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Speaker 1: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Lefts Podcast. My

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Speaker 1: guest today is guitarist Extraordinary Tommy and men Will. Tommy

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Speaker 1: has a new album, Living in the Light. Tell me

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Speaker 1: about the new album.

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Speaker 2: Tommy, Thanks, Bob. How are you today? By the way,

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Speaker 2: I'm pretty good.

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Speaker 1: I'm thrilled to be talking to you.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. Yeah, Well, the same here the new album,

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Speaker 2: Living in the Light. It's just it was something that

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Speaker 2: I'd been writing a few songs on the road and

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Speaker 2: I was home taking a walk along the Percy Priest

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Speaker 2: Lake here in Nashville with a friend of mine, and

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Speaker 2: he said, well, you just walked three miles and you're

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Speaker 2: not even raising a sweat, you know. He said, Man,

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Speaker 2: you look so well. You must be living in the light.

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Speaker 2: And the moment he said that, I was like, that's

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Speaker 2: a great phrase, living in the light. I love that.

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Speaker 2: So it's kind of what started the ball rolling on

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Speaker 2: the name of the album and all that and the

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Speaker 2: direction of everything. Just that one conversation. And I had

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Speaker 2: written some songs and one called Scarlett's World. Scarlett is

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Speaker 2: my oldest granddaughter, she's seven, and you know, I was

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Speaker 2: just thinking one day, what the world will be like

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Speaker 2: when she's twenty one years old, you know, what will

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Speaker 2: our world be like? And what is Scarlet's world going

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Speaker 2: to be? So that kind of gave me some a

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Speaker 2: kind of a theme to work towards. And I have

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Speaker 2: another granddaughter named Georgia, and so I wrote the song

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Speaker 2: Little Georgia for her. And then basically I wanted to

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Speaker 2: work with a man named Van Vance Powell who's a

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Speaker 2: great producer, a great engineer, and I like working with

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Speaker 2: people who have, you know, a great experience behind the

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Speaker 2: sound desk and all that. And I listened to a

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Speaker 2: lot of his work with Chris Stapleton and Jack White

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Speaker 2: and stuff like that, and I thought this, if I

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Speaker 2: could get to work with him, it would be wonderful.

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Speaker 2: So we contacted him, and I could only get him

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Speaker 2: a year in advance. I could only get him for

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Speaker 2: four days, so I had to get the whole album done, finished,

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Speaker 2: and mixed in four days, and we did it. We

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Speaker 2: finished at like six o'clock on the day on the

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Speaker 2: fourth day. We finished everything. So that's how it came

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Speaker 2: up about some of the songs on there that are

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Speaker 2: that are going to come out on video where that's

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Speaker 2: the take And I only did it once and we

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Speaker 2: filmed it and there it is. That's how that came out.

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Speaker 1: Okay, what is the process? Do you wait for inspiration

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Speaker 1: or do you say, I haven't had an album in

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Speaker 1: a long time. We're always thinking about recording in the future.

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Speaker 2: I never think about recording when I'm writing and stuff.

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Speaker 2: A songwriter like me, even though I very rarely write lyrics,

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Speaker 2: my songs are still songs to me. They still tell

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Speaker 2: the story even without words, and that's kind of how

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Speaker 2: I approach it. I always my brain does this automatically.

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Speaker 2: When I start writing a song, I'm looking for the

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Speaker 2: lead singer's part in the melody, in other words, and

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Speaker 2: then I'm looking for the band to do interesting chords underneath.

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Speaker 2: So the lead can have the same kind of melody,

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Speaker 2: but the chords can change underneath, and so that makes

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Speaker 2: the song have a certain repetition that your ear loves,

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Speaker 2: but your senses want to feel something a little different,

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Speaker 2: So you do the same melody, but you change the

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Speaker 2: chords underneath. Things like that, And I always think that way.

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Speaker 2: I always think of, you know, how can I make

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Speaker 2: this be repetition but yet interesting all the way? And

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Speaker 2: things like that.

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Speaker 1: You know, so in terms of writing, are you writing

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Speaker 1: all the time or thoughts come into your brain or

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Speaker 1: do you say I'm going to write now, let me

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Speaker 1: sit down and write.

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Speaker 2: I wish I could just turn it on. But the

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Speaker 2: truth is, Bob, a songwriter waits patiently for something to

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Speaker 2: happen you. You wait for you either get a real

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Speaker 2: good idea that comes to you because of something. Normally,

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Speaker 2: for me, it's somebody I meet, something I hear, or

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Speaker 2: something I watch. And I know I've written many songs

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Speaker 2: from watching films and I just get I get inspired

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Speaker 2: by a story or a character or how a movie

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Speaker 2: is made. I remember when I watched Lincoln, the beautiful

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Speaker 2: Steven Spielberg film, and because of that song, Because of

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Speaker 2: that movie, I wrote the song Old Photographs. And when

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Speaker 2: I was writing the song, I was an old lady

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Speaker 2: in Ireland sitting playing piano. That's what I was in

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Speaker 2: my head, and the song came to life in that

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Speaker 2: kind of way. And I was also reminded of my

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Speaker 2: grandparents who have been gone for I don't know, sixty

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Speaker 2: five years or something. And I was reminded of when

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Speaker 2: I used to visit my grandparents and my grandmother would

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Speaker 2: take out the little cookie tin and open it and

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Speaker 2: there'd be all these old photographs in there, and she'd

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Speaker 2: tell me stories about everyone in the photo and photos

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Speaker 2: of my uncle's that never came back from the war

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Speaker 2: and things like that. And that's kind of how that

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Speaker 2: song appeared, because that movie put me in that frame

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Speaker 2: of mind. You know.

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Speaker 1: Okay, let's drill down a little bit further. You're sitting there,

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Speaker 1: you're watching the movie. Do you start to write the

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Speaker 1: song in your head while you're watching or do you

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Speaker 1: try to maintain the mood after the film ends? And

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Speaker 1: how long after is the period of inspiration before it

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Speaker 1: feeds away or does it never feed away?

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Speaker 2: If I'm totally engrossed in the film, then I'll stay

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Speaker 2: there till the end, and then if I feel like

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Speaker 2: I can write something or I've got an idea, then

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Speaker 2: I'll just pursue it. You know, I'm like a dog

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Speaker 2: with a bone, and when it comes to it, if

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Speaker 2: I've got one good idea, I'm going to I'm going

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Speaker 2: to chew it to death until it becomes something. You know,

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Speaker 2: but it has to be My instincts have to tell

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Speaker 2: me that it's good enough, you know. I remember when

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Speaker 2: I was writing Scarlett's World. And it started out like

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Speaker 2: a ballad, and I liked the I like the melody

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Speaker 2: because it was one note. And then the chords changed

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Speaker 2: underneath dude, and then I thought, ah, that that's all working,

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Speaker 2: but it's too sad. So I made it into like

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Speaker 2: a rock and roll groove, and then it became dum

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Speaker 2: dun d du that, and then it started to live

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Speaker 2: under my hands, and I ended up writing the rest

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Speaker 2: of the song. And actually I wrote a lot of

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Speaker 2: stuff to put in the song, trying to be clever,

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Speaker 2: and most of it I threw out because the song

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Speaker 2: itself just needed to tell the story and that's it.

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Speaker 2: So all the other stuff that I was trying to

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Speaker 2: be clever creating, I ended up tossing out because it

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Speaker 2: just wasn't working.

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Speaker 1: Okay, let's go back. Let's say you're watching Lincoln. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: you can go to a theater. You can watch it home.

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Speaker 1: When you watch it home, you can watch on demand.

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Speaker 1: Stop just to get my story straight here, You could

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Speaker 1: be watching the movie get inspired at home and stop

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Speaker 1: the movie and say I got to pick up my

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Speaker 1: gets are? Is that how it works?

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Speaker 2: You possibly could, but I don't think i've ever done that.

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Speaker 1: So is when you say you saw the movie Lincoln,

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Speaker 1: since that is what did you see it at home

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Speaker 1: or did you see it in the theater?

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Speaker 2: I saw it in the theater.

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Speaker 1: Okay, you stay for the whole film. When do you

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Speaker 1: start writing the song?

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Speaker 2: When I get when I get back to where I'm staying.

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Speaker 1: And is it possible that Let's assume you saw the

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Speaker 1: movie and then you were in a situation for twenty

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Speaker 1: four hours where you just couldn't sit with your guitar.

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Speaker 1: Would you lose it or would you still have the inspiration?

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Speaker 2: I've lost it a million times. Yeah. I've also written

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Speaker 2: a song called the Wide Ocean was on my album

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Speaker 2: Tommy Songs. I wrote that song completely in my head

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Speaker 2: on a flight from New York to Beijing. And because

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Speaker 2: I can play the guitar in my mind, I can

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Speaker 2: hear hear it and sense it and hear the inversions,

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Speaker 2: the melody and all that, I can hear it all

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Speaker 2: in my head, and I can visualize where the melody

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Speaker 2: is and all that. And then I got to Beijing,

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Speaker 2: got straight to the hotel, got my guitar out to

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Speaker 2: make sure that my hand's new where they needed to go,

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Speaker 2: and it was fine.

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Speaker 1: Let's just assume you're in that situation. You get into

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Speaker 1: the hotel, we start to play, you turn on your

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Speaker 1: phone or you have some recording device to make sure

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Speaker 1: you have it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I have voice memo on my iPhone. That's my

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Speaker 2: I've got all my song ideas on that. And you know,

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Speaker 2: during COVID, when we were in lockdown, I was approached

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Speaker 2: to write music for a film called The Tiger Rising,

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Speaker 2: which was a quick in Latifah movie, and the guy

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Speaker 2: who was the producer of the film was a big

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Speaker 2: fan of my music. He particularly liked my song The

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Speaker 2: Mystery and wanted to use some of that song in

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Speaker 2: the film. And I said, well, why don't you send

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Speaker 2: me some of the film and I'll see if I

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Speaker 2: can write something full exactly for the film. And so

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Speaker 2: I ended up doing the whole film and I wrote everything,

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Speaker 2: with the exception of the opening theme, which was written

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Speaker 2: by an LA guy. But I wrote the whole thing

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Speaker 2: and recorded bits of it on my iPhone, texted to

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Speaker 2: the music director of the film. He orchestrated it with

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Speaker 2: his keyboards and all that, and we dropped it in

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Speaker 2: the film bit, you know, three minutes of the film

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Speaker 2: to see that it all worked, and that's how we

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Speaker 2: wrote the whole film. And then when locke Down was

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Speaker 2: finally let go of and he was able to travel,

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Speaker 2: he came here to Nashville and we recorded the songs

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Speaker 2: for real with me in one studio and I did

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Speaker 2: all the guitar parts, and then we overdubbed the orchestra

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Speaker 2: the next day and put it together.

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Speaker 1: Okay, when you do get inspired and you are writing

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Speaker 1: A how quickly do you work? And B how much

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Speaker 1: do you or do you not change it thereafter?

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Speaker 2: I'm usually a pretty fast rider. But it really really

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Speaker 2: depends on how inspired I am. But when I play

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Speaker 2: my own songs, say if it's a song I haven't

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Speaker 2: played in a while and I play it, the first

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Speaker 2: thing I noticed is, oh, yeah, I recognize it is

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Speaker 2: the construction of this song. I recognize that that part

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Speaker 2: there needed this, you know what I mean. So you know,

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Speaker 2: I'm still thinking like a pop songwriter. It doesn't matter

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Speaker 2: whether it's country, bluegrass, jazz, whatever, I don't care. I

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Speaker 2: always think like, I want got to get this to

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Speaker 2: the people. This song is for people to hear. It's

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Speaker 2: not it's not trying to be clever for the sake

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Speaker 2: of being clever or whatever it's. It's trying to write

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Speaker 2: the best song that I can, and I have to

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Speaker 2: satisfy my my barometer, my my quality control, which is

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Speaker 2: right here, you know. And and so because I look

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Speaker 2: at it like this, Bob, they're up in here is

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Speaker 2: all the all the clever guys. They're all throwing ideas

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Speaker 2: and they've got things going and they're you know, but

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Speaker 2: this this guy down here is the one that has

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Speaker 2: the final say.

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Speaker 1: Just for those weeks, since we're audio only, you're talking

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Speaker 1: about the guys in your head and then talking about

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Speaker 1: your heart having the final say. So, yeah, you work quickly.

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Speaker 1: Do you go back and change it before recording or

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Speaker 1: you just go and write something else.

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Speaker 2: Now, I don't play it for anybody until I know

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Speaker 2: it's absolutely one hundred percent done, and then I can't

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Speaker 2: wait to play it to people, because there is no

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Speaker 2: greater feeling than playing your new song to an audience.

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Speaker 2: That's the most exciting damn thing that I know.

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Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk about classic rockers. They'll go on the

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Speaker 1: road and they play new music. The audience goes to

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Speaker 1: the bathroom. When you're playing live and you're playing new music.

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Speaker 1: You find the audience is unfamiliar with the music, but

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Speaker 1: they're receptive or they're less receptive.

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Speaker 2: Oh, they're very receptive. And I usually opened my show

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Speaker 2: with something brand new every time. You know, it's very

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Speaker 2: rarely that I would come out and play, you know,

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Speaker 2: a very well known song of mine or something like that.

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Speaker 2: I do enjoy it sometimes, like for instance, on this

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Speaker 2: last tour that I just did where I played in China.

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Speaker 2: We did ten shows in China, and my song Angelina

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Speaker 2: is you know, it's really that's the song that people

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Speaker 2: are always waiting for. And when I played in the show,

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Speaker 2: I just play the first chord and sing a little

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Speaker 2: intro and people yell and scream, and then I go

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Speaker 2: into the body of the song and they applaud again,

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Speaker 2: and we know this song, we like this song. So

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Speaker 2: what I did on my shows in China is I

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Speaker 2: opened the show with that song and then I went

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Speaker 2: off into other things just for fun, just to try

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Speaker 2: something different. But normally I would open the show with

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Speaker 2: it with two to three brand new songs in a

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Speaker 2: row that people have never heard before.

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Speaker 1: Okay, to go to China. How big are the venues

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Speaker 1: you play and are the people familiar with your work.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah. The venues are called Lifehouse. They're like rock clubs,

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Speaker 2: and some of them are like a thousand people standing,

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Speaker 2: six hundred people sitting, that kind of thing, and they're

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Speaker 2: really nice. And the in house product, the PA, the

250
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Speaker 2: sound production, and the lights and everything are really first

251
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Speaker 2: class and they're really modern and my team makes good

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Speaker 2: use of them, believe me. So a normal day in

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Speaker 2: China would be we would get to the city where

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Speaker 2: we're playing about lunchtime, check into a hotel, eat something,

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Speaker 2: have a nap for twenty minutes, then go to the venue.

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Speaker 2: My lighting director would go early so because he's got

257
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Speaker 2: a program the light and then me and my sound

258
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Speaker 2: man who's my tool manager, we go to the venue

259
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Speaker 2: about three o'clock and we get set up and then

260
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Speaker 2: we do a sound check and I come out and

261
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Speaker 2: plug in and play as if the audience are already

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Speaker 2: in kind of thing. You know. I don't waste time

263
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Speaker 2: noodle around on stage. I get to you know, get

264
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Speaker 2: to the business of getting the sound as best as

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Speaker 2: best as we can get it. And so I do this.

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Speaker 2: I play a few tunes and I play with a

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Speaker 2: similar intensity of the show. So we can see where

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Speaker 2: things are going. Once we're all happy with the sound

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Speaker 2: and everything, then we eat something and then I usually

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Speaker 2: do a meet and greet. I meet like one hundred

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Speaker 2: and fifty people, sign their guitars, sign autographs, get a photo,

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Speaker 2: and then it's showtime.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So on the road, it's the three of you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, it's my lighting director and my sound man.

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Speaker 2: Who's my tool manager?

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Speaker 1: Okay, you're meeting these people? What are the one or

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Speaker 1: two questions they always ask?

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Speaker 2: Will you play Angelina? Will you play Lewis and Clark?

279
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Speaker 2: You know, I hear the same kind of you know,

280
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Speaker 2: and can you give me one of your picks?

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Speaker 1: So if I'm there and I asked for one of

282
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Speaker 1: your picks, what are you going to say?

283
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Speaker 2: I'm going to say I've got a pocket full of

284
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Speaker 2: Just hang on a second, And I.

285
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Speaker 1: Mean, do you have a merch table at your gigs

286
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Speaker 1: where people can buy them?

287
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Speaker 2: Yes? Yeah, I was only talking about China. We definitely

288
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Speaker 2: had merch there, but the promoter took care of everything.

289
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Speaker 2: You know. It's a whole different world compared to touring

290
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Speaker 2: anywhere else. You can't compare it, you know, So.

291
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Speaker 1: Tell me some other things that are different about touring in.

292
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Speaker 2: China, Well, Pristadoff, the people pay extra for the IP

293
00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:04,000
Speaker 2: ticket and for that they get a chance for me

294
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Speaker 2: to sign their guitar and then they get a photo

295
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Speaker 2: with me, and that takes time. So we set the

296
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Speaker 2: maximum at one hundred and fifty people, So that's one

297
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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty guitars I have to sign, and then

298
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Speaker 2: they regroup and they shuffle them through and we get

299
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Speaker 2: a photo together then and then that's another one hundred

300
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Speaker 2: and fifty people like that and getting a photo and

301
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Speaker 2: all that, and then that's it. So you could not

302
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Speaker 2: do that here in America. You just couldn't do that

303
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Speaker 2: because you know, the Chinese are very much aware that,

304
00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:51,280
Speaker 2: you know, they have to be you know, corralled and

305
00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:55,760
Speaker 2: told this is how it works. And if you don't

306
00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:58,879
Speaker 2: do it this way, you're out trying to thing, you know.

307
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Speaker 2: So but it worked really well. I mean I would

308
00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:07,680
Speaker 2: meet one hundred and fifty people, sign their guitars, then

309
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Speaker 2: they'd come back around and we do photos with everybody,

310
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Speaker 2: and that whole thing took forty five minutes. You know,

311
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Speaker 2: that's like impossible.

312
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Speaker 1: If you sign one hundred and fifty guitars, does it

313
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Speaker 1: tire out your hand for playing later.

314
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Speaker 2: Now, I in the last two hours, I just signed

315
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Speaker 2: I don't know, two hundred straps, a whole bunch of

316
00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:34,720
Speaker 2: vinyl and some CDs.

317
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Speaker 1: I have not seen your signature. There's some people make

318
00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:42,040
Speaker 1: a few scratches and you know, hey, you know that

319
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:43,639
Speaker 1: person signed it, but you could never read it. And

320
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Speaker 1: there are other people they spell out their whole name.

321
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Speaker 1: So how do you do it?

322
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Speaker 2: Well, if I'm just writing on on like a record

323
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Speaker 2: or a CD, I'll just write Tommy CGP. They know

324
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Speaker 2: who that is. If I'm writing on your guitar, I

325
00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:06,600
Speaker 2: write my whole name.

326
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Speaker 1: Okay, how do you feel about doing all that? That's

327
00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:17,240
Speaker 1: not literally playing music? It certainly generates some cash. Do

328
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Speaker 1: you see that a's just something you have to do,

329
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Speaker 1: something you wish you didn't have to do, or something

330
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Speaker 1: you like to do.

