The Can-Do Man
Rolling Stones renaissance man Ron Wood sits down with Premier Guitar
to talk about his star-studded new solo album, I Feel Like Playing, his
favorite ’ 55 Strat and tweed Champ, and how he’s managed to conquer
the world several times over as both a renowned guitarist and painter.
BY SHAWN HAMMOND
If September 23, 2010, had a single unifying
theme, it had to be “seize the moment.”
At least for Ronnie Wood and a handful of
heavy-duty guitar fans who happened to be
in New York City that day. Premier Guitar’s
editorial director, Joe Coffey, and I had
gone there to seize the rare opportunity to
interview the Rolling Stone about his new
solo album, I Feel Like Playing, and we’d
certainly done our best to begin the adventure in keeping with the “seize the moment”
theme: After touching down at JFK airport
the night before, we’d jumped at the chance
to eat at an Italian restaurant that, with all
its vinyl and shades of brown, had to be
straight out of The Godfather. And on the
morning of the interview, we jumped at the
chance to be personally led through NYC’s
labyrinthine public transit system by Sandy, a
stereotype-busting Brooklyn native who happened to overhear us asking about the best
route to Wood’s hotel.
And that was just the beginning of the seize
fest. After changing trains a couple of times
and getting yelled at by a very disturbed
woman in Grand Central Terminal, we finally
arrived at the unbelievably swank New York
Palace Hotel. We were pretty early for our
interview with Wood, which was scheduled
for 2 p.m. So, we stowed our bags and took
advantage of the intervening hours to briefly
take in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Radio City
Music Hall, vintage and boutique guitars at
Rudy’s Music, and the best lamb gyro ever
(only four bucks from a street vendor!).
But the whole time we were hyper-cognizant
of how easily our trip could fall apart. We
had to catch a 4 o’clock train to another
event (see the Experience PRS story on p.
204), which meant there was pretty
much zero wiggle room if Woods’ other
144 PREMIER GUITAR NOVEMBER 2010
interviews went long. We’d be left high and
dry. So we made a point of getting back to
the hotel an hour early, knowing full well that
things can change on a dime when you’re
dealing with a mega star.
And in this case, they did.
See, it seems we weren’t the only ones doing
all the carpe diem-ing that day. It turned out
Wood had been invited to lunch with Mick
Jagger, President Bill Clinton, and President
Obama. The two presidents were in town for
the UN General Assembly, and apparently
they’re big guitar nuts, too, so they rang up
some pals. When we let Wood’s people know
we were there, they said, “Good, we’ll send
someone for you in 10 minutes.” We were
the last group of journalists to talk to Wood
before the afternoon’s interview schedule was
pretty much obliterated by presidential order.
So we seized, baby, we seized. (Be sure to
check out HD video excerpts at premiergui-
tar.com.) You could say everyone there—us,
the presidents, Jagger, Wood—was seizing
the moment, really. But as we soon found
out, that’s kind of been Wood’s MO his
whole life. “I always try the impossible,” he
told us. “Always think, ‘Yeah, I can do that.’
Nine times out of 10 it works.”
Indeed, at 63, Wood seems to be seiz-
ing more opportunities now than ever. An
accomplished painter, he had just come
from opening his own exhibit at the Butler
Institute of American Art in Youngstown,
Ohio. He’s got his own line of clothes at
UK-based Liberty department store. Just a
few months ago he reunited with his former
Faces bandmates and plans to tour with
them next year. He took the stage with
Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, Derek
Trucks, and John Mayer at the Crossroads
Festival earlier this year. And his new album
features guest spots by Billy Gibbons,
Slash, Kris Kristofferson, Bobby Womack,
and Eddie Vedder, among others. As if that
weren’t enough, he’s working on plans to
take I Feel Like Playing to Broadway with the
cast of Britain’s Stomp dance troupe.
Despite being as giddy about his lunch date
as we were to be in his 40th-floor corner
suite, Wood was the complete gentleman as we discussed his favorite gear and
what it was like to cut tracks with Slash and
Gibbons—and not once did he rush the
interview or act like he had to scram for
more important company.
How did the new album come about?
It was a natural chain of events, really. I left
home, like you do, and I had songs like “A
Thing Like That” and “I Don’t Think So” and
lots of phrases going through my mind. I
started the whole thing off with [billionaire
real estate developer and film producer]
Steve Bing. He said to me, “Hey, Ronnie,
I wanna hear you play—people want to
hear you play. I hope you don’t mind, but
I booked the House of Blues tonight for
you. I’ve got [famed session drummer] Jim
Keltner out there, and I’ve got Ivan Neville.”
And then I said, “Well, I’ve got Flea, he’s in
town, and I’m here with [session vocalist/
Stones backup singer] Bernard Fowler.” So
I said, “Come on, let’s all go to the studio,
then, and make a start.” So, we started
with “Spoonful,” a number that goes down
through the years and that I was inspired
by—I was inspired by Howlin’ Wolf. Willie
Dixon wrote it. That was a nice suggestion
from Bernard. He said, “Why don’t we start
with that one, man. You could really do
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