WEBVTT - Tommy Emmanuel 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:13.119 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Lefts Podcast. My 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:18.599 guest today is guitarist Extraordinary Tommy and men Will. Tommy 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.680 has a new album, Living in the Light. Tell me 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:22.799 about the new album. 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:25.919 Tommy, Thanks, Bob. How are you today? By the way, 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:26.960 I'm pretty good. 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:28.520 I'm thrilled to be talking to you. 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:33.960 Thank you. Yeah, Well, the same here the new album, 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:38.240 Living in the Light. It's just it was something that 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:42.520 I'd been writing a few songs on the road and 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:47.720 I was home taking a walk along the Percy Priest 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:51.519 Lake here in Nashville with a friend of mine, and 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:57.080 he said, well, you just walked three miles and you're 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.840 not even raising a sweat, you know. He said, Man, 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.160 you look so well. You must be living in the light. 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:06.039 And the moment he said that, I was like, that's 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.520 a great phrase, living in the light. I love that. 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.880 So it's kind of what started the ball rolling on 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:15.920 the name of the album and all that and the 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:22.280 direction of everything. Just that one conversation. And I had 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:28.880 written some songs and one called Scarlett's World. Scarlett is 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:33.480 my oldest granddaughter, she's seven, and you know, I was 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:38.760 just thinking one day, what the world will be like 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:42.120 when she's twenty one years old, you know, what will 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:45.440 our world be like? And what is Scarlet's world going 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:50.960 to be? So that kind of gave me some a 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:55.640 kind of a theme to work towards. And I have 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:59.640 another granddaughter named Georgia, and so I wrote the song 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:07.520 Little Georgia for her. And then basically I wanted to 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:12.240 work with a man named Van Vance Powell who's a 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:17.000 great producer, a great engineer, and I like working with 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:22.000 people who have, you know, a great experience behind the 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:25.880 sound desk and all that. And I listened to a 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:29.880 lot of his work with Chris Stapleton and Jack White 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:34.080 and stuff like that, and I thought this, if I 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:36.959 could get to work with him, it would be wonderful. 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:39.880 So we contacted him, and I could only get him 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:42.840 a year in advance. I could only get him for 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:48.480 four days, so I had to get the whole album done, finished, 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:52.600 and mixed in four days, and we did it. We 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.400 finished at like six o'clock on the day on the 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:59.800 fourth day. We finished everything. So that's how it came 0:02:59.880 --> 0:03:02.440 up about some of the songs on there that are 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:06.280 that are going to come out on video where that's 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:08.520 the take And I only did it once and we 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:12.839 filmed it and there it is. That's how that came out. 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.639 Okay, what is the process? Do you wait for inspiration 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:19.040 or do you say, I haven't had an album in 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:23.120 a long time. We're always thinking about recording in the future. 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.760 I never think about recording when I'm writing and stuff. 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:37.840 A songwriter like me, even though I very rarely write lyrics, 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:42.000 my songs are still songs to me. They still tell 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:45.480 the story even without words, and that's kind of how 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:51.680 I approach it. I always my brain does this automatically. 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.640 When I start writing a song, I'm looking for the 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:58.120 lead singer's part in the melody, in other words, and 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:02.200 then I'm looking for the band to do interesting chords underneath. 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:06.320 So the lead can have the same kind of melody, 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:11.280 but the chords can change underneath, and so that makes 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:15.800 the song have a certain repetition that your ear loves, 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.720 but your senses want to feel something a little different, 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:23.120 So you do the same melody, but you change the 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.600 chords underneath. Things like that, And I always think that way. 