331
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Speaker 2: No, I enjoy it because it makes people happy, and

332
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Speaker 2: it gives me a chance to interact with people, even

333
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:39,800
Speaker 2: if it's just short. You know, I enjoy it. And

334
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:46,359
Speaker 2: I don't get to China that often, and it's just

335
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:54,560
Speaker 2: I don't know, I like it, and I know that

336
00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:58,200
Speaker 2: not many artists do stuff like that because they want

337
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,000
Speaker 2: to be you know, they want to remain a mystery

338
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Speaker 2: to the public, and I don't give a damn about

339
00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:11,879
Speaker 2: that bullshit, you know, so I'm happy to sign, you know,

340
00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:16,560
Speaker 2: I'm happy to sign people's guitars. And the other thing

341
00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:19,760
Speaker 2: that I like is that you just never know what

342
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:21,879
Speaker 2: kind of guitar are you're going to come across. And

343
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:27,560
Speaker 2: sometimes I'll be sitting there and they've got guitars going

344
00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:29,720
Speaker 2: on the table and I'm signing and the next one

345
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,520
Speaker 2: and then this, you know, beautiful old Gibson will appear

346
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:37,439
Speaker 2: and I'll want to play it. Stuff like that. But

347
00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:41,159
Speaker 2: you know, seeing people so it gets so happy is

348
00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:45,080
Speaker 2: a great, great part of my day that that's for sure.

349
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:49,720
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of people, especially when I'm doing

350
00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:53,800
Speaker 2: interviews about touring life, people are like, you know, you

351
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:56,760
Speaker 2: meet people before the show, aren't you trying to get

352
00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:00,199
Speaker 2: in the zone, and aren't you you know, don't you

353
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:02,920
Speaker 2: want to be alone? And blah blah, And I'm like, no, no,

354
00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:06,919
Speaker 2: you don't get it. You walk into a room with

355
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:12,679
Speaker 2: fifty people who are enthusiastic and excited to meet you.

356
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:19,800
Speaker 2: There's a level of mojo, of excitement, of positive energy

357
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,840
Speaker 2: that's going to seep into you. You know you're going

358
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 2: to take it on. And then and you do something

359
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:30,720
Speaker 2: that you know is going to mean a lot to

360
00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:33,240
Speaker 2: this person. You get a photo with them, you talk

361
00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:35,919
Speaker 2: with them for a minute, you sign the thing, and

362
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 2: you look in their eyes and you be real, you know,

363
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:45,119
Speaker 2: just and when it's done, then you take all that

364
00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:47,520
Speaker 2: good feeling and you give it back to them from

365
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 2: the stage. You know, I'm stealing their energy to create

366
00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 2: something through me and give it back to them.

367
00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:01,840
Speaker 1: Okay, every audience is different, and I've certainly been to

368
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:06,400
Speaker 1: shows where the act is never connected. I've also been

369
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,520
Speaker 1: on shows on stage where the act is aware that

370
00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,160
Speaker 1: the audience isn't paying attention. They look to the band

371
00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:16,080
Speaker 1: members whatever, and they win the audience over. What's it

372
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:18,520
Speaker 1: like for you? To what degree are you connecting with

373
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:22,040
Speaker 1: the audience when you're playing and worried about where they're are?

374
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 2: Well? I think probably. I mean, I try to connect

375
00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:35,199
Speaker 2: with the audience the moment I walk on stage, I

376
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,439
Speaker 2: look at them, I yell hello, and I waved my

377
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:43,320
Speaker 2: hand and I look at them, and then then I

378
00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:49,760
Speaker 2: get playing and I can tell if they're into it

379
00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:55,280
Speaker 2: straight away, you know, once I once I get playing,

380
00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:00,400
Speaker 2: and I'm I'm like two or three songs in, I've

381
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:03,760
Speaker 2: already opened the door, and you know, I've already started

382
00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:11,040
Speaker 2: to really kick it up. And I never feel I'd

383
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:16,840
Speaker 2: never feel disconnected from my audience, never, But you know,

384
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:24,080
Speaker 2: there are I remember playing a show in England about

385
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:28,399
Speaker 2: twenty years ago and there were people in the front

386
00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 2: row and there must have been something going on with them,

387
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:39,320
Speaker 2: and the guy kept looking kept looking at his watch,

388
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 2: you know, and he's right in front of me, and

389
00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,199
Speaker 2: his wife's kind of trying to keep him calm, and

390
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:51,600
Speaker 2: he's you know. Anyway, we played the last song and

391
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,760
Speaker 2: everybody just jumped to their feet and they were like

392
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,399
Speaker 2: really yelling we played a good show and everybody was

393
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:01,280
Speaker 2: doing this. And that guy, that girl that were right

394
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:04,680
Speaker 2: in front of me, he looked really distracted. They took

395
00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:09,680
Speaker 2: that chance to run, and so as they were running

396
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:13,919
Speaker 2: out to go to the door, I said, I'm so

397
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:18,440
Speaker 2: glad to see you go goodbye. You know. I said

398
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,280
Speaker 2: sorry to have kept you like that, you know, That's

399
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 2: what I was saying to them. So, you know, I

400
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:29,040
Speaker 2: felt bad about it later, but that's how I felt,

401
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,520
Speaker 2: and I let it out, you know.

402
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:36,760
Speaker 1: Okay, you're very skilled. There are some people who play

403
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:40,679
Speaker 1: their most well known material and while they're playing it,

404
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:44,400
Speaker 1: they're thinking, oh God, I got to do my laun tree.

405
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:48,240
Speaker 1: Is there enough time to catch the plane when you're playing,

406
00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:53,120
Speaker 1: which demands a lot of dexterity with your fingers whatever?

407
00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:55,399
Speaker 1: Are you always one hundred percent focused or are you

408
00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:57,879
Speaker 1: so practice that your mind is drifting elsewhere?

409
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:04,120
Speaker 2: No, I I try not to let my mind wander.

410
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:09,360
Speaker 2: It's a bad thing to do because if you do that,

411
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,560
Speaker 2: you will make a mistake. For sure. You know you'll

412
00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,800
Speaker 2: do something like is this a third time I played

413
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:21,520
Speaker 2: the bridge? You know what I mean? So you don't

414
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:26,080
Speaker 2: want to do that. So this is why I'm tired

415
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:30,240
Speaker 2: after a show. It's not that I'm physically like I mean,

416
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:34,639
Speaker 2: I'm very physical when I play, But that's not what

417
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,560
Speaker 2: wears me out. It's up here where I get worn out,

418
00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 2: and so my brain is tired. It takes a lot

419
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:47,000
Speaker 2: of brain power to push myself to play these kind

420
00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 2: of complex arrangements, but then go off into improvisation all

421
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:56,760
Speaker 2: the time and be inventive right now this very second

422
00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:00,200
Speaker 2: and push it and push it. And you know, because

423
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:05,160
Speaker 2: you're always waiting for the magic to happen. So you're

424
00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,840
Speaker 2: always pushing to try and get the magic to happen,

425
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:13,240
Speaker 2: and sometimes it just shows up and holy smoke, what

426
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 2: a great night, unbelievable. But then you have the problem of, oh,

427
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,520
Speaker 2: I've got to do it again tomorrow. Shit, how am

428
00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:24,640
Speaker 2: I going to beat this? You know? And that happens

429
00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:25,920
Speaker 2: to me a lot.

430
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:29,560
Speaker 1: Do you have any idea what triggers magic or just

431
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:31,480
Speaker 1: some nights it's there, sometimes it's not.

432
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:38,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, most of it is depending how open I am,

433
00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:44,920
Speaker 2: you know, and depend on what's going on. The truth is, Bob,

434
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 2: I expect it to be magic every single time, and

435
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 2: when it isn't, I have to get through that, and

436
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,240
Speaker 2: I have to still try to play well because if

437
00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:02,000
Speaker 2: I if I struggle and the struggle people don't even

438
00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:06,560
Speaker 2: know I'm struggling. But if I do struggle because I'm

439
00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,960
Speaker 2: just not coming up with the ideas that they're pleasing me,

440
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:13,680
Speaker 2: then I just try to play well and pick the

441
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,560
Speaker 2: good songs and the good arrangements and try to play

442
00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:22,160
Speaker 2: them with all my heart. Because you can't manufacture that mojo.

443
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:26,680
Speaker 2: It's got to come from wherever it comes from. And

444
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,360
Speaker 2: so I'm always I'm always expecting it to be magic

445
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:34,360
Speaker 2: and hoping that it will be, but it isn't all

446
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,760
Speaker 2: the time, and so in that case, you better have

447
00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:44,120
Speaker 2: some good songs to play.

448
00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:52,560
Speaker 1: Okay. You know, when you have an outstanding night, does

449
00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:56,800
Speaker 1: the audience know or they just think it's another great

450
00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 1: Tommy Emmanuel show.

451
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:07,600
Speaker 2: That's a really interesting question. And I think some people

452
00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:11,440
Speaker 2: in the audience know when when you're flying your kite

453
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:17,040
Speaker 2: pretty high, and I think some people know when I'm struggling.

454
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 2: But in general, the night that I think I suck

455
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:27,160
Speaker 2: and that I played like crap, someone had come up

456
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:29,120
Speaker 2: and say, God, that was the best show I've ever

457
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:34,360
Speaker 2: seen you play, and be like, oh god, Okay.

458
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,320
Speaker 1: I remember talking to Jeff Beck once and complimenting him

459
00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 1: about how he doesn't make any mistakes. He rolls his eyes.

460
00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:47,080
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I make mistakes all the time. Blah blah blah.

461
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:49,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, everybody does.

462
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:54,760
Speaker 1: That's my question. One. Do you make mistakes? And does

463
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:59,520
Speaker 1: anybody other than you catch him?

464
00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:04,720
Speaker 2: Pretty early? People, if I make a mistake, I'm really

465
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:09,320
Speaker 2: good at covering it up. I'm good to turn it

466
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:15,880
Speaker 2: into something else. And there are sometimes when I've made

467
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:20,520
Speaker 2: a mistake on stage that I'll finish the song and

468
00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:24,920
Speaker 2: I'll say to the audience, I really didn't play the

469
00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:27,040
Speaker 2: bridge really well. Do you mind if I play it again?

470
00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:29,200
Speaker 2: And so I play it again and get it right?

471
00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:33,080
Speaker 1: You know, how do you cover up a mistake? What

472
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:34,480
Speaker 1: made a mistake be.

473
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:40,120
Speaker 2: A mistake? Might be that I just didn't get to

474
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:44,640
Speaker 2: the note with the clarity that I needed because my

475
00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:49,360
Speaker 2: mind wandered for a second or something or whatever. And

476
00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:55,040
Speaker 2: so but you just keep moving, you know, because songs

477
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:59,480
Speaker 2: go by like this, you know, songs going here's the verse,

478
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 2: here's the or is that you know, songs that have

479
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:05,840
Speaker 2: a movement to them. And if you, if you, if

480
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 2: you fluff up one little bit or whatever, just keep going.

481
00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:15,440
Speaker 2: You know, when I was really young and I had

482
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:21,920
Speaker 2: my own band and was playing back in Australia a lot,

483
00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:24,160
Speaker 2: if I had a bad night where I made a

484
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:27,440
Speaker 2: few mistakes or whatever, it'd take me three days to

485
00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:30,400
Speaker 2: get over it. You know, I'd be I'd be down

486
00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:34,280
Speaker 2: in the dumps about it and feeling like a you know,

487
00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:39,200
Speaker 2: a complete loser. But these days, I mean, I make

488
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:45,240
Speaker 2: I'd probably make mistakes every night, but some nights, uh,

489
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:53,240
Speaker 2: some nights are just magical and they're the nights that

490
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 2: that are really hard to emulate the next night, you know.

491
00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:06,600
Speaker 2: So to me, I'm always trying to find ways of

492
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:16,400
Speaker 2: making my improvisation interesting and to build something right in

493
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:18,440
Speaker 2: the spur of the moment, you know. And then that's

494
00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:25,279
Speaker 2: why I still play songs that require whole sections of

495
00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:27,600
Speaker 2: where I can play as long as I want. I

496
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:31,319
Speaker 2: can start this solo here in this tune and I'm improvising,

497
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,839
Speaker 2: and i can go, go, go if it's flowing. If

498
00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:37,880
Speaker 2: it isn't, then I'll do something else and get to

499
00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:39,040
Speaker 2: the next verse.

500
00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 1: Okay, you talk about the mental energy and the mental

501
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:50,279
Speaker 1: strain and wearing out of your brain to do a show. Yeah, A,

502
00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:53,839
Speaker 1: when the show is over, what is your routine? And

503
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,680
Speaker 1: B how long after the show can you fall asleep?

504
00:34:59,360 --> 00:34:59,959
Speaker 2: Half an hour?

505
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:01,040
Speaker 1: Really?

506
00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:05,840
Speaker 2: Oh yeah? Nowadays? I mean I'm seventy years old. I

507
00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:11,680
Speaker 2: still use a lot of energy, and I play anyway

508
00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:16,919
Speaker 2: between ninety minutes and two hours, you know, And I'm

509
00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:22,320
Speaker 2: pouring my whole life into every note, you know. And

510
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:26,080
Speaker 2: so when I'm done with that, I packed my stuff

511
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:30,640
Speaker 2: up and they take me back to the hotel and

512
00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:33,000
Speaker 2: I'm ready to sleep in half an hour.

513
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:37,160
Speaker 1: Wait, you're in front of a thousand people, let's say,

514
00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:41,320
Speaker 1: who think you're God, who give you a great reaction.

515
00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:47,080
Speaker 1: There's a vibe there you can't get anywhere else whatever,

516
00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,399
Speaker 1: and it makes you feel good, especially on a night

517
00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:53,720
Speaker 1: when you're hot. You know, when the magic is working.

518
00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:57,720
Speaker 1: How can you disconnect emotionally so quickly?

519
00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:06,040
Speaker 2: Because I have to do it again tomorrow, you know.

520
00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:10,240
Speaker 2: And also I was there in the moment. I was there,

521
00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:14,239
Speaker 2: I was present, and I appreciated it, and I gave

522
00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 2: it my best. Now I've got to do that again tomorrow.

523
00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:22,360
Speaker 2: So what's important now is that I get some rest

524
00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:26,000
Speaker 2: so that I can be at my peak again at

525
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:29,640
Speaker 2: eight o'clock tomorrow night. You know, that's how I look

526
00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:35,319
Speaker 2: at it. I mean, when I was younger, I went

527
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:37,720
Speaker 2: out drinking and partying and all that sort of stuff,

528
00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:42,120
Speaker 2: all like everybody else, and I didn't need near as

529
00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:48,879
Speaker 2: much rest and nourishment, you know. But these days it's

530
00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:52,600
Speaker 2: so important to me to be in good shape and

531
00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:57,000
Speaker 2: have time to play. And you know, I do all

532
00:36:57,080 --> 00:37:01,440
Speaker 2: my own guitar tech stuff. I changed my strings, I tune,

533
00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:04,040
Speaker 2: I set my guitars up how I like them, and

534
00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:07,279
Speaker 2: I'm totally dedicated to that.

535
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,960
Speaker 1: Are you like a gear head? There are certain people

536
00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:15,640
Speaker 1: they can pick up any instrument. They once it's in tune,

537
00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:18,759
Speaker 1: they play, that's it. Other people it's got to be

538
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:23,239
Speaker 1: exactly right before they'll play or you know, are happy now?

539
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:24,839
Speaker 1: Where are you on that spectrum?

540
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:29,080
Speaker 2: I can get music out of a golf ball, you know,

541
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:35,719
Speaker 2: so it doesn't matter. But if like most guitar players,

542
00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:43,279
Speaker 2: who who I hand my guitar to to feel it

543
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:46,279
Speaker 2: or to play it, they're like, oh my god, it's

544
00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:48,960
Speaker 2: so beautiful to play. I said, it's supposed to be,

545
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:53,120
Speaker 2: you know, it should be set up so you don't

546
00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:56,040
Speaker 2: want to put this thing down. It's so beautiful, you know.

547
00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:01,640
Speaker 2: So basically, I break a few rules to make things

548
00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:06,920
Speaker 2: how I like them. And I'll get the neck of

549
00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:10,640
Speaker 2: the guitar and I'll over straighten it till the strings

550
00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:13,480
Speaker 2: are buzzing, and then I'll let it off until the

551
00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:16,319
Speaker 2: strings stop buzzing. Then I'll leave it there and the

552
00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,560
Speaker 2: action is like low and flat, but you know, and

553
00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:24,200
Speaker 2: I'll just watch it, you know, just to make sure

554
00:38:24,239 --> 00:38:29,279
Speaker 2: that there's no bad buzzes going on. But you know,

555
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:32,680
Speaker 2: you'd be amazed how many people they just get used

556
00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:35,280
Speaker 2: to the action of their guitar, and then they start

557
00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:41,759
Speaker 2: talking about couple tunnel and repetitive strain and all that,

558
00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:44,239
Speaker 2: And I play the guitar and I go, I don't

559
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:47,240
Speaker 2: wonder that thing would wear me out in five minutes.

560
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:49,160
Speaker 2: You know, you've got to get the next straight, and

561
00:38:49,239 --> 00:38:52,120
Speaker 2: you've got to get the next sitting at the right angle,

562
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:55,560
Speaker 2: you know, so the guitar can speak and you can

563
00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:57,040
Speaker 2: play it all day and all night.

564
00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:01,640
Speaker 1: Okay, so relatively speaking, you know, I've read online you

565
00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:06,719
Speaker 1: like a later gauge, but how high action? What gauge strings?

566
00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:09,560
Speaker 1: And how did you end up coming to what you like?

567
00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:17,560
Speaker 2: I like twelve to fifty fours when I'm using normal tunings.

568
00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:22,480
Speaker 2: When I'm using low tunings, I use bigger strings. I

569
00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:28,560
Speaker 2: use thirteen to fifty six or thirty into sixty, depending

570
00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:31,879
Speaker 2: on the on the guitar. As far as strings go,

571
00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:36,760
Speaker 2: you've you've got an experiment and you've got to find

572
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:43,719
Speaker 2: what strings work best for your guitar. You know, how

573
00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:48,719
Speaker 2: does when you put the string on, how does it sound?

574
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:53,400
Speaker 2: How in tune can you get it? How does it

575
00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:55,600
Speaker 2: feel when you come up the neck here? And you know,

576
00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:59,440
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff. So I find I find

577
00:39:59,840 --> 00:40:02,880
Speaker 2: the brands of strings that I like and the gauges

578
00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:11,279
Speaker 2: for which guitar on I'm music, you know, and so yeah,

579
00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:14,799
Speaker 2: every guitar is different. You know. I carry three on

580
00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:19,399
Speaker 2: the road with me and they're they're they've all got

581
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:23,719
Speaker 2: the same pickup and microphone system that comes with the

582
00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:27,120
Speaker 2: mate and guitars that I use, but they all sound

583
00:40:27,239 --> 00:40:31,160
Speaker 2: very different, you know, different tunings, different kind of strings,

584
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,160
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff. And that's a good thing.

585
00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:36,720
Speaker 2: You know. You don't want to have the same sound,

586
00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:40,640
Speaker 2: the same tuning in every song of the whole show.

587
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:46,120
Speaker 2: You know. I'm trying to keep people engaged and and

588
00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:51,200
Speaker 2: do things that surprise them. So I have a guitar

589
00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:54,919
Speaker 2: with real big strings tuned down low, and so when

590
00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:57,239
Speaker 2: I go into the song, it's like all there. It's

591
00:40:57,520 --> 00:41:00,480
Speaker 2: it's big and wide, and my sound man puts this

592
00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:05,400
Speaker 2: beautiful long reverb on it, and you know, it just

593
00:41:05,480 --> 00:41:09,319
Speaker 2: sounds like you can jump inside the sound. It's so big.

