Kenny Greenberg with his main axe, a vintage Gretsch 6118 Double Anniversary that he found at Gruhn Guitars in Nashville for a mere $600. “It had the original pickups, but the finish had been taken off and the headstock had been repaired. So, it’s a great example of a ‘player’s vintage instrument,’” he says.
Kenny Greenberg has been Nashville’s secret weapon for decades. He’s the guitarist many insiders credit with giving the Nashville sound the rock ’n’ roll edge that’s become de rigueur for big country records since the ’90s. It’s the sound that, in many ways, delivered country music from its roots to sporting events.
Greenberg’s list of album credits as a session guitarist, producer, and songwriter is as diverse as it is prolific and includes everything from working on Etta James, Willie Nelson, and Sheryl Crow records to shaping hits for mega-selling contemporary country artists Toby Keith, Faith Hill, Brooks & Dunn, and Kenny Chesney (who Greenberg also tours with on lead guitar). Greenberg’s even been kicked in the leg by Jeff Beck! (More on that later.) So, while you might not necessarily know Kenny Greenberg by name, it’s safe to say you’ve heard his guitar playing.
Since moving to Nashville in his teens, Greenberg’s kept his dance card remarkably full working on records for other artists. However, with the release of his debut solo album Blues For Arash, the decorated session veteran has finally made a statement all his own—even if he didn’t necessarily intend to.
Blues For Arash is a collection of songs that were intended for the soundtrack of a movie written and directed by Welsh-Iranian filmmaker Arash Amel. The film tells the tale of a West African musician who becomes enamored with the blues and finds himself on an odyssey through the Southern U.S. Unfortunately, the movie never quite got its production together and remains in a state of funding limbo, but Greenberg found an unexpectedly happy space within the project to create music that he feels represents his truest self as a player, and he quickly realized that these songs had the makings of a solo album.
Blues for Arash
TIDBIT: Kenny Greenberg recorded Blues For Arash at his own pace in his Nashville home studio, originally intending to make a soundtrack for a film by Emmy-winner Arash Amel.
Greenberg explains: “All my guitar player friends said, ‘This isn’t what we were expecting!’ To me, it’s really the kind of guitar music I would make for myself. I’m not really a shredder, anyway. I do a different thing.”
Blues For Arash is a remarkably musical affair that shirks the fretboard histrionics that often characterize instrumental guitar albums by players with similar resumes. The album fuses African influences, exotic percussion loops, and field recordings with Greenberg’s unique take on blues guitar in a way that’s genuinely refreshing and as cinematic as one might expect of songs written to accompany a movie. The track “Nairobi, Mississippi” acts as the album’s thesis statement and is a one-chord blues that features Greenberg’s Mississippi-hill-country-blues-informed bottleneck guitar dancing with West African musician Juldeh Camara’s brilliant nyanyero (a single-stringed fiddle) over an energetic African percussion loop.
From the ultra-lyrical slide playing on the opening track, “The Citadel,” to the fiery, fuzzed-out lead work on “Star Ngoni,” all of Greenberg’s guitar on the album is rooted in the blues. The guitarist and songwriter confesses that despite the diversity of his credits, the blues has always been his home base: “Everything I do comes out of a weird way of playing the blues. So, we had the idea to fuse African music with the blues and I started researching cool beats and stuff that I could play blues guitar over, and I would come down to my studio with samples or loops, or I’d loop actual field recordings, and I would just play over them.”
“We had the idea to fuse African music with the blues and I started researching cool beats and stuff that I could play blues guitar over.”
Greenberg played most of the instruments on the album and edited many of its loops and percussion beds, but he did have some important collaborators, including multi-instrumentalist Justin Adams, who plays in Robert Plant’s band the Sensational Space Shifters and has produced Tuareg/desert-blues greats like Tinariwen. Adams provided some of the raw material that Greenberg would throw his blues playing on top of, and the two would share ideas through email. “Justin was a good guy to call for an opinion on that African/blues fusion thing,” says Greenberg, “and he’s a very cool and knowledgeable guy about world music in general. I look forward to doing more with him.”
Greenberg’s key collaborator on the record is Wally Wilson, who he describes as a mentor and who he met while co-producing the live-performance TV show Skyville Live for CMT. “I met Arash through Wally, and we came up with this idea of the soundtrack being blues guitar, but with an African influence,” Greenberg says. “Wally was very important in this process and co-produced the record.” Wilson, who has never fancied himself a singer, even ended up providing the narrative-style vocals on “Memphis Style” and “Ain’t No Way.”
“Wally and I both love Howlin’ Wolf and all the hill country blues. I had a cheap handheld mic in my room, and I was like, ‘Put the vocal down so we have the general concept, and then we’ll get a killer soul singer to come in and re-do these,’ but it just had such a character to it! It has this lo-fi, non-professional vibe that just sounded right. It took Wally a long time to get on board with us using his vocals, but I’m glad he did!”
