![]() That’s an interesting question, since I was drafted into the military in 1968. How old were you when you realized you wanted to do this as a career? I never really got a chance to see anybody at a venue where they’d play. It was hard for me to get to Chicago or St. It was difficult, at that time, to get to a venue where you could see someone more prominent, like Chuck Berry or someone like that. I kind of grew up in the Midwest in a pretty small town of Illinois called Decatur. This guy is amazing.”īut I didn’t really get to see a lot. I got to see him live and he blew me away as a little kid. Before pedal steel was invented, he was just this brilliant lap-steel player. He played on Hank Snow records and he was doing all the Nashville stuff. He was a very, very famous lap-steel player. The only person I saw play up until I was 18 or so was a lap-steel player by the name of Jerry Byrd. I didn’t really get a chance to see anyone play. With all these things, I just heard guitar coming out of everywhere.Īs a teenager, did you see any great concerts that really inspired you? As you know, it’s a classic song that’s been done a million times. That was a real key one for me because I was learning how to play lap steel at the time and it was the only single that was successful on lap steel. Then there was “Sleep Walk” by Santo & Johnny. You can make all kinds of wonderful stuff with it.” When I started listening to more pop stuff, I think the first single I heard was one by Duane Eddy, which was “Rebel Rouser.” I was like, “Wow, the guitar is a pretty cool instrument. I didn’t know what any of that was, but it just seemed like he made an orchestral instrument out of a guitar. I was completely amazed by what he could do on guitar with Travis picking. Who were the first pop artists you heard on the radio that really captured your imagination?Īs life moved on and I got into playing guitar, the first guitar player I really heard that really moved me was Chet Atkins. The guitarist also played a pivotal role in the creation of Lou Reed’s Berlin and Peter Gabriel’s solo debut (that’s him playing the iconic acoustic guitar intro to “Solsbury Hill”), and he’s toured with Meat Loaf, Tracy Chapman, Mitch Ryder, and many other icons. Hunter’s long history with Alice Cooper goes back to 1973 when producer Bob Ezrin brought him into the studio to play on Billion Dollar Babies. “Here we were, a couple of old guys playing ‘I’m Eighteen’ just like we did almost 40 years earlier. “I felt like I’d gone through a wormhole,” he says. In May 2011, guitarist Steve Hunter walked onstage with Alice Cooper to kick off a seven-month world tour when he was hit with an overpowering sense of déjà vu. This edition features guitarist Steve Hunter. Here, these artists tell their complete stories, giving an up-close look at life on music’s A list. All are renowned in the business, but some are less well known to the general public. Rolling Stone interview series Unknown Legends features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and veteran musicians who have toured and recorded alongside icons for years, if not decades.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |