BILL
HULLETT
What do you think is the key to your con-
stant success as a session player?
Well, first off there are a few guys (Reggie
Young to name one) that have done a whole
lot more sessions than I have! But I will say
that I’ve been very blessed with all the work
I’ve been called to do over the years. If I
had to say what I thought was the reason
I get called, it’s a couple of factors. One
is that I consider myself a team player. If I
strum acoustic all day, that’s ok. If I play a
mandolin part, that’s ok, too. If you want me
to bring in the electric, I’ll gladly do that as
well. Some guys want to play “hot rod guitar”
all the time… successful session guys realize
that it’s the artists record that you’re trying
to enhance, not your career. But even more
important than that, I think I bring a good
vibe to the session, because I generally have a
positive attitude. There is nothing worse than
being trapped in a small recording studio with
someone who’s hard to get along with—those
guys usually get weeded out pretty fast.
When you’re called to do a session,
do you have any idea going in what
you’ll be doing?
We almost never do we know what we’ll
be doing… I’ve left the house and played
Bluegrass acoustic in the morning, country
Tele twangin’ style in the afternoon, and then
Memphis style R&B in the evening—and gotten up the next day and done even weirder
combinations of stuff! We usually get to the
session… someone will give us an idea of
where to set up, and generally what instruments you might want to bring in from your
car (I usually carry about a dozen different
guitars with me). Then after everyone gets
sounds—this might take twenty minutes—we
listen to the work tape and either write a
number chart or follow along with one that
would have been written by the session
leader the night before in some cases. Then
we talk about it for about three minutes and
go run it down, talk about five more minutes,
and cut it for real. If it’s not exactly right,
we may cut it one more time, but generally
speaking, it never goes too much further than
that. Then the session guys will ask the engineer to punch a section or two if need be, and
that will be a track. From the first listen of the
work tape to a finished track might take 45
minutes to an hour… then it’s “next please.”
How many sessions do you
do on a typical day?
Nashville sessions ninety percent of the time
are run very orderly. The first session of the
day is 10 am to 1 pm, the second session runs
2 to 5 pm, and the third session runs 6 to 9
pm. Very rarely these days, although quite
frequently twenty years ago, is an evening session that runs from 10 pm to 1 am… a throw
back to the beginning of Nashville, when there
were just a few session guys and there always
had to be order applied so that one session
would never overlap with another—so that
everyone could use the “A” Team during any
given day. The town has always stuck to that
schedule ever since. It’s a great way to do it…
just becomes habit after so long.
As far as typical… there is not a typical. I’ve
done days when I’ve been back home after
one session, and I’ve done weeks where I’ve
had four sessions a day, every day! And basically felt like I was out on the road living in
my van. I’ve done months where I had 50
or 60 sessions in a month, and slow months
where I’ve had only a dozen or so… you
never know what’s ahead. You’re always one
phone call away from racing through traffic
trying to get to the next studio on time.
How much of the tonality of a
particular guitar do you think is in
the player’s hands and touch?
The longer I play, the more I’m inclined to
believe that most of the tone that an instrument makes is a by-product of the hands and
ears of the person playing it—cause I can’t
find any new tone! Seriously, I think you can
just about “will” a guitar to do things. There’s
a guy I know from California that makes his
Strat sound exactly like a big hollowbody
Gibson with P-90s, like a switchmaster! It’s
the most uncanny thing I’ve ever seen… it’s
definitely in his ears and touch.
Are you planning to record a follow-up of
your solo project Two-Lane Blacktop?
Yes, I am. I actually already have a good portion of it done. I’m working on a scheme for
an unusual way to release it, so keep your
eyes peeled... if I pull off my idea for distribution, I’ll be sure to check back and let you
know. Thanks for asking!
A PARTIAL SAMPLING!
Electric Guitars:
2 custom-made Teles (Brian Poe ash
body, Allparts TMO Fat neck, Alan
Hamel Broadcaster pickups, and
Glendale bridge hardware)
1 custom-made Strat (USACustom
body, Allparts Fat Strat neck, Alan
Hamelpickups, Glendale three-piece
strat bridge)
Acoustics:
1961 D- 21 Martin
1964 Epiphone Texan
(a twin to Paul McCartney’s)
1970 Guild 12 string
1917 A- 3 Gibson Mandolin
Amps:
4x10 Hullett Tweed Bassman
(handwired replica of a 1959
Bassman made by Clay Hullett)
1x12 Hullett Tweed Deluxe
Egnater Rebel 20
1961 Gibson Ranger
Effects:
Analogman Bi-Comp compressor
Bill’s homepage:
home.comcast.net/~bhullett/index.htm
Bill’s MySpace page:
profile.myspace.com/billhullett