Kenny Greenberg’s Gear
This Gibson Custom Shop ES-335 is a favorite for Greenberg, who, after nearly 30 years in Nashville, is as comfortable onstage in stadiums and arenas as he is in clubs and studios.
Guitars
- Vintage Gretsch 6118 Double Anniversary
- 1962 Gibson SG Special with mini-humbuckers
- Russ Pahl S-style
- DiPinto Galaxie
- Harmony Sovereign
- Dobro-made National wood-bodied resonator
- 1952 Les Paul goldtop
- Gibson Custom Shop ES-335
- Jerry Jones Baritone
- Jerry Jones 12-string
- Fender Telecaster with Glaser B-Bender
- Fender Jazzmaster
- Novo Serus J
- PRS Silver Sky
- PRS DGT
- GFI Pedal Steel
Amps
- Fender Pro Junior
- 1958 Fender tweed Deluxe
- Hime Amplification The Rockford
- Vox AC30
- Matchless HC-30
- Magnatone Varsity
- Marshall 20-watt
- ’50s wide-panel, low-power tweed Twin
Effects
- Mythos High Road Fuzz
- J. Rockett The Dude
- Karma Pedal MTN-10
- J. Rockett Archer
- Universal Audio Ox Box
- Boss DD-200 delay
- Walrus Audio D1 High Fidelity Delay
- Walrus Audio Slö reverb
- Boss GE-7 Equalizer modded by XAct Tone Solutions (XTS)
- Line 6 M9
- JHS Colour Box
- JHS 3 Series OD
- Keeley Dark Side Workstation
- Pedalboard by XTS
Strings, Picks & Slide
- D’Addario NYXL (.010–.046 for standard electrics, and .013–.068 for slide)
- Ceramic and glass D’Addario slides
- Dunlop Tortex Teardrop .88 mm for electrics
- Fender Mediums for acoustics
Beyond rolling with a scratch vocal for the final cuts, Blues For Arash has a wonderfully playful quality that Greenberg says was “totally different” from what he typically does in the session world. “I was like, ‘I don’t give a shit! I can play anything I want to play. I’m going to make myself happy with this!’ The thing about the pandemic in Nashville is so many artists live here, and they were all off tour, obviously, and wanted to record. They wanted to put masks on and go in the studio and be careful because they couldn’t go on the road. I actually worked my way through the pandemic—and I’m grateful for that—but when I had a day off, I’d come down to my home studio and work on these songs. It’s what I really wanted to do with my own time.”
Despite the massive arsenal of guitars, amps, and effects Greenberg has at his disposal as a top-tier session player (who PG once covered with a truly comprehensive Rig Rundown), he kept it to a few choice instruments and amps to craft the fabulously organic tones on Blues For Arash. The main guitars included his trusty vintage, stripped-down “players-style” Gretsch 6118 Double Anniversary and a custom S-style build by famed Nashville steel guitarist Russ Pahl. For the album’s killer electric slide playing, Greenberg used a 1962 Gibson SG that he literally found in a garbage can and loaded with vintage mini-humbuckers, and a DiPinto Galaxie. A vintage Harmony Sovereign and a wood-bodied Dobro resonator guitar handled the acoustic slide work.
“Richard [Bennett] was the first guy that I saw use a Gretsch and it sounded like Duane Eddy, but modern. It had a real bell-like-but-not-bright sound. I immediately thought, ‘I got to get in on some of that!’”
While Gretsch guitars have become a popular choice for pros in Nashville these days, that wasn’t always the case. Greenberg caught the Gretsch bug from session guitarist Richard Bennett—another unbelievably prolific and important player/producer that you may know as Mark Knopfler’s longtime right-hand man, who has influenced Greenberg’s path tremendously.
“Richard Bennett played on my wife’s [singer-songwriter Ashley Cleveland] first record and brought me in because I played live with her. Richard would hire me, and I’d be the second guitar player on sessions with him a lot, and watching him was like, ‘Motherfucker, that is the way you do it!’ Richard’s Gretsch playing and acoustic playing were huge, huge influences on me. Richard was the first guy that I saw use a Gretsch, and it sounded like Duane Eddy but modern. It had a real bell-like-but-not-bright sound. I immediately thought, ‘I got to get in on some of that!’ Gretsches do a unique thing and I also really like them for distorted solos. Mine is not that bright of a guitar and it has this great upper midrange kind of twang that’s somehow not a twang. I’ve got a couple of different ones, but that old Double Anniversary I use a lot. It was the first Gretsch I bought, and it’s really good. I went down to Gruhn’s and they had it on the wall for $600. It had the original pickups, but the finish had been taken off and the headstock had been repaired. So, it’s a great example of a ‘player’s vintage instrument,’ where it’s got the old wood and the sound, but it’s not $5,000. I just fell in love with playing it. Also, the Bigsby bar is huge for me.”
