by James Jensen
The lineup for the All star Guitar Night was impressive, names I am sure you would all recognize lined up and ready to strut their stuff. It was quite an inspiring round robin affair with each player seemingly faster, and more able to coax a variety of percussive sounds out of the instrument than the player before. When Ed Gerhard's turn came several things happened, or maybe I should say didn't happen. Gerhard didn't throw out notes and runs for the sake of dazzling the audience with speed. Every note that he carefully caressed out of his instrument made sense both compositionaly and emotionally. The audience (which had been whipped into a frenzy by the preceding players) was captivated by each melodic turn and quieted to enjoy the simple beauty of the well played note, which is fast becoming the trademark of this composer/player... And he never hit his guitar.
Gerhard was passing through town on a short tour recently when we got together to discuss his early inspirations, life as a solo guitarist, and the development of his own signature guitar.
JJ: Why the guitar, and more specifically, why solo acoustic?
EG: The first time I heard a guitar that really spoke to me was when I was about eight or nine and heard Segovia on television. I probably heard guitarists before that on Rock n Roll records, or Folk records, and whatever was on the radio but that was the first time that the guitar sort of grabbed me. The fact that it was being played as a solo instrument was a major thing , and Segovia's tone and phrasing was something that I'll never forget, it just hooked me. It looked to me like he was picking or plucking the notes right out of the guitar.
JJ: Did that inspire you to get a guitar?
EG: No, but I started dreaming about one, and then began bugging my dad for one. Around the time I was fourteen I got it.
JJ: And when you got it?
EG: You never leave your room, what could be better than that?
JJ: When did you make the decision to try and make it your career?
EG: I pretty much knew when I got the guitar that it was what I really wanted to do , and I didn't really think about what kind of career I would have. I pretty much knew that me and this guitar would be partners for life. I finished High School and went through several day jobs. I spent a couple months out in California, and came away with the impression that the entire state was some kind of giant cult.
JJ: How did you get to the point where you released "Night Birds" your first CD?
EG: I started playing when I was fourteen , and started performing within a year at local functions. I played a lot of Tom Rush songs, and some Blues things, although I was never much of a singer or songwriter. My song production was really slow, and while I could appreciate and analyze a good song , I'll be damned if I could write one. I had already begun to do what I like best , which is to compose for, and play (instrumentals) on the guitar. I started to work on "Night Birds" in 1985 and it came out in '87. Before that time I was still working day jobs, but when it was released I decided to play full time and make this what I do, and have ever since.
JJ: Did "Night Birds" come out close to the same time as the influential and popular Windham Hill Guitar Sampler, which featured you?
EG: Yeah, actually it came out just a little later. I had been sending Rounder Records tapes of my progress on the recordings of "Night Birds", and was getting very positive responses along the way. When I finally got the thing done and presented it to them , months and months passed with no response. One of the three owners finally told me that two out of the three owners really liked what I did, but that the other owner didn't want Rounder to become a "Guitar" label, and by signing a guitar player you really run that danger (Ed has his tongue planted firmly in cheek). I made the decision at that point to release it myself, and it was literally the next day that Will Ackerman called to get a track for his Guitar Sampler.
JJ: That sampler seemed really helpful in bringing national attention to several players just on the verge of making it as full time performers.
EG: It has sold pretty well, but I don't see many of the players on it touring all that much. I was very pleased with the response , it turned out to be a very important recording for a lot of us.
JJ: What has changed the most in the last ten years for you as a performer?
EG: I don't have to educate concert presenters, and promoters about what I do anymore, which is a good thing. At first, even with the popularity of the Windham Hill artists (ie. Michael Hedges, Alex DeGrassi) there was still a lot of "You don't sing, you just play the guitar?" and they could never get it. Somewhere down the road I gave up trying to educate people about what I do. If they already had a general idea and didn't require a whole lot of education we could get along fine, and the Guitar Sampler helped.
JJ: I kind of thought that John Fahey and Leo Kottke made it okay to not sing.
EG: I usually ran into that problem in the kinds of venues where a musician just starts out. When I graduated to more professional gigs, people where generally more aware and intelligent. I would caution anybody starting out in this field not to try and educate anybody, put your energy into places that are already into what you're doing, and work on them.
JJ: What else has changed in your touring/ performing life in the last ten years?
EG: I have a booking agent now, and she stays on top of things pretty well. She's been on board for about a year, and she has worked mostly the singer/songwriter market in the past. It is kind of funny, you would think that here in the 90's there would be enough cross fertilization in the music scene to make it more accepting of other disciplines, but it is not. Some venues only put on "Traditional Music" others, "Singer, Songwriters", but there are a growing number of places that only do guitar players. She also had me play at the Folk Alliance in Canada, which may lead to some music festival jobs up there for me, she networks well.
JJ: Your wife Kelli is involved with your career as well?
