Robben Ford Interview: The Truth

Clsssic Guitar International Magazine (June 4, 2011)

By: Brian D. Holland

Guitarist Robben Ford began his musical journey at age ten as an alto sax player. A keen interest and understanding of the woodwind instrument, as well as a fondness for the ‘cool jazz’ sounds of Paul Desmond and his legendary recordings with guitarist Jim Hall, helped fuel his musical aptitude at a young age. It proved to be an attraction that only intensified, as the sounds of Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins, and John Coltrane became elements within the same fascination. Integrate that scenario with an interest in the blues and a flair for emulating Mike Bloomfield and other blues guitar favorites, and one can easily understand Robben Ford’s fondness for both instruments.

Robben believes, for himself anyway, that the guitar has more of a place in blues, as tonal variety and depth of feeling are more profound for the instrument in that genre. However, the saxophone’s jazz harmonic element never completely vanishes from his mind or from his playing. With guitar solos that often emulate the reed instrument in tone and range, the combining of contemporary and polished melodies with a raw and traditional blues element is what the unmistakable guitar style of Robben Ford is all about.

Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Phil Lesh, Jimmy Witherspoon, Miles Davis, and Bonnie Raitt, to name just a few, have experienced firsthand the diversity and refinement that’s the technique of Robben Ford. Diversity is certainly required of any musician by these aforementioned names. It’s a component of brilliance, a quality frequently spread by word of mouth. In other words, brilliance harbors brilliance. It’s interesting that musician/arranger Tom Scott once enlightened Robben to the music of Joni Mitchell; Robben, on the other hand, later enlightened Joni to the incredible talent of bassist Jaco Pastorius. The beautiful music that was created through these introductions can, to some extent, be viewed as ‘meant to be’, or even inevitable, for that matter. A musician has surely reached a rewarding juncture in his career when realizing he occupies a space on the same plateau as his influences, a scenario Robben experienced when playing with Jimmy Witherspoon, Miles Davis, and others.

Constantly roaming between jazz and blues, with an incredible flair for fusing the two, another exceptional quality has been Robben’s ability to stay contemporary. His work with the Yellowjackets, leading to a tour with Miles Davis; his touring with L. A. Express and Joni Mitchell, spawning her Miles of Aisles live album; George Harrison’s Dark Horse tour, and others, only strengthened the diversity of a talent that’s been sustaining somewhat fruitfully since the Seventies.

Best identified by his solo releases, 1988’s Talk To Your Daughter made Robben Ford a bona fide name in the music world. A Grammy award nomination in the field of Best Contemporary Blues Recording, it was an innovative album of sorts, one with incredible guitar work and brilliant arrangements. The album’s approach enlightened listeners to his mastery at the art of sophistication and refinement within the genre of contemporary blues.

Known for sizzling guitar solos supported by a prominent rhythm section, Robben Ford and The Blue Line was a successful eight year project. Though Robben was recognized for his fine vocal ability by this time as well, incredible licks and vibrant tone were the focal points of each album, an aspect that stands to this day.

Robben considers his 2007 CD release, Truth, to be more relevant to contemporary times than anything he has ever done. It’s an understandable component, as a contemporary approach is something he has always aspired to, both instrumentally and lyrically, especially within the more traditional genre of blues. Fans have come to expect Robben’s exceptionally refined and elegant playing style. Though Truth continues down that road without discontent, its lyrical content ventures into daring subject matter relative to today’s socio-economical setting and political state of affairs. Robben’s intention was to make a blues record that didn’t follow the typical course of “other times.” He wanted it to speak to today.

******

Brian D. Holland: Is your new record typical of what you’ve done in the past?

Robben Ford: The record is topical in a way like nothing I’ve ever done before. It was intentional to make a record that I consider a blues record, yet something that definitely speaks to today, or speaks to the times. There’s sort of a habit in the world of the blues to speak of other times, you know, to speak in a language of another time.

That has its place, but I’ve always tried to keep my music contemporary. I really felt, lyrically, in the songwriting, that I’d reached another level. The songs talk of the war, political situations, and socio-economical things. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of truth being spoken today. People are even afraid to speak out.

