets on which were great for bending.

I picked that guitar up and started playing that chord progression and little lick in a sort of clean tone reminiscent of Amos Garrett or Mark Knopfler.  I wasn’t even going to put it on the album until my friend Jon Butcher said “you’ve gotta include that.”  I put it at the end, as many of my favorite albums end with a mellow track.  Think “Moonlight Mile” on “Sticky Fingers…”

Rick: How’d you meet Jon Butcher and did you find that your approaches to work and music meshed well?

Tom Guerra:  I met Jon just before the release of his exceptional record “2 Roads East,” and we immediately hit it off.  I’d been aware of his work for years and really loved his music.  He ended up playing an end of the world lead guitar part on my song “Blood On the New Rising Sun” from the American Garden album, and then he asked me to join him on a song off of his new album 360 Degrees called “USB (Uncle Sam’s Blues).”

He’s also an incredibly gifted videographer and ended up doing the three videos for the “Sudden Signs of Grace” album.  He’s great at everything he does, and is really a modern day renaissance man.

Rick: How about telling us about how the album evolved, and besides the songwriting, what level of involvement you had with the various aspects of its production to get to the final cut? 

Tom Guerra: In terms of how these songs evolved, lyrically they represent where I’m at these days, being a 57 year old man…for whatever reason, many feature acoustic guitar, including acoustic solos.

That was a bit of a departure, as I’ve always been an electric guitar guy.  As far as production, I’ve produced just about every piece of music that I’ve ever been a part of, from my early bands to the Mambo Sons to my solo records, so I have been involved in all aspects, from songwriting to mic placement to charts for the musicians…though I don’t dictate what the musicians play as I look to them to bring their own flavor and expertise to my songs.  And then I mix and mix and mix and when I’m done, it goes off to mastering.

Rick: I have to admit I miss the old album covers and all the graphic landscape artists use to have to grab people’s attention. Those days are gone and I’d think that figuring out a design might take more thought to attract interest, at least for those still putting out CDs. What do you think and do you welcome the resurgence of the old album covers? 

Tom Guerra:  When I was a young music fan, we’d get almost all of our information from an album cover, from the vibe of the front cover to who played what to the little hidden messages in the liner notes.  As such, the cover art is still very important to me and I’ve been fortunate to have worked with a talented designer named John Kallio on many of my releases.

For the album cover of Sudden Signs of Grace we found the cover shot of a little girl looking into the woods surrounded by a sunbeam, and it perfectly fit my vision for this one, as when I was writing the album, I was thinking of it as a female, versus, its predecessor American Garden which is definitely a testosterone thing.[Laughs]

Rick: I know the story of the Stratocaster you own that’s in the RnR Hall of Fame, but would you tell our readers how you ended up with it and how it got into the Hall of Fame? Was it tough to send it off on temporary duty as a loaner? 

Tom Guerra: Sure, it’s a 1963 Fender Stratocaster formerly owned by the great Howlin’ Wolf, well played and worn. I bought it about two decades ago and when I opened up the case, I was hit by the smell of cigarettes and whiskey!

I picked it up and noticed that it had the words “Lil Bill” sort of burnt into the pickguard, as if it had been written with some sort of paint that melted the nitro guard.

I then started searching online and found a recent pic of an old bluesman playing a modern guitar, with the words “Lil Bill” boldly standing out on the same spot of the pickguard.  I did some research and found his name was Alex “Lil Bill” Wallace, and he was living in a nursing home in Greenville, Mississippi.

I sent some pictures of the guitar to him, and then called him about a week later.  Lil Bill seemed happy to talk, and confirmed that not only was this once his Strat, but it was originally owned by his close friend Chester Burnett, aka Howlin’ Wolf, who sold it to him in the mid-‘60’s. This was also confirmed by Hubert Sumlin a short time later.

I’ve used this guitar on various recordings and after spending several years at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, it’s now on loan to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix for the next year.  I feel lucky to own this, but also feel like it’s my duty to let people check it out, as it’s a part of blues and rock and roll history.

Rick: Along with artists who have inspired you musically, business-wise, altruism and ambition wise, who else has influenced the way your approach your career, fans and colleagues, and, well, life in general I suppose?

Tom Guerra: I’d have to say my family and having a good support system has definitely helped me navigate life’s ups and downs.  Keeping things in moderation also helps to eliminate a lot of problems as well.  It’s also important to listen to as many musicians, songwriters, players as one can.

I know guitar players can be a very competitive bunch, and there are many, many players out there that are light years ahead of me from a technical perspective, but I love watching other players do their thing, and can honestly say that I’ve learned so much from so many by just watching and listening.  As a result, it just makes me feel incredibly fortunate to be able to create and do my own thing.

Rick: I seem to hear a few nods in your style to maybe Nick Lowe, obviously Gram Parsons and some other long-ago influences. Any thoughts on how your own signature sound developed over time? 

Tom Guerra: My friend, the great producer and guitarist Jim Chapdelaine once told me, “our styles are forged by our own limitations” and that’s totally true. I try to listen to all types of music and many different songwriters and just sort of make a mental note of what I like about their music.

Of course, you can’t be a songwriter from my generation and not be influenced by Lennon and McCartney, Jagger and Richards and Bob Dylan, but there are so many other great songwriters that are more under the radar for one to explore.

