Serious Rush fans become knowledgeable aficionados of the group as a whole, the members as professional artists and performers, and have their own stories to tell of concerts, detailed accounts of Rush albums and songs, but more often than not, they listen and become immersed in the emotional heft of Rush music.
Hailing from Boston, Gerry Beaudoin first took up the guitar at the age of 10 and has since evolved into one of the finest jazz guitarists and music arrangers in the country. He is the recipient of the 1992 National Association of Independent Record Producers award for best jazz recording, 1994 Cadence Magazine Editor’s Choice Award for his CD Sentimental Christmas, as well as a submission for a 1998 Grammy nomination.
One of my first interviews in the music industry was with Lee Dickson, who has been Eric Clapton’s guitar technician for nearly a quarter of a century.
Mountain’s high energy bassist, Rev Jones, is a single man mob scene on stage when he’s pushing out bass lines to power songs like “Mississippi Queen”, alongside legends Leslie West and Corky Laing. Rev’s the young pup on stage who honors his bandmates by giving his best during every performance.
The masterful songwriter, Jimmy Webb, is another contemporary legend who has gifted us for over five decades with his own Americana magic in songs he’s penned, that include, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, “MacArthur Park”, “Wichita Lineman”, “Highwayman”, “Didn’t We”, “Up, Up and Away”, “Galveston” and many more.
After a life working with such greats as Edgar Winter and White Trash, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Pink Floyd, T-Rex, Three Dog Night and Michael Jackson, Neil’s heart still surges to the beat of his collection of international gear. Whether it’s a djembe, a snare, a tambourine or a big bass drum, Neil still thumps away in the quiet haunts of Woodstock, New York.
We happened upon Australian, Jordan Brodie, a few months ago who travels the path of some who led the path for him, including Tommy Emmanuel, Ralph Towner, Pat Metheny, Bruce Mathiske, Michael Fix, and Julian Lage.
In the world of guitar, five-time Grammy nominee, Robben Ford, stands out as musician who is technically focused and adept, yet plays in an intuitive way, much like a world-class surfer catches a wave and feels his way along its surging path, to become one with it.
Word had it that there was a Flamenco guitarist in Virginia that had the most efficient set up to haul his gear around and load out than most had ever seen. And besides that, William Zorn, gets places jumping with his thumping Flamenco guitar playing, as well as makes his audiences swoon with his quieter romantic Latin tunes.
With hot young talent waiting in the wings, like Jacob Reese Thornton, it won’t be long before a new generation of guitarists will rearrange the musical landscape from theatrics and synthetic musical hype, and take it back to gut level guitar work grounded in traditional roots, but with a willingness and a drive to explore more than the pentatonic scale