Brian: You answered my next question somewhat, but I was wondering if there were any significant contrasts of note, or departures, in this CD, as opposed to previous Robben Ford efforts.

Robben Ford: I don’t think this record is a complete change for me, but I think it’s more relevant than anything I’ve ever done.

Brian: Do you consider yourself a blues guitarist or a guitarist who sometimes plays the blues?

Robben Ford: Well, it’s an issue that has come up throughout my career. I got my start as a blues guitarist. There’s no question about that. That was how I learned to play, by emulating the blues guitar players I loved. At a very early age I developed an interest in jazz, and my first instrument was the alto saxophone. Paul Desmond was a big hero for me. I was introduced to Jim Hall, the great jazz guitarist, through listening to Paul Desmond recordings. Together, they lit up my interest in learning to play more than straight-ahead blues. I’ve always loved the saxophone. It’s been kind of my interest of choice in my listening habits.

I’m a big fan of Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins, the great John Coltrane, and others. So, the musical past in my life has been to put these elements together in some way that makes sense, for the electric guitar in particular. With the electric guitar, for me, its greatest vice is found in the blues, not in jazz, even though these brilliant jazz guitarists have made wonderful music on the electric guitar. For me, there’s just a lot more variety of tone and depth of feeling in blues guitar playing. I like that element of the guitar, and I like the harmonic element that you find in jazz, particularly in saxophone playing.

Brian: Your playing style is often very refined and polished. Do you consider yourself a perfectionist and/or an obsessive musician?

Robben Ford: Not at all. What I demand of myself and others I’m working with is to make music that’s actually expressing something genuine, on an emotional end and in a spiritual way. That in itself demands a certain kind of perfectionism. I want everything I play to be clear, but I’ll even use bad technique at times. Bad technique, at times, is actually better for expressing certain things.

So, I’m not beyond leaving myself a few weaknesses here and there. It actually has an emotional dynamic built into it. The mere fact that you’re trying to do something at that moment gets people on the edge of their seat. So I’m okay with that, with the imperfections. At the same time, I do want to make something worth listening to.

Brian: You were greatly influenced by Mike Bloomfield; correct?

Robben Ford: Yeah. He was my first real big guitar hero.

Brian: What was it about Bloomfield that inspired so many?

Robben Ford: Well, he was an original, and probably the first white electric blues guitarist to get any attention. And he just happened to be a great guitar player. I think timing had something to do with it. The blues got exposure, to a large degree, because of people like Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield. He was the first virtuoso electric guitar player I had ever heard who was playing loud. Before that it was Keith Richards and George Harrison, but there was nobody playing like that.

Brian: Your father, Charles, was a guitarist as well. Was he supportive of you?

Robben Ford: Very much so. Everybody in my family was musical. Both my father and mother were very supportive of me, and supportive of my older brother, Patrick, who plays drums, and my younger brother, Mark, who plays blues harmonica. We each had a different band going at the same time, and we wound up playing together as often as we could before leaving home and even more seriously after we left home. Yeah, it was a very supportive musical environment that way.

Brian: You once stated that you were kind of “thrust into fusion.” Was that an overwhelming experience?

Robben Ford: It was. Basically, what I was playing when I joined the L. A. Express, which was my introduction into fusion, was blues and jazz. The kind of jazz I was playing was kind of along the lines of what Wayne Shorter was doing on Blue Note. I went through a lot of Blue Note records. We’d take a song by Joe Henderson, Hank Mobley, or Lee Morgan. I listened to so much of those Blue Note recordings. I loved what Wayne Shorter was doing. I was writing music that was kind of like that. There weren’t a lot of chords in most of that music, and it was very lyrical. And of course, he had Elvin Jones, Herbie Hancock, and all my favorite players on his records.

I was playing a big-bodied [Gibson] Super 400 guitar, loud, through a [Fender] Super Reverb amplifier. I was also playing tenor saxophone. It was about 50/50 with each instrument, in my own group. And that was while I was playing with Jimmy Witherspoon, on and off the road. So, when I was invited to join the L.A. Express, the first thing I said was, “No.” And the offer was to play with Joni Mitchell as well. I wasn’t familiar with anybody in the L.A. Express and I thought Joni Mitchell was completely in the opposite direction from what I do.