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:30.400 I always think of, you know, how can I make 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:37.480 this be repetition but yet interesting all the way? And 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:38.320 things like that. 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:42.920 You know, so in terms of writing, are you writing 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:45.240 all the time or thoughts come into your brain or 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:47.760 do you say I'm going to write now, let me 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:48.880 sit down and write. 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:52.560 I wish I could just turn it on. But the 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:57.880 truth is, Bob, a songwriter waits patiently for something to 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:03.040 happen you. You wait for you either get a real 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:07.080 good idea that comes to you because of something. Normally, 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:14.120 for me, it's somebody I meet, something I hear, or 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:18.520 something I watch. And I know I've written many songs 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:24.240 from watching films and I just get I get inspired 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:29.960 by a story or a character or how a movie 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.880 is made. I remember when I watched Lincoln, the beautiful 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:40.120 Steven Spielberg film, and because of that song, Because of 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:47.960 that movie, I wrote the song Old Photographs. And when 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:52.080 I was writing the song, I was an old lady 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.960 in Ireland sitting playing piano. That's what I was in 0:05:56.040 --> 0:06:00.520 my head, and the song came to life in that 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:05.320 kind of way. And I was also reminded of my 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:10.080 grandparents who have been gone for I don't know, sixty 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:16.800 five years or something. And I was reminded of when 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.800 I used to visit my grandparents and my grandmother would 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:24.719 take out the little cookie tin and open it and 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:28.760 there'd be all these old photographs in there, and she'd 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:33.839 tell me stories about everyone in the photo and photos 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.400 of my uncle's that never came back from the war 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.680 and things like that. And that's kind of how that 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:43.640 song appeared, because that movie put me in that frame 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:44.760 of mind. You know. 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:49.279 Okay, let's drill down a little bit further. You're sitting there, 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:53.839 you're watching the movie. Do you start to write the 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.240 song in your head while you're watching or do you 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:01.640 try to maintain the mood after the film ends? And 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:06.560 how long after is the period of inspiration before it 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:08.360 feeds away or does it never feed away? 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:12.560 If I'm totally engrossed in the film, then I'll stay 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:15.840 there till the end, and then if I feel like 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:18.920 I can write something or I've got an idea, then 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:22.400 I'll just pursue it. You know, I'm like a dog 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:25.120 with a bone, and when it comes to it, if 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.360 I've got one good idea, I'm going to I'm going 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:32.440 to chew it to death until it becomes something. You know, 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:37.000 but it has to be My instincts have to tell 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:40.280 me that it's good enough, you know. I remember when 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:44.280 I was writing Scarlett's World. And it started out like 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:49.000 a ballad, and I liked the I like the melody 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:52.320 because it was one note. And then the chords changed 0:07:52.440 --> 0:08:01.200 underneath dude, and then I thought, ah, that that's all working, 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:06.480 but it's too sad. So I made it into like 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:12.040 a rock and roll groove, and then it became dum 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:16.760 dun d du that, and then it started to live 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:20.000 under my hands, and I ended up writing the rest 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:25.120 of the song. And actually I wrote a lot of 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:28.000 stuff to put in the song, trying to be clever, 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:31.520 and most of it I threw out because the song 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:35.559 itself just needed to tell the story and that's it. 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:37.920 So all the other stuff that I was trying to 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.960 be clever creating, I ended up tossing out because it 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:41.840 just wasn't working. 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:46.080 Okay, let's go back. Let's say you're watching Lincoln. Obviously, 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:48.600 you can go to a theater. You can watch it home. 