594
00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:15,759
Speaker 2: And that's good for me because it takes me to

595
00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:20,320
Speaker 2: another place as a player and as a performer. And

596
00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:26,280
Speaker 2: I use things like sustain and holding chords and things

597
00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:32,840
Speaker 2: like like that that really makes people feel real calm inside,

598
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:33,560
Speaker 2: you know.

599
00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:39,080
Speaker 1: So let's say you go to the Maiden factory and

600
00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:42,600
Speaker 1: you're picking out guitars at this late date, certainly in

601
00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:46,400
Speaker 1: the fifties and sixties, maybe in the seventies, everyone varied.

602
00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:49,359
Speaker 1: Do you find that every instrument still has its own

603
00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:52,680
Speaker 1: particular sound or it's more uniform these days?

604
00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:58,239
Speaker 2: Oh, every interest, every instrument is it definitely has its

605
00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:04,359
Speaker 2: own voice. But you know, Martin D twenty eight, I've

606
00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:07,680
Speaker 2: probably played a thousand of them, and I haven't played

607
00:42:07,719 --> 00:42:11,240
Speaker 2: a bad one. They've all been good. You know. Gibson

608
00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:15,520
Speaker 2: J forty five is one of my favorite guitars. I

609
00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:22,600
Speaker 2: love those guitars. But the mat and guitar for me

610
00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:27,520
Speaker 2: is that's my voice right right there, and it's the

611
00:42:27,520 --> 00:42:31,759
Speaker 2: best guitar I know for show up, plug in, get

612
00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:35,360
Speaker 2: a sound in five minutes, Okay, let's go. You know,

613
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:39,120
Speaker 2: that's nothing I've played out there comes close to that.

614
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:48,640
Speaker 2: And my soundman, Steve and I we we set everything flat.

615
00:42:48,840 --> 00:42:54,240
Speaker 2: You know, there's no processing, there's no digital clever stuff.

616
00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:58,040
Speaker 2: There's just two signals and both of them are with

617
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:04,240
Speaker 2: a bass on five, middle on five, travel on five.

618
00:43:04,719 --> 00:43:11,279
Speaker 2: Everything's flat, and then we work from there, and it's

619
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:15,680
Speaker 2: just it's so easy to get a sound when you're

620
00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:22,840
Speaker 2: not trying to make a sound that that isn't really real,

621
00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:27,879
Speaker 2: you know, like it's been hollowed out, and and it's

622
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:33,520
Speaker 2: there's a fake bass going on. A lot of guitar

623
00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:42,120
Speaker 2: players use optive divider where they where they put like

624
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:46,160
Speaker 2: a bass sound from a bass guitar and those low frequencies,

625
00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:48,960
Speaker 2: they put that on a couple of their their low

626
00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:52,120
Speaker 2: strings on the guitar, and so it's this big, massive

627
00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:58,920
Speaker 2: sound and it's great, but that's not how a guitar sounds.

628
00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:05,440
Speaker 2: That's how guitar through processing sounds and that suits some

629
00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:08,920
Speaker 2: people and I like it for a short time, but

630
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:12,319
Speaker 2: I wouldn't want to put my whole show through that,

631
00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:16,960
Speaker 2: you know, so I try to keep it as simple

632
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:21,799
Speaker 2: as possible. Two signals flat there, it is amp and

633
00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:22,480
Speaker 2: pre amp.

634
00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:27,120
Speaker 1: Okay, you're not working every night live. Does a day

635
00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:31,120
Speaker 1: go by where you don't play or do you play

636
00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:34,120
Speaker 1: every day? And how much do you play every day?

637
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:38,480
Speaker 2: Well, it depends. Like I just got back from a

638
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:44,359
Speaker 2: long tour and a lot of shows, and the first

639
00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:46,920
Speaker 2: thing I did when I got home was started playing

640
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:49,280
Speaker 2: some of my guitars that I haven't played in a while,

641
00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:54,279
Speaker 2: and I've played quite a bit today, so I do

642
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:55,160
Speaker 2: play every day.

643
00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:57,319
Speaker 1: How many guitarist do you have?

644
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:05,040
Speaker 2: I have a few I've got. I don't really know

645
00:45:05,080 --> 00:45:09,359
Speaker 2: how many I have, but it's because I've never counted them.

646
00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:14,759
Speaker 2: But guitars come and go. In my life, Bob, I've

647
00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:19,840
Speaker 2: given away so many guitars and given a lot of

648
00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:24,520
Speaker 2: my favorite things up for you know, different charities and

649
00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:29,200
Speaker 2: things we do auctions and stuff like that. Plus I'm

650
00:45:29,239 --> 00:45:33,839
Speaker 2: an ambassador for guitars for Vets, so they've received quite

651
00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:39,719
Speaker 2: a bit of my personal collection and to try and

652
00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:44,000
Speaker 2: raise money for them. And so guitars come and go.

653
00:45:44,360 --> 00:45:45,759
Speaker 2: You know what I would think.

654
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:49,879
Speaker 1: I think there are certain guitars that you say I've

655
00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:51,040
Speaker 1: never partoned with this.

656
00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:58,040
Speaker 2: I have felt that way about certain guitars. But the

657
00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:02,080
Speaker 2: older I get, the more I realize, really I could

658
00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:05,239
Speaker 2: live without that guitar. I could just get another one,

659
00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:09,839
Speaker 2: or I could, you know, try something else. I try

660
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:12,640
Speaker 2: not to get like too attached to stuff like that.

661
00:46:20,760 --> 00:46:25,600
Speaker 1: Okay, since you started on your contemporary the music business

662
00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:31,719
Speaker 1: has completely changed. Yeah, people who know Tommy Emmanuel put

663
00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:35,200
Speaker 1: you at a top of the list are really reverent,

664
00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:39,839
Speaker 1: but not everybody knows who you are at this late

665
00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:45,440
Speaker 1: date in terms of career ambition, career aspiration. To what

666
00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:46,960
Speaker 1: degree do you think about that.

667
00:46:48,080 --> 00:46:49,799
Speaker 2: One of the things I have to tell you that

668
00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:55,759
Speaker 2: I really love about my life is the fact that, yes,

669
00:46:55,920 --> 00:46:59,279
Speaker 2: I can tour the world. It was my dream when

670
00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:02,000
Speaker 2: I was young to be able to travel. I've always

671
00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:06,240
Speaker 2: felt like a citizen of the world, and I dreamt

672
00:47:06,239 --> 00:47:08,960
Speaker 2: of playing in all the places that I play now.

673
00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:14,440
Speaker 2: Right But the good thing is I'm still invisible, and

674
00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:17,120
Speaker 2: I love that I can still get in my car

675
00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:20,239
Speaker 2: and go down to Starbucks, have a coffee and sit

676
00:47:20,280 --> 00:47:24,319
Speaker 2: in the corner and read a magazine or hang out

677
00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:29,799
Speaker 2: with some friends of mine or whatever, and nobody, you know,

678
00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:35,640
Speaker 2: screams and yells and calls the police. I'm still invisible,

679
00:47:35,719 --> 00:47:40,759
Speaker 2: and I love that. You know. There's a song that

680
00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:44,399
Speaker 2: I did with Ricky Skaggs on my album Accomplish One,

681
00:47:44,960 --> 00:47:47,120
Speaker 2: and it's a song written by a friend of mine

682
00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:50,680
Speaker 2: and I played on the original back in the seventies,

683
00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:55,640
Speaker 2: and it says, I won't ask much of your time

684
00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:59,080
Speaker 2: or that you recall my name, because fame is just

685
00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:02,880
Speaker 2: a momentary curse. But if you recall a song or

686
00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:06,680
Speaker 2: two that lingers when I'm gone, then I guess a

687
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:10,040
Speaker 2: song and dance man could do worse, you know, And

688
00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:13,640
Speaker 2: that's me. I'm a song and dance man. I play

689
00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:19,480
Speaker 2: because I love to play, but I don't I don't

690
00:48:19,520 --> 00:48:25,160
Speaker 2: always play for myself. What really blows my dress up

691
00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:28,480
Speaker 2: is when I play for you. When I see what

692
00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:32,319
Speaker 2: I do affect you, That's why I love it, And

693
00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:36,799
Speaker 2: so that gives me a sense of purpose. It gives

694
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:39,160
Speaker 2: me a sense of I'm here for a good reason,

695
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:43,600
Speaker 2: and I've been given whatever it is that I've got

696
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:47,359
Speaker 2: for a very good reason, for the benefit of everyone else.

697
00:48:47,960 --> 00:48:53,120
Speaker 1: I can understand you're wanting to keep theme at arm's length,

698
00:48:53,800 --> 00:48:57,000
Speaker 1: but I never met an artist who didn't want their

699
00:48:57,160 --> 00:48:58,840
Speaker 1: artistry to reach more people.

700
00:48:59,680 --> 00:49:04,640
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm always trying to reach more people, Bob. Absolutely. Yeah.

701
00:49:04,960 --> 00:49:08,239
Speaker 2: Whatever I can do to get myself out there and

702
00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:12,440
Speaker 2: get this music out there, you know, that's that's what

703
00:49:12,560 --> 00:49:19,040
Speaker 2: I'll do. You know, And you know, I know from

704
00:49:19,160 --> 00:49:22,799
Speaker 2: some of your previous podcasts where you're talking about how

705
00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:25,959
Speaker 2: the music business has changed and how it's really hard

706
00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:30,440
Speaker 2: for people to there's no mailbox money anymore so to speak.

707
00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:35,799
Speaker 2: You know, if I don't tour, then how can I

708
00:49:35,920 --> 00:49:39,319
Speaker 2: keep my team on a wage? How can I help

709
00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:43,839
Speaker 2: my ten year old daughter through school and college in Australia,

710
00:49:44,239 --> 00:49:47,399
Speaker 2: you know, and all that sort of stuff. That's how

711
00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:49,800
Speaker 2: I make a living. That's how I pay my bills.

712
00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:50,720
Speaker 2: I tour.

713
00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:56,799
Speaker 1: How'd you end up in Nashville?

714
00:49:57,080 --> 00:50:00,560
Speaker 2: I came here in nineteen eighty to meet my hero,

715
00:50:00,760 --> 00:50:04,840
Speaker 2: Chet Atkins, and we just hit it off straight away.

716
00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:10,120
Speaker 2: And when he dropped me at the airport, he said,

717
00:50:11,360 --> 00:50:15,719
Speaker 2: you'll be back and this is where you belong. And

718
00:50:16,440 --> 00:50:19,319
Speaker 2: that's all he said to me. And I never forgot that,

719
00:50:19,600 --> 00:50:24,920
Speaker 2: you know, And we stayed in touch, and he he

720
00:50:25,120 --> 00:50:28,160
Speaker 2: had people because we were both with the same label

721
00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:34,080
Speaker 2: with Sony. When Chet signed with Columbia, I was on.

722
00:50:34,360 --> 00:50:39,120
Speaker 2: I was on Columbia out of Australia, and we had

723
00:50:39,719 --> 00:50:43,640
Speaker 2: four platinum albums in a row in Australia and I

724
00:50:43,719 --> 00:50:47,600
Speaker 2: won every award there was to win. It was just

725
00:50:47,640 --> 00:50:51,759
Speaker 2: like it was unbelievable. And I think a lot of

726
00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:54,760
Speaker 2: people kept him in touch with what I was doing.

727
00:50:55,600 --> 00:51:01,640
Speaker 2: And so in ninety five I was part of the

728
00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:06,880
Speaker 2: Sony Country Music showcase that took Australian country music artist

729
00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:14,400
Speaker 2: to Nashville for for the CMA week you know, where

730
00:51:14,440 --> 00:51:18,600
Speaker 2: all the artists go on and do their do their thing. Well.

731
00:51:19,200 --> 00:51:21,760
Speaker 2: So on the bill was you know, a whole bunch

732
00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:29,160
Speaker 2: of singers, songwriters including Keith Urban and mark O'Shea and

733
00:51:30,200 --> 00:51:33,480
Speaker 2: a whole bunch of Australian artists, and I was I

734
00:51:33,640 --> 00:51:39,400
Speaker 2: was viewed by those artists as the token instrumentalist, so

735
00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:41,839
Speaker 2: let's get him on first and then we'll get the

736
00:51:41,880 --> 00:51:45,840
Speaker 2: real real stuff going, you know, which was which suited

737
00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:49,360
Speaker 2: me great because it was where we were playing was

738
00:51:48,840 --> 00:51:53,040
Speaker 2: a club called the Ace of Clubs, and that that

739
00:51:53,120 --> 00:51:56,920
Speaker 2: place is always you know, pretty heavy drinking people and

740
00:51:57,000 --> 00:52:01,880
Speaker 2: YAHOOE people. So I was on first. Everybody was still sober,

741
00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:05,719
Speaker 2: and I came out and hosed the shit out of

742
00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:09,640
Speaker 2: them for like twenty minutes and they went nuts and everything.

743
00:52:10,160 --> 00:52:15,040
Speaker 2: And I'm back in my dressing room and incomes chat

744
00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:18,719
Speaker 2: with all the people from Columbia, you know, and they

745
00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:25,320
Speaker 2: had never seen anything like what I did, and they said,

746
00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:28,960
Speaker 2: are you on tomorrow night? I said yeah. So they

747
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:31,759
Speaker 2: brought down like fifty people or something and they were

748
00:52:31,800 --> 00:52:34,600
Speaker 2: all down the front and chat chet Atkins there in

749
00:52:34,640 --> 00:52:37,560
Speaker 2: the audience, standing like at a rock gig, and it

750
00:52:37,640 --> 00:52:44,600
Speaker 2: was beautiful. And I played the second night and about

751
00:52:44,600 --> 00:52:47,480
Speaker 2: a week later, my phone rang. I was back in

752
00:52:47,560 --> 00:52:50,080
Speaker 2: Melbourne and Australia. My phone rang and it was chat

753
00:52:50,600 --> 00:52:53,600
Speaker 2: and he said, boy, these Columbia people are excited about

754
00:52:53,640 --> 00:52:56,719
Speaker 2: you and would you like to record together? And that

755
00:52:58,280 --> 00:53:05,000
Speaker 2: was the start of our recording project. And so that's

756
00:53:05,040 --> 00:53:09,520
Speaker 2: how that came about. He because we'd known each other

757
00:53:10,280 --> 00:53:15,120
Speaker 2: since nineteen eighty. Prior to that, I had written a

758
00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:18,399
Speaker 2: fan letter to bless you. I had written a fan

759
00:53:18,520 --> 00:53:23,799
Speaker 2: letter to Chet when I was eleven, and I sent it.

760
00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:27,799
Speaker 2: I sent it to him and he wrote back. He

761
00:53:27,880 --> 00:53:31,480
Speaker 2: wrote back and sent me a photo signed and everything

762
00:53:31,520 --> 00:53:35,600
Speaker 2: in you know, it was amazing. That was nineteen sixty seven,

763
00:53:35,760 --> 00:53:42,080
Speaker 2: so you know, it was sixty six, and you know

764
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:45,360
Speaker 2: he was the busiest guy in town who was producing

765
00:53:45,400 --> 00:53:49,399
Speaker 2: everybody and running RCAA records, and you know he took

766
00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:51,200
Speaker 2: time to write back to some kid.

767
00:53:51,480 --> 00:53:53,640
Speaker 1: So he come to the stage and you meet us,

768
00:53:53,680 --> 00:53:56,239
Speaker 1: beautiful beating you euro What was that like?

769
00:53:57,840 --> 00:54:06,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh my god, it was wonderful. And so I

770
00:54:07,160 --> 00:54:11,440
Speaker 2: rang his office. He'd given me his office number, and

771
00:54:11,680 --> 00:54:17,160
Speaker 2: up on music row and I rang and he answered

772
00:54:17,160 --> 00:54:20,719
Speaker 2: the phone and I said, I'm looking for mister Atkins.

773
00:54:21,040 --> 00:54:24,839
Speaker 2: He said this is he and I said, chat, it's

774
00:54:24,880 --> 00:54:28,279
Speaker 2: Tommy Emmanuel, thinking he'll he won't have a clue who

775
00:54:28,320 --> 00:54:32,120
Speaker 2: that is, you know, and he goes, hey, Tommy, I

776
00:54:32,160 --> 00:54:34,760
Speaker 2: was just listening to your tape. I've got a friend

777
00:54:34,840 --> 00:54:37,759
Speaker 2: here and he likes you picking and blah blah blah

778
00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:40,880
Speaker 2: the way he went and he said, are you in town?

779
00:54:41,040 --> 00:54:43,239
Speaker 2: I said yeah, I'm up the road at the Holiday Inn.

780
00:54:43,480 --> 00:54:45,920
Speaker 2: He said, well, come on down. I'll see you right now.

781
00:54:46,200 --> 00:54:48,239
Speaker 2: So I jumped in the car and went down to

782
00:54:48,280 --> 00:54:54,400
Speaker 2: his office and I'm waiting downstairs and his secretary Caroline

783
00:54:55,520 --> 00:54:59,000
Speaker 2: gets on the intercommon she says, there's a boy from

784
00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:02,520
Speaker 2: Australia here and he says he wants to see you,

785
00:55:03,320 --> 00:55:06,680
Speaker 2: and I hear Chet's voice. He says, is he a fingerpicker?

786
00:55:07,760 --> 00:55:11,560
Speaker 2: And I hold my thumb pick up, you know, and

787
00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:15,200
Speaker 2: she says he says he is, and he says I'll

788
00:55:15,200 --> 00:55:18,800
Speaker 2: be right down. So a couple of minutes later, down

789
00:55:18,840 --> 00:55:22,799
Speaker 2: he comes down the stairs and there he was. I mean,

790
00:55:22,800 --> 00:55:26,839
Speaker 2: he looked exactly like he did on his records, and

791
00:55:27,239 --> 00:55:29,319
Speaker 2: I just couldn't believe I was meeting him, you know.

792
00:55:30,120 --> 00:55:32,040
Speaker 2: And he came up to me and he put his

793
00:55:32,200 --> 00:55:33,879
Speaker 2: arm around me and he said, you want to pick

794
00:55:33,920 --> 00:55:37,640
Speaker 2: a little and I said yeah. So he took me

795
00:55:37,719 --> 00:55:41,920
Speaker 2: into side room and he said, what do you want

796
00:55:41,920 --> 00:55:43,560
Speaker 2: to play? And I said, how about this? And I

797
00:55:43,600 --> 00:55:48,840
Speaker 2: went straight into me and Bobby McGhee like the arrangement

798
00:55:49,040 --> 00:55:53,200
Speaker 2: that he recorded on an album called chet Atkins Alone.