But then Tom Scott said, “Let me come over and play you a couple of records and see what you think.” I said okay, if he was willing to do that. He played Court and Spark for me. It was an acetate; the record wasn’t even out yet. And he played the L.A. Express’ first record, of which I believe was an acetate also. I didn’t care for the L.A. Express, but I loved the Joni Mitchell record, and the drummer, John Guerin. So I got together and played with him and agreed to join the band and go on the road for that tour, Court and Spark.

A live album came out of that, Miles Of Aisles, and I recorded Tom Cat with the L.A. Express. Suddenly, I was playing music that I was really kind of uncomfortable with, but I was around such great musicians. For the first time, I was around people who were better than me. I don’t mean that I was so great. It’s just that I was with my peers before that, you know, and now I was playing with some of the greatest musicians in Los Angeles and in the world. So, it was a culture shock and a music shock. It took me a while to become comfortable in that environment; but eventually, things kind of came around.

Brian: You played guitar on Joni’s “In France They Kiss On Main Street.”

Robben Ford: That’s right. The Hissing Of Summer Lawns album.

Brian: And dobro on “Don’t Interrupt The Sorrow.”

Robben Ford: Yeah. That’s one of my favorite pieces of music in the world.

Brian: I like that, too. You also played guitar on “Harry’s House.”

Robben Ford: Yes.

Brian: Did you meet Jeff Baxter and Larry Carlton during those sessions?

Robben Ford: No. I met Larry the first day that I had jammed with the group. Larry came along to just kind of show me parts, you know, to the songs that they were doing. After the tour with Joni, I moved to Los Angeles, and Larry called and asked me to come over. I went over to his house and we hung out, and he said, “Do you want to do a few gigs together?” I said,”Sure.” We played a few weekends together at a club called Dante’s in North Hollywood.
But, Larry and I didn’t spend much time hanging out or playing together. I think I did one record with Jeff Baxter.

But he wasn’t like a friend or anything, just an acquaintance. I was really pretty low profile in southern California, because, again, I was never really comfortable with the L.A. music scene. I’m from a small town, and I just never felt really relaxed. I developed a reputation for being a studio guitarist in Los Angeles, but I never really was. I did some dates, some records, a little work here and there, but I was never really in it like some of the others.

Brian: Did you ever get to meet Jaco Pastorius?

Robben Ford: Yes. I recorded with Jaco and Joni Mitchell on some things that were never released for Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter. I was the guy who told Joni about Jaco. She came to my house when I was living in Boulder, Colorado. Jaco’s first record had just come out. I said, “You’ve got to hear this. I think you’ll want to work with this guy.”

Brian: He was an incredible bass player. It must have been an unbelievable experience just to play guitar along with him.

Robben Ford: Just being in Jaco’s proximity, a lot of energy came off that guy, man. He was hair raising just to be around.

Brian: You played with Miles Davis shortly before releasing Talk to Your Daughter. Is that correct?

Robben Ford: Yeah. I toured with Miles in ’86, but Talk to Your Daughter wasn’t actually released until ’88, due to a lot of record company baloney. Playing with Miles was a great thrill and an honor. He’s probably been my number-one musical icon for many years. I had a very good relationship with the guy. He had a habit of being very challenging. But he didn’t do it to be a jerk. He really did it to get a reaction. He would do things to kind of test you. He’d try to push your buttons. Obviously, a very formidable human being, you have so much admiration and respect for the guy.

It was challenging to be around him, but I was able to do that. I was able to get past my shock and awe of Miles Davis, and actually be myself with him. He really liked that. That’s what he wanted from people. People would kind of cower around him. He’d walk into the room and it would be like a wet blanket, you know. Everybody would kind of stop talking and just sit there waiting for Miles to tell them what to do. So, it was kind of weird that way, but I got along really well with the guy. When I was leaving, he told me that if I ever wanted to come back, to just come back. That was the ultimate compliment.

Brian: In your opinion, where’s the blues at today?