Rig Rundown - Kenny Greenberg
For amps, Greenberg looked exclusively to the Fender realm to conjure Blues For Arash’s lush tones. A ’90s Pro Junior mated to a 4x12 cab, a black-panel Deluxe Reverb-style amp made by Jeff Hime called the Rockford, and a ’58 tweed Deluxe all made important appearances. The tweed was even used to amplify and layer some of the acoustic tracks—a trick Greenberg picked up as a Neil Young fan. “Neil Young’s playing is right up there at the very tip-top for me, and his acoustic sounds are, too. There’s a record he made called Le Noise with Daniel Lanois, and I think those are some of the best acoustic guitar sounds ever. I’m never going to sound as raw as Neil sounds because when I’m playing on someone’s record, it’s a service for their music, so I don’t get to go completely crazy. But I’ve always been the guy that gets called when they want it a little rough around the edges. I aspire to play as raw as Neil plays and intend to have it be as emotional as that. I always feel like, when I’m in the room with all these other amazing guitar players, that my playing is a little craggier and looser. That used to really bother me, but now I really like it. I never really spent that much time trying to be what I’m not. I used to try to pull off some super-clean Brent Mason kind of things and they would go ‘No, no, we’ll call Brent when we want that. You do the thing that you do!’”
Among Greenberg’s numerous credits is his ongoing gig playing lead guitar for country star Kenny Chesney.
Photo by Jill Trunnell
If you sift through Greenberg’s album credits—which is a full day—it becomes apparent that many of the records he’s played on over the years telegraphed the rock-oriented direction popular country music ultimately took. However, Greenberg makes it clear that being “Nashville’s rock guy” was never intentional.
YouTube It
In a 2019 Skyville Live performance, Kenny Greenberg flexes his blues and rock chops on a Gibson ES-335 in a rendition of “Whipping Post” with guest Chris Stapleton.
That said, Greenberg’s still elated to be doing session and production work and proud of where he’s landed. With the release of his first bona fide solo record, one might expect him to be looking back, taking stock of the journey, and ruminating on his many, many years in the business of making hits. However, when asked what songs and contributions he’s proudest of, Greenberg stays in the present. “That’s a hard thing for me because the last thing I did is always my favorite thing. I’m so excited that I got to just do something. The great thing about recording is you play with all these great different people!”
When pressed again, Greenberg points to his work on Hayes Carll’s recent album, You Get It All. “My playing on that record feels like that’s who I am. There’s a blues solo on a song called ‘Different Boats’ that’s really where I’m at. And the song from my record ‘Star Ngoni’ is who I am as a player. If I’m going to open up and really play, that’s the way I play. And I would mention one other moment I’m really proud of: On my birthday one year, I did a version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’ with Willie Nelson. We played our parts live and Willie was in there with Trigger [Nelson’s famous Martin acoustic] and that Baldwin amp he uses, and you could hear the radio station through the amp, and we sat there and played it together. That was huge. It was the best birthday a guy could have—playing a Dylan song, looking through the glass at Willie Nelson. I’m very, very aware of how fortunate I am to be doing this. I think about that a lot.”
Playing with Jeff Beck is a kick!
Greenberg and El Becko: On a gig with vocalist and harmonica player Jimmy Hall, Hall’s occasional boss Jeff Beck sat in, leaving Greenberg with an indelible memory.
There are quite a few parts on Blues For Arash that recall Jeff Beck’s lyrical, fluid playing at its best, particularly Kenny Greenberg’s vocal slide phrasing. It turns out Greenberg isn’t just a massive Jeff Beck fan. He’s had a remarkable run-in with the man himself.
“I’ve got a guitar that Jeff Beck carved his name into! Jeff came and sat in at a gig I was playing with Jimmy Hall, and he broke a string and played my guitar. Afterwards, he got a knife and ornately carved his name in the back of my Tele. How can you not be a fan? He’s the most vocal guitar player there is! My other little Jeff Beck story is from that same night—it’s the only time I’ve ever played with him—and we did ‘Rock My Plimsoul.’ We were playing that song, and he takes the solo. And, of course, it’s the way he plays now—improv where you just can’t fucking believe what he’s doing. Then he looks at me to take a solo, and that’s one of my favorite early Jeff Beck songs, and I actually know that solo note-for-note. So, I played his solo from the original and he looked at me, and he kicked me when I finished the solo! He reached out his leg and he kicked me, and I’m like, ‘Alright! Jeff Beck just kicked me! This is a watershed moment I’m having!’
