ANNOUNCER: This program is brought to you in part by the city of Danville's Office of Economic Development and Tourism.

And by Santa Cruz Guitars and Santa Cruz Guitar strings.

Additional support provided by these sponsors.

Hello, and welcome to The Life of a Musician, recorded live in the beautiful city of Danville, Virginia.

Tonight's episode is recorded from the Bell-Pace-Boatwright House.

Let's step inside and listen.

[fast-paced guitar notes] -[chuckles] That's great, man.

Hello, everyone.

And welcome to The Life of the Musician .

I'm your host, Brandon Lee Adams.

And on this show, we have today with us the legendary, the amazing, the one of a kind, the only Mr. John Jorgenson.

Thank you so very much for being here with us today.

-You're very welcome.

Thanks for having me.

It's a... it's a real pleasure.

-Oh, that's awesome.

It's a real pleasure to hear that guitar.

That's blowing me away.

-Thank you.

-So, John, the million things I can think to ask you, we got to fit it in just a small space of time, I should have written it down and just had cue cards up.

But one of the biggest things I guess I've always wanted to ask you is how in God's green earth can you jump from style to instrument to, you know, you're playing with the Hellecasters, and then you're, you know, on with Elton John, and now you're playing a flat top next to me here in the little West end and...how do you do it, man?

-Well, I just really, I love all styles of music.

And if I really get interested in a style of music, I kind of go down that rabbit hole and I really study it hard, you know?

And I like to find what are the nuances, what makes the accent of the music.

So that, you know, if I've got a Hellecaster in my hand, it's almost like putting on a suit or something, you know.

If you put on a really formal suit, you're probably not gonna go out and mow your lawn, you know.

So, it's in a way, as soon as, like, this instrument is in my hands, I want to play flatpicking kind of licks because they sound good, they feel good, you know?

And if I've got a jazz guitar in my hand or, you know, or I'm at the piano or whatever, I like to try to play to the instrument and to the style.

And it's a little bit like languages too, you know.

Once you've learned a lot of things on one instrument, you know, a lot of it can transfer to the next, you know.

Your fingering, strumming, the theory, the chords, the dynamics, so many things cross every style.

-Right.

-You know.

-Right.

So, I always said, when I was younger, I would learn, basically, I learned all of Clapton's Unplugged album.

And I noticed when I was studying Rice, you have those same licks.

They appear, but maybe Rice does it in a D position.

Clap is doing it up here in an open E. You know, just... -To me, those are the little hallmarks of different players' styles.

-Yeah.

-And if, you know, I like to learn things exactly like somebody else did them.

Not necessarily to play it like that every time.

But there's a reason why Clapton picked this place on the guitar.

And there's a reason why Tony Rice would pick a different place on the guitar, because all the spots sound different.

You can play the same note here... [note on guitar] but... that one sounds different and maybe better, you know.

And up here... it sounds different too.

So that's part of your-- I think that's part of every musician's choice of the color.

It's like, like those different note tone qualities are like an artist's palette, you know.

Do you want a bright blue?

Do you want a medium blue?

You want to, you know.

-Right.

Exactly.

So, when you say a singer doing something, you know, you chicken picking.

-Yeah.

-And so, kind of what is your approach, like, mentally when you say, "Okay, I'm gonna play... We're doing a Merle Haggard tune."

Take us through kind of what kind of goes to your mind when you say, "I'm gonna play Workin' Man's Blues tonight?"

-I guess it depends, you know, if we're trying to emulate Merle or we're just doing the song, you know.

I mean, I'll-- I always hear a little bit of Roy Nichols and James Burton in the back of my mind.

But if it's just up to me to do whatever I want to do on that song, I'll just look at it from that standpoint, and I'm not trying to, you know, do the fastest licks and the most.

You're just trying to play something that fits the vibe of the song, you know.

It's called Working in Blues .

So, you're gonna be a little bit bluesy, but you're also gonna be, you know, not too fancy, not too flowery.

Because that's not a Working Man , you know.

-Yeah, those are Working Man's notes.

-Right, exactly.

So that's kind of how I would look at it.

And I mean, chicken picking is fun.

But I don't-- I mean, I look at The Hellecasters is sort of a more of a really broad instrument, you know.

It's in the hands of Roy Buchanan, for example, or, you know, even a jazz player, like Ted Green, or, you know, it just can do anything.

-Right.

-You can do anything you want it to do.

So, you know, just your imagination is the only thing that limits you.

-I agree.

It's, you know, then transferring that over to acoustic, one thing I always wish I could have done with an acoustic guitar is bend like Robert Cray, and have it sustain the... -What you gotta fight over then?

[chuckles] -Right, exactly.

Yeah, nobody can touch or sustain that on a violin.

-Right.