799
00:55:53,400 --> 00:55:56,759
Speaker 2: It was a beautiful version, and I'd learned it and

800
00:55:57,040 --> 00:55:59,720
Speaker 2: I was playing it and he was watching real carefully

801
00:55:59,719 --> 00:56:02,800
Speaker 2: in there. When the chorus came round, he just joined

802
00:56:02,840 --> 00:56:05,839
Speaker 2: in and played beautiful harmonies and it was just like

803
00:56:06,000 --> 00:56:11,600
Speaker 2: it was so magical. What he played made me sound

804
00:56:11,640 --> 00:56:20,320
Speaker 2: really good. So there was the lesson and it was beautiful,

805
00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:25,080
Speaker 2: and he asked me to play a few other things,

806
00:56:25,480 --> 00:56:28,120
Speaker 2: and then he took me upstairs and he said, I

807
00:56:28,160 --> 00:56:31,120
Speaker 2: want you to meet the greatest player that walks the

808
00:56:31,160 --> 00:56:36,200
Speaker 2: earth right now. And so he took me up to

809
00:56:36,320 --> 00:56:39,279
Speaker 2: his private office and in that room was a guy

810
00:56:39,360 --> 00:56:44,040
Speaker 2: named Lenny Brow. And Lenny was sitting there playing and

811
00:56:44,120 --> 00:56:47,359
Speaker 2: I knew exactly who it was. I knew everything he

812
00:56:47,400 --> 00:56:51,680
Speaker 2: was doing. I listened to him a lot and the

813
00:56:51,800 --> 00:56:59,320
Speaker 2: three of us sat there around the table playing tunes,

814
00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:03,680
Speaker 2: and I heard chedd Atkins play beebop licks that were

815
00:57:03,840 --> 00:57:07,120
Speaker 2: just mind blowing, like Charlie Parker and you never hear

816
00:57:07,200 --> 00:57:10,560
Speaker 2: him play like that. I heard it, and I had

817
00:57:10,600 --> 00:57:13,000
Speaker 2: no idea he could do that, but he was so

818
00:57:13,239 --> 00:57:16,640
Speaker 2: into that stuff and played it so well, and there

819
00:57:16,680 --> 00:57:19,000
Speaker 2: were little quotes he'd be playing a tune, he'd play

820
00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:23,280
Speaker 2: a little bit of dizzy fingers or something in the

821
00:57:23,400 --> 00:57:25,600
Speaker 2: in the middle of how high the Moon, you know,

822
00:57:25,720 --> 00:57:31,040
Speaker 2: stuff like that. It's brilliant. And then he asked me

823
00:57:31,120 --> 00:57:33,800
Speaker 2: to take Lennie to where he was playing and take

824
00:57:33,840 --> 00:57:34,960
Speaker 2: care of him and all that time.

825
00:57:35,920 --> 00:57:38,840
Speaker 1: So he took Lenny to where he was going. Then

826
00:57:38,840 --> 00:57:39,480
Speaker 1: what happened?

827
00:57:44,240 --> 00:57:48,480
Speaker 2: Then I stayed and watched Lenny play two sets and

828
00:57:48,520 --> 00:57:50,680
Speaker 2: then took him home where he was saying, what.

829
00:57:50,640 --> 00:57:51,600
Speaker 1: Was your next interaction?

830
00:57:52,240 --> 00:57:58,800
Speaker 2: Okay, my next interaction with him?

831
00:57:58,880 --> 00:58:01,760
Speaker 1: Wait, so you show up music, you have this amazing

832
00:58:01,920 --> 00:58:05,160
Speaker 1: experience and you wave goodbye and you don't have any

833
00:58:05,200 --> 00:58:06,360
Speaker 1: contact for years.

834
00:58:06,720 --> 00:58:07,000
Speaker 2: Yep.

835
00:58:10,600 --> 00:58:11,120
Speaker 1: Oh well.

836
00:58:13,280 --> 00:58:21,240
Speaker 2: And he's communicating it all living in Australia. Oh yeah, absolutely, yeah.

837
00:58:21,400 --> 00:58:27,120
Speaker 2: I mean I could call him anytime, but I was busy,

838
00:58:27,200 --> 00:58:29,880
Speaker 2: and so was he. You know, he was busy as

839
00:58:29,960 --> 00:58:35,120
Speaker 2: one armed fiddler, as he used to say. But I

840
00:58:35,320 --> 00:58:40,200
Speaker 2: came over in ninety three to make an album called

841
00:58:40,240 --> 00:58:48,360
Speaker 2: The Journey, which was my third album for Sony, and

842
00:58:48,960 --> 00:58:56,480
Speaker 2: it was recorded and done in l A. And Chet

843
00:58:56,600 --> 00:59:04,520
Speaker 2: was playing at Ventura Concert Club and outside of LA.

844
00:59:04,720 --> 00:59:07,280
Speaker 2: He was doing a show there and I got tickets

845
00:59:07,280 --> 00:59:10,320
Speaker 2: and I went to see him and saw the show

846
00:59:10,400 --> 00:59:14,240
Speaker 2: and everything. Because I've never seen him play live, only

847
00:59:14,320 --> 00:59:16,480
Speaker 2: what we did at the office, I've never seen one

848
00:59:16,480 --> 00:59:21,480
Speaker 2: of his shows. And it was beautiful. And I asked

849
00:59:21,560 --> 00:59:23,720
Speaker 2: him if he would play on my album and he

850
00:59:23,760 --> 00:59:28,240
Speaker 2: said sure. And he said, but you'll have to come

851
00:59:28,280 --> 00:59:31,800
Speaker 2: to me. I've got a studio in my house. You'll

852
00:59:31,840 --> 00:59:34,160
Speaker 2: have to come to me. I said, no problem. So

853
00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:38,040
Speaker 2: we got all the backing of the track and my

854
00:59:38,240 --> 00:59:41,840
Speaker 2: lead parts and everything, and then I flew from LA

855
00:59:42,040 --> 00:59:48,480
Speaker 2: to Nashville and went to Chet's house and he recorded

856
00:59:48,480 --> 00:59:52,200
Speaker 2: a couple of solos. The funny thing was he heard

857
00:59:52,280 --> 00:59:55,800
Speaker 2: the track and everything and he goes, oh, this is

858
00:59:55,840 --> 00:59:59,640
Speaker 2: a bit modern for the old man. And I said,

859
01:00:00,040 --> 01:00:04,440
Speaker 2: don't worry, Chief, You'll just take a solo. Just just

860
01:00:04,520 --> 01:00:07,400
Speaker 2: be yourself. You know it's going to be fine. And

861
01:00:07,600 --> 01:00:11,240
Speaker 2: his first first take is the one I used because

862
01:00:11,240 --> 01:00:17,640
Speaker 2: he played an incredible solo, was beautifully tasty and just gorgeous.

863
01:00:17,720 --> 01:00:20,160
Speaker 2: You know. He did two more takes and I ended

864
01:00:20,240 --> 01:00:23,000
Speaker 2: up using the first one when I when I mixed it.

865
01:00:24,000 --> 01:00:28,080
Speaker 2: But we had a really lovely time together and I

866
01:00:28,120 --> 01:00:31,360
Speaker 2: had to leave that night to go back to LA

867
01:00:32,120 --> 01:00:36,400
Speaker 2: And then then we ended up doing the album the

868
01:00:36,480 --> 01:00:39,960
Speaker 2: day Fingerpickers Took Over the World. That was recorded at

869
01:00:40,080 --> 01:00:45,520
Speaker 2: Chess House, and that was a two week project and

870
01:00:45,720 --> 01:00:49,880
Speaker 2: I did all the pre production with Randy Goodrum, the

871
01:00:50,040 --> 01:00:57,479
Speaker 2: keyboard player, and and then we programmed like a bass

872
01:00:57,560 --> 01:01:01,720
Speaker 2: drum and a high hat just to get with a

873
01:01:00,360 --> 01:01:04,760
Speaker 2: boot keep time kind of thing. And then I overdubbed

874
01:01:05,000 --> 01:01:09,120
Speaker 2: brushes and bass and rhythms and stuff and made it

875
01:01:09,160 --> 01:01:12,680
Speaker 2: sound like a band. And then Chet and I did

876
01:01:12,680 --> 01:01:17,440
Speaker 2: our parts. And I had to get back to Australia

877
01:01:18,000 --> 01:01:23,160
Speaker 2: for a tour, and so I basically mapped out all

878
01:01:23,240 --> 01:01:26,919
Speaker 2: the bits where Chet had to take the melody, take

879
01:01:26,960 --> 01:01:30,880
Speaker 2: a solo, harmonies in here, stuff like that. I mapped

880
01:01:30,880 --> 01:01:33,960
Speaker 2: it out and left it with him because he'd been

881
01:01:34,000 --> 01:01:39,400
Speaker 2: in hospital having cancer treatment and so he was in

882
01:01:40,160 --> 01:01:45,400
Speaker 2: recovery from that, and basically when he was feeling strong

883
01:01:45,520 --> 01:01:48,560
Speaker 2: enough he would come down and work on the strust.

884
01:01:49,000 --> 01:01:53,960
Speaker 2: He ended up getting it all done, and I finished

885
01:01:54,000 --> 01:01:59,520
Speaker 2: my tour. And then when I got back to Nashville

886
01:01:59,800 --> 01:02:03,280
Speaker 2: and got into my bedroom because I was I used

887
01:02:03,320 --> 01:02:07,640
Speaker 2: to stay at the house, the Chetney owner's house, and

888
01:02:07,800 --> 01:02:11,880
Speaker 2: on my on my bed was his guitar and his

889
01:02:12,080 --> 01:02:16,200
Speaker 2: microphone and a note from him saying, you may wish

890
01:02:16,240 --> 01:02:20,600
Speaker 2: to take the guitar to mix and if there's anything

891
01:02:20,680 --> 01:02:24,920
Speaker 2: I'd missed, just drop it on. You know. He knew

892
01:02:24,960 --> 01:02:30,520
Speaker 2: I could, I could play his part, and so I

893
01:02:30,640 --> 01:02:34,520
Speaker 2: ended up putting some harmonies on one song that he'd

894
01:02:34,560 --> 01:02:45,000
Speaker 2: forgotten to do. And but I never told anybody.

895
01:02:48,200 --> 01:02:52,200
Speaker 1: Okay, you grew up exactly where in Australia all over.

896
01:02:53,920 --> 01:02:58,080
Speaker 2: I was born north of Sydney, up in the air,

897
01:02:58,280 --> 01:03:02,040
Speaker 2: up in the coal mining near the city of Newcastle,

898
01:03:02,680 --> 01:03:08,840
Speaker 2: and then we moved out out west and that's where

899
01:03:08,880 --> 01:03:11,760
Speaker 2: we started playing music. And I was the youngest one,

900
01:03:12,360 --> 01:03:16,080
Speaker 2: and so my eldest brother Chris, was a drummer, My

901
01:03:16,280 --> 01:03:20,200
Speaker 2: sister Virginia was playing the lap steel, and my brother

902
01:03:20,280 --> 01:03:24,280
Speaker 2: Phil was the lead guitar. Player, so my job was

903
01:03:24,320 --> 01:03:31,560
Speaker 2: to play the rhythm and cover the bass part. We

904
01:03:31,720 --> 01:03:35,520
Speaker 2: just didn't know that's what I was doing, so there

905
01:03:35,560 --> 01:03:38,600
Speaker 2: was no bass guitar in the band. I covered the

906
01:03:38,600 --> 01:03:42,520
Speaker 2: bass part when I played rhythm and played because there

907
01:03:42,560 --> 01:03:45,080
Speaker 2: was the sound that we heard on the record. We're

908
01:03:45,120 --> 01:03:48,640
Speaker 2: just trying to make that sound. And basically I had

909
01:03:48,640 --> 01:03:51,960
Speaker 2: to do that playing rhythm and with the bass part.

910
01:03:53,200 --> 01:04:00,120
Speaker 2: And that's kind of how my style evolved because so

911
01:04:00,320 --> 01:04:02,840
Speaker 2: that's the way I heard it. I heard it as

912
01:04:03,360 --> 01:04:06,720
Speaker 2: the rhythm player playing that low part, but it was

913
01:04:06,760 --> 01:04:10,600
Speaker 2: actually the rhythm, normal rhythm, but with a bass player. Well,

914
01:04:10,680 --> 01:04:14,640
Speaker 2: I just no one mentioned the word bass guitar or

915
01:04:14,720 --> 01:04:18,800
Speaker 2: bass player to me. You know. We just were listening

916
01:04:18,800 --> 01:04:20,520
Speaker 2: to records and we listened to the music on the

917
01:04:20,640 --> 01:04:24,440
Speaker 2: radio and trying to emulate it. So that's how I

918
01:04:24,520 --> 01:04:27,600
Speaker 2: developed the way of being able to play a bass

919
01:04:27,640 --> 01:04:30,480
Speaker 2: part and a rhythm part at the same time. And

920
01:04:30,520 --> 01:04:34,440
Speaker 2: then when I heard Chat on the radio, I immediately

921
01:04:34,560 --> 01:04:38,800
Speaker 2: knew he was playing everything at once. And people were like, oh, no,

922
01:04:38,920 --> 01:04:41,600
Speaker 2: it's a recording trick, you can't do that, and I'm like,

923
01:04:42,480 --> 01:04:44,480
Speaker 2: I could hear it. I just didn't know how to

924
01:04:44,520 --> 01:04:47,400
Speaker 2: do it, you know, And it took me a while

925
01:04:47,440 --> 01:04:48,160
Speaker 2: to work it out.

926
01:04:48,920 --> 01:04:50,320
Speaker 1: So how did you learn how to play?

927
01:04:51,880 --> 01:04:56,440
Speaker 2: I just was inspired by the songs that I heard.

928
01:04:57,560 --> 01:05:02,680
Speaker 2: That's the thing. The real inspiration comes from the music.

929
01:05:03,200 --> 01:05:08,880
Speaker 2: It's not always the artist, it's generally always it's generally

930
01:05:09,000 --> 01:05:13,360
Speaker 2: the music that inspires you. And so if you're like me,

931
01:05:13,640 --> 01:05:15,720
Speaker 2: and you're not going to quit me just because it's

932
01:05:15,720 --> 01:05:20,720
Speaker 2: getting hard or something, then you're not going to make it.

933
01:05:20,760 --> 01:05:26,080
Speaker 2: But I, when I started working out how to make

934
01:05:26,120 --> 01:05:33,080
Speaker 2: that sound, it came together somehow. It was rough, and

935
01:05:34,520 --> 01:05:42,040
Speaker 2: I was, you know, pretty ignorant musically, but I could

936
01:05:42,040 --> 01:05:45,600
Speaker 2: figure it out. And so I worked out how to

937
01:05:45,600 --> 01:05:52,640
Speaker 2: play Windy and Warm and freight Train and Oh the Warbash,

938
01:05:52,720 --> 01:05:58,560
Speaker 2: Cannonball and a few of those kind of songs and

939
01:05:58,600 --> 01:06:04,280
Speaker 2: Merl Travis's Cannibal Rag and nine pound Hammer, Blue Smoke,

940
01:06:05,680 --> 01:06:09,200
Speaker 2: sixteen tons and stuff like that. And I'd play both

941
01:06:09,240 --> 01:06:11,919
Speaker 2: the parts, but i'd play with a straight pick as well.

942
01:06:12,040 --> 01:06:16,480
Speaker 2: I would use the straight pick and my three fingers,

943
01:06:17,120 --> 01:06:21,320
Speaker 2: and that's how I was doing it until in sixty

944
01:06:21,400 --> 01:06:26,240
Speaker 2: five a guy gave me a chedd Atkins record, and

945
01:06:26,360 --> 01:06:28,920
Speaker 2: on the cover of the record, I saw he had

946
01:06:28,960 --> 01:06:31,160
Speaker 2: a thumb pick on, and I went, ah, that's it,

947
01:06:31,600 --> 01:06:35,280
Speaker 2: you know. And as soon as I put a thumb

948
01:06:35,280 --> 01:06:37,480
Speaker 2: pick on, it was like someone opened the gate and

949
01:06:37,520 --> 01:06:41,520
Speaker 2: the horse come running out, baby, because it set me free,

950
01:06:41,600 --> 01:06:43,720
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden, I realized, oh god, this

951
01:06:43,880 --> 01:06:49,080
Speaker 2: is outworks, you know. So it was just discovery. They was.

952
01:06:49,640 --> 01:06:50,240
Speaker 2: I was just.

953
01:06:50,320 --> 01:06:52,640
Speaker 1: Okay, you know the basic chords. How do you learn

954
01:06:52,680 --> 01:06:59,000
Speaker 1: the chords? Was there a book? Did someone show you?

955
01:06:59,000 --> 01:07:02,080
Speaker 2: No? Other showed me how to play D and G

956
01:07:02,320 --> 01:07:04,640
Speaker 2: and A seventh and E and B and all that.

957
01:07:05,280 --> 01:07:09,840
Speaker 2: And the more songs I learned, the more chords I

958
01:07:09,880 --> 01:07:13,160
Speaker 2: had to learn. And it wasn't long before I started

959
01:07:13,200 --> 01:07:20,640
Speaker 2: getting the relationship between the chords and things. I could hear,

960
01:07:20,720 --> 01:07:24,280
Speaker 2: Oh that song in D, that's D, and that's the

961
01:07:24,320 --> 01:07:27,000
Speaker 2: sound of a B minor and that's a E, and

962
01:07:27,040 --> 01:07:31,680
Speaker 2: I start recognizing the sounds. So I never had any

963
01:07:32,040 --> 01:07:36,600
Speaker 2: any training, any teaching. And I don't read music. I

964
01:07:36,680 --> 01:07:41,080
Speaker 2: play everything by ear, and I hire people to write

965
01:07:41,120 --> 01:07:44,360
Speaker 2: my books because that's what they do and they're really

966
01:07:44,360 --> 01:07:48,640
Speaker 2: good at it and all that kind of stuff. But

967
01:07:50,280 --> 01:07:52,000
Speaker 2: it's still all by by ear.

968
01:07:53,240 --> 01:07:56,240
Speaker 1: Okay. So you talk about everybody in the family playing,

969
01:07:56,400 --> 01:07:59,920
Speaker 1: having a group. What did that look like? How often

970
01:08:00,040 --> 01:08:01,440
Speaker 1: did you play? Did you travel?

971
01:08:03,480 --> 01:08:07,600
Speaker 2: We traveled all the time until dad died in sixty

972
01:08:07,640 --> 01:08:13,680
Speaker 2: six May of sixty six, And yeah, my dad was

973
01:08:13,760 --> 01:08:17,639
Speaker 2: forty nine when he died. He had a massive heart

974
01:08:17,640 --> 01:08:21,000
Speaker 2: attack and was gone, and it just he was here

975
01:08:21,040 --> 01:08:29,599
Speaker 2: one minute, gone the next. But we had We started

976
01:08:29,640 --> 01:08:34,719
Speaker 2: touring in sixty one and we made our way north

977
01:08:35,560 --> 01:08:39,400
Speaker 2: and we basically had what we call a forwarding agent,

978
01:08:39,800 --> 01:08:42,280
Speaker 2: which was a guy who booked the hall and put

979
01:08:42,360 --> 01:08:45,320
Speaker 2: up posters, and then he would move on to the

980
01:08:45,320 --> 01:08:48,599
Speaker 2: next town, booked the hall, put up posters and that

981
01:08:48,680 --> 01:08:51,719
Speaker 2: kind of stuff. That's how it worked, and we would

982
01:08:51,720 --> 01:08:58,400
Speaker 2: be like three weeks behind him, and so that's what

983
01:08:58,439 --> 01:09:01,320
Speaker 2: we did. When then we finally got on TV, we

984
01:09:01,360 --> 01:09:03,920
Speaker 2: got on radio and all that sort of stuff, and

985
01:09:03,960 --> 01:09:08,680
Speaker 2: we just tried everything we could to get into the

986
01:09:09,800 --> 01:09:16,920
Speaker 2: show business. And when dad died, my mother had to

987
01:09:16,960 --> 01:09:21,200
Speaker 2: make the decisions. She had six children, and she said,

988
01:09:21,720 --> 01:09:23,439
Speaker 2: do you want to just stay here and go to

989
01:09:23,479 --> 01:09:26,080
Speaker 2: school and we'll have a normal life here, or do

990
01:09:26,120 --> 01:09:28,639
Speaker 2: you want to go on the road. And we all

991
01:09:28,680 --> 01:09:31,040
Speaker 2: said we want to go back on the road. So

992
01:09:31,080 --> 01:09:35,320
Speaker 2: we ended up getting a job with a touring country

993
01:09:35,560 --> 01:09:40,040
Speaker 2: kind of variety show, and that was good experience. We

994
01:09:40,120 --> 01:09:44,440
Speaker 2: learned a lot about putting a show together and comedy

995
01:09:44,600 --> 01:09:47,200
Speaker 2: and lights and all that sort of stuff, you know,

996
01:09:48,080 --> 01:09:51,400
Speaker 2: and it was good. But we ended up getting shut

997
01:09:51,439 --> 01:09:56,080
Speaker 2: down because the child Welfare department thought that we were

998
01:09:56,920 --> 01:10:02,920
Speaker 2: slave labor, you know, we were we were being taken

999
01:10:02,960 --> 01:10:06,719
Speaker 2: advantage of. And of course we were only there because

1000
01:10:06,760 --> 01:10:10,160
Speaker 2: we just loved to play on stage, that's all, you know.