“I remember standing right next to him, and, of course, I’m nervous. He’s like the greatest guitar player alive. He’s a savant and just looks down at the guitar and fingers and taps on it, and then he’ll use his thumb or his middle finger. It’s just like a kid screwing around. I just watched him, and I didn’t even know what he was doing, but it’s a beautiful, wonderful thing to watch.”
- Rig Rundown: Kenny Greenberg - Premier Guitar ›
- Twang 101: Nashville Studio Tricks - Premier Guitar ›
- Forgotten Heroes: Reggie Young - Premier Guitar ›
Follow some super-hip players and studios on the cutting edge and you’ll find a host of meticulously crafted boutique amps. And for the various flavors of road-dogs, there’s also the emerging force of modeling units that emulate everything under the sun.
Then there are the players who have to go to the source and are doing the tone-gods’ work by keeping vintage amps in the game. (There are a lot of us, and we take our work seriously.) At the highest level of stage and studio, you’ll find the elite vintage models—the tweeds, black-panels, plexis, and all their pals. Those amps command their fair share of literal and digital ink. Then there are the oddball selections that some new player will bring to everyone’s attention.
But there’s a less-hyped flavor of vintage amp that actually shows up much more often than those rare gems. These are the everlasting classics you’ve seen about a million or so times played by bands in every size of stage and lining the walls of your favorite studio. They’re the perennial workhorses whose reputations thrive because of some formula of tone, consistency, reliability, and—maybe the most important variable—price.
Brooklyn-based amp-repair guru Pat Kauffman operates Patrick Kauffman Electronics out of Main Drag Music, where he also teaches amp-building workshops.
Here are six of these vintage models, all priced to fit in a gigging budget, coming in right around $1,000 or less as of this writing. With a trio of experts on hand, here’s an idea of what makes each of these amps tick all these years after they were first introduced.
Silver-Panel Fender Bassman
A drip-edge era Fender Bassman head.
Photo by Pat Kauffman
The Fender Bassman is, of course, one of the most classic amplifiers. The tweed Bassman circuit is one of the most copied and modified circuits of all, serving as a platform for so many designs to follow, most notably Marshalls, as well as a couple more on this list. By the time the silver-panel era began, first with the drip-edge years starting in 1967, the Bassman circuit had evolved from those early days through the also highly coveted black-panel era.
“The silver-panel is not that different from the black-panel,” notes Brooklyn amp-repair guru Pat Kauffman, “and you can easily modify them to black-panel specs—they’re the same transformers.” Both eras kick out 50 watts—though there are quite a few variations, such as Bassman 100, 135, and more than a few others, we’re simply talking about the “Bassman”—and host a tube set that includes a pair of 6L6 power tubes, a trio of 12AX7s, and an ECC81.
“I think the right person can get their own signature tone from these, and it’s not gonna be one that will come from a Fender, it’s not gonna come from a Marshall.” —Jeff Bober on the Ampeg Gemini
This era of Fender Bassmans deliver plenty of headroom, but unlike the Fender “reverb” amps, Kauffman points out there’s an extra gain stage, which he says “gives it a little more grit that makes them kind of unique.”
Jeff Bober, former PGamp columnist and cofounder of Budda Amplification, adds that the silver-panel Bassmans “compress earlier, which might be a little opposite of what they were going for, so you can push the front end a little easier.”
Even better, Kauffman points out that they’re “easily serviceable. That’s key number one—all the parts are available.”
Ampeg Gemini
This Ampeg Gemini II combo includes a 15" speaker.
Photo by Pat Kauffman
If you feel like you’ve seen an Ampeg combo in most studios you’ve ever entered, you probably wouldn’t be exaggerating. And there’s a good chance that a lot of those were an Ampeg Gemini or Gemini II, offered starting in the mid ’60s, with a few variations over its life, from 22 to 30 watts, with speaker offerings ranging from a single 12" to a 15", and in later eras with more watts and more speaker configurations.
Because of their size, these are less common on stage than they are in studio, but Bober—who is a proud native of Ampeg’s hometown of Linden, New Jersey—says of the Geminis as well as the smaller, and also very cool, 12-watt Ampeg Jet, “They have their own unique sound, they’re not all that loud to start with so if you’re in a situation where you can crank an amp a little bit, these are really good to do it.”
Jeff Bober founded Budda and EAST Amplification and was the author of PG’s Ask Amp Man column.
These full-featured combos have onboard reverb and tremolo, and they use a set of 7591 power tubes. Bober points out these are “more of a hi-fi-sounding, very full-bodied tube” that he describes as “somewhere between a 6V6 and a 6L6 power-wise, but with a different tonality.” He adds, “I think the right person can get their own signature tone from these, and it’s not gonna be one that will come from a Fender, it’s not gonna come from a Marshall.”
While these amps are known for their reliability as well as well as their unique sound, Kauffman points out that the phase-inverter tube, a 7199, has gotten expensive in the modern market: “A lot of times, they’ve been changed out to different tubes, or they have a little converter adapter in, so that’s something to look out for.”
