TE: Right. But I don’t do any of that stuff.
I mean, I have done it with other people’s
records – I played on a Diana Ross track,
and I was in Manchester, England and the
rest of the band was in Los Angeles. And I
played on Michael Jackson’s posthumous
album that was made in L.A., while I did
my part in London and E-mailed it in. But
a really good artist like Todd Rundgren
could make it sound like everybody’s all
in one room together.
tion to the art of finger picking.’ And I
learned everything from him. He gave us
all a quality to aim for, and he set the bar
pretty high.
IE: You’re actually no stranger to collabo-
ration. At age six, you were already tour-
ing Australia with your dad in a family
band.
TE:The government thought that it was
slave labor, but we were being educated.
02•2018
IE: Speaking of Chet Atkins, didn’t you
write a fan letter to him when you first
started playing guitar as a little kid?
TE: I did. I wrote him a fan letter, and this
was back in 1967, when Chet was the
busiest guy in Nashville. And about two
months later, I got a reply and a black and
white photograph. And I mean, it was a
real fan letter.
IE: And who would have thought that one
day end up – not only recording with – but
that Chet would personally award you
his Certified Guitar Player kudo, one of
only five in existence?
TE: Yeah. And there are only three of us
left. And I think it was something that he
wanted to do publicly. And I think it’s a
responsibility, especially to this younger
generation, to hand this music over to
them and give young people something
that’s real. Chet wrote ‘The Certified
Guitar Player Award for lifetime contribu-
That was what we wanted to do – we were
just kids who were crazy about being on
the road and entertaining people. We
played what was in the Top 40 at the time
in the early ‘60s, which was mostly surf
music by The Ventures, Duane Eddy, and
an English band called The Shadows.
They were our first big influences. And
then, of course, any Marty Robbins song
that had a good melody, like “El Paso” or
“Little Green Valley” – we’d work out
instrumental versions of those. Then
along came the great Buck Owens and
Merle Haggard, which gave us a whole
list of new songs to learn. Then came The
Beatles, Eric Clapton, artists like that.
IE: You also found time last year to
release an entire album with David
Grisman called “Pickin’”?
TE: It was a crazy year and it almost did
me in, but I’m alright now. You’ve just got
to take care of yourself. But my wife and I
Continued on page 44
10 illinoisentertainer.com february 2018
February 2
DZ Deathrays Bloody Lovely
Field Music Open Here
Hookworms Microshift
Rae Morris Someone Out There
Simple Minds Walk Between Worlds
February 9
Brian Fallon Sleepwalkers
Dashboard Confessional Crooked Shadows
Franz Ferdinand Always Ascendin
Son Lux Brighter Wounds
Fu Manchu Clone Of The Unive
Holy Motors Slow Sundown
MGMT Little Dark Age
Paul Luc Bad Seed
Son Lux Brighter Wounds
The Wombats Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life
Franz Ferdinand
February 16
American Nightmare American Nightmare
Belle & Sebastian How To Solve Our Human Problems
Born Ruffians Uncle, Duke & The Chief
Brandi Carlile By The Way, I Forgive You
Dabrye Three/Three
Escape the Fate I Am Human
Fischerspooner Sir
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Ought Room Inside The World
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