Sophie Gault (Sophie & the Broken Things) joins Premier Guitareditors and our reader of the month to discuss favorite albums—then and now—as well as new musical obsessions!
#10YearChallenge: What was your favorite album 10 years ago? What’s your favorite album today?
Sophie Gault - Sophie & the Broken Things
A: Ten years ago, I was just discovering ’90s alt-country and I was listening to Strangers Almanac by Whiskeytown a lot.
Whiskeytown - Houses On the Hill - Austin City Limits 1998
I had joined this band called the Spectacular Average Boys, where I sang harmonies and played rhythm guitar. We used to cover “Houses on the Hill,” which I still think is one of my favorite songs ever written. Whiskeytown was a coed band, and I identified with that as the only girl in a band full of guys.
Amythyst Kiah // Wild Turkey
I recently discovered Amythyst Kiah’s album Wary + Strange, and I love it. She’s such a badass guitar player and singer. I’m always checking out different artists’ guitar styles and it’s refreshing to see people, especially women, digging in and playing with guts.
Sophie Gault's Current Obsession:
I love my new Gibson L-00 Studio. It’s adorable and fun to play with a great snappy and crisp tone. I’ve also been exploring healthy non-music-related routines lately. I’m obsessed with swimming. I like to go swim 20 laps at the YMCA and then read a chapter of a book in the sauna—right now it’s The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. This routine helps calm my nerves and keep me focused so I can enjoy my L-00 with a clear head.
Nedim Kirlic - Reader of the Month
A: I was really into Rush in 2012, and I really liked what turned out to be their last album, Clockwork Angels.
Rush - Clockwork Angels Tour DVD - Clockwork Angels
I can’t say for sure that it was my favorite album at the time, but I listened to it a lot.
Shiner - Schadenfreude (2020) [Full Album]
Today, I would say that my favorite album is Schadenfreude by Shiner.
Nedim Kirlic's Current Obsession:
I’ve been obsessed by Kansas City bands of the 1990s and 2000s, such as Season to Risk, Molly McGuire, Shiner, and The Life and Times. Allen Epley, the frontman of both Shiner and TLAT, taught me how to play a handful of Shiner songs on guitar, and that’s very much helped my creativity with my own music.
And that leads me into my other obsession. I moved away from digital modelers and built my first pedalboard as a 40-year-old. I just wanted fewer options, while still maintaining some versatility, because I needed to focus more on playing guitar instead of incessantly tweaking my tone. So, I spent a lot of money on pedals and a few guitars in 2021, and now I have a rig that I’m very happy with and that enables me to make the music that I really enjoy!
Ted Drozdowski - Senior Editor
A: Early each year, I’m a hangover listener. So, in 2012 it was Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed, and now it’s the Black Keys Delta Kream.
Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu`
The Black Keys - Delta Kream (Full Album) 2021
Ted Drozdowski's Current Obsession:
A while back I was invited onstage by legendary New England blues guitarist Neal Vitullo. Playing with Neal was a joy—gracious and brilliant. That memory reminds me daily of the many world-class musicians, like Neal, who’ve spent their careers as regional heroes instead of in the international spotlight. So, I’ve been obsessed with buying music and merch, and contributing to support local heroes everywhere. They’ve been there for us. Now, we need to be there for them.
Tessa Jeffers - Managing Editor
A: In 2012, my fave was probably Jack White’s Blunderbuss. I listened to Mark Lanegan’s Blues Funeral quite a lot, too, particularly “Harborview Hospital.” I’m forever listening to Mr. White, and he’s got two new records coming!
Mark Lanegan Band - Ode to Sad Disco
Jack White "Blunderbuss"
But right now, I’m loving on The Dream by Alt-J and Mitski’s Laurel Hell.
alt-J - Hard Drive Gold (Official Video)
Mitski - Love Me More (Official Video)
Tessa Jeffers' Current Obsession:
Making and swapping playlists with a dear friend who lives in Spain. It’s inspiring both on the sending and receiving end, and it helps us stay connected over distance. Sharing is caring! My most thrilling artist discovery of late is Tobe Nwigwe, a Houston rapper who’s expanding the conversation in all the ways—conceptually, lyrically, sonically, and even visually with his original videos.
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Tom Bedell in the Relic Music acoustic room, holding a custom Seed to Song Parlor with a stunning ocean sinker redwood top and milagro Brazilian rosewood back and sides.
A born storyteller, Bedell doesn’t keep his passion to himself. On Friday, May 12, at New Jersey boutique guitar outpost Relic Music, Bedell shared some of the stories he’s collected during his life and travels as part of a three-city clinic trip. At Relic—and stops at Crossroads Guitar and Art in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, and Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center in Wheaton, Maryland—he discussed his guitars and what makes them so special, why sustainability is such an important cause, and how he’s putting it into practice.
Before his talk, we sat in Relic’s cozy, plush acoustic room, surrounded by a host of high-end instruments. We took a look at a few of the store’s house-spec’d Bedell parlors while we chatted.
“The story of this guitar is the story of the world,” Bedell explained to me, holding a Seed to Song Parlor. He painted a picture of a milagro tree growing on a hillside in northeastern Brazil some 500 years ago, deprived of water and growing in stressful conditions during its early life. That tree was eventually harvested, and in the 1950s, it was shipped to Spain by a company that specialized in church ornaments. They recognized this unique specimen and set it aside until it was imported to the U.S. and reached Oregon. Now, it makes the back and sides of this unique guitar.
A Bedell Fireside Parlor with a buckskin redwood top and cocobolo back and sides.
As for the ocean sinker redwood top, “I’m gonna make up the story,” Bedell said, as he approximated the life cycle of the tree, which floated in the ocean, soaking up minerals for years and years, and washed ashore on northern Oregon’s Manzanita Beach. The two woods were paired and built into a small run of exquisitely outfitted guitars using the Bedell/Breedlove Sound Optimization process—in which the building team fine-tunes each instrument’s voice by hand-shaping individual braces to target resonant frequencies using acoustic analysis—and Bedell and his team fell in love.
Playing it while we spoke, I was smitten by this guitar’s warm, responsive tone and even articulation and attack across the fretboard; it strikes a perfect tonal balance between a tight low-end and bright top, with a wide dynamic range that made it sympathetic to anything I offered. And as I swapped guitars, whether picking up a Fireside Parlor with a buckskin redwood top and cocobolo back and sides or one with an Adirondack spruce top and Brazilian rosewood back and sides, the character and the elements of each instrument changed, but that perfect balance remained. Each of these acoustics—and of any Bedell I’ve had the pleasure to play—delivers their own experiential thumbprint.
Rosette and inlay detail on an Adirondack spruce top.
Ultimately, that’s what brought Bedell out to the East Coast on this short tour. “We have a totally different philosophy about how we approach guitar-building,” Bedell effused. “There are a lot of individuals who build maybe 12 guitars a year, who do some of the things that we do, but there’s nobody on a production level.” And he wants to spread that gospel.
“We want to reach people who really want something special,” he continued, pointing out that for the Bedell line, the company specifically wants to work with shops like Relic and the other stores he’s visited, “who have a clientele that says I want the best guitar I can possibly have, and they carry enough variety that we can give them that.”
A Fireside Parlor with a Western red cedar top and Brazilian rosewood back and sides.