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:50.800 When you watch it home, you can watch on demand. 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.600 Stop just to get my story straight here, You could 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:57.800 be watching the movie get inspired at home and stop 0:08:57.880 --> 0:08:59.720 the movie and say I got to pick up my 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.000 gets are? Is that how it works? 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:05.840 You possibly could, but I don't think i've ever done that. 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:10.160 So is when you say you saw the movie Lincoln, 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:12.200 since that is what did you see it at home 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:13.559 or did you see it in the theater? 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:15.079 I saw it in the theater. 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:19.240 Okay, you stay for the whole film. When do you 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:20.560 start writing the song? 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.360 When I get when I get back to where I'm staying. 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:28.680 And is it possible that Let's assume you saw the 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:32.800 movie and then you were in a situation for twenty 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.160 four hours where you just couldn't sit with your guitar. 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:38.320 Would you lose it or would you still have the inspiration? 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:44.200 I've lost it a million times. Yeah. I've also written 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:48.880 a song called the Wide Ocean was on my album 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:52.520 Tommy Songs. I wrote that song completely in my head 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:56.400 on a flight from New York to Beijing. And because 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:59.760 I can play the guitar in my mind, I can 0:09:59.880 --> 0:10:04.160 hear hear it and sense it and hear the inversions, 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.319 the melody and all that, I can hear it all 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:12.040 in my head, and I can visualize where the melody 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:16.360 is and all that. And then I got to Beijing, 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.200 got straight to the hotel, got my guitar out to 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:23.040 make sure that my hand's new where they needed to go, 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.320 and it was fine. 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:30.920 Let's just assume you're in that situation. You get into 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:33.160 the hotel, we start to play, you turn on your 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.240 phone or you have some recording device to make sure 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:36.599 you have it. 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:43.160 Yeah, I have voice memo on my iPhone. That's my 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:49.080 I've got all my song ideas on that. And you know, 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:54.560 during COVID, when we were in lockdown, I was approached 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:58.079 to write music for a film called The Tiger Rising, 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:05.840 which was a quick in Latifah movie, and the guy 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:08.000 who was the producer of the film was a big 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.959 fan of my music. He particularly liked my song The 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:17.240 Mystery and wanted to use some of that song in 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:20.120 the film. And I said, well, why don't you send 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:21.640 me some of the film and I'll see if I 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:25.040 can write something full exactly for the film. And so 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:28.600 I ended up doing the whole film and I wrote everything, 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.520 with the exception of the opening theme, which was written 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:37.360 by an LA guy. But I wrote the whole thing 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:42.920 and recorded bits of it on my iPhone, texted to 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.400 the music director of the film. He orchestrated it with 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:49.600 his keyboards and all that, and we dropped it in 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.680 the film bit, you know, three minutes of the film 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.400 to see that it all worked, and that's how we 0:11:55.480 --> 0:12:00.600 wrote the whole film. And then when locke Down was 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:04.880 finally let go of and he was able to travel, 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:10.440 he came here to Nashville and we recorded the songs 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:14.760 for real with me in one studio and I did 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:19.040 all the guitar parts, and then we overdubbed the orchestra 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:21.520 the next day and put it together. 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:26.440 Okay, when you do get inspired and you are writing 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.960 A how quickly do you work? And B how much 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:33.280 do you or do you not change it thereafter? 