LAST CALL
KNOW HOW, KNOW WHEN BY JOHN BOHLINGER
Iwas in L.A. last week working on a proj- ect with philanthropist and Microsoft
co-founder Paul Allen at his private studio.
(One of the most beautiful studios I’ve
seen, it’s located in Beverly Hills and has
enormous floor-to-ceiling windows that
look out onto Coldwater Canyon.) On
this project, Paul and I were sharing guitar duties with L.A. session ace Michael
Landau. Paul was recording a simultaneous
session with Doyle Bramhall, so he would
overdub his parts later, which left Michael
and me tracking together, sitting next to
each other with our speaker cabinets in
nearby iso booths.
The rest of the band featured drummer
Gary Novak and bassist Jimmy Haslip, who
have a side project band called Renegade
Creation with Landau and Robben Ford.
Given Landau’s legendary ability—com-
bined with the fact that these three guys
usually hear Robben playing the other guitar
part—I told myself, “Leave the shredding to
Michael, just work a solid support part.”
Before recording, we listened to the
demos, checked the charts, divided the
work, and decided who would play what:
“You go high, I’ll go low.” “You’re playing
the Strat, I’ll go with humbuckers on the
PRS.” “I’ll do the tremolo thing while you’re
doing the weird Bigsby cowboy moves.”
I did take a few solos, but only when it
was a solo that I had played on the demo
that became integral to the song. We left
room for Paul to overdub his parts and gave
Landau plenty of room for guitar heroics.
We fell into a rhythm and quickly knocked
out some good tracks. I was happy work-
ing in the non-glamorous position, because
that’s where I belonged.
On the third day of tracking, we experienced a paradigm shift when Joe Walsh
arrived. I’m talking “Funk #49,” “Life’s Been
Good,” and “Rocky Mountain Way.” He’s
a damn Eagle, a rock ’n’ roll legend, your
Ordinary Average Guitar Genius. Walsh was
there to play and sing a cameo on a song
called “Six Strings from Hell.” This swamp-nasty groove (a bit of a modern narrative
of Robert Johnson cutting his deal with
Scratch) had a low chugging guitar part
welded to a high slide part that Paul and I
came up with while demoing the song.
Walsh, who was producing this song,
liked the interplay of the two parts and
said, “Yeah, you guys do those parts, they’re
1
2
3
1. Guitarists Michael Landau with his Strat
(left) and John Bohlinger sporting a PRS
while getting ready to put down some tracks
with Joe Walsh. 2. Guitarist John Bohlinger
(foreground) works the rhythm while guitar
hero Joe Walsh effortlessly lays down the
lead tracks. 3. John Bohlinger, Tim Pike, Joe
Walsh, Gary Novak, Jimmy Haslip, Michael
Landau, and Scott Kinsey while recording in
L.A. Photos By Joseph Armario
cool. I’ll play around it.” Although I played
slide on the demo, there was no way I was
going to pick up a slide while Joe Walsh
was in the room. I don’t mind a musical
ass-whooping every now and then when
I deserve it, but I would rather raise the
white flag before we even begin.
As we talked it through the song and
checked the chart, I said, “Hey Michael, I’ll
do the low chug and you do the slide part.”
Landau, perhaps reading my mind,
replied, “No way am I playing slide in front
of Joe Walsh.”
We had a standoff. It was a bit like those
ultra-courteous cartoon gophers from Looney
Tunes, with each of us politely encouraging
the other to go first. We spent a few minutes
going back and forth: “You do it. The part
on the demo is good.” “No, you do it—your
slide playing is way better.” Etcetera.
JOHN BOHLINGER
John Bohlinger is a Nashville multi-instrumentalist best known for his work in television. He led the band for all six seasons of
NBC’s hit program Nashville Star, as well
as the 2011, 2010, and 2009 CMT Music
Awards and many specials for GAC, PBS,
CMT, USA, and HDTV. Watch him perform on You Tube,
and check out his new band the Tennessee Hot Damns on
Facebook and i Tunes.
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