Guitar Player

SPEAK TO ME WHEN WORD CAME that a new David Gilmour album was due this fall, you can be sure it created a buzz throughout the music press. This is, after all, a legendary guitarist from a legendary band that has made legendary albums — not to mention a musical artist whose solo album output remains fresh, imaginative and imperative. Since the demise of Pink Floyd, Gilmour seems to have distilled his songwriting talents and guitar work to an essence, like a heady, potent liquor you can soak in. Knowing how press-shy the man is, I put in our interview request, crossed my fingers and checked in with my co-editors across the pond at regular intervals to catch up on the latest Gilmour scuttlebutt. What I heard was deflating: He’d done…

A DETAIL-PERFECT clone of a 1959 Gibson Les Paul is sure to set players’ and collectors’ hearts aflutter. So when the Gibson Custom Shop and Murphy Lab apply their skills to re-creating a legendary ’Burst from that same year, you can bet it will result in off-the-chart excitement. The guitar in question is Red Eye, the ’59 Burst formerly owned by the late Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd, which now resides in the collection of Jason Isbell. While music’s best and brightest tend to excel in one or two directions, Isbell does it all. Not only is the six-time Grammy Award winner a top-flight solo artist, band member, session guitarist and vocalist, he’s also the rare singer-songwriter who is deeply obsessed with vintage guitars and knows how to suss the…

IN THE WORLD of blues, the name Burnside attracts a lot of respect. R.L. Burnside carved out a legendary status for himself in the hill country blues genre, and his grandson Cedric has been building a reputation that would make his grandfather proud. Following in the raw, primal tradition laid down by the man he calls Big Daddy, Cedric’s new album, Hill Country Love (Mascot Label Group), is a prime slice of timeless blues that could have been recorded anytime over the past 60 years. Given that I Be Trying, Burnside’s last album, won a Grammy in 2022, it would seem the stakes were high when it came to recording the new record, which was produced by North Mississippi Allstars guitarist and producer Luther Dickinson. That didn’t turn out to…

WHEN BRIAN RAY joined Paul McCartney’s band in 2002, he was tasked with the responsibility of learning more than 40 songs — in one week. “Fortunately, I listened to the Beatles nonstop throughout my life, so I already knew most of them,” he says. “Of course, it’s much different when you’re playing in a band that, oh yeah, is led by Paul McCartney himself. Needless to say, I immersed myself in the material.” He also had to learn another instrument. The gig with McCartney required Ray to switch between guitar and bass on songs where McCartney played guitar or piano. “I definitely had to woodshed on bass, but Paul made it very easy for me,” he says. “I could never re-create his parts exactly, but as long as I got…

AS FRONTMAN FOR the British rock group Bush these past 32 years, Gavin Rossdale has grown accustomed to hearing plaudits for his vocals. But the 58-year-old is also the band’s rhythm guitarist, a role for which he’s less likely to earn praise. So he says he was genuinely surprised when Billy Gibbons, one of rock’s legendary tonehounds, singled him out. “Billy came to our show once and was so floored that he came backstage after to ask me about my tone,” Rossdale says. “Our guitarist, Chris Traynor, who is a way better guitar player than I am, was ignored, yet my searing tone got Billy Gibbons’ attention! It was a great moment in my guitar life.” Rossdale’s guitar tone has propelled Bush’s alt-rock anthems since Sixteen Stone, their multi-Platinum debut…

FENDER NEVER OFFERED a “deluxe” rendition of the Stratocaster until 1987, more than three decades after that model’s introduction. By contrast, the Telecaster proved ripe for modification on several occasions long before the Strat reached that milestone. I’m not talking about the evolution of components and appointments that defined the chronological march of all Fender guitars through the company’s early years, but rather the unveiling of a souped-up or upgraded rendition that appeared along-side an original model. Leo and company did just that with the Telecaster Custom in 1959, a mere nine years after it was introduced as the Broadcaster. The Telecaster Custom featured a bound body and a then-new rosewood fingerboard. The next change came nearly a decade later when Fender lightened the load of heavier ash stocks with…