Traynor YBA-1 Bass Master
With two inputs per channel, it’s easy to “jump” channels with a patch cable to extend the voice of the Traynor YBA-1.
Photo by Thunder Road on Reverb
Beloved by both guitarists and bassists, the 45-watt Traynor YBA-1 circuit was the company’s first offering in 1963, when it was called the Dyna-Bass. By the next year, it was retitled the Bass-Master and the title stuck. While the company didn’t have the name recognition of a Fender or Ampeg, they developed an underground reputation that is still going strong. In 1969, Traynor provided the backline to 1969’s Toronto Rock ’N’ Roll Revival concert, where the Plastic Ono Band recorded their Live Peace in Toronto 1969 live album, and which was later celebrated in the 2022 documentary REVIVAL69: The Concert That Rocked the World.
The YBA-1’s simple 3-band EQ control set and 2-knob “range expander” make for easy tone-sculpting, and jumping the channels with a small patch cable opens its voice even wider. Kauffman calls the amp a “Bassman on steroids.” He points out that some models use 7027 power tubes—“basically a beefier 6L6”—and others use 6CA7s, plus a pair of 12AX7s and an ECC83. These amps are easily modified to replicate a JTM45 circuit, which is a popular change for some, but many players prefer to keep them unchanged.
“People who are Traynor fans are Traynor fans. They’ve either owned one and sold it and regret it, or they own three of them.” —Blair White on the Traynor YBA-1
Bober says that the YBA-1 is “built as good as any Fender or eyelet-board kind of design. They have probably the biggest transformers for their power rating of amps being built at that time. They’re very clean circuits, great pedal platforms, and they sound great.”
Blair White, owner of Nashville’s Eastside Music Supply, has witnessed the cult of Traynor firsthand and says, “People who are Traynor fans are Traynor fans. They’ve either owned one and sold it and regret it, or they own three of them.” Despite their reputation as well-made, reliable amps with a great tone, White notes that they’re still easy to get a hold of: “I don’t know if it’s just because it was not Fender or Marshall, but for whatever reason, you can still find those for $600 or $700.”
Sovtek MIG
This Sovtek Mig 100h is the high-gain member of the Mig family.
Photo by Brent’s Gear Depot on Reverb
Built in Russia by New Sensor starting in 1991, this head, which came in 50-, 60-, and 100-watt models, is another spin on the same tweed Bassman formula that begat the JTM45 and the Traynor YBA-1. Running a pair of 5881 power tubes and a pair of 12AX7s, the MIGs featured a solid-state rectifier and a slightly slimmed-down control set from the Bass-Master, with two independent volume controls (non-jumper-able), a 3-band EQ, and a presence knob.
In an A/B comparison with the modern EHX MIG 50, where both sound identical (or close to it), JHS Pedals’ head honcho Josh Scott has gone on the record and called the MIG 50 his “favorite amp in the history of the world.” The modern ones tend to come in a little less expensive than the vintage models, which Bober points out have an “iffy” build quality thanks to their Eastern Block components.
“They have a cascading input, so there is an extra gain stage like the JCM800s.” —Pat Kauffman on the Sovtek MIG
Kauffman agrees, “They’re a little awkward to service. A lot of the hardware is kind of cheap, so you’ll often find the jacks busting and the pots busting.” You might want to look out for a deal if you’re considering a vintage model, which could be well worth your time. Kauffman adds that the MIGs have their own cult and calls them “fantastic-sounding amps. They have a cascading input, so there is an extra gain stage like the JCM800s, so they kind of have this Marshall sound but a little more rounded.” If Scott’s comparison tells us anything, the modern version is also worth checking out.
Music Man HD-130
The powerful Music Man HD-130 in its oddball 2x10 form—that’s a lot of power to push through two little speakers!
Photo by Main Drag on Reverb
When Music Man amps hit the scene in the mid ’70s, they were unlike anything Leo Fender had set out to do with his previous designs. Gone was the simple, efficient circuitry of his earlier work. Instead, Music Man amps featured a hybrid solid-state preamp and tube power amp, with the clear target of maximum headroom.
The HD-130 was the most extreme of Music Man’s offerings, delivering a sizzling 130 watts via four 6CA7 power tubes and available in both head and combo form. (If that sounds too extreme, you could get it shrunk down to a small 2x10 combo… but with no less wattage!) The master-volume control set features two channels each with a 3-band EQ and a bright switch, plus combo models and some heads included reverb and tremolo.
Blair White, co-owner of Nashville’s Eastside Music Supply, is so passionate that he spoke to PGwhile movers were loading the store’s gear into their new location!