1001
01:10:12,120 --> 01:10:14,720
Speaker 1: But okay, so how old were you when it got

1002
01:10:14,760 --> 01:10:15,320
Speaker 1: shut down?

1003
01:10:15,920 --> 01:10:18,800
Speaker 2: Okay, So we started touring just before I was six,

1004
01:10:19,680 --> 01:10:25,760
Speaker 2: and I turned six on that tour, and so that's

1005
01:10:25,800 --> 01:10:30,120
Speaker 2: sixty one, and up until dad died sixty six, it

1006
01:10:30,160 --> 01:10:33,599
Speaker 2: was five years. And then we carried on a little

1007
01:10:33,640 --> 01:10:37,919
Speaker 2: bit longer. Then I ended up. We ended up settling

1008
01:10:37,960 --> 01:10:43,920
Speaker 2: in another town and we got into normal schools, and

1009
01:10:45,080 --> 01:10:47,200
Speaker 2: it wasn't long before my brother and I put a

1010
01:10:47,240 --> 01:10:49,719
Speaker 2: band together with some local guys and we were playing

1011
01:10:49,760 --> 01:10:54,320
Speaker 2: every weekend, playing the dancers and all that sort of stuff.

1012
01:10:54,840 --> 01:10:58,439
Speaker 2: And I was twelve years old, and I'll never forget

1013
01:10:58,920 --> 01:11:02,800
Speaker 2: I was teaching Tuesday and Wednesday nights to try and

1014
01:11:02,880 --> 01:11:06,559
Speaker 2: make some extra money to help mom out because we

1015
01:11:06,560 --> 01:11:11,080
Speaker 2: were renting a little house and it was really weird.

1016
01:11:11,200 --> 01:11:15,280
Speaker 2: I'm twelve years old trying to teach adults how to

1017
01:11:15,280 --> 01:11:18,920
Speaker 2: play DG and a seventh and tap their foot and

1018
01:11:19,000 --> 01:11:23,559
Speaker 2: strum and it was just really weird, weird being a

1019
01:11:23,680 --> 01:11:28,760
Speaker 2: kid and teaching adults, you know. But yeah, it was

1020
01:11:28,800 --> 01:11:29,759
Speaker 2: an interesting period.

1021
01:11:30,040 --> 01:11:33,679
Speaker 1: Okay, But when before your father passed, in the time

1022
01:11:33,760 --> 01:11:36,880
Speaker 1: after that, you were on the road without him. What

1023
01:11:36,960 --> 01:11:37,639
Speaker 1: about school?

1024
01:11:38,479 --> 01:11:43,000
Speaker 2: We did correspondence. We did school through the mail. There

1025
01:11:43,040 --> 01:11:50,320
Speaker 2: was an organization in Australia which was a British school

1026
01:11:50,439 --> 01:11:57,559
Speaker 2: called Blackfriars and it's called Correspondence School. So we would

1027
01:11:57,920 --> 01:12:02,280
Speaker 2: we would get a week's worth of work. So here's

1028
01:12:02,400 --> 01:12:07,639
Speaker 2: here's the Monday, here's Tuesday, here's Wednesday. So we get

1029
01:12:07,640 --> 01:12:13,040
Speaker 2: it all in one brown envelope. And we would do

1030
01:12:14,040 --> 01:12:20,800
Speaker 2: our schooling daily and my mother made us read every day.

1031
01:12:21,080 --> 01:12:26,479
Speaker 2: She made us do the times tables with math, maths

1032
01:12:26,560 --> 01:12:29,920
Speaker 2: and and all that sort of stuff. And then she

1033
01:12:29,960 --> 01:12:33,519
Speaker 2: would test us on history stuff and all that sort

1034
01:12:33,520 --> 01:12:36,880
Speaker 2: of stuff. And so that's what we did. When we

1035
01:12:36,920 --> 01:12:44,040
Speaker 2: got to a normal school, we were okay, we weren't.

1036
01:12:45,320 --> 01:12:49,120
Speaker 2: We weren't the sharpest knife in the in the draw.

1037
01:12:49,400 --> 01:12:55,000
Speaker 2: But we were definitely we had some good education from

1038
01:12:55,120 --> 01:12:59,320
Speaker 2: traveling around and talking to people and understanding our a

1039
01:12:59,360 --> 01:13:01,320
Speaker 2: bit more other world works, you know.

1040
01:13:03,320 --> 01:13:06,400
Speaker 1: Okay, so now you're settled down, you're going to regular school,

1041
01:13:06,439 --> 01:13:09,160
Speaker 1: you got a band playing on the weekends. Yeah, how

1042
01:13:09,240 --> 01:13:11,759
Speaker 1: long does that go on? Do you graduate from school?

1043
01:13:11,800 --> 01:13:12,839
Speaker 1: What's the next transit?

1044
01:13:12,920 --> 01:13:17,920
Speaker 2: Now there's no graduation. I uh so I got into

1045
01:13:18,040 --> 01:13:22,240
Speaker 2: high school. My first year of high school, I had

1046
01:13:22,240 --> 01:13:25,920
Speaker 2: a lawn mowing business, and I was teaching guitar two

1047
01:13:26,040 --> 01:13:29,920
Speaker 2: nights a week. And I also we had a band

1048
01:13:29,960 --> 01:13:35,519
Speaker 2: and we played Friday Saturday nights, and so I was,

1049
01:13:35,640 --> 01:13:38,360
Speaker 2: I was busy. I was. I was doing lawn mowing

1050
01:13:38,479 --> 01:13:43,200
Speaker 2: after school and then teaching at night, and then playing

1051
01:13:43,520 --> 01:13:46,559
Speaker 2: on the weekends and doing school as well. So we

1052
01:13:46,560 --> 01:13:50,640
Speaker 2: were we were really busy, you know, just trying to

1053
01:13:50,680 --> 01:13:56,920
Speaker 2: make ends meet. And but my my goal and my

1054
01:13:57,280 --> 01:14:01,040
Speaker 2: dream was to get to the big city of Sydney

1055
01:14:01,680 --> 01:14:04,519
Speaker 2: and to become a studio musician. That's what that's what

1056
01:14:04,600 --> 01:14:07,719
Speaker 2: I wanted. I wanted to be like the big guys

1057
01:14:07,760 --> 01:14:11,200
Speaker 2: who who were you know I saw on TV and

1058
01:14:12,120 --> 01:14:14,160
Speaker 2: read their name on a record and stuff. That's what

1059
01:14:14,200 --> 01:14:16,679
Speaker 2: I wanted to do. I just didn't have a clue

1060
01:14:16,680 --> 01:14:19,599
Speaker 2: how to do it. But anyway, so what I did

1061
01:14:19,680 --> 01:14:25,320
Speaker 2: is I made the decision to move to Sydney. In

1062
01:14:25,400 --> 01:14:30,960
Speaker 2: the start of my third year at high school, I

1063
01:14:31,000 --> 01:14:35,439
Speaker 2: befriended some guys who were part of a kind of

1064
01:14:35,479 --> 01:14:40,880
Speaker 2: religious organization and they were they were really nice people

1065
01:14:40,880 --> 01:14:43,960
Speaker 2: and everything, and they said, oh, there's a place where,

1066
01:14:44,240 --> 01:14:46,200
Speaker 2: you know, a lot of our friends stay and it's

1067
01:14:46,280 --> 01:14:50,240
Speaker 2: quite close to Sydney Harbor and you can rent a

1068
01:14:50,320 --> 01:14:52,600
Speaker 2: room there if you want. It's like nine dollars a

1069
01:14:52,640 --> 01:14:56,000
Speaker 2: week and blah blah blah, you know, and I said, oh, okay.

1070
01:14:56,160 --> 01:14:59,600
Speaker 2: So so they were going down the following week and

1071
01:14:59,640 --> 01:15:03,120
Speaker 2: I said, I'll come with you. So I handed my

1072
01:15:03,200 --> 01:15:06,120
Speaker 2: books in and told my mother that I was leaving.

1073
01:15:06,520 --> 01:15:11,200
Speaker 2: You know, she was pretty distraught, I can tell you,

1074
01:15:11,280 --> 01:15:14,280
Speaker 2: because she wanted me to finish school and get my

1075
01:15:14,720 --> 01:15:18,080
Speaker 2: high school certificate and all that sort of stuff, and

1076
01:15:19,040 --> 01:15:22,360
Speaker 2: I just didn't want any part of that. I wanted

1077
01:15:22,400 --> 01:15:27,280
Speaker 2: to be getting some experience and being around people who

1078
01:15:27,360 --> 01:15:31,600
Speaker 2: were a lot better than I was. And so I

1079
01:15:31,680 --> 01:15:34,920
Speaker 2: moved to Sydney. And my first thing I did is

1080
01:15:35,000 --> 01:15:38,360
Speaker 2: got a newspaper and got a day job five days

1081
01:15:38,400 --> 01:15:43,519
Speaker 2: a week as a messenger boy. And then I went

1082
01:15:43,560 --> 01:15:47,799
Speaker 2: and auditioned for a guy who was a country singer

1083
01:15:47,880 --> 01:15:51,880
Speaker 2: and an actor. He was in a drama series called

1084
01:15:51,920 --> 01:15:58,559
Speaker 2: Homicide on TV in Australia, but every weekend, Friday and

1085
01:15:58,600 --> 01:16:02,679
Speaker 2: Saturday night he would be playing in clubs and Sydney

1086
01:16:02,720 --> 01:16:07,720
Speaker 2: and drawing quite a crowd. And the guitar player that

1087
01:16:07,800 --> 01:16:11,559
Speaker 2: worked with him was leaving for something a bit more lucrative,

1088
01:16:11,600 --> 01:16:17,479
Speaker 2: I'm sure, And so I auditioned and I got the

1089
01:16:17,560 --> 01:16:20,680
Speaker 2: job because I knew the songs. I knew all how

1090
01:16:20,720 --> 01:16:24,559
Speaker 2: to play all the guitar parts, and I knew all

1091
01:16:24,560 --> 01:16:28,479
Speaker 2: the harmonies to sing. And you know, he nearly swallowed

1092
01:16:28,479 --> 01:16:32,880
Speaker 2: his tongue on the first run through because he looked

1093
01:16:32,880 --> 01:16:35,960
Speaker 2: at me. I was fifteen year old kid, and he said,

1094
01:16:36,439 --> 01:16:39,160
Speaker 2: I can't believe I'm doing this, you know, like you're

1095
01:16:39,200 --> 01:16:42,880
Speaker 2: way too young for this and all that, and I said,

1096
01:16:43,640 --> 01:16:45,439
Speaker 2: let's just give it a go. You know. We went

1097
01:16:45,439 --> 01:16:50,439
Speaker 2: straight into the songs and I just I did everything

1098
01:16:50,560 --> 01:16:53,639
Speaker 2: that I felt was the right thing for the song,

1099
01:16:53,800 --> 01:16:57,800
Speaker 2: and he loved it, and so he offered me the

1100
01:16:57,880 --> 01:17:01,720
Speaker 2: job straight away. I started working for him on the

1101
01:17:01,760 --> 01:17:06,679
Speaker 2: weekends and that was that was my first introduction into

1102
01:17:06,720 --> 01:17:10,240
Speaker 2: the music scene in Sydney in the sixties, you know.

1103
01:17:12,000 --> 01:17:13,000
Speaker 1: So what happened after that?

1104
01:17:14,840 --> 01:17:19,559
Speaker 2: Then I got a job working in a band with

1105
01:17:19,720 --> 01:17:23,719
Speaker 2: my brother and it was it was four piece band

1106
01:17:23,760 --> 01:17:28,280
Speaker 2: with a girl singer and we were called Shiloh. And

1107
01:17:29,960 --> 01:17:33,600
Speaker 2: I had to learn all the Chuck berrys songs. I

1108
01:17:33,640 --> 01:17:39,200
Speaker 2: had to learn all the Credence tunes and you know

1109
01:17:39,960 --> 01:17:43,120
Speaker 2: little Richard music, Ray Charles. I had to learn all

1110
01:17:43,160 --> 01:17:48,600
Speaker 2: these different things and get myself an offender telecaster and

1111
01:17:49,360 --> 01:17:52,120
Speaker 2: an ant Fender amp and all that. It was great.

1112
01:17:52,479 --> 01:17:57,920
Speaker 2: I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much. And when

1113
01:17:58,840 --> 01:18:02,600
Speaker 2: we ended up on this kind of circuit in Australia,

1114
01:18:03,280 --> 01:18:07,160
Speaker 2: the hotels were run by the same company. It was

1115
01:18:07,200 --> 01:18:12,160
Speaker 2: a huge brewery company that ran all the hotels. So

1116
01:18:12,280 --> 01:18:17,840
Speaker 2: they used an agent who have moved bands around Australia

1117
01:18:18,280 --> 01:18:22,880
Speaker 2: and so we ended up playing like a three week

1118
01:18:23,320 --> 01:18:27,000
Speaker 2: residency at this really nice hotel the Gold Coast, and

1119
01:18:27,040 --> 01:18:30,120
Speaker 2: we just stayed upstairs and went down to the beach

1120
01:18:30,160 --> 01:18:34,920
Speaker 2: every day and swam and then played at night. And

1121
01:18:34,960 --> 01:18:36,920
Speaker 2: then we moved somewhere else and we were there for

1122
01:18:36,960 --> 01:18:42,240
Speaker 2: three months and then we moved somewhere else and it

1123
01:18:42,320 --> 01:18:44,720
Speaker 2: was great experience and it was good money. It was

1124
01:18:44,720 --> 01:18:49,040
Speaker 2: the first time I got some savings and ended up

1125
01:18:49,040 --> 01:18:53,400
Speaker 2: buying got a loan from my first car and stuff

1126
01:18:53,439 --> 01:19:03,599
Speaker 2: like that. I was sixteen, keep going. So that lasted

1127
01:19:03,640 --> 01:19:06,240
Speaker 2: about a year and a half, and then I moved

1128
01:19:06,280 --> 01:19:13,120
Speaker 2: back the band kind of. We disbanded and Phil went

1129
01:19:13,160 --> 01:19:19,880
Speaker 2: off to work with another artist. And because my brother

1130
01:19:19,920 --> 01:19:23,760
Speaker 2: Phil was really in demand in those days. He was

1131
01:19:23,840 --> 01:19:28,519
Speaker 2: just really good at playing great lead parts, and you know,

1132
01:19:28,760 --> 01:19:32,519
Speaker 2: he could play rock and roll music, country music, and

1133
01:19:32,680 --> 01:19:35,960
Speaker 2: he'd have a go at anything, and so he was

1134
01:19:35,960 --> 01:19:37,599
Speaker 2: getting a lot of a lot of work. I went

1135
01:19:37,640 --> 01:19:44,559
Speaker 2: home to be with my mother and working a local

1136
01:19:44,680 --> 01:19:46,000
Speaker 2: garage for a while.

1137
01:19:46,680 --> 01:19:49,760
Speaker 1: So wait, wait, wait, wait wait, what was going through

1138
01:19:49,760 --> 01:19:52,800
Speaker 1: your mind? You were living the life of a king

1139
01:19:52,920 --> 01:19:56,920
Speaker 1: at age sixteen on the road. Are you're back living

1140
01:19:56,920 --> 01:19:59,360
Speaker 1: with your mother with no high school degree working in

1141
01:19:59,400 --> 01:19:59,960
Speaker 1: a garage?

1142
01:20:00,360 --> 01:20:00,599
Speaker 2: Yep?

1143
01:20:01,360 --> 01:20:03,000
Speaker 1: So what was your state of mind? I would think

1144
01:20:03,000 --> 01:20:04,160
Speaker 1: you were depressed about that.

1145
01:20:04,960 --> 01:20:09,280
Speaker 2: Oh I wasn't depressed, not at all. I was happy

1146
01:20:09,280 --> 01:20:15,000
Speaker 2: to be with my mother. And anyway, here's what happened.

1147
01:20:15,479 --> 01:20:19,200
Speaker 2: A show came to town and I knew the people,

1148
01:20:20,240 --> 01:20:28,000
Speaker 2: and well, let's just say I met a young lady

1149
01:20:28,040 --> 01:20:31,160
Speaker 2: in that show that I wanted to be with, and

1150
01:20:31,240 --> 01:20:33,639
Speaker 2: so they offered me a job and I said yes,

1151
01:20:34,320 --> 01:20:38,320
Speaker 2: just so I could be with her. And that's what

1152
01:20:38,360 --> 01:20:42,080
Speaker 2: I did. I quit my job in the garage and

1153
01:20:43,439 --> 01:20:46,000
Speaker 2: loaded up my car and joined them. And it was

1154
01:20:46,040 --> 01:20:50,840
Speaker 2: a traveling show where we drove everywhere. And I did

1155
01:20:50,840 --> 01:20:54,360
Speaker 2: that for like three years, I think, and then I

1156
01:20:54,439 --> 01:20:56,280
Speaker 2: eventually moved back to Sydney.

1157
01:20:57,400 --> 01:20:59,760
Speaker 1: When I was before you got back to Sydney. What

1158
01:21:00,080 --> 01:21:00,960
Speaker 1: happened with the girl?

1159
01:21:03,360 --> 01:21:07,519
Speaker 2: She she didn't want to stay on the road, so

1160
01:21:08,320 --> 01:21:12,160
Speaker 2: she ended up leaving. And but I'd already I'd already

1161
01:21:12,200 --> 01:21:15,400
Speaker 2: committed to her father, who was the guy I was

1162
01:21:15,439 --> 01:21:18,920
Speaker 2: working for, and so I had I stayed on and

1163
01:21:19,120 --> 01:21:22,320
Speaker 2: kept working with him because I was playing in the show.

1164
01:21:22,800 --> 01:21:28,320
Speaker 2: I was playing banjo, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, working the lights,

1165
01:21:29,800 --> 01:21:32,759
Speaker 2: doing fixing the flat tires, I mean, I was doing everything.

1166
01:21:33,520 --> 01:21:40,559
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was It was a good learning time

1167
01:21:40,640 --> 01:21:43,960
Speaker 2: for me and I got a lot of good experience

1168
01:21:44,160 --> 01:21:48,520
Speaker 2: on the road. It was hard work and not much money,

1169
01:21:48,640 --> 01:21:55,120
Speaker 2: but I eventually left and moved back to Sydney, where

1170
01:21:55,320 --> 01:22:02,639
Speaker 2: I pursued my my my playing and my and I

1171
01:22:02,680 --> 01:22:08,559
Speaker 2: wanted to learn more, you know, I wanted to improve

1172
01:22:08,680 --> 01:22:12,559
Speaker 2: and I'd just done as much as I could on

1173
01:22:12,600 --> 01:22:15,840
Speaker 2: my own kind of thing. And now I was hanging

1174
01:22:15,880 --> 01:22:20,640
Speaker 2: around with guys who played jazz and who played fusion

1175
01:22:20,800 --> 01:22:24,880
Speaker 2: music and great rock and roll music that I'd never heard,

1176
01:22:25,439 --> 01:22:31,160
Speaker 2: you know, And I recall it was about seventy five

1177
01:22:31,640 --> 01:22:36,200
Speaker 2: seventy six. By that time, I'd learned like every Neil

1178
01:22:36,280 --> 01:22:41,720
Speaker 2: Diamond song that there was, and every Creedence song. And

1179
01:22:42,439 --> 01:22:45,120
Speaker 2: I had many different jobs. I was a singer in

1180
01:22:45,120 --> 01:22:47,160
Speaker 2: a band. I was a bass player in a band.