I think there's ways to get sustain out of an acoustic, you know.

But you have to really work it.

-Yeah.

-I mean, like, if you just hit or not like that, yeah, it sustains all right.

But... if you strike it with more force and put some vibrato and, like, try to make the string on energy as long as you can.

-Right.

-You know.

And those are-- I learned a lot playing acoustic music outside.

One of my early jobs was playing in Disneyland in California.

And I played for six or seven sets a day, you know, five or six days a week, and most of it was outside with no mics.

So, you had to figure out how to get some volume and tone out of an acoustic instrument without breaking strings all the time.

And that was a really good training for me.

So, I would recommend anybody that wants to figure out how to get good tone and projection, play outside.

-Yeah.

-Where you don't get a lot of, you know, you don't get a lot of bounce back or feedback or anything.

You just, whatever you're putting out, it's what you got.

-Exactly.

There's an honesty to it, and it forces you to become better.

-Well, I believe that you learn how to pull the tone out of the instrument instead of relying on a pick-up or anything else to do it.

-Right.

So, when you do get a pick-up, you're ready?

-Yeah.

Yeah.

Then you have a louder version of what was good already.

[chuckles] -Exactly.

So, speaking of just jumping styles and stuff, would you like to tackle an old traditional number that has been abbreviated?

Or like a House of the Rising Sun , so jumping from a fiddle tune to kind of a jazz tune?

-Yeah.

You bet.

You bet.

-A jazz-ish tune, I should say.

-Yeah, I would love to.

-♪ Well, there is a house in New Orleans ♪ ♪ They call the rising sun ♪ ♪ Well, it's been the ruin of many men ♪ ♪ And God, God knows I'm one ♪ ♪ While my mother, she was a tailor ♪ ♪ She sewed my old blue jeans ♪ ♪ My father, he was a gambling man ♪ ♪ In the town, town of New Orleans ♪ ♪ I've got one foot on the platform ♪ ♪ I got one foot on the train ♪ ♪ Well, I'm going down, down to New Orleans ♪ ♪ To wear that old ball and chain ♪ ♪ Mothers go and tell your children ♪ ♪ Not to do all those things I have done ♪ ♪ Don't you live your life in pain and misery ♪ ♪ In the house of the rising sun ♪ Talk to me, John.

♪ Well, there is a house in New Orleans ♪ ♪ They call the rising sun ♪ ♪ Well, it's been the ruin of many men ♪ ♪ And God, God knows I'm one ♪ Well, that was pretty.

-Lovely.

-I love that last chord you put in there.

-Yeah.

[chuckles] -That arises another question because this is an unscripted show.

So, when it comes to mind, I say it.

-Okay.

-So, I'm playing...

So, when I'm playing this, you know, D minor, suspended chord.

And you're thinking, "Okay, what's going through your mind?

How do I embellish that from this position?"

-Well, so I noticed that when you're... the suspension you're talking about is this note.

You have those, right?

So, you're already playing those.

So, if I play my D here, a higher D, and then this open E, you're not playing those notes.

So, if I play that with what you're playing, you get... you get notes that are really close together, almost like on a harp, how you do an autoharp or a harp.

-Right.

-You know, and that creates sort of a... it's an unusual thing for guitars because guitars are usually, you know, you have a third or fourth between each note, because the way the strings are tuned.

-Right.

-So, when you hear those notes, they're only one step apart, bringing together, it just creates another nice atmosphere.

-But you're filling in the blanks?

-Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

-With color?

-Yeah, exactly.

And there's slightly-- there's a little bit of dissonance, not a lot.

-Right.

-But a pleasant dissonance, you know?

-Yes.

I've always loved that dissonance, like, cool dissonance.

-Yeah.

-Kind of like a Beethoven dissonance.

-Well, you all-- to me, you always need tension in music.

Because then, it has-- it can resolve.

-Right.

-And as a listener, even if you don't know what you're hearing, it's pleasing, you know.

You go "Oh, okay.

They've resolved."

-Right.

-Because this chord, especially... That's not a resolved chord.

It wants to go somewhere, right?

-Right.

-There goes... -I'll be stealing some of those chords from you later on.

-Please, be my guest.

[chuckles] -That's actually why I had you on the show, so I could just steal your notes.

-Okay.

Well, this is one of my favorite ones.

It's so easy.

So, B flat chord, and you would never play it like that.

You'd always play here or here.

Or, you know, something like that, but... -Beautiful.

Stolen.

-From the-- and I stole it from Jerry Donahue.

One of the The Hellecasters.

-Yeah.

-He showed me that.

So... and you can also do it with E flat.

I used there-- I did a little introduction to a song that I wrote.

And I use these voicings.

So that's a G minor suspended.

And an F6... and a... E flat... and D, you know.