“Those amps are punishing!” says White. “They’re probably the most bang for your buck that you’ll get as far as power and wattage. Their unique formula certainly got the attention of some major players, and Mark Knopfler, Robbie Robertson, and Johnny Winter all counted on them at some point.”
These days, Kauffman says they remain quite reliable, but issues can arise with modern tubes. “They use high plate voltages, which tends to eat new tubes,” he explains. “If you get the electrolytic caps replaced and have the tubes biased correctly, they really should be reliable. But if you’re having a problem, it’s usually cooking power tubes because they’re a new set.” He adds that, while tube supply changes, he currently finds JJ EL34s to hold up well against the HD-130’s high voltage.
Peavey Mace
The 160-watt Peavey Mace promises extreme volume with high clean headroom plus onboard distortion and phaser.
Photo by Free Lunch on Reverb
No list of great-value amps is complete without a Peavey. Of course, their broad range of models over the years made it hard to decide which to include. At a whopping 160 watts, the Peavey Mace made the cut, if only for sheer power. It’s another hybrid amp, combining a whopping sextet of 6L6s in the power section with a solid-state preamp in both head and 2x12 combo form. Their clean headroom puts them in a class with the HD-130 and also put them onstage with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Gary Rossington.
The Mace is less common than most of the others on this list, but late-’70s models are fairly easy to track down. Bober says, “If you want loud and clean, those are great amps.” But he notes that the Mace is “not the most accurate pedal platform. Drive or overdrive pedals tend to try and push the front end to get more juice, but things that have IC chips in the front end don’t respond the same way, they don’t agree to being pushed to their limits, and they don’t generate the same harmonics as a tube does.” The Mace has both a normal and effects channel, which includes distortion and reverb, as well as an onboard phaser.
Kauffman reports from his work bench that the Mace is “great and reliable.” He explains that these amps were built on a printed circuit board, and he tends to see bad solder joints when they come in for service. That’s nothing to be afraid of though. “If you have one,” he says, “you could get it cleaned up, change the electrolytic caps, and have it resoldered, and you should be fine.”
At 160 watts, you’ll want to make sure you have your earplugs handy.
Alex LIfeson, Victor
Victor, originally released on January 9, 1996, marks Alex Lifeson’s solo debut. Lifeson took on the roles of songwriter, producer, and mixer for this album. For the first time, Victor will be available on vinyl, featuring a complete remix by Lifeson himself to enhance the audio quality. The fourth side of the album includes four instrumental tracks previously exclusive to Lifeson’s website. Guest artists include lead vocalist Edwin from I Mother Earth, Primus bassist Les Claypool, and Canadian powerhouse vocalist Lisa Dalbello. The 15-song collection is paired with striking 2024 reimagined artwork by Fantoons Animation Studios.
As a Rush Backstage exclusive, Alex Lifeson will personally autograph 1,000 lithographs to be included with the Ruby Translucent 2LPs, which are available only through the Rush Backstage web store.
Geddy Lee, My Favorite Headache
My Favourite Headache, Geddy Lee’s only solo album to date, was initially released on November 14, 2000. This reissue marks its first vinyl pressing since a limited-edition Record Store Day exclusive in 2019. The fourth side of the album features two instrumental mixes. Produced by Lee, Ben Mink, and David Leonard, the album includes contributions from Mink and drummers Matt Cameron (Soundgarden/Pearl Jam) and Jeremy Taggart (Our Lady Peace).
For more details on the Geddy Lee reissue and to preorder, visit: https://lnk.to/MyFavouriteHeadache.
Rush — bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist/vocalist Alex Lifeson, and the late, great drummer/lyricist Neil Peart — maintains a massive and uniquely passionate worldwide fanbase that acknowledges and respects the band’s singular, bold, and perpetually exploratory songcraft that combines sterling musicianship, complex compositions, and distinctive lyrical flair. Rush has sold more than 30 million albums in Canada and the U.S. alone, with worldwide sales estimated at 45 million (and counting). Between Music Canada and the RIAA, Rush has been awarded 50 Gold, 30 Platinum, and 9 Multi-Platinum album distinctions (and counting). Rush has also had 5 Top 10 Billboard Canada Albums, received 7 Grammy nominations, 10 Juno Award wins with 41 Nominations, and earned an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. Additionally, Lee, Lifeson, and Peart were made Officers of the Order of Canada on May 9, 1996.
For more information, visit: https://www.rush.com
George Benson’s Dreams Do Come True: When George Benson Meets Robert Farnonwas recorded in 1989. The collaboration came about after Quincy Jones told the guitarist that Farnon was “the greatest arranger in all the world.”
On that recommendation,Benson tapped Farnon for a 1989 recording project encompassing the jazz standards “My Romance” and “At Last” next to mid-century pop chestnut “My Prayer,” the Beatles’ “Yesterday,” and Leon Russell’s “A Song for You,” among others.