1181
01:22:47,520 --> 01:22:50,360
Speaker 2: I was a drummer in a band. I had to

1182
01:22:50,360 --> 01:22:57,280
Speaker 2: go with everything, okay, and continue with the narrative, okay. Well,

1183
01:22:58,360 --> 01:23:03,840
Speaker 2: So I moved into Sydney and I started developing my

1184
01:23:05,040 --> 01:23:09,360
Speaker 2: style that I have now. I started working on arrangements

1185
01:23:09,360 --> 01:23:12,160
Speaker 2: of songs where I could like move the bass around

1186
01:23:12,360 --> 01:23:15,559
Speaker 2: and stuff like that. I have an arrangement of a

1187
01:23:15,560 --> 01:23:19,880
Speaker 2: great old song called Blue Moon. And I was living

1188
01:23:19,920 --> 01:23:23,600
Speaker 2: in a house with three other musicians, and one of

1189
01:23:23,640 --> 01:23:27,800
Speaker 2: them was a saxophone player who grew up, you know,

1190
01:23:28,000 --> 01:23:34,800
Speaker 2: with jazz and he he heard me trying to work

1191
01:23:34,840 --> 01:23:38,960
Speaker 2: out this arrangement, and he said, why don't you put

1192
01:23:39,000 --> 01:23:41,920
Speaker 2: the bass through the changes? And I said, well, what

1193
01:23:41,960 --> 01:23:45,360
Speaker 2: do you mean? And he played, you know, he said,

1194
01:23:45,400 --> 01:23:48,040
Speaker 2: what you're trying to do is this, So he with

1195
01:23:48,120 --> 01:23:53,639
Speaker 2: his right hand he played dirty, Dirty, there's the melody,

1196
01:23:54,080 --> 01:23:58,000
Speaker 2: and the left hand went boom boom boom boom boom

1197
01:23:58,080 --> 01:24:02,960
Speaker 2: boom boom boom boom, and the bass moved around while

1198
01:24:03,000 --> 01:24:07,439
Speaker 2: the melody played on top, and you could hear the chords.

1199
01:24:07,920 --> 01:24:12,280
Speaker 2: When the bass changed and the melody moved, you could

1200
01:24:12,320 --> 01:24:15,360
Speaker 2: hear that that's the chord. And I just didn't think

1201
01:24:15,400 --> 01:24:18,120
Speaker 2: that way, and he showed me that, and it just

1202
01:24:18,200 --> 01:24:22,400
Speaker 2: like opened a door for me. And then I met

1203
01:24:22,400 --> 01:24:25,960
Speaker 2: a guy who was big into Where's Montgomery and people

1204
01:24:26,040 --> 01:24:29,799
Speaker 2: like that, and turned me onto that kind of music.

1205
01:24:30,320 --> 01:24:34,559
Speaker 2: So it was exciting for me. And you know, George

1206
01:24:34,560 --> 01:24:38,840
Speaker 2: Benson had just come out with Breezen and stuff like that,

1207
01:24:38,920 --> 01:24:44,320
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden people were into instrumental music

1208
01:24:44,400 --> 01:24:47,880
Speaker 2: and everything. So I had to pursue that way to go,

1209
01:24:48,040 --> 01:24:54,320
Speaker 2: you know, And I ended up really pursuing my songwriting

1210
01:24:55,040 --> 01:24:59,320
Speaker 2: as well, and I got signed by Universal, who were

1211
01:24:59,520 --> 01:25:05,240
Speaker 2: Actually it wasn't Universal then. My first my first publisher

1212
01:25:06,000 --> 01:25:10,800
Speaker 2: was Northern Songs, which was Paul McCartney's company, and I

1213
01:25:10,840 --> 01:25:16,080
Speaker 2: got signed by them, and then I got moved to MCA,

1214
01:25:16,240 --> 01:25:21,040
Speaker 2: and then that eventually became Universal. So I got signed

1215
01:25:21,200 --> 01:25:25,960
Speaker 2: in seventy eight and I'm still with Universal after all

1216
01:25:26,000 --> 01:25:31,400
Speaker 2: those years.

1217
01:25:34,560 --> 01:25:37,719
Speaker 1: Okay, I did you have a manager? How'd you get signed?

1218
01:25:39,479 --> 01:25:45,160
Speaker 2: I didn't have a manager. I got signed because I

1219
01:25:45,280 --> 01:25:49,639
Speaker 2: was playing on people's records as a studio player, and

1220
01:25:50,520 --> 01:25:54,400
Speaker 2: people were looking for songs. And I would play some

1221
01:25:54,439 --> 01:25:57,040
Speaker 2: of my songs to people and they'd say, holy shit,

1222
01:25:57,120 --> 01:26:00,360
Speaker 2: have you got publishing? You know? Said no, Oh, okay,

1223
01:26:00,400 --> 01:26:02,360
Speaker 2: you got to talk to this guy. I don't. So,

1224
01:26:02,600 --> 01:26:05,960
Speaker 2: you know, I did it all myself by just networking

1225
01:26:06,120 --> 01:26:07,640
Speaker 2: and stuff like that. You know.

1226
01:26:08,360 --> 01:26:11,679
Speaker 1: So, at what point in this story does it become

1227
01:26:11,800 --> 01:26:14,479
Speaker 1: Tommy Emmanuel doing what you're doing now?

1228
01:26:15,439 --> 01:26:21,519
Speaker 2: Well, I started doing solo stuff and writing for me

1229
01:26:21,640 --> 01:26:27,960
Speaker 2: to play solo. In the early eighties, I started writing songs.

1230
01:26:28,760 --> 01:26:33,639
Speaker 2: I was already pursuing songwriting for to get a hit

1231
01:26:33,760 --> 01:26:37,840
Speaker 2: record with some artists, you know, and I did. I

1232
01:26:37,880 --> 01:26:40,280
Speaker 2: got a cover with Sheena Easton, and I had a

1233
01:26:40,320 --> 01:26:46,439
Speaker 2: cover with Olivia Newton John and in those days, if

1234
01:26:46,479 --> 01:26:48,799
Speaker 2: you could get a song on a Livy Newton John record,

1235
01:26:48,880 --> 01:26:52,320
Speaker 2: you were doing well. And that was my that was

1236
01:26:52,360 --> 01:26:56,800
Speaker 2: my goal. And my good buddy Steve Kipner, who wrote

1237
01:26:56,880 --> 01:26:59,760
Speaker 2: Let's Get Physical and Twister Fate and heart Attack and

1238
01:26:59,800 --> 01:27:05,360
Speaker 2: all those great songs, I wrote with him a lot,

1239
01:27:04,400 --> 01:27:08,479
Speaker 2: and that was great. And I really grew as a

1240
01:27:08,520 --> 01:27:14,240
Speaker 2: writer because of people like him and learned so much

1241
01:27:14,280 --> 01:27:20,960
Speaker 2: from him. But then I started writing songs for me

1242
01:27:21,000 --> 01:27:25,040
Speaker 2: to play as instrumentals, and I found the courage to

1243
01:27:25,080 --> 01:27:28,040
Speaker 2: put them in put them in my set when I

1244
01:27:28,160 --> 01:27:31,679
Speaker 2: was when I was playing like wine bars and places

1245
01:27:31,760 --> 01:27:34,800
Speaker 2: like that, I would play some of the songs that

1246
01:27:34,880 --> 01:27:40,080
Speaker 2: everybody knew, like a Beatles song or whatever, and then

1247
01:27:40,120 --> 01:27:43,720
Speaker 2: I would play one of my songs and people were

1248
01:27:43,720 --> 01:27:47,720
Speaker 2: coming up to me after the show and saying, Hey,

1249
01:27:47,840 --> 01:27:50,240
Speaker 2: I really like that that new song you played. Did

1250
01:27:50,280 --> 01:27:54,200
Speaker 2: you write that? I was like, yeah, yeah, Wow, that's

1251
01:27:54,240 --> 01:27:57,000
Speaker 2: really good. You should keep that, you know. So I

1252
01:27:57,040 --> 01:28:01,200
Speaker 2: started to get positive feedback and which gave me the

1253
01:28:01,280 --> 01:28:09,280
Speaker 2: courage to keep doing that, you know. And so yeah,

1254
01:28:09,439 --> 01:28:14,800
Speaker 2: I ended up in some pretty big rock bands in Australia,

1255
01:28:15,200 --> 01:28:19,400
Speaker 2: playing guitar in the band, but when the band came

1256
01:28:19,439 --> 01:28:21,519
Speaker 2: off the road, I would go and do my own

1257
01:28:21,680 --> 01:28:25,160
Speaker 2: solo thing, and you know, and that was the beginning

1258
01:28:25,280 --> 01:28:27,680
Speaker 2: of what I'm doing now. So that was like the

1259
01:28:28,240 --> 01:28:31,400
Speaker 2: mid eighties. That's when I started doing that.

1260
01:28:32,400 --> 01:28:36,240
Speaker 1: Okay, you're playing with John Farnham and others. Did you

1261
01:28:36,479 --> 01:28:37,320
Speaker 1: like that music?

1262
01:28:38,320 --> 01:28:41,599
Speaker 2: I loved it? Are you kidding? Every song is killer?

1263
01:28:42,360 --> 01:28:46,439
Speaker 1: Okay, So you're not a country Chad Akins purist. You

1264
01:28:46,640 --> 01:28:47,360
Speaker 1: like rock too.

1265
01:28:48,560 --> 01:28:57,160
Speaker 2: I love any music that has soul. You know, when

1266
01:28:57,479 --> 01:29:01,120
Speaker 2: people ask me, you know, what guitar players do you

1267
01:29:01,160 --> 01:29:05,320
Speaker 2: listen to? My answer is I very rarely listen to

1268
01:29:05,400 --> 01:29:08,920
Speaker 2: many guitar players. I'm not that interested. I'm interested in

1269
01:29:09,040 --> 01:29:13,080
Speaker 2: good songs and I don't really care where they came from,

1270
01:29:13,160 --> 01:29:17,040
Speaker 2: you know, And I love singers. You know. That's why

1271
01:29:17,080 --> 01:29:21,040
Speaker 2: I loved working with John Farnham, a guy named Doug Parkinson,

1272
01:29:22,400 --> 01:29:26,439
Speaker 2: and you know, I was in a band called Dragon

1273
01:29:26,720 --> 01:29:31,200
Speaker 2: because I love their songs. I loved their music and

1274
01:29:31,680 --> 01:29:33,519
Speaker 2: you know, you could train a monkey to play my

1275
01:29:33,680 --> 01:29:38,960
Speaker 2: parts in the songs. But I love the songs so much,

1276
01:29:39,240 --> 01:29:43,360
Speaker 2: and I learned so much about how important having a

1277
01:29:43,400 --> 01:29:47,400
Speaker 2: great melody and a great hook and just really nailing

1278
01:29:47,479 --> 01:29:50,960
Speaker 2: it in a way that reached out and grabbed people.

1279
01:29:51,800 --> 01:29:56,479
Speaker 2: And I just learned a lot about the importance of

1280
01:29:59,479 --> 01:30:02,559
Speaker 2: every song. Song's got to be a killer, Every song

1281
01:30:02,640 --> 01:30:05,880
Speaker 2: has to be a winner. You know, the days of

1282
01:30:06,840 --> 01:30:09,519
Speaker 2: having a record with two hits on it and the

1283
01:30:09,560 --> 01:30:12,840
Speaker 2: rest of it's all just fillers. That those days are

1284
01:30:12,920 --> 01:30:20,719
Speaker 2: long gone. And so, you know, I remember just trying

1285
01:30:20,720 --> 01:30:25,599
Speaker 2: to write, you know, twenty five good songs to pick,

1286
01:30:25,720 --> 01:30:28,800
Speaker 2: fourteen to go on an album and stuff like that.

1287
01:30:29,000 --> 01:30:33,360
Speaker 1: You know, So when did you only start playing yourself

1288
01:30:33,800 --> 01:30:36,280
Speaker 1: as opposed with other people or does it agree you

1289
01:30:36,320 --> 01:30:36,800
Speaker 1: ever did that?

1290
01:30:39,000 --> 01:30:43,600
Speaker 2: I think probably the last the last tour that I

1291
01:30:43,720 --> 01:30:50,280
Speaker 2: did with a band, with a rock band was eighty seven,

1292
01:30:49,680 --> 01:30:53,599
Speaker 2: and then I started playing my own music. I got

1293
01:30:53,600 --> 01:30:57,160
Speaker 2: my own band, and it was mostly electric, with a

1294
01:30:57,160 --> 01:31:01,800
Speaker 2: few acoustic songs. You know, it was most electric. And

1295
01:31:03,200 --> 01:31:07,840
Speaker 2: so the funny thing was, Bob, when I made my

1296
01:31:08,000 --> 01:31:13,960
Speaker 2: first solo album, I recorded it between midnight and five

1297
01:31:14,040 --> 01:31:17,240
Speaker 2: in the morning because I was offered some free studio

1298
01:31:17,400 --> 01:31:21,479
Speaker 2: time because I played on someone's record for them as

1299
01:31:21,520 --> 01:31:24,320
Speaker 2: a favor, and the guy who owned the studio said,

1300
01:31:24,680 --> 01:31:27,400
Speaker 2: you can have the studio from midnight till six am

1301
01:31:27,520 --> 01:31:31,440
Speaker 2: or whatever, free of charge. So I recorded my album,

1302
01:31:31,520 --> 01:31:35,040
Speaker 2: then we mixed it and everything, and I took it

1303
01:31:35,080 --> 01:31:41,040
Speaker 2: into EMI and I said, this is my album and

1304
01:31:41,120 --> 01:31:44,840
Speaker 2: I'd like to get it out. And the guy listened

1305
01:31:44,880 --> 01:31:47,040
Speaker 2: to a couple of tracks and he said, there's no

1306
01:31:47,200 --> 01:31:50,880
Speaker 2: market for solo acoustic records. There's no market for it,

1307
01:31:50,960 --> 01:31:53,880
Speaker 2: so it may as well forget it. I said, all

1308
01:31:53,880 --> 01:31:56,680
Speaker 2: I want you to do is put it out, you know,

1309
01:31:57,000 --> 01:32:01,080
Speaker 2: just get it distributed, and I will create market. And

1310
01:32:01,120 --> 01:32:04,920
Speaker 2: he's like, you'll create a market. I said, yes, I

1311
01:32:05,080 --> 01:32:10,000
Speaker 2: will create the market. And so I must have convinced him.

1312
01:32:10,400 --> 01:32:14,200
Speaker 2: But you know, as luck would would have it, I

1313
01:32:14,240 --> 01:32:17,680
Speaker 2: was getting good crowds under my own name in my

1314
01:32:17,800 --> 01:32:24,599
Speaker 2: own country, and I was so lucky because the people

1315
01:32:24,640 --> 01:32:28,960
Speaker 2: who were my agents were part of a big chronic

1316
01:32:29,040 --> 01:32:34,799
Speaker 2: conglomerate that were international promoters as well. And in nineteen

1317
01:32:34,880 --> 01:32:39,479
Speaker 2: eighty eight I got offered the John Denver tour and

1318
01:32:39,520 --> 01:32:42,639
Speaker 2: it was like the most perfect tour for me because

1319
01:32:42,640 --> 01:32:46,000
Speaker 2: it was like fifteen to twenty thousand people a night

1320
01:32:47,160 --> 01:32:50,120
Speaker 2: and I got to come out there and play twenty

1321
01:32:50,120 --> 01:32:55,479
Speaker 2: minutes as this new artist to the public. Who you know.

1322
01:32:55,600 --> 01:32:58,559
Speaker 2: Ninety nine percent of them didn't know who I was.

1323
01:32:58,680 --> 01:33:02,759
Speaker 2: They'd seen they they recognized me from the TV shows

1324
01:33:02,800 --> 01:33:05,439
Speaker 2: I'd done, but they didn't really know much about me.

1325
01:33:06,240 --> 01:33:10,080
Speaker 2: So it was great. I got a new audience, and

1326
01:33:10,720 --> 01:33:15,400
Speaker 2: within like a month of doing that tour, my album

1327
01:33:15,520 --> 01:33:20,320
Speaker 2: debuted in the top ten nationally and he and I

1328
01:33:20,400 --> 01:33:24,200
Speaker 2: were like so amazed. You know the guy, that's the

1329
01:33:24,200 --> 01:33:27,200
Speaker 2: guy who said there's no market for or music, and

1330
01:33:27,280 --> 01:33:31,920
Speaker 2: I told him I'd created That's what happened. And then

1331
01:33:31,960 --> 01:33:34,680
Speaker 2: I toured with another couple of artists, and then in

1332
01:33:34,840 --> 01:33:41,720
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety I got offered the Eric Claptain tour with

1333
01:33:41,880 --> 01:33:46,000
Speaker 2: his album Journeyman, which I love that record, and Eric

1334
01:33:46,160 --> 01:33:50,240
Speaker 2: was so nice and his band Nathan and Greg Fillingaines

1335
01:33:50,960 --> 01:33:55,640
Speaker 2: and oh Steve Ferroni on drums, and it was just

1336
01:33:56,200 --> 01:34:02,040
Speaker 2: fabulous band. And every night we just got standing ovations

1337
01:34:02,120 --> 01:34:06,960
Speaker 2: and we got a great response. And the funny thing

1338
01:34:07,200 --> 01:34:15,600
Speaker 2: was the English road crew guys were a bit upset

1339
01:34:15,760 --> 01:34:20,320
Speaker 2: that we were going over so well. And the very

1340
01:34:20,400 --> 01:34:24,479
Speaker 2: first night I played the and I got two standing

1341
01:34:24,520 --> 01:34:28,519
Speaker 2: ovations at the end of the set, and when I

1342
01:34:28,640 --> 01:34:30,920
Speaker 2: came off, the tour manager came straight up to me

1343
01:34:30,960 --> 01:34:34,200
Speaker 2: and said cut your set down by blah blah blah,

1344
01:34:34,240 --> 01:34:38,639
Speaker 2: and that's all he said, you know, And I said, yes, sir.

1345
01:34:39,200 --> 01:34:41,920
Speaker 2: And the next night I played two minutes shorter, still

1346
01:34:41,960 --> 01:34:44,240
Speaker 2: got the same standing ovation.

1347
01:34:45,560 --> 01:34:49,920
Speaker 1: And was this solo acoustic No, no, this was.

1348
01:34:49,920 --> 01:34:55,599
Speaker 2: My band, and then a couple of acoustic pieces in

1349
01:34:55,680 --> 01:34:59,920
Speaker 2: the middle. And then here's what happened after that, after

1350
01:35:00,160 --> 01:35:03,599
Speaker 2: that too. After that Aeric Claptain tour, my ticket sales

1351
01:35:03,640 --> 01:35:09,439
Speaker 2: went up like they doubled, tripled it. They were the

1352
01:35:09,479 --> 01:35:13,479
Speaker 2: stepping stones for me to getting to a level where

1353
01:35:14,400 --> 01:35:18,720
Speaker 2: I could sell out some decent sized halls in Australia.

