What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.
I grew up in a musical household. My dad was a career guitar player/singer and my grandfather fronted a big jazz band for decades. I got my first real guitar when I was 5 and haven’t stopped playing since.
Provide us with some info about your latest release…
My holiday album “Guitar for Christmas” has a special focus on the guitar (as you might have guessed from the title). One of my favorite guitars is a 1969 Gibson Les Paul with P-90s that was owned by Walter Becker from Steely Dan (my favorite band). It was so special to use that guitar on the album. I also used a 1968 Gibson Barney Kessel hollowbody with factory-installed varitone, a 1980s Pensa-Suhr strat-style prototype, a new PRS McCarty semi-hollowbody, and a 1995 Gibson ’59 Reissue Les Paul (my “main player”), as well as a couple custom-built guitars. For the fuzzier leads, I used a couple of my favorite pedals – the KHDK In Waves boost and the KHDK Flamingo Beach clean distortion. I used a Fender American Ultra Jazz Bass to lay down the grooves.
Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?
My biggest musical influences are my dad and grandfather. Some of my favorite guitar players are Stevie Ray Vaughan, Les Paul, Danny Gatton, Barney Kessel, Robben Ford, Phil Keaggy, Steve Vai, Walter Becker and Joe Bonamassa. My favorite songwriters are John Prine, Guy Clark, Carole King, and Walter Becker & Donald Fagen (Steely Dan). My biggest non-musical influence is Homer Simpson.
In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?
I grew up playing everything from blues to metal to country to jazz, so I think my playing style has come to include elements of all those genres. I just love to play. I love to listen to amazing guitar players in all genres. I love sharing music of all kinds with people who enjoy and appreciate it. Hopefully the mixture of multiple styles comes through on the album.
Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…
Albums: “Aja” by Steely Dan, “Couldn’t Stand The Weather” by Stevie Ray Vaughan, and “88 Elmira Street” by Danny Gatton.
Movies: Pulp Fuction, Bad Santa, and Anchorman.
Books: “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole, and Vintage Guitar Magazine.
Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?
I love both. The energy from the crowd at a live concert is unbeatable. Before Covid hit, I was playing mandolin and singing harmony in an Irish duo with my super close friend and amazing singer, Mike Donegan, playing Irish pubs. That was unbeatable. During Covid I did a little live-streaming and the virtual interaction was fun. But I spent most of my time during Covid recording and writing. All the extra time in the studio allowed me to refine the arrangements and focus more on mixing and post-production than ever before, which I’ve always wanted to improve.
Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?
One night I was doing my acoustic solo act in a very fancy, packed hotel bar. When I went on break, a girl with bright pink hair asked if she could sing a song with me during the next set. I was pretty nervous about having someone I didn’t know sit in, but she was very friendly and wanted to sing “Bobby McGee”, so eventually I gave in. I almost fell over before she finished the first line. She was INCREDIBLE! The crowd went nuts through the whole song. Later I found out she was at the fancy hotel because she was in town to play a sold out show at a local arena. To say I felt stupid is an understatement. It was a good lesson not to take myself so seriously!
Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?
On the new Christmas album, it’s got to be the closing track, “Auld Lang Syne.” It’s the most raw thing I’ve ever recorded. It’s just a solo guitar (my main player, the ’59 Reissue Les Paul) with a heavy slapback echo to create the Scottish “drone” sound, almost like a bagpipe. Even though everyone sings that song when the clock strikes 12:00 on New Years, I’ve always found it to be kind of haunting – saying goodbye to everything in the previous year (both bad and good), and hoping for good things to come. I wasn’t planning to put it on the album; I was just sort of playing around in the studio one night when I was in a deep, kind of dark headspace, and for some reason I hit “record.” I listened to it the next day and decided to close the album with it.
Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?
I’m just going to keep playing and putting out more music!
Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…
What’s your favorite guitar?
All of them.
Curated by: Christos Doukakis
Recommended listening:
Connect with Johnny Stuart:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnny-stuart-68848024b