Robben Ford: It’s hard for me to say. It’s not like I buy a lot of blues records. It’s not like I keep up with the contemporary blues scene, because more often than not, I just find it boring. No one can write. The bands can be okay, with an occasional good singer, but the material is generally mediocre and the playing is a rehash of something else. So, I’m generally bored by it, although I’ve been told recently that there’s kind of a young, underground blues scene doing some creative things. I’m very curious about that. I’m wondering if maybe the White Stripes had something to do with that. That guy talks a lot about the blues, and he basically says that what he does is his version of the blues.

That may have coerced some younger people to check it out. Their music is very creative, inspiring, and original. These are the things I look for, and you’re not going to hear it in just any blues record. The thing I loved about Butterfield and Bloomfield, John Mayall, and all those people who were bringing blues to the front, is that they were all doing something different with that music. Every one of them. And the British bands, even the Stones, the Animals and the Yardbirds would do something different with the music. That’s what I like to hear.

Brian: I agree. You recently produced a CD for your wife (actress and cabaret singer, Anne Kerry Ford), entitled “Weill”, dedicated to the music of Kurt Weill.

Robben Ford: Yes. The one piece that everyone knows by Kurt Weill is “Mack the Knife.” He wrote the music to it, and it’s from Threepenny Opera. Bertolt Brecht wrote the libretto, the play and the lyrics. Kurt Weill also wrote the music to Speak Low. His music is largely from the late 30s, 40s, and 50s. They’re wonderful songs from that period in time. He’s my favorite Western composer. I’m a big Maurice Ravel fan, but other than that, Kurt Weill would be my second or equal favorite. He’s revered in Germany, where he’s from, where he once evacuated because of the Nazis. He escaped to the West and wound up in New York, where he wrote for theater.

So, my wife was invited to be the guest vocalist for his one-hundred-year celebration, referred to as the Kurt Weill Centenary. It was two concerts, live at the Philharmonic Hall in Cologne, Germany, and live at the Philharmonic in Dusseldorf. We did those two shows, and we recorded them. We released some of that, plus some studio recordings, as her new CD. And it’s simply called Weill. Roger Kellaway was the arranger and conductor.

Brian: It was a 28-piece big band orchestra.

Robben Ford: Yeah. He also did the small group arrangements for the studio.

Brian:How was that experience for you, to play guitar along with a 28-piece big band?

Robben Ford: Well, I’ve done a lot of different things over the years. It was cool, but my part in it was small from the playing point of view. It’s really my wife and Kellaway who are the principles on this recording. It’s an amazing recording. For anyone wanting to become familiar with Kurt Weill’s music, it’ll be a valuable addition to their musical life. The arrangements and my wife’s performances are stellar, so I’m very proud of it.

Brian: Performing with Jimmy Witherspoon was obviously a big deal for you.

Robben Ford: Very much so. I had one record by Jimmy Witherspoon. It was part of a box set, called the Blues Box [Verve 1966]. It was three records in one. It was mid to late Sixties Lightnin’ Hopkins, Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry, and Jimmy Witherspoon. He was my favorite blues singer already. He was coming to play at a club I worked at in the San Francisco Bay area. I asked the club owner if I could open for him, and he agreed. Spoon showed up with just a guitar player. After he had heard us he asked us if we’d be his backup band. I played alto saxophone because he already had a guitar player. After that weekend he asked us to move to Los Angeles to be his band. We agreed, and we worked with Spoon for about a two-year period there.

Brian: It must have been something to find yourself working for one of the performers you had admired for so many years.

Robben Ford: That was my first real treat like that. I worked with Charlie Musselwhite before that for a while, but Spoon was indeed someone who I had great admiration for. And he was such an amazing character. This was a guy who could entertain kings and queens, yet was a very funky dude at the same time, and crazy. But a great guy. It was like a father-son relationship. It really was. We were that close. We went through a lot together. It finally came out the other side of it when my brother Patrick put the two of us together to record the album Live at the Notodden Blues Festival in Norway. A little after that, we did a live recording at the Mint, that was nominated for a Grammy. Spoon said it was the only time he was ever nominated for a Grammy. He was really proud of that.

Brian: You toured with George Harrison for a while.

Robben Ford: On his only tour, the one tour he did in 1974.

Brian: Supposedly, George didn’t like to tour very much. Is that correct?