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:48.040 I'm usually a pretty fast rider. But it really really 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.880 depends on how inspired I am. But when I play 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.720 my own songs, say if it's a song I haven't 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:57.280 played in a while and I play it, the first 0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:00.160 thing I noticed is, oh, yeah, I recognize it is 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:04.840 the construction of this song. I recognize that that part 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:08.240 there needed this, you know what I mean. So you know, 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.080 I'm still thinking like a pop songwriter. It doesn't matter 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:15.199 whether it's country, bluegrass, jazz, whatever, I don't care. I 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:18.040 always think like, I want got to get this to 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.440 the people. This song is for people to hear. It's 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:25.520 not it's not trying to be clever for the sake 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:29.720 of being clever or whatever it's. It's trying to write 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:33.200 the best song that I can, and I have to 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:39.160 satisfy my my barometer, my my quality control, which is 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:45.880 right here, you know. And and so because I look 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.880 at it like this, Bob, they're up in here is 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:52.479 all the all the clever guys. They're all throwing ideas 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:55.080 and they've got things going and they're you know, but 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:59.080 this this guy down here is the one that has 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:00.520 the final say. 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.080 Just for those weeks, since we're audio only, you're talking 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:06.000 about the guys in your head and then talking about 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:10.720 your heart having the final say. So, yeah, you work quickly. 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:15.720 Do you go back and change it before recording or 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:17.640 you just go and write something else. 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:24.040 Now, I don't play it for anybody until I know 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:29.160 it's absolutely one hundred percent done, and then I can't 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:31.720 wait to play it to people, because there is no 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:36.320 greater feeling than playing your new song to an audience. 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.400 That's the most exciting damn thing that I know. 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:45.120 Okay, let's talk about classic rockers. They'll go on the 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:50.280 road and they play new music. The audience goes to 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:54.680 the bathroom. When you're playing live and you're playing new music. 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:57.840 You find the audience is unfamiliar with the music, but 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:00.000 they're receptive or they're less receptive. 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:03.760 Oh, they're very receptive. And I usually opened my show 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:08.760 with something brand new every time. You know, it's very 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:13.880 rarely that I would come out and play, you know, 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.760 a very well known song of mine or something like that. 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:23.800 I do enjoy it sometimes, like for instance, on this 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:27.200 last tour that I just did where I played in China. 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.960 We did ten shows in China, and my song Angelina 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:37.240 is you know, it's really that's the song that people 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:41.520 are always waiting for. And when I played in the show, 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:45.760 I just play the first chord and sing a little 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:50.200 intro and people yell and scream, and then I go 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:54.760 into the body of the song and they applaud again, 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:59.320 and we know this song, we like this song. So 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:03.240 what I did on my shows in China is I 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:07.080 opened the show with that song and then I went 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.960 off into other things just for fun, just to try 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:14.600 something different. But normally I would open the show with 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:18.080 it with two to three brand new songs in a 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:20.280 row that people have never heard before. 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:32.080 Okay, to go to China. How big are the venues 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.520 you play and are the people familiar with your work. 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:43.560 Oh yeah. The venues are called Lifehouse. They're like rock clubs, 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:48.120 and some of them are like a thousand people standing, 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:54.960 six hundred people sitting, that kind of thing, and they're 0:16:55.040 --> 0:17:02.600 really nice. And the in house product, the PA, the 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:06.399 sound production, and the lights and everything are really first 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:12.880 class and they're really modern and my team makes good 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:19.479 use of them, believe me. So a normal day in 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:23.160 China would be we would get to the city where 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:27.360 we're playing about lunchtime, check into a hotel, eat something, 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:31.159 have a nap for twenty minutes, then go to the venue. 