As far as singing, I’ve been fortunate to work with some great vocalists, including Scott Lawson Pomeroy of Mambo Sons, and when I started making solo records, I had to come to terms with writing for my own voice and limited range. And even if you’re not the next Paul Rodgers, there are a lot of things you can do to make your own voice work for you.  It’s all about being expressive and real.

Rick: You’ve also been a prolific music journalist, writing for us, Vintage Guitar and others. How did you first get involved in writing and what have been some of your most memorable experiences meeting legendary performers for interviews? 

Tom Guerra: About twenty something years ago, I was doing some shows opening for Ronnie Earl, and happened to be talking with a writer for Vintage Guitar magazine about that experience.  He said “Can you interview him for the magazine?” and I said “sure, I already know what I want to ask him.”

So, it just started from there.  I have been fortunate to have gotten to hang with some great songwriters and musicians, and became friends with many.  One, Johnny Winter, asked me to write liner notes for a few of his albums.  It becomes quite obvious that these folks are just people with a talent and some luck thrown in.

One of the coolest things that happened to me was a few years after I did my biography of Paul Kossoff for the magazine, I got a call one night from an English gentlemen who said “Hello, is this Tom?”  It was former Free bassist Andy Fraser, who chose me and Vintage Guitar magazine to tell the world his story.

Shortly before this, there were rumors flying around that Andy was near death from AIDS.  The reality was that while he was HIV positive, he was quite healthy and because he enjoyed the Kossoff piece, he wanted me to be the one to help set the record straight, that he was a gay man living with AIDS.  What a brave guy…

Rick:  What’s up with your group, Mambo Sons, and how has the group matured, and what are some of the more interesting endeavors the other members have pursued that you didn’t anticipate?

Tom Guerra: Mambo Sons is alive and well, although we’ve had to endure the cancellation of shows like everybody due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  We’ve been playing since 1999, most of that time as a trio though in the past few years we’ve added Russ Waesche on guitar and vocals. Russ is an incredibly talented musician and a real good guy who I enjoy playing with.

Rick: I know Rick Derringer has been a friend of yours for years. How did you two meet and how heavily has he been involved in your music career?

Tom Guerra:  Back in the late ‘90s, I was on a local radio show promoting a record I’d done with my blues band, when I got a call from someone saying he’d liked the guitar work.  I said “Thanks, do you play?” and he said “Yes, this is Rick Derringer.”  We spoke a few times on the phone after that and I told him I was recording what I thought was a solo album, which became the first Mambo Sons record.

I asked if he’d be interested in playing on it and he told me to send him some songs, which I did.  He showed up and played some great guitar, and also taught me a lot about production.  To this day, he remains one of America’s truly great guitarists.

Rick: Virtually everyone I know lost gigs at the onset of the pandemic, were you able to make the transition to more on-line outreach easily or was there a learning curve to overcome?

Tom Guerra:  Everybody is in the same boat, unfortunately.  Business is tough and as bad as it’s been for clubs, bars and restaurants, musicians have been hurt even more. I am hoping that we all see a vaccine soon so life can return to something resembling normal.

As far as online, I’ve been doing a bunch of podcasts.  Also, for years, Mambo Sons considered a great Hartford landmark called Black-Eyed Sally’s our home base, and when our annual summer show there got cancelled because of Covid-19, we all put together a Zoom version of one of our more popular songs, “Strawberry Hill”.

Rick: And, now here in Virginia I see open-air performances starting to take hold again and wonder if this is too soon, given the projection of 400,000 victims if we stay the course we’ve been on. What are your thoughts, as well as inclinations, with respect to playing in venues again?

Tom Guerra:  I want to do it as soon as its safe to do so…but I don’t want to be at a big gathering where lives are put at risk.   

Rick:  How about a line-up of all of your acoustic and electric guitars, and why it seems you’re most drawn to Stratocasters?

Tom Guerra: Oh, I have a bunch of guitars, mostly vintage stuff though for awhile I endorsed Brian Moore Guitars and still have mine.  As far as electrics, I do tend to play Strats, because I feel that they are transparent in terms of the way they allow the personality of the player to come through, for better or worse.  They clean up well and also sound great when overdriven.

Considering the Strat is now 66 years old and arguably more popular than ever, I really think that Leo Fender hit the ball out of the park and got it right from the get go.  As far as my favorite Strat sounds, “Sleep Song” certainly is up there, as is my version of the old Freddie King song “The Sad Night Owl”, which I covered back in 1990.

Rick:  Do you have a backlog of more songs that you want to lay down for one or more new albums? Any thoughts of an unplugged release? 

Tom Guerra: I’m spending most of my time promoting Sudden Signs of Grace, though I find myself always writing.  I’m also currently co-writing with a Vintage Guitar magazine cohort on some really heavy tunes for a hard rock project of his.  That’s fun!

Rick: Besides music, what else keeps you entertained with respect to hobbies or interests?

Tom Guerra:  Reading, being outside, spending time my wife and son, going on long walks, being near the ocean…

Rick:  Is there anyone that you’d like to collaborate with on some future project, some dream album? 

Tom Guerra:  Ian Hunter probably…in my book, he’s truly one of the greatest rock and roll songwriters.