Robben Ford: He wasn’t comfortable in the leadership role.

Brian: I wonder why [Laughing]. I suppose he never really needed much experience at that.

Robben Ford: Well, he was pretty much in one band his whole life. He was one of the most gregarious people I’ve ever met in my life. George was a party animal. I don’t mean that in a bad way; he was an amazing personality, another one of those people with so much energy coming off of him. He was big. You don’t think of George Harrison that way, but to be around him, he was George Harrison, man! He was like one of the princes of planet Earth, you know. It was pretty amazing to be around him. He was very nice to me. He was actually at my wedding. He came uninvited [Both Laughing].

Brian: I suppose someone like George Harrison could get away with that.

Robben Ford: Yeah. You’re not going to say no, you know [Laughing]. But it was very sweet. He came and partied the whole evening.

Brian: You toured with Gregg Allman a couple of years ago. Did you enjoy playing Gregg Allman and Allman Brothers music?

Robben Ford: Very much. It was a real hand-in-glove fit for me, working with Gregg. The idea was for it to continue, but last year they called me to add some more dates. They kept adding dates and more dates. I’m like, “Wait a minute guys; I have a new record to do.” That was Truth, the latest one. I thought, well, okay, maybe I’ll just wait until November to start. They just kept adding more dates, so I called and told them I couldn’t do it. I had a record to make and I was looking forward to it. So, I bowed out. But musically, playing that music was just great.

It’s interesting for me, Brian, because I’ve grown up playing blues, jazz, and some pop music. I’ve not played much rock. I’ve played some, of course. Over the last few years I’ve done the Phil Lesh tour, and that was Grateful Dead music, and then this trip with Gregg. These are guitar bands, you know, a lot of improvisation. I never really played a lot of music that came out of the guitar. So for me, it’s a great pleasure to play music like that. When music’s written for the guitar, man, and you’re playing it, it’s a different feeling than anything I’ve had.

I’ve always put jazz and blues together; I always have. It’s not quite the same work, with open string chords, you know. All those open strings; jazz is played in B flat, you know. Everything I played with Jimmy Witherspoon was B flat and A flat, with one song in C. There’re no open strings. That’s how I learned to play. So, it was kind of a revelation for me quite frankly, playing with Phil and playing with Gregg. I found a certain freedom and a certain ease that I hadn’t had in other situations, in being able to do what I do.

Brian: How much work goes into acquiring the Robben Ford tone?

Robben Ford: At this point, a lifetime [Laughing]. Tone is a very interesting thing.

Brian: Some say it’s in the fingers.

Robben Ford: Well, I think that’s partially true. And I don’t mean to diminish the importance of that, but I would even go as far as to say that it’s in the body, in the way you channel energy. It’s not just the fingers. It’s really a very personal thing. Whether or not you have anything to say, or whether or not you actually want to say anything. My whole life I’ve had a burning desire to express myself emotionally on a musical instrument. It was just like, “Musical instrument, I’ve got to do something with that.” [Laughing]. It hasn’t always been pretty. One of the ways I had learned, and I think everyone does, is just by beating on the instrument. I never had a teacher of any kind with the guitar. I took saxophone lessons in school, but I never any lessons on the guitar. I don’t read well.

Brian: So, you more or less play by ear.

Robben Ford: I’d say yes. I learned jazz guitar chords out of a book and by listening to records and playing.

Brian: You wouldn’t know that by listening to you. Your playing comes across as if executed by someone who’s an educated player, as opposed to someone who taught himself and plays by ear.

Robben Ford: Yeah. I’ve had no schooling. But, you know, look at Wes Montgomery. He was self-taught and he didn’t even start playing until he was in his twenties. To me, it was about expressing a tremendous amount of emotion and energy that I just didn’t know what else to do with. What are you going to do, rob banks? [Laughing] You’ve got such a need to do something. Fortunately, I found a healthy way in which to channel that energy.

Brian: You recently made an appearance on the latest John Mayall album, In the Palace of the King, doing your original, “Cannonball Shuffle.”