Across the album, Benson’s voice is the main attraction, enveloped by Farnon’s luxuriant big-band and string arrangements that give each track a warm, velveteen sheen. His guitar playing is, of course, in top form, and often sounds as timeless as the tunes they undertake: On “Autumn Leaves,” you could pluck the stem of the guitar solo and seat it neatly into an organ-combo reading of the tune, harkening back to the guitarist’s earlier days. But as great as any George Benson solo is bound to be, on Dreams Do Come True, each is relatively short and supportive. At this phase of his career, as on 1989’s Tenderlyand 1990’s Count Basie Orchestra-backed Big Boss Band, Benson was going through a jazz-singer period. If there’s something that sets the ballad-centric Dreams Do Come Trueapart, it’s that those other records take a slightly more varied approach to material and arranging.
When it was finished, the Benson/Farnon collaboration was shelved, and it stayed that way for 35 years. Now released, it provides a deeper revelation into this brief phase of Benson’s career. In 1993, he followed up Big Boss Man with an updated take on the smooth, slick pop that brought him blockbuster fame in the previous two decades and delivered Love Remembers.
Love is Blue (feat. The Robert Farnon Orchestra)
This kind of stylistic jumping around, of musical discovery, is a thread through Benson’s legendary career. From his days as a young child busking in Pittsburgh, where his favorite song to play was “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” he evolved through backing Brother Jack McDuff and leading his own organ combo, into his soulful and funky CTI Records phase, where he proved himself one of the most agile and adroit players in the jazz-guitar game. He eventually did the most improbable—and in anyone else’s hands thus far, impossible—feat and launched into pop superstardom with 1976’s Breezin’ and stayed there for years to come, racking up No. 1 hits and a host of Grammy awards.
At this moment, deep into his career at 81 years old, Benson continues to dive into new settings. While anyone observing from the sidelines might conclude that Benson has already excelled in more varied musical situations than any other instrumentalist, he somehow continues to discover new sides to his musicality. In 2018, he joined the Gorillaz on their technicolor indie-pop single “Humility,” and in 2020 he tracked his guitar onBootsy Collins’ “The Power of the One.” Benson assures me that not only are there more recordings in the archive that he’s waiting to reveal, but there are more wide-ranging collaborations to come.
On Dreams Do Come True, Benson covers classic jazz repertoire, plus he revisits the Beatles—whose work he covered on 1970’s The Other Side of Abbey Road—and Leon Russell, whose “This Masquerade” brought Benson a 1976 Grammy award for Record of the Year.
PG: The range of songs that you’ve played throughout your career, from your jazz records to 1970’s The Other Side ofAbbey Road or 1972’s White Rabbit album to 2019’s Chuck Berry and Fats Domino tribute, Walking to New Orleans, is so broad. Of course, now I’m thinking about the songs on Dreams Do Come True. How do you know when a song is a good fit?
George Benson: Well, you can’t get rid of it. It stays with you all the time. They keep popping up in your memory.
All the stuff that Sinatra did, and Nat King Cole did, and Dean Martin, that’s the stuff I grew up on. I grew up in a multinational neighborhood. There were only 30 African Americans in my school, and they had 1,400 students, but it was a vocational school.
I remember all that stuff like yesterday because it’s essential to who I am today. I learned a lot from that. You would think that would be a super negative thing. Some things about it were negative—you know, the very fact that there were 1,400 students and only 30 African Americans. But what I learned in school was how to deal with people from all different parts of the world.
After my father made my first electric guitar. I made my second one….
You made your second guitar?
Benson: Yeah, I designed it. My school built it for me. I gave them the designs, sent it down to the shop, they cut it out, I sent it to the electric department, and then I had to put on the strings myself. I brought my amplifier to school and plugged it in. Nobody believed it would work, first of all. When I plugged it in, my whole class, they couldn’t believe that it actually worked. So, that became my thing, man. “Little Georgie Benson—you should hear that guitar he made.”“I can let my mind go free and play how I feel.”
George Benson's Gear
The Benson-designed Ibanez GB10 was first introduced in 1977.
Photo by Matt Furman
Strings & Picks
- Ibanez George Benson Signature pick
- Thomastik-Infeld George Benson Jazz Strings
Accessories
- Radial JDI Passive Direct Box
So, your environment informed the type of music you were listening to and playing from a young age.
Benson: No doubt about it, man. Because remember, rock ’n’ roll was not big. When the guitar started playing with the rock bands, if you didn’t have a guitar in your band, you weren’t really a rock band. But that was later, though. It started with those young groups and all that hip doo-wop music.
I was known in Pittsburgh as Little Georgie Benson, singer. Occasionally, I would have the ukulele or guitar when the guitar started to get popular.
What’s your playing routine like these days? Do you play the guitar every day, and what do you play?
