Black Dub
Jive
Trip hop, down tempo, dub reggae, gospel,
Memphis soul, and
early-’60s surf instrumentals
collide gloriously
in Black Dub, the latest
chapter in Daniel Lanois’
amazing musical odyssey.
Joined by singer Trixie Whitley—whose
plaintive alto recalls her late father, bluesman
Chris Whitley—bassist Daryl Johnson, and
drummer Brian Blade, Lanois casts a mysterious
spell with his pensive fingerpicking and
swirling sound effects. Lanois’ solos echo
the gritty, Bigsby-drenched fretwork in Neil
Young’s After the Gold Rush, and his dreamy
double-stops evoke Curtis Mayfield by way
of Axis: Bold as Love-era Jimi Hendrix. For
Lanois, playing guitar is about generating
sonic voodoo, not flaunting technique or athletic
ability. By cutting many of their tracks
live, Lanois and his Black Dub bandmates
imbue their pulsing music with a sense of
intimacy and fragile beauty that’s rare in a
world of carefully manicured albums.![Adrian Belew/BEAT Tour Rig Rundown [2024]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/youtube.jpg?id=53638946&width=600&height=600&quality=85&coordinates=192%2C0%2C368%2C0)
Keith Urban has spent decades traveling the world and topping global country-music charts, and on this episode of Wong Notes, the country-guitar hero tells host Cory Wong how he conquered the world—and what keeps him chasing new sounds on his 6-string via a new record, High, which releases on September 20.
Urban came up as guitarist and singer at the same time, and he details how his playing and singing have always worked as a duet in service of the song: “When I stop singing, [my guitar] wants to say something, and he says it in a different way.” Those traits served him well when he made his move into the American music industry, a story that begins in part with a fateful meeting with a 6-string banjo in a Nashville music store in 1995.
It’s a different world for working musicians now, and Urban weighs in on the state of radio, social media, and podcasts for modern guitarists, but he still believes in word-of-mouth over the algorithm when it comes to discovering exciting new players.
And in case you didn’t know, Keith Urban is a total gearhead. He shares his essential budget stomps and admits he’s a pedal hound, chasing new sounds week in and week out, but what role does new gear play in his routine? Urban puts it simply: “I’m not chasing tone, I’m pursuing inspiration.”
Wong Notes is presented by DistroKid.
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