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:35.640 My lighting director would go early so because he's got 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:39.760 a program the light and then me and my sound 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:42.720 man who's my tool manager, we go to the venue 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:48.720 about three o'clock and we get set up and then 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:51.480 we do a sound check and I come out and 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:56.160 plug in and play as if the audience are already 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:59.080 in kind of thing. You know. I don't waste time 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:04.280 noodle around on stage. I get to you know, get 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:08.520 to the business of getting the sound as best as 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:12.400 best as we can get it. And so I do this. 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:15.560 I play a few tunes and I play with a 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:20.440 similar intensity of the show. So we can see where 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.639 things are going. Once we're all happy with the sound 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:28.120 and everything, then we eat something and then I usually 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:32.320 do a meet and greet. I meet like one hundred 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:38.520 and fifty people, sign their guitars, sign autographs, get a photo, 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:41.639 and then it's showtime. 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:44.480 Okay, So on the road, it's the three of you. 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:50.240 Yeah, okay, it's my lighting director and my sound man. 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:51.439 Who's my tool manager? 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:56.200 Okay, you're meeting these people? What are the one or 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:58.240 two questions they always ask? 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:05.919 Will you play Angelina? Will you play Lewis and Clark? 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:09.840 You know, I hear the same kind of you know, 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:14.920 and can you give me one of your picks? 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:18.440 So if I'm there and I asked for one of 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:19.720 your picks, what are you going to say? 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:23.000 I'm going to say I've got a pocket full of 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:27.560 Just hang on a second, And I. 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:30.160 Mean, do you have a merch table at your gigs 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:31.120 where people can buy them? 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:36.400 Yes? Yeah, I was only talking about China. We definitely 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:40.760 had merch there, but the promoter took care of everything. 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.960 You know. It's a whole different world compared to touring 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:47.439 anywhere else. You can't compare it, you know, So. 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.160 Tell me some other things that are different about touring in. 0:19:50.160 --> 0:20:00.320 China, Well, Pristadoff, the people pay extra for the IP 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:04.000 ticket and for that they get a chance for me 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:06.280 to sign their guitar and then they get a photo 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:12.040 with me, and that takes time. So we set the 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:15.280 maximum at one hundred and fifty people, So that's one 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:19.200 hundred and fifty guitars I have to sign, and then 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.560 they regroup and they shuffle them through and we get 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:26.040 a photo together then and then that's another one hundred 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:29.119 and fifty people like that and getting a photo and 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:34.600 all that, and then that's it. So you could not 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:38.920 do that here in America. You just couldn't do that 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:44.840 because you know, the Chinese are very much aware that, 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:51.280 you know, they have to be you know, corralled and 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:55.760 told this is how it works. And if you don't 0:20:55.960 --> 0:20:58.879 do it this way, you're out trying to thing, you know. 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:04.600 So but it worked really well. I mean I would 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:07.680 meet one hundred and fifty people, sign their guitars, then 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:10.960 they'd come back around and we do photos with everybody, 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:15.119 and that whole thing took forty five minutes. You know, 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:17.040 that's like impossible. 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:19.320 If you sign one hundred and fifty guitars, does it 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:21.359 tire out your hand for playing later. 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:26.640 Now, I in the last two hours, I just signed 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:31.400 I don't know, two hundred straps, a whole bunch of 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:34.720 vinyl and some CDs. 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:39.040 I have not seen your signature. There's some people make 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:42.040 a few scratches and you know, hey, you know that 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:43.639 person signed it, but you could never read it. And 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:45.680 there are other people they spell out their whole name. 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:47.240 So how do you do it? 