So normally, you just... G minor, F, E flat, D. But it gives them more color.

-Beautiful.

-When you get the open strings in there, a little bit dissonance, a little bit more... -Yeah.

It's all about the slight variations.

-Yeah.

-And the little standouts are the things we remember.

-Yeah.

-That's a perfect example of that voicing -And even if-- even when you...

Sometimes if you remove notes, you know, like... like don't have that one in there.

It's just pretty, you know.

So, it's simpler, but it's prettier.

-Thanks for kind of letting us, the watchers, the listeners, the viewers, kind of behind the scenes on that kind of thinking.

-Oh, my pleasure.

-That's all the things I ever wanted to know.

And I'll never remember.

So, I'll be going back and watching my own episodes.

But... so now, what's going on new with you?

-You know, I'm just starting to perform out again, after not doing that much in the last couple of years, obviously, like everyone.

So, I've got some shows with my Bluegrass band coming up in Virginia, North Carolina.

And I also have a gypsy jazz quintet.

And we'll be doing some playing a little bit more later.

Later in this year, I'll do a tour, it's called The Great Guitars.

And it's a jazz guitar package that Martin Taylor is... it's his basically, he owns the brand.

And I think he inherited from Herb Ellis and Bucky Pizzarelli and at one point, he was the young guy.

Now, he owns the franchise and he invited myself and Frank Vignola to tour with him, a jazz guitar night, so that'll be interesting.

We're doing a handful of dates all around later this year.

So, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

I did a track for a Tony Rice tribute CD.

It came out at the end of last year, and it's got a lot of nice reviews with the album, so... -Yeah, it's a great album.

And it gives us a perfect segue into not only are you an amazing guitarist and piano player and clarinet player, but you're also a first-rate mandolin player.

-Well, thank you.

-And... -I do love the mandolin.

Let me grab it.

-One, two, three.

[perky mandolin music] -♪ All you need is time ♪ ♪ All you need is time time time to make it bend ♪ ♪ Give it a try don't be rude put it to the test ♪ ♪ And it'll give it right back to you ♪ ♪ Oh, it's cold on the shoulder ♪ ♪ And you know that we get a little older every day ♪ ♪ Take it to town take it around ♪ ♪ Try to defy what you feel inside ♪ ♪ You better be strong your love belongs to us ♪ ♪ Oh, it's cold on the shoulder ♪ ♪ And you know that we get a little older every day ♪ -Testify, Son.

-♪ All you need is trust ♪ ♪ And you need is trust trust trust to make it ♪ ♪ I want to know everything you've done ♪ ♪ If you get a tent tell it to the Eskimo ♪ ♪ It's cold on the shoulder ♪ ♪ And you know that we get a little older every day ♪ Come on, Brandon.

♪ All we need is faith ♪ ♪ All we need is faith, faith, ♪ ♪ Faith to make it nice ♪ ♪ Kick it around, don't be rude ♪ ♪ If you're gonna make a mistake ♪ ♪ Don't you make it twice ♪ ♪ Three times, four times ♪ ♪ It's cold on the shoulder ♪ ♪ And you know that we get a little older every day ♪ ♪ Oh, it's cold on the shoulder ♪ ♪ And you know that we get a little older every day ♪ [chuckles] There we go.

-That's some modifying picking and singing.

-Well, thank you so much.

Thank you.

-So how does your hand feel after you jumped down from that acoustic guitar?

-Um, you know, it did actually feel so much nicer on the mandolin.

-Does it?

-All the notes are so much closer together.

The strings are not like cheese graters, you know.

They're-- This is a pretty, fairly easy mandolin to play, you know.

The action's not too high and feels good, like a deal.

-Well, folks, that is all the time that we have, sadly, for this episode of The Life of a Musician.

But I hope you'll join us on the next episode.

And many thanks to my, one of my heroes and somebody I've always looked up to for years, Mr. John Jorgenson.

-Thank you so much for having me.

It's been-- it's really been a great time, fun to play.

And I look forward to the next time we can do that soon.

-Yes, Sir.

Me too.

I'm like a kid in a candy store.

And thank you for watching at home, this show, The Life of a Musician , and we hope you'll tune in for the next episode.

Until then, God bless and be well.

ANNOUNCER: Thank you for being a part of our show.

We look forward to seeing you on the next episode of The Life of a Musician.

-♪ Give it a try Don't be rude ♪ ♪ Put it to the test and I'll give it right back to you ♪ ♪ Oh, it's cold on the shoulder ♪ ♪ And you know that we get a little older every day... ♪ ANNOUNCER: This program is brought to you in part by the city of Danville's Office of Economic Development and Tourism.

And by Santa Cruz Guitars and Santa Cruz Guitar Strings.

Additional support provided by these sponsors.