1354
01:35:19,920 --> 01:35:28,679
Speaker 2: And on one tour I would come out and sign

1355
01:35:28,720 --> 01:35:32,000
Speaker 2: autographs after the show and meet everybody and all that

1356
01:35:32,040 --> 01:35:35,439
Speaker 2: sort of stuff, and people started saying to me, we

1357
01:35:35,560 --> 01:35:38,439
Speaker 2: really loved the show, we loved the band, but the

1358
01:35:38,479 --> 01:35:40,759
Speaker 2: best part of the night was when you just played

1359
01:35:40,800 --> 01:35:44,360
Speaker 2: on your own. And enough people kept saying that to

1360
01:35:44,400 --> 01:35:48,200
Speaker 2: me that I thought maybe I should give that a try.

1361
01:35:48,720 --> 01:35:52,400
Speaker 2: So I rang my agent and I said, book me

1362
01:35:52,560 --> 01:35:56,800
Speaker 2: back into that area where we were after the Aeric

1363
01:35:56,800 --> 01:36:01,120
Speaker 2: Claptain tour, and that those that you know and just

1364
01:36:01,200 --> 01:36:05,640
Speaker 2: call it Tommy Manuel solo and he said what and

1365
01:36:05,720 --> 01:36:08,479
Speaker 2: I said, yeah, it's just me on my own. Oh,

1366
01:36:08,880 --> 01:36:11,800
Speaker 2: you reckon, that'll work and I said yeah, And sure

1367
01:36:11,880 --> 01:36:15,120
Speaker 2: enough everything sold. I got the same size crowd as

1368
01:36:15,160 --> 01:36:18,320
Speaker 2: if was a band or a band or no band.

1369
01:36:18,600 --> 01:36:23,040
Speaker 2: I got the same size crowd and people had a

1370
01:36:23,080 --> 01:36:27,840
Speaker 2: great time and it really spurred me on. And then

1371
01:36:28,720 --> 01:36:34,800
Speaker 2: I finished up with the band in ninety six, I

1372
01:36:34,800 --> 01:36:38,000
Speaker 2: think it was, and from then on I've been solid.

1373
01:36:39,479 --> 01:36:43,960
Speaker 1: Okay, the elephant in the room is you're in Australia.

1374
01:36:44,120 --> 01:36:47,400
Speaker 1: Like that little river song from Las Vegas, Hilton, It's

1375
01:36:47,439 --> 01:36:52,920
Speaker 1: twelve thousand miles away. Yeah, I certainly know. Like Kadinsky

1376
01:36:53,040 --> 01:36:55,599
Speaker 1: told me, the big carture promoter or a label person,

1377
01:36:56,160 --> 01:36:58,840
Speaker 1: he said, you know, I like being a big fish

1378
01:36:58,880 --> 01:37:01,840
Speaker 1: in a small pod. And then also, I've been there

1379
01:37:01,880 --> 01:37:04,559
Speaker 1: and everybody's thrilled that I came. I came that far.

1380
01:37:05,080 --> 01:37:09,560
Speaker 1: So to what degree are you in Australia thinking about America,

1381
01:37:09,800 --> 01:37:11,679
Speaker 1: thinking about the rest of the world.

1382
01:37:13,320 --> 01:37:16,240
Speaker 2: I've always thought about the rest of the world. I've

1383
01:37:16,240 --> 01:37:20,880
Speaker 2: always felt like a citizen of the world, and I

1384
01:37:21,120 --> 01:37:25,920
Speaker 2: just I'm one of these people that I've always had

1385
01:37:27,000 --> 01:37:31,400
Speaker 2: a sense of confidence that it's not arrogance. It's just confidence.

1386
01:37:31,880 --> 01:37:36,880
Speaker 2: And as I say to people who you know, big

1387
01:37:36,920 --> 01:37:43,200
Speaker 2: promoters or my management, you know, I'm like, you just

1388
01:37:43,439 --> 01:37:47,080
Speaker 2: helped get me out there, and I'll deliver. I promise

1389
01:37:47,120 --> 01:37:50,559
Speaker 2: you that I will deliver. If you can get me there,

1390
01:37:51,920 --> 01:37:54,800
Speaker 2: I'll do the rest, you know. And that's how I've

1391
01:37:54,800 --> 01:37:55,439
Speaker 2: always been.

1392
01:37:56,560 --> 01:37:59,200
Speaker 1: So what point did you start playing outside Australia.

1393
01:38:02,520 --> 01:38:10,679
Speaker 2: I used to go to LA. I would finish finished

1394
01:38:10,720 --> 01:38:13,720
Speaker 2: playing on Saturday night and Sunday I'd fly to LA

1395
01:38:14,439 --> 01:38:18,479
Speaker 2: and on I'd get in on Monday and I would

1396
01:38:18,479 --> 01:38:21,559
Speaker 2: play the Baked Potato Mony, two shows on Monday night,

1397
01:38:21,640 --> 01:38:23,200
Speaker 2: and then i'd fly back on Tuesday.

1398
01:38:23,720 --> 01:38:24,040
Speaker 1: Wow.

1399
01:38:25,200 --> 01:38:31,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we're talking commitment here. And I never

1400
01:38:31,160 --> 01:38:35,080
Speaker 2: made any money, but I started to build something. And

1401
01:38:35,120 --> 01:38:39,000
Speaker 2: then I started coming to the chet Atkins Convention. In

1402
01:38:39,120 --> 01:38:43,960
Speaker 2: ninety six was my first year there. And when they

1403
01:38:44,040 --> 01:38:47,360
Speaker 2: saw me at the CHET Convention, all the different guitar

1404
01:38:47,479 --> 01:38:50,680
Speaker 2: societies wanted me to come and play. So we put

1405
01:38:50,760 --> 01:38:54,160
Speaker 2: a whole package together where I went into Kentucky and

1406
01:38:54,240 --> 01:38:58,120
Speaker 2: played in Louisville and Lexington and all that, and then

1407
01:38:58,160 --> 01:39:00,600
Speaker 2: I went up to Cincinnati and played up there for

1408
01:39:00,640 --> 01:39:04,479
Speaker 2: the Ohio Fingerpickers Club blah blah, and then I went

1409
01:39:04,520 --> 01:39:11,040
Speaker 2: down to Orlando to the Fingerpickers down there, and then

1410
01:39:11,080 --> 01:39:16,000
Speaker 2: I went across to LA and played in mccabs and

1411
01:39:16,720 --> 01:39:19,920
Speaker 2: and all that. So I started in America right around

1412
01:39:19,920 --> 01:39:23,280
Speaker 2: the country, but just in all little small things that

1413
01:39:24,000 --> 01:39:27,760
Speaker 2: helped me. You know. I got connected through the chedd

1414
01:39:27,760 --> 01:39:33,720
Speaker 2: Akin Society people and they were really wonderful. But it

1415
01:39:33,840 --> 01:39:36,320
Speaker 2: was small, but it was a good start, and it

1416
01:39:36,360 --> 01:39:39,559
Speaker 2: wasn't long before, you know, it was less than two

1417
01:39:39,680 --> 01:39:43,160
Speaker 2: years of doing that that I was, you know, playing

1418
01:39:43,200 --> 01:39:47,639
Speaker 2: to six hundred to eight hundred people and playing in

1419
01:39:47,680 --> 01:39:51,559
Speaker 2: the town theater in these small towns. So it built,

1420
01:39:51,720 --> 01:39:52,920
Speaker 2: it built pretty quickly.

1421
01:39:53,960 --> 01:39:59,240
Speaker 1: When did the international business beyond Australia and the United

1422
01:39:59,240 --> 01:40:00,560
Speaker 1: States start?

1423
01:40:01,439 --> 01:40:05,360
Speaker 2: It started in the nineties. When I went to LA

1424
01:40:05,479 --> 01:40:08,439
Speaker 2: to record, i'd come back, I'd go and play in

1425
01:40:08,479 --> 01:40:12,680
Speaker 2: San Francisco. I was getting some airplay on KKSF and

1426
01:40:12,760 --> 01:40:16,800
Speaker 2: on the Wave, those smooth, kind of smooth jazz stations.

1427
01:40:18,040 --> 01:40:21,040
Speaker 2: I had a couple of records that people really liked,

1428
01:40:21,080 --> 01:40:24,040
Speaker 2: and I was getting some play. So I was going

1429
01:40:24,120 --> 01:40:31,680
Speaker 2: over there and doing stuff like listener appreciation shows and

1430
01:40:31,720 --> 01:40:34,519
Speaker 2: stuff like that. There was no money involved, but it

1431
01:40:34,720 --> 01:40:39,960
Speaker 2: was good experience and it was a way of building

1432
01:40:40,040 --> 01:40:40,679
Speaker 2: an audience.

1433
01:40:41,479 --> 01:40:44,080
Speaker 1: You know, what about you say you went to China,

1434
01:40:45,000 --> 01:40:47,760
Speaker 1: Maybe should I say where haven't you been? Have you

1435
01:40:47,840 --> 01:40:50,520
Speaker 1: basically played everywhere South America?

1436
01:40:50,960 --> 01:40:56,640
Speaker 2: Well, at the moment, we're trying to get to a

1437
01:40:56,720 --> 01:41:03,200
Speaker 2: stage where we can go to Brazil, to Mexico, to Chile,

1438
01:41:03,760 --> 01:41:08,080
Speaker 2: places like that, just finding a venue, finding a promoter,

1439
01:41:08,360 --> 01:41:13,600
Speaker 2: and being able to people know about me there. I

1440
01:41:13,760 --> 01:41:15,320
Speaker 2: just can't get there yet.

1441
01:41:16,000 --> 01:41:18,320
Speaker 1: What about Europe and other parts of the world.

1442
01:41:19,920 --> 01:41:24,800
Speaker 2: I have a wonderful career in Europe. I'm so grateful.

1443
01:41:25,320 --> 01:41:37,280
Speaker 2: Europe is as has been a wonderful place for me. Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium,

1444
01:41:37,360 --> 01:41:45,320
Speaker 2: up to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, all those countries and

1445
01:41:45,560 --> 01:41:49,360
Speaker 2: Russia and Ukraine and all those places have been so wonderful,

1446
01:41:49,360 --> 01:41:53,120
Speaker 2: And I'm so sad that I can't go back there.

1447
01:41:53,360 --> 01:41:56,360
Speaker 2: You know, I can't go back to Russia right now,

1448
01:41:56,400 --> 01:42:01,120
Speaker 2: I can't go back to Ukraine. And that makes me sad. Yeah,

1449
01:42:04,040 --> 01:42:09,799
Speaker 2: I'm just you know that the world is changing so quickly,

1450
01:42:10,800 --> 01:42:11,439
Speaker 2: really is.

1451
01:42:19,360 --> 01:42:25,240
Speaker 1: Okay? You're in Nashville Music City, Yeah, to what degree

1452
01:42:25,280 --> 01:42:30,080
Speaker 1: are you plugged into the player culture of Nashville, or

1453
01:42:30,120 --> 01:42:32,599
Speaker 1: to what degree you're Tommy Emmanuel and you just happen

1454
01:42:32,680 --> 01:42:33,639
Speaker 1: to live in that Shville.

1455
01:42:36,400 --> 01:42:42,360
Speaker 2: Well, a lot of my favorite players are here, and

1456
01:42:43,720 --> 01:42:47,760
Speaker 2: I have a lot of good friends here. And when

1457
01:42:47,800 --> 01:42:51,560
Speaker 2: I'm home, I find out who's playing where, and I

1458
01:42:52,439 --> 01:42:54,160
Speaker 2: it's the only time I get a chance to go

1459
01:42:54,200 --> 01:42:58,439
Speaker 2: and see other players. So whenever Guthrie Trapper is playing

1460
01:42:58,479 --> 01:43:00,960
Speaker 2: with his trio, I always try to get to see

1461
01:43:01,000 --> 01:43:06,040
Speaker 2: Guthrie and he doesn't The band don't play much anymore,

1462
01:43:06,040 --> 01:43:09,200
Speaker 2: but Brent Mason's band, the players. I used to go

1463
01:43:09,280 --> 01:43:11,519
Speaker 2: and sit in with them a lot and go see

1464
01:43:11,520 --> 01:43:16,759
Speaker 2: those guys play. And and and Jack Pearson is another

1465
01:43:16,800 --> 01:43:21,320
Speaker 2: great guitar player locally who I used to love going

1466
01:43:21,400 --> 01:43:23,920
Speaker 2: and play play the first set with Jack, he would

1467
01:43:24,160 --> 01:43:26,639
Speaker 2: he would always play some acoustic and then he'd switched

1468
01:43:26,680 --> 01:43:32,559
Speaker 2: to the band with with with electric, you know. And

1469
01:43:32,560 --> 01:43:36,479
Speaker 2: and I do the opry about four times a year,

1470
01:43:38,080 --> 01:43:42,439
Speaker 2: and and I I do the rhyme in every two years,

1471
01:43:42,800 --> 01:43:45,600
Speaker 2: and I've got it coming up in a couple of weeks.

1472
01:43:46,160 --> 01:43:50,680
Speaker 2: And so I enjoyed that. But see, I built I

1473
01:43:50,760 --> 01:43:54,040
Speaker 2: built Nashville in the same way as I built everywhere else,

1474
01:43:54,560 --> 01:43:59,360
Speaker 2: I came to town. I I I played in small places

1475
01:44:00,000 --> 01:44:02,679
Speaker 2: and then I played in a small theater three hundred

1476
01:44:02,760 --> 01:44:08,040
Speaker 2: seedter and it went well. So I booked myself back

1477
01:44:08,080 --> 01:44:12,000
Speaker 2: there and I filled it and then I did two nights.

1478
01:44:12,360 --> 01:44:15,120
Speaker 2: Then I moved to the tea Pack. Then I moved

1479
01:44:15,120 --> 01:44:17,840
Speaker 2: to the War Memorial Hall. Then I moved to blah

1480
01:44:17,880 --> 01:44:20,280
Speaker 2: blah blah, and then I got to the rhyme and

1481
01:44:20,640 --> 01:44:24,479
Speaker 2: eventually and that was fifteen years of my life.

1482
01:44:24,960 --> 01:44:28,760
Speaker 1: Okay, you're obviously very business savby. Do you make all

1483
01:44:28,800 --> 01:44:32,479
Speaker 1: these decisions? You know? Do you have a manager?

1484
01:44:33,280 --> 01:44:37,439
Speaker 2: Oh? I have a wonderful manager. Yeah. Absolutely. In the

1485
01:44:37,479 --> 01:44:41,519
Speaker 2: old days, a lady named Gina Mendelo is a friend

1486
01:44:41,520 --> 01:44:44,280
Speaker 2: of mine from a long way. She was working at

1487
01:44:44,280 --> 01:44:48,120
Speaker 2: Sony in Sydney when her and I became friends, and

1488
01:44:48,200 --> 01:44:52,720
Speaker 2: she marketed the album I did with Chep and so

1489
01:44:52,800 --> 01:44:56,559
Speaker 2: her and I kind of ran the ship together for

1490
01:44:56,600 --> 01:45:07,879
Speaker 2: a long time. And then in twenty thirteen I started

1491
01:45:07,880 --> 01:45:13,439
Speaker 2: talking with Brian Pennix from Vector, but he was actually

1492
01:45:13,439 --> 01:45:18,400
Speaker 2: a promoter in those days, and Brian Brian became my

1493
01:45:18,960 --> 01:45:23,439
Speaker 2: manager and we've been working together ever since, and he

1494
01:45:23,680 --> 01:45:26,840
Speaker 2: done an amazing job. I mean, he's got quite a

1495
01:45:26,920 --> 01:45:30,439
Speaker 2: roster of artists, you know, Jerry Douglas and Little Feet

1496
01:45:30,560 --> 01:45:34,000
Speaker 2: and Nitty Gritty and all those people. He manages a

1497
01:45:34,040 --> 01:45:37,479
Speaker 2: lot of different artists. But he does amazing work for me,

1498
01:45:38,479 --> 01:45:42,719
Speaker 2: he really does. And he's been one of the best

1499
01:45:42,720 --> 01:45:44,080
Speaker 2: friends I've ever had.

1500
01:45:45,280 --> 01:45:51,000
Speaker 1: So how does being an itinerant musician affected your relationships,

1501
01:45:51,040 --> 01:45:52,839
Speaker 1: your love relationships and family.

1502
01:46:00,280 --> 01:46:05,640
Speaker 2: Well, it's been. It's been incredibly hard on everyone. And

1503
01:46:06,720 --> 01:46:10,400
Speaker 2: you know, this is this is what I warn young people.

1504
01:46:10,439 --> 01:46:12,400
Speaker 2: I see, if you want to do what I'm doing,

1505
01:46:12,880 --> 01:46:16,479
Speaker 2: then you better you better remember that if you want

1506
01:46:16,520 --> 01:46:19,200
Speaker 2: to have a home and a family, you're going to

1507
01:46:19,280 --> 01:46:27,559
Speaker 2: have to work around that. But yeah, I've been married

1508
01:46:27,600 --> 01:46:33,320
Speaker 2: three times and I have I have two daughters and

1509
01:46:33,439 --> 01:46:38,200
Speaker 2: two granddaughters by one marriage. And I have another daughter

1510
01:46:38,880 --> 01:46:45,360
Speaker 2: by my previous marriage, and she's going to school in

1511
01:46:45,400 --> 01:46:50,200
Speaker 2: Sydney and they moved from California. She was born here

1512
01:46:50,200 --> 01:46:56,400
Speaker 2: in Nashville and she's ten years old. And so but

1513
01:46:56,600 --> 01:47:01,960
Speaker 2: I'm I'm I'm on my own right now, although I

1514
01:47:03,680 --> 01:47:05,800
Speaker 2: don't feel like I'm on my own. I feel like

1515
01:47:05,920 --> 01:47:12,920
Speaker 2: I have friends everywhere and family everywhere, and I basically

1516
01:47:14,920 --> 01:47:18,839
Speaker 2: try to fit in as many visits with my family

1517
01:47:18,960 --> 01:47:22,719
Speaker 2: as I can. There came a point back in two

1518
01:47:22,800 --> 01:47:26,880
Speaker 2: thousand and two or two thousand and three, around that time,

1519
01:47:27,600 --> 01:47:32,880
Speaker 2: when my wife, who I'd been married to for fifteen years,

1520
01:47:33,320 --> 01:47:37,960
Speaker 2: you know, took off with someone else and decided that

1521
01:47:39,400 --> 01:47:43,280
Speaker 2: she didn't want the lifestyle of me coming and going

1522
01:47:43,320 --> 01:47:47,960
Speaker 2: all the time anymore. And I totally get that. So

1523
01:47:48,680 --> 01:47:53,680
Speaker 2: but I then made the decision that I've really got

1524
01:47:53,760 --> 01:47:56,280
Speaker 2: to get to work. I've got to get going, And

1525
01:47:56,320 --> 01:48:01,280
Speaker 2: so I called a family meeting and I said to

1526
01:48:01,840 --> 01:48:06,439
Speaker 2: the girls, Look, this is what I do. This is

1527
01:48:06,479 --> 01:48:10,840
Speaker 2: who I am. I'm a road person. I play concerts,

1528
01:48:11,160 --> 01:48:13,759
Speaker 2: and this is how you can live in that nice

1529
01:48:13,800 --> 01:48:16,920
Speaker 2: house and your mom can drive that lovely car, and

1530
01:48:16,960 --> 01:48:20,759
Speaker 2: you can go to that good school because dad goes

1531
01:48:21,280 --> 01:48:23,880
Speaker 2: and gets to work. And that's how it's going to

1532
01:48:23,920 --> 01:48:25,880
Speaker 2: be for a while, and you're going to have to

1533
01:48:25,920 --> 01:48:29,479
Speaker 2: be all right about it. And they were okay about it.