Robben Ford: I had originally done that song on Keep On Running. I went out on the road a couple of years ago in a package. It was John Mayall, myself, and Eric Bibb. He’s kind of a folk blues artist. John Mayall’s band backed me for my set. I would come out at the end of the night and finish out the evening with John. Eric would as well. The three of us would be onstage at the same time, with his band. That was one of the songs I played on that tour, and John really like it. It fit like a glove for his Freddie King project. I was really happy that he called me and asked me to come in and do it. It’s always nice when someone else wants to do one of your songs. That’s a rare pleasure for me, and it really makes me happy. I’m proud of that song.

On the Keep On Running record, my producer was a Brit by the name of John Wooler. He’s been very involved in the blues world. In fact, he was part of that big Gary Moore comeback blues album, Still Got the Blues. He was kind of a musical director with that. He knew John Lee Hooker real well, Albert King, and all those people. He came onboard as my Producer for Keep on Running, and he suggested listening to some Freddie King records. So I did. I had a double-CD Greatest Hits of Freddie King here at my house. I also got a record that he recommended to me, called Burglar. I was thinking about recording one of Freddie’s instrumentals, and then I thought, well, maybe I can write something. So, that was the song that came out [“Cannonball Shuffle”]. I’m really happy with that.

Brian: I’ve listened to Truth a few times over so far. Though I liked it at first listen, I’ve found that it’s the type of album that really grows on you.

Robben Ford: Thank you. I like to hear that.

Brian: The opening song, “Lateral Climb,” has roadhouse ruggedness to it. Are the spinning tires and the jingling of keys in the intro symbolic of the rat race that life is?

Robben Ford: Well, it’s about a lot of things. Primarily, it’s kind of financial oriented, and it also points the finger at this administration in regards to the war. But most of the references in the song are kind of economic, and the fact that it seems as though no matter what you do, even when doing all the right things, nothing seems to change. Why is that, you know? So, it’s kind of about that secret thing that only “they” know [laughing]. With those who are running the economy, it really doesn’t matter what you do.

Brian: “You’re Gonna Need a Friend” was co-written with your wife, Anne. Is she a good collaborator?

Robben Ford: I think this was the first time we ever collaborated on a lyric together. I had actually attempted writing something in her style before. You know what, in fact she contributed a little bit to a song I wrote on the Keep On Running record, “Hand In Hand With The Blues.” She added a little something to that. In any case, it’s not really her genre. Lyrically, she really liked what I was doing and she found ways to get past places I was having a hard time getting through. So, it was a very successful collaboration.

Brian: “How Deep in the Blues (Do You Want to Go)” is kind of melancholy lyricism about how tough life can get. Though musically, it possesses a nice funky groove and infectious rhythm guitar flow, stunning lead work as well.

Robben Ford: It started off with that rhythm guitar. That’s how I started writing the song. It was co-written with Gary Nicholson, a Nashville songwriter. I went down to Nashville and wrote with a few people for this record. Gary had that title. I had a musical idea, and we started working with it in that way. It started out as a shuffle. As it developed, for me, it was a song about someone who’s on a downward spiral. You know, like, “How far down do you need to go?” Kind of like, wait a minute. I think there’s some really good writing in there, both musically and lyrically.

Brian: You call your cover of Otis Redding’s “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” the loyal version.

Robben Ford: It wasn’t a quote from me. But it is [loyal]. I mean, we pretty much just play the record. I changed the guitar part a little because it was just a little too swampy, a little uncharacteristic of the way I’d do it, though I changed the guitar part just a little. I also played some of what Steve Cropper played on the original. We pretty much played it like the record.

Brian: “Riley B. King”, the tribute to B. B., is a pleasant song. It has kind of a James Taylor likeness to it.

Robben Ford: Yeah. I’ve heard people say that I sound kind of like James Taylor.

Brian: I can’t say that you sound like him often, but I caught the likeness in that one. It’s kind of like a James Taylor arrangement, the melody anyway. And you get into a slight B. B. King playing mode in the solo late in the song. You’re able to keep the solo original by utilizing your own style and phrasing, putting little hints and spices of B. B. flavoring into the mix.