Benson: Not like I used to. Out of seven days, I probably play it four or five days.
I used to play virtually every day. It was just a natural thing for me to pick up. I had guitars strategically placed all over my house. As soon as I see one, my brain said, “Pick that up.” So, I would pick it up and start playing with new ideas. I don’t like going over the same thing over and over again because it makes you boring. I would always try to find something fresh to play. That’s not easy to do, but it is possible.
I’m looking for harmony. I’m trying to connect things together. How do I take this sound or this set of chord changes and play it differently? I don’t want to play it so everybody knows where I’m going before I even get there, you know?
“I wasn’t trying to sound loud. I was trying to sound good.”
How did you develop your guitar tone, and what is important about a guitar tone?
Benson: Years ago, the guitar was an accompaniment or background instrument, usually accompanying somebody or even accompanying yourself. But it was not the lead instrument necessarily. If they gave you a solo, you got a chance to make some noise.
As it got serious later on, I started looking for a great sound. I thought it was in the size of the guitar. So, I went out and bought this tremendously expensive guitar, big instrument. And I found that, yeah, that had a big sound, but that was not it. I couldn’t make it do what I wanted it to do. I found that it comes from my phrasing, the way I phrase things and the way I set up my guitar, and how I work with the amplifier. I wasn’t trying to sound loud. I was trying to sound good.
George Benson at Carnegie Hall in New York City on September 23,1981. The previous year, he received Grammy awards for “Give Me the Night,” “Off Broadway,” and “Moody’s Mood.”
Photo by Ebet Roberts
When I think about your playing, I’m automatically thinking about your lead playing so much of the time. But I think that your rhythm playing is just as iconic. What do you think is the most important thing about rhythm guitar parts, comping, and grooving?
Benson: That word comp, I finally found out what it really represents. I worked with a man called Jack McDuff, who took me out of Pittsburgh when I was 19 years old. He used to get mad at me all the time. “Why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? I can’t hear what you’re playing because you play so low”—because I used to be scared. I didn’t want people to hear what I was playing because then they would realize I didn’t know what I was doing, you know? I would play very mousy. He said, “Man, I don’t know if you play good or bad because I can’t hear you. Man, play out. People don’t know what you’re playing. They’ll accept whatever it is you do; they’ll think you meant to do it. Either it’s good or bad.”
So I started playing out and I found there’s a great truth in what he said. When you play out, you sound like you know what you’re doing. People say, “Oh wow, this cat is a monster.” It either feels good and sounds good or it doesn’t. So, I learned how to make those beeps and bops and things sound good and feel good.
The word comp comes from complementing. Whoever’s coming in to solo is out front. I gotta make them sound good. And that’s why people call me today. I had a record with a group called the Gorillaz. That’s the reason why they called me is because they realized that I knew what to do when I come to complement somebody. I did not have a lead role in that song. But I loved playing it once I found the space for me. I said, “Man, I don’t wanna just play it on an album. I wanna mean something.”
I did something with Bootsy Collins, who is a monster. I said, “Why is he calling me? I’m not a monster, man.” But he heard something in me he wanted on his record, and I couldn’t figure out what it was. I said, “No, I don’t think I can do it, man. I don’t think I can do you any good.” He said, “Try something, man. Try anything.” So I did. I didn’t think I could do that, but it came out good. Now I’m getting calls from George Clinton.
You worked on something with George Clinton?
Benson: Not yet, but that’s what I’m working on now, because he called me and said, “Man, do something with me.”
That’s not going to be easy. You know, I gotta find something that fits his personality, and where I can enhance it, not just throw something together, because that wouldn’t be right for the public. We want something musical, something that lasts for a long time.
“I can let my mind go free and play how I feel.”
In the liner notes for Dreams Do Come True, you say that there’s always more to be discovered. You just mentioned the Gorillaz, then Bootsy Collins and George Clinton. You have such a wide, open exploration of music. How has discovery and exploration guided your career?
Benson: Well, this is the thing that we didn’t have available a few years ago. Now, we can play anything. You couldn’t cross over from one music to another without causing some damage to your career, causing an uproar in the industry.
When Wes Montgomery did “Going Out of My Head” and Jimmy Smith did “Walk on the Wild Side,” it caused waves in the music industry, because radio was not set up for that. You were either country or jazz or pop or blues or whatever it was. You weren’t crossing over because there was no way to get that played. Now there is.
Because I’ve had something to do with most of those things I just mentioned, my mind goes back to when I was thinking, “What if I played it like this? No, people won’t like that. What if I played it like this? Now, they won’t like that either.” Now, I can let my mind go free and play how I feel, and they will find some way to get it played on the air.
YouTube It
George Benson digs into the Dave Brubeck-penned standard “Take Five” at the height of the ’80s, showing his unique ability to turn any tune into a deeply grooving blaze-fest.