1534
01:48:30,640 --> 01:48:34,120
Speaker 2: We still wish we could see each other a lot more,

1535
01:48:35,160 --> 01:48:39,200
Speaker 2: but you know, it just doesn't work for me to

1536
01:48:39,240 --> 01:48:43,240
Speaker 2: be off the road for too long. You know, how

1537
01:48:43,240 --> 01:48:47,160
Speaker 2: many dates a year are you doing? Right now? We're

1538
01:48:47,280 --> 01:48:50,840
Speaker 2: kind of cut back to about two hundred, so I

1539
01:48:50,960 --> 01:48:54,960
Speaker 2: was doing well. Some years I did three hundred and

1540
01:48:55,000 --> 01:49:03,400
Speaker 2: fifty shows, you know. And yeah, my biggest problem, Bob,

1541
01:49:03,760 --> 01:49:09,280
Speaker 2: is that things just keep getting better. That's my biggest problem.

1542
01:49:09,479 --> 01:49:11,640
Speaker 2: If only it all turned to crap, and then I

1543
01:49:11,640 --> 01:49:14,120
Speaker 2: could say, well, it's been wonderful, see you later. I'm

1544
01:49:14,120 --> 01:49:17,559
Speaker 2: just going to go be granddad now, you know. But

1545
01:49:19,640 --> 01:49:24,920
Speaker 2: I love playing for people so much, and you know,

1546
01:49:25,080 --> 01:49:28,360
Speaker 2: it's what I do. I play and people get happy,

1547
01:49:28,840 --> 01:49:33,400
Speaker 2: and I just can't imagine doing anything else.

1548
01:49:34,160 --> 01:49:36,360
Speaker 1: Let's just go back to the new album a little bit.

1549
01:49:37,280 --> 01:49:39,960
Speaker 1: What is so special about the gentleman you worked with?

1550
01:49:42,520 --> 01:49:43,679
Speaker 2: You mean Vance Powell.

1551
01:49:43,840 --> 01:49:45,000
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1552
01:49:45,479 --> 01:49:52,800
Speaker 2: Oh, he's an engineer. He's technically on an incredible level

1553
01:49:53,400 --> 01:49:58,639
Speaker 2: about getting sounds, being creative and doing it now and

1554
01:49:58,680 --> 01:50:02,840
Speaker 2: doing a quick you know. He's the type of guy.

1555
01:50:04,160 --> 01:50:06,400
Speaker 2: We're going to start at ten and we finished at six.

1556
01:50:06,880 --> 01:50:09,960
Speaker 2: That's it. I don't work at night, and I totally

1557
01:50:09,960 --> 01:50:15,160
Speaker 2: get that, so we don't waste time in here. We

1558
01:50:15,920 --> 01:50:19,600
Speaker 2: get to work and then you have a listen to

1559
01:50:19,760 --> 01:50:22,479
Speaker 2: what you've just recorded, you played in the car or something,

1560
01:50:22,479 --> 01:50:26,400
Speaker 2: and it's like, holy hell, this sounds good, you know,

1561
01:50:26,439 --> 01:50:33,960
Speaker 2: this sound real, and I just loved working with him,

1562
01:50:34,560 --> 01:50:42,840
Speaker 2: and he was he was really helping me do what

1563
01:50:43,120 --> 01:50:46,000
Speaker 2: the way, do it the way I wanted to. And

1564
01:50:46,560 --> 01:50:50,200
Speaker 2: he also gave me some advice. I was struggling with

1565
01:50:50,760 --> 01:50:54,559
Speaker 2: playing and singing with headphones on and all that playing

1566
01:50:54,600 --> 01:50:58,160
Speaker 2: and singing this song and I just couldn't hear the

1567
01:50:58,280 --> 01:51:01,200
Speaker 2: pitch properly. You know. I was really struggling with it

1568
01:51:01,240 --> 01:51:04,639
Speaker 2: because I wear hearing aids. I was born with yellow fever,

1569
01:51:05,240 --> 01:51:08,679
Speaker 2: so my hearing is burnt out before I came into

1570
01:51:08,680 --> 01:51:14,640
Speaker 2: the world. And anyway, he said, look, take your headphones

1571
01:51:14,680 --> 01:51:18,479
Speaker 2: off and just sing as if I'm sitting right here

1572
01:51:18,520 --> 01:51:22,360
Speaker 2: beside you. Sing the song to me and we'll just

1573
01:51:22,439 --> 01:51:26,439
Speaker 2: let the mics do their do their thing. So I did,

1574
01:51:27,080 --> 01:51:30,920
Speaker 2: and I got it first take, and the vocal was fine,

1575
01:51:31,240 --> 01:51:35,280
Speaker 2: you know, and needed a few little pitch things here

1576
01:51:35,280 --> 01:51:39,559
Speaker 2: and there, but basically it was a good take and

1577
01:51:39,600 --> 01:51:47,960
Speaker 2: the guitar sounded beautiful. And he really showed me that

1578
01:51:48,520 --> 01:51:53,840
Speaker 2: anything is possible and if I'm struggling with something, to

1579
01:51:53,920 --> 01:51:56,240
Speaker 2: let him know and he can come up with a solution,

1580
01:51:56,800 --> 01:51:58,439
Speaker 2: you know. And I learned a lot from that.

1581
01:51:58,880 --> 01:52:02,360
Speaker 1: It was good, Okay, So you make a record, how

1582
01:52:02,439 --> 01:52:05,920
Speaker 1: much overdubbing fixing is done?

1583
01:52:06,400 --> 01:52:10,240
Speaker 2: On this album, the overdubbing was on the tracks where

1584
01:52:10,280 --> 01:52:16,040
Speaker 2: I had I put some drums on like a heat

1585
01:52:16,120 --> 01:52:19,120
Speaker 2: programmed a drum part, and then I overdubbed some stuff

1586
01:52:19,160 --> 01:52:21,400
Speaker 2: on it, and then I put bass on it, and

1587
01:52:21,439 --> 01:52:23,920
Speaker 2: then I put other rhythm part. Then I put an

1588
01:52:23,920 --> 01:52:26,400
Speaker 2: electric guitar on, and then I got a girl to

1589
01:52:26,439 --> 01:52:30,760
Speaker 2: come in and we constructed the backing vocals as a

1590
01:52:31,560 --> 01:52:35,559
Speaker 2: unit and put that together. And you know, that all

1591
01:52:35,600 --> 01:52:39,479
Speaker 2: happened pretty quickly. But as far as fix ups and

1592
01:52:40,479 --> 01:52:48,679
Speaker 2: overdubs and stuff, most of the solo songs that I played,

1593
01:52:48,960 --> 01:52:53,679
Speaker 2: Scarlet's World, A Drowning Heart, black and white to color

1594
01:52:53,760 --> 01:52:57,120
Speaker 2: all that, most of those were one take. You know,

1595
01:52:57,600 --> 01:52:59,320
Speaker 2: I can do it live, I have to do it

1596
01:52:59,360 --> 01:52:59,920
Speaker 2: in the studio.

1597
01:53:01,320 --> 01:53:04,640
Speaker 1: So the album's finished, the album's coming out. What do

1598
01:53:04,680 --> 01:53:07,759
Speaker 1: you have planned? What's setting Stone going forward?

1599
01:53:08,760 --> 01:53:14,320
Speaker 2: All right, Well, I've got a bunch of TV and

1600
01:53:14,439 --> 01:53:18,479
Speaker 2: radio things to do, and then I've got this tour

1601
01:53:18,600 --> 01:53:22,639
Speaker 2: starting after the Rhyming show in a couple of weeks,

1602
01:53:22,960 --> 01:53:25,400
Speaker 2: and then I've got a long tour which finishes at

1603
01:53:25,400 --> 01:53:30,840
Speaker 2: Carnegie Hall on the thirtieth of this month. So that's

1604
01:53:30,880 --> 01:53:33,840
Speaker 2: the first leg of the tour with the new album,

1605
01:53:34,600 --> 01:53:39,519
Speaker 2: and then the second one is in December, and the

1606
01:53:39,640 --> 01:53:42,880
Speaker 2: videos will drop every like every two weeks. There'll be

1607
01:53:42,920 --> 01:53:45,759
Speaker 2: a new video, a new video of all the songs.

1608
01:53:46,479 --> 01:53:50,400
Speaker 2: And so we've already we've already got two out there

1609
01:53:50,479 --> 01:53:54,960
Speaker 2: now and third one's coming soon. But they're all done.

1610
01:53:56,160 --> 01:53:59,000
Speaker 1: Okay. You talk about the breakthrough of the tour with

1611
01:53:59,120 --> 01:54:05,720
Speaker 1: John Denver. Is it purely been hard work or have

1612
01:54:05,800 --> 01:54:08,439
Speaker 1: there been a series of lucky breaks?

1613
01:54:09,120 --> 01:54:14,400
Speaker 2: Well, you could call it a lucky break being offered

1614
01:54:14,479 --> 01:54:18,720
Speaker 2: the John Denver tour, but I think I was the

1615
01:54:18,840 --> 01:54:23,040
Speaker 2: right person. And you know, they didn't have to lug

1616
01:54:23,560 --> 01:54:27,640
Speaker 2: ten people around and fly them and accommodate them. It

1617
01:54:27,720 --> 01:54:35,880
Speaker 2: was just me, you know. So there's elements of luck

1618
01:54:35,960 --> 01:54:42,320
Speaker 2: out there, and there's also elements of you know, I'm

1619
01:54:42,360 --> 01:54:46,680
Speaker 2: pretty easy going. I'm very self contained. All I need

1620
01:54:46,720 --> 01:54:51,320
Speaker 2: is to just get a good sound and let me go,

1621
01:54:51,760 --> 01:54:57,360
Speaker 2: you know. So you know, I'm a I'm not a

1622
01:54:57,400 --> 01:55:03,120
Speaker 2: demanding person. I'm very demand of myself, but I'm not

1623
01:55:03,200 --> 01:55:08,480
Speaker 2: a demanding person with other people. I want people to

1624
01:55:08,560 --> 01:55:14,680
Speaker 2: treat me like I treat them. So you know, I

1625
01:55:14,800 --> 01:55:18,000
Speaker 2: got no time for complainers. I hate people who are

1626
01:55:18,040 --> 01:55:21,600
Speaker 2: in the music business. They're making a living playing music,

1627
01:55:21,960 --> 01:55:24,680
Speaker 2: and all they do is complain about it. Well, get

1628
01:55:24,680 --> 01:55:29,040
Speaker 2: the hell out of it. You know, you don't know

1629
01:55:29,080 --> 01:55:32,680
Speaker 2: how lucky you are. You're making living and you're making music.

1630
01:55:33,080 --> 01:55:36,040
Speaker 2: Holy smoke. Doesn't get better than that.

1631
01:55:37,520 --> 01:55:41,320
Speaker 1: And when you view your work today, do you view

1632
01:55:41,360 --> 01:55:45,160
Speaker 1: it as a long continuum or do you feel you're

1633
01:55:45,240 --> 01:55:48,960
Speaker 1: better than before? Or do you look back at the past?

1634
01:55:49,000 --> 01:55:52,040
Speaker 1: A I wish I knew then what I know now?

1635
01:55:52,200 --> 01:55:54,000
Speaker 1: What's your tike? Oh?

1636
01:55:54,080 --> 01:55:56,560
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I wish I knew then. What I know now

1637
01:55:56,760 --> 01:56:01,400
Speaker 2: is exactly what it's like being my age and knowing

1638
01:56:01,440 --> 01:56:05,040
Speaker 2: what I know now. But you know, that's that's life,

1639
01:56:05,080 --> 01:56:13,040
Speaker 2: isn't it. Life is our teacher. And you know, I

1640
01:56:13,040 --> 01:56:19,560
Speaker 2: think I don't think people realize how much work it

1641
01:56:19,680 --> 01:56:24,480
Speaker 2: takes to get anywhere in the business. And you know,

1642
01:56:24,760 --> 01:56:28,960
Speaker 2: like I've heard this said two people. You know, be

1643
01:56:29,040 --> 01:56:31,320
Speaker 2: careful what you wish for. You might just get it

1644
01:56:31,920 --> 01:56:35,920
Speaker 2: and it might destroy you. I've seen people be destroyed

1645
01:56:35,960 --> 01:56:40,480
Speaker 2: by fame and fortune, you know, so don't don't look

1646
01:56:40,520 --> 01:56:45,240
Speaker 2: for that. Money comes and goes, money flows in and

1647
01:56:45,240 --> 01:56:49,600
Speaker 2: out of your life, and and and fame is a

1648
01:56:49,600 --> 01:56:55,320
Speaker 2: momentary curse. So you know, you've got to get yourself

1649
01:56:55,320 --> 01:56:59,920
Speaker 2: out there. But at the same time, you you've got

1650
01:56:59,960 --> 01:57:03,120
Speaker 2: to find a balance. You know. I can't do a

1651
01:57:03,160 --> 01:57:07,440
Speaker 2: good job if I'm frazzled and stressed and worried about

1652
01:57:07,480 --> 01:57:10,160
Speaker 2: this and blah blah blah. I don't want to be

1653
01:57:10,360 --> 01:57:14,200
Speaker 2: like that, you know. So I don't try to take

1654
01:57:14,240 --> 01:57:18,640
Speaker 2: on too much as in other things. You know, I'm

1655
01:57:18,680 --> 01:57:20,360
Speaker 2: not a guy who says, oh, I've got to go

1656
01:57:20,440 --> 01:57:23,360
Speaker 2: fly fishing. Oh I've got to go car racing. I

1657
01:57:23,400 --> 01:57:25,720
Speaker 2: want to play football, I want to blow hit the

1658
01:57:25,760 --> 01:57:27,760
Speaker 2: golf ball. I want to do this, and have you

1659
01:57:27,800 --> 01:57:29,920
Speaker 2: seen this? We've got to go to the movies. I

1660
01:57:29,960 --> 01:57:33,360
Speaker 2: don't I know how to be still. I know how

1661
01:57:33,400 --> 01:57:37,760
Speaker 2: to be quiet, and I know how to just relax,

1662
01:57:37,880 --> 01:57:41,880
Speaker 2: you know. And so you know, what matters to me

1663
01:57:42,040 --> 01:57:44,240
Speaker 2: is that I do a good job when I play.

1664
01:57:44,920 --> 01:57:49,520
Speaker 2: And if I struggle with anything, then I'll just work

1665
01:57:49,560 --> 01:57:55,280
Speaker 2: on it, you know. And it's it's not rocket science.

1666
01:57:55,560 --> 01:58:00,040
Speaker 2: It's you know, find where your strengths are, find what

1667
01:58:00,120 --> 01:58:03,840
Speaker 2: you're good at and what really works, and go for it,

1668
01:58:04,680 --> 01:58:07,360
Speaker 2: and go for it with all your heart and all

1669
01:58:07,440 --> 01:58:14,680
Speaker 2: your energy. Don't half ass anything. It's all or nothing.

1670
01:58:15,600 --> 01:58:19,400
Speaker 2: That's how it is for me. You know. My attitude

1671
01:58:19,440 --> 01:58:24,520
Speaker 2: to people is if I see you on stage only,

1672
01:58:25,360 --> 01:58:29,960
Speaker 2: you know, not really trying or giving, not giving all

1673
01:58:30,000 --> 01:58:33,280
Speaker 2: of yourself. If I see that, then get the hell

1674
01:58:33,320 --> 01:58:36,560
Speaker 2: off that stage because I'm coming on. You know. That's

1675
01:58:36,640 --> 01:58:41,000
Speaker 2: my attitude to people who who half assed things. You know,

1676
01:58:42,160 --> 01:58:47,080
Speaker 2: so it's definitely all or nothing for me every time.

1677
01:58:48,600 --> 01:58:51,320
Speaker 1: Well, Tommy, I want to thank you so much for

1678
01:58:51,400 --> 01:58:55,360
Speaker 1: taking the time, being honest, giving your philosophy. At the end,

1679
01:58:55,640 --> 01:58:58,360
Speaker 1: people have no idea how hard it is to make it,

1680
01:58:58,880 --> 01:58:59,480
Speaker 1: no idea.

1681
01:58:59,600 --> 01:59:04,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, they just yeah and they and they want it now,

1682
01:59:04,320 --> 01:59:07,360
Speaker 2: and it's not. Life doesn't work like that, you know,

1683
01:59:07,960 --> 01:59:12,520
Speaker 2: where it's ever evolving. And you know, when I think

1684
01:59:12,560 --> 01:59:14,920
Speaker 2: of the stuff that I did, I'm so glad I

1685
01:59:15,000 --> 01:59:18,200
Speaker 2: did it. I'm glad I did cruises where I was

1686
01:59:18,280 --> 01:59:22,720
Speaker 2: expected to play in a ballroom dancing band, and then

1687
01:59:22,760 --> 01:59:25,320
Speaker 2: I had to play be the lead guitar player and

1688
01:59:25,360 --> 01:59:28,760
Speaker 2: the lead singer and sing the whole Hot August Night

1689
01:59:28,840 --> 01:59:33,040
Speaker 2: album start to finish in one set for two hours.

1690
01:59:33,360 --> 01:59:36,280
Speaker 2: And then I had to play you know, bosting over

1691
01:59:36,480 --> 01:59:39,640
Speaker 2: music down by the pool in the afternoon, and that's

1692
01:59:39,680 --> 01:59:44,040
Speaker 2: how I gained experience and knowledge by taking on a job.

1693
01:59:44,160 --> 01:59:46,920
Speaker 2: And then I got a job in a band playing bass,

1694
01:59:47,400 --> 01:59:50,200
Speaker 2: and then I got a job playing drums, and I

1695
01:59:50,280 --> 01:59:53,280
Speaker 2: did all that, and I kept working on it, and

1696
01:59:53,320 --> 01:59:55,840
Speaker 2: I kept saying, yes, I can do that, and then

1697
01:59:55,880 --> 01:59:58,800
Speaker 2: I'm hoping that I could, you know, because I needed

1698
01:59:58,800 --> 02:00:03,200
Speaker 2: the experience and and all that stuff, and you know,

1699
02:00:03,640 --> 02:00:07,400
Speaker 2: it really pays off. What I do know is that

1700
02:00:07,640 --> 02:00:11,880
Speaker 2: you know, it doesn't matter how many views you have

1701
02:00:12,080 --> 02:00:15,520
Speaker 2: on YouTube, it doesn't matter how many millions of likes

1702
02:00:15,720 --> 02:00:21,720
Speaker 2: you have. They do not equal concert tickets sold. So

1703
02:00:22,480 --> 02:00:27,000
Speaker 2: you've you've got to build your audience by hand, brick

1704
02:00:27,080 --> 02:00:29,200
Speaker 2: by brick. That's how you do it.

1705
02:00:30,440 --> 02:00:32,800
Speaker 1: On that note, I think we're going to close. There

1706
02:00:32,800 --> 02:00:36,200
Speaker 1: are two kinds of people. People who are Tommy Emmanuel

1707
02:00:36,360 --> 02:00:39,160
Speaker 1: fans and people who just haven't heard him yet. If

1708
02:00:39,200 --> 02:00:42,200
Speaker 1: you're not familiar with his music, pull it up and listen. Tommy.

1709
02:00:42,240 --> 02:00:44,160
Speaker 1: I want to thank you for taking all this time

1710
02:00:44,320 --> 02:00:45,560
Speaker 1: to speak with my audio.

1711
02:00:46,320 --> 02:00:48,960
Speaker 2: I appreciate it and less of love to you brother.

1712
02:00:49,560 --> 02:00:53,200
Speaker 1: Okay, till next time. This is Bob left sets,