EG: Yeah, the record company stuff. Kelli and I own Virtue Records (the label that all of Ed's solo releases are on) , and I am very pleased with the way that is working out. Virtue Records is not a label I am working on "in the meantime" until a big record company snatches me up, I have no desire to work with another label. I control exactly what I record , and when. I know what the final product is going to look like, as well as what all the numbers are. I don't have to worry about somebody making me big promises and then getting fired or quitting , leaving my career high and dry. We have our finger on the pulse every moment as to what is going on. It basically enables me to make the records I want to make, and to me that is what its all about.
JJ: What is your yearly itinerary like?
EG: It is kind of scatter shot, it averages out to about 6-8months out of the year on the road. It used to be I would leave at the beginning of January and come back in late May or June, now it is a lot more mini tours. I recently did two weeks in Italy before coming home for a few days, and then I go out to California for a few weeks, before another rest at home and a trip to Florida. It is a lot more flying, and a lot shorter tours. I love the touring part of it, but I want to spend a little more time in my home studio writing and recording.
JJ: Thanks for bringing it up, what is your typical composing process?
EG: There isn't a typical way for me. I really like not having one particular way of working as it allows me to be more receptive. Even though I haven't finished a lot of tunes in the last few years, I've got a huge backlog of stuff that is started and stuff I haven't even played on guitar yet. A tune like "Howl" (on the CD "Luna") is a good example of that; I had that tune in my head for about a year before I sat down to play it on guitar, and when I did there was not a lot of work left to do. I really enjoy writing like that , but sometimes a tune will come from just noodling around on the guitar. It is interesting because many people say to only write away from the instrument or your compositions will be limited to what your hands can do. People also claim that using open or altered tunings is a "trap", and to me both of these ways of thinking are "traps", lack of imagination is the "trap". I love to be able to write in different ways , not requiring a lot of elaborate circumstances.
JJ: What got you into alternate tunings?
EG: Well , the first thing was hearing Mississippi John Hurt playing, and some friends showed me open G (DGDGBD) and open D (DADF#AD), and I just loved that their was a different way to approach the guitar. Dropped D tuning (dropping the low bass string to D) is a great place to start.
JJ: You have also stepped back as a composer, and approached two of your recordings ; 1991's "Christmas" and your most recent "Counting The Ways" (famous love songs) as an arranger. How did you choose the material ?
EG: In both cases they happened to be songs I like. With "Christmas" the options are limited, but I really enjoyed doing it. With "Counting The Ways" , some of the tunes, especially The Beatles tunes I have played for years. At one point I realized I had arranged several tunes all of which happened to be love songs. I just picked songs that I liked , and they came in all different kinds of ways. "My Creole Belle", which I recorded with Arlo Guthrie, came about because we both loved Mississippi John Hurt, and we got it on the first take.
JJ: Tell us about the evolution of the Ed Gerhard Signature model Breedlove Guitar. I understand that you had a lot of input into the development of the instrument?
EG: We talked for a long time about the tone of the guitar, I really liked what Breedlove was doing already so we didn't need to start from scratch though. Contrary to what a lot of players seem to feel is ideal for fingerstyle guitar playing I really like the sound of big guitars and feel that their sound is deeper and more mysterious, but I love the clarity of the small sized guitars. The way to get the best of both worlds was to make the guitar with a large surface area, and then thin the body out so it is very direct and clear. I also like the wide variety of tonal range you get playing this guitar at different points above the frets or soundhole , or near the bridge. The size of the soundhole (which is a little larger than normal) made a serious tonal change. I also like the "jumbo" frets that make fingering easier and the guitars action faster. I should also mention that I have never played a guitar that smells as good as these, I want to get Breedlove to make me a couple of little ones to hang on the rear view mirror.
JJ: While we are on the subject of equipment, why the bright red case?
EG: I had a guitar stolen a couple of years ago , and it was in a plain nondescript black case, sitting next to a green Calton case. It occurred to me that if that guitar had been in a little more brightly colored case it's fate would have been a little more predictable. You have to be really careful on the road, because traveling with guitars is like traveling with kids. You can't leave them alone for too long, you can't leave them in the heat or the cold... or by themselves!
Discography:
"Night Birds" Virtue Records
VRD1919
"Christmas" Virtue Records VRD1920
"Luna"
Virtue Records VRD1921
"Counting The Ways" Virtue Records
VRD1922
Ed Gerhard is also featured on "Windham Hill Guitar Sampler (Vol. 1)", "Guitar Fingerstyle" ; a Narada Records collection, and Vol. 2 of the Acoustic Music Resource "Acoustic Guitar Highlights", available at better record stores or by mail at POBox 532, Newmarket NH 03857 or by phone at (800) 649-4745 in the US, or fax @ (562)598-5928 or via email at AMR USA@ aol.com.
Ed Gerhard Signature Model
Guitar
Breedlove Guitar Co.
Materials: East Indian rosewood body; Sitka spruce top; koa wood binding; figured walnut soundhole rosette; ebony peghead overlay,fingerboard and bridge
Dimensions: Body length 21", width 17". Body depth 3" at neck, 4 1/16" at tail.
Special Features: Special soft cutaway shape; gold mini-tuners with oversize tuning buttons; jumbo frets; optional electronic pickup; optional mother -of -pearl Ed Gerhard signature fingerboard inlay.
Suggested Retail Price: $2,850