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:57.440 Well, if I'm just writing on on like a record 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:02.879 or a CD, I'll just write Tommy CGP. They know 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:05.639 who that is. If I'm writing on your guitar, I 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:06.600 write my whole name. 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:12.720 Okay, how do you feel about doing all that? That's 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:17.240 not literally playing music? It certainly generates some cash. Do 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:20.640 you see that a's just something you have to do, 0:22:20.760 --> 0:22:22.960 something you wish you didn't have to do, or something 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:23.640 you like to do. 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:28.280 No, I enjoy it because it makes people happy, and 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:33.200 it gives me a chance to interact with people, even 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:39.800 if it's just short. You know, I enjoy it. And 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:46.359 I don't get to China that often, and it's just 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:54.560 I don't know, I like it, and I know that 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:58.200 not many artists do stuff like that because they want 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:01.000 to be you know, they want to remain a mystery 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:04.320 to the public, and I don't give a damn about 0:23:04.359 --> 0:23:11.879 that bullshit, you know, so I'm happy to sign, you know, 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:16.560 I'm happy to sign people's guitars. And the other thing 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:19.760 that I like is that you just never know what 0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:21.879 kind of guitar are you're going to come across. And 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:27.560 sometimes I'll be sitting there and they've got guitars going 0:23:27.600 --> 0:23:29.720 on the table and I'm signing and the next one 0:23:30.000 --> 0:23:33.520 and then this, you know, beautiful old Gibson will appear 0:23:33.560 --> 0:23:37.439 and I'll want to play it. Stuff like that. But 0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:41.159 you know, seeing people so it gets so happy is 0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:45.080 a great, great part of my day that that's for sure. 0:23:45.840 --> 0:23:49.720 You know, a lot of people, especially when I'm doing 0:23:49.800 --> 0:23:53.800 interviews about touring life, people are like, you know, you 0:23:53.920 --> 0:23:56.760 meet people before the show, aren't you trying to get 0:23:56.760 --> 0:24:00.199 in the zone, and aren't you you know, don't you 0:24:00.200 --> 0:24:02.920 want to be alone? And blah blah, And I'm like, no, no, 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:06.919 you don't get it. You walk into a room with 0:24:08.320 --> 0:24:12.679 fifty people who are enthusiastic and excited to meet you. 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:19.800 There's a level of mojo, of excitement, of positive energy 0:24:20.200 --> 0:24:23.840 that's going to seep into you. You know you're going 0:24:23.880 --> 0:24:28.080 to take it on. And then and you do something 0:24:28.760 --> 0:24:30.720 that you know is going to mean a lot to 0:24:30.800 --> 0:24:33.240 this person. You get a photo with them, you talk 0:24:33.280 --> 0:24:35.919 with them for a minute, you sign the thing, and 0:24:35.960 --> 0:24:38.760 you look in their eyes and you be real, you know, 0:24:38.960 --> 0:24:45.119 just and when it's done, then you take all that 0:24:45.160 --> 0:24:47.520 good feeling and you give it back to them from 0:24:47.560 --> 0:24:54.280 the stage. You know, I'm stealing their energy to create 0:24:54.359 --> 0:24:56.840 something through me and give it back to them. 0:24:57.520 --> 0:25:01.840 Okay, every audience is different, and I've certainly been to 0:25:02.000 --> 0:25:06.400 shows where the act is never connected. I've also been 0:25:06.440 --> 0:25:09.520 on shows on stage where the act is aware that 0:25:09.600 --> 0:25:12.160 the audience isn't paying attention. They look to the band 0:25:12.200 --> 0:25:16.080 members whatever, and they win the audience over. What's it 0:25:16.200 --> 0:25:18.520 like for you? To what degree are you connecting with 0:25:18.600 --> 0:25:22.040 the audience when you're playing and worried about where they're are? 0:25:27.000 --> 0:25:31.560 Well? I think probably. I mean, I try to connect 0:25:31.560 --> 0:25:35.199 with the audience the moment I walk on stage, I 0:25:35.280 --> 0:25:38.439 look at them, I yell hello, and I waved my 0:25:38.520 --> 0:25:43.320 hand and I look at them, and then then I 0:25:43.359 --> 0:25:49.760 get playing and I can tell if they're into it 0:25:49.800 --> 0:25:55.280 straight away, you know, once I once I get playing, 0:25:56.080 --> 0:26:00.400 and I'm I'm like two or three songs in, I've 0:26:00.400 --> 0:26:03.760 already opened the door, and you know, I've already started 0:26:03.800 --> 0:26:11.040 to really kick it up. And I never feel I'd 0:26:11.160 --> 0:26:16.840 never feel disconnected from my audience, never, But you know, 0:26:16.960 --> 0:26:24.080 there are I remember playing a show in England about 0:26:24.840 --> 0:26:28.399 twenty years ago and there were people in the front 0:26:28.520 --> 0:26:33.840 row and there must have been something going on with them, 0:26:34.560 --> 0:26:39.320 and the guy kept looking kept looking at his watch, 0:26:39.440 --> 0:26:41.800 you know, and he's right in front of me, and 0:26:42.640 --> 0:26:45.199 his wife's kind of trying to keep him calm, and 0:26:45.240 --> 0:26:51.600 he's you know. Anyway, we played the last song and 0:26:51.640 --> 0:26:54.760 everybody just jumped to their feet and they were like 0:26:55.080 --> 0:26:58.399 really yelling we played a good show and everybody was 0:26:58.440 --> 0:27:01.280 doing this. And that guy, that girl that were right 0:27:01.359 --> 0:27:04.680 in front of me, he looked really distracted. They took 0:27:04.720 --> 0:27:09.680 that chance to run, and so as they were running 0:27:09.800 --> 0:27:13.919 out to go to the door, I said, I'm so 0:27:14.040 --> 0:27:18.440 glad to see you go goodbye. You know. I said 0:27:18.480 --> 0:27:22.280 sorry to have kept you like that, you know, That's 0:27:22.280 --> 0:27:25.200 what I was saying to them. So, you know, I 0:27:25.680 --> 0:27:29.040 felt bad about it later, but that's how I felt, 0:27:29.080 --> 0:27:31.520