Robben Ford: Right. It’s more of an “inspired by” thing than actual copying. I love playing like that. There’s one other song on the record, “Moonchild Blues,” in which I play in that kind of style. It’s very B. B. King, but not literal B. B. King. I wrote “Riley B. King” in like 2000, and had recorded it for Verve on an album that wound up not getting released. I could not legally record the song for five years. That’s just the way it works. If you record a song for one label, you can’t legally record it for another label for five tears.

So, I had to wait on the song, and in the meantime, Keb’ Mo’ and I hooked up. I played it for him. He loved it and wanted to record it, but he wanted to work on the chorus a little bit to make it a little more anthem like. I had a very simple, kind of short chorus. He and I got together on that and basically rewrote the chorus of the song. Then I wrote the little bridge that happens after the first guitar solo. That doesn’t appear on his recording of it, though. He recorded it about two records back. Robert Cray and I made guest appearances on the song. Anyway, I was able to record it myself finally. I’m very proud of that number.

Brian: Paul Simon’s “One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor” was an interesting choice.

Robben Ford: It’s from There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, 1973 I think. I was listening to other writers, you know, to try and find inspiration for writing. Hearing that song, I thought that maybe I’d just do it myself. The idea of having Susan Tedeschi on it came a bit later. It made perfect sense, though. I really thought it fit like a glove. I had heard Susan in a little store in Santa Cruz, California. Somebody was playing one of her records in there. It was just about a year ago, or a year-and-a-half ago. I wondered if it was Susan because I really wasn’t familiar with her work, and sure enough it was. I had originally thought of calling her to just do backgrounds on the record. Then I thought a duet would make sense. “One Man’s Ceiling” seemed perfect for that.

Brian: What do you look for in a guitar, when it comes to setup?

Robben Ford: I like a high action. I use 6105 fretwire. They’re kind of tall and thin, not real thin but not wide. It’s a real balancing act for me because the higher the action the more difficult it is to play fast. But the lower the action the harder it is to bend strings and get tones out of the guitar. It’s kind of a fine line there for me. My guitar tech measures them, and he tries to set them up according to certain measurements. My 1960 Tele is my blues guitar. That’s one of the reasons I play two guitars, instead of just one all night. I’ve used that Tele a ton, ever since the mid-Nineties.

If I want to play blues, that’s the instrument I want to have in my hands. Beyond that, I’ve played a variety of humbucker-style guitars, or Gibson-style guitars. I’ve fooled around with a variety of Les Pauls over the last few years, and also some instruments that were made for me. Fender used to make one for me. Gene Baker, who made my guitars at Fender, made some things for me when he left. The one that’s on the cover of the new album, Truth, is made by a Japanese guitar maker. His name is Taku Sakashta.

Brian: It’s kind of a Les Paul Studio look, with two humbuckers.

Robben Ford: It’s that style. It’s not exactly Les Paul; there are differences. But it does have humbucking pickups. That’s the other instrument I’m playing now. I’m playing the Tele and that. I recently bought a ‘68 [Gibson ES] 335. It’s being set up right now. I’m putting a stop tailpiece on it and refretting it. I’m looking forward to seeing how that might fit in. But I use the Gibson style to play a little quicker. It allows me to be a little more adventurous, faster really. The action is still a little high, but just the overall feel – the tensions a little lighter on the Gibson style. I use D’Addario .10s. on my guitars.

I’m still using a Dumble Overdrive Special. Sometimes I’ll use something different. It makes no sense to carry your own gear a long way to play one show, because it costs so much money these days to ship things. I’ll pick up amps here and there. Though I do it rarely, I always ask for a Fender Twin or a Fender Super Reverb when I do. I’ll carry with me an overdrive pedal called a Zendrive.

Brian: Is that the only pedal you use?

Robben Ford: Pretty much. I will use a volume and a wah-wah on my regular shows with my own rig. I keep a TC Electronics 2290 delay in my rack. But when picking up a couple of amps on the road I’ll just use my overdrive pedal and leave it at that.

Super Reverbs, man, are the ultimate guitar amp. I’d like to add one to this. Guitar players think they need so much [Laughing]. Really, all you need is a good guitar and a good amp. But the Super Reverb, to me, is the king of guitar amps. I’ve got two ’60s Supers, a ‘63 and a ‘66 I think. I can do anything with those amps.