Bonus Episode - George Thorogood

0:01 Excuse me, we'll be back to tell you some more lies. I mean stories. What tuning did you put it in D. We got. Open D Yeah. All right. I'm here to set the record straight. Please do. I'm the cat that started it all. Everybody came to me. They got the stuff from me. All of them. Springsteen, Sinatra, they all came to me, said Lonesome.

1:27 How's it doing? I believe you 100%. Very good. Just sitting right next to you. Man, yeah, I got some prime real estate in Florida too. Say no more. So does this guitar still play the same as when you got it a few years ago? 60 years ago? I think so. I'm so used to my Epiphones now. This was a dream guitar for me because I have small hands. There's a real small neck, not wide and small and all. So I could, I could really, really go to town in this thing, you know?

1:57 And nobody else could really play it because they, their fingers were too big to fit in between the strings, you see. So I got lucky with this. And you just picked it up because why it felt good in your hand? Did you know the model or anything? Like that? No, I never played it. Ever. It was in a Hock shop way up at the top. Oh, really?

2:13 You're like, give me that one. Well, I would it took a while because I was trying to get a cheaper price and they wouldn't go. So I get it was all 2 dollars, $200 I had in the in the world and our drummers way. He had booked a gig and I didn't know an electric guitar and he said we'll get. So I ran down to this place.

2:30 This this particular model had been in this Hock shop for years and everybody wanted it. And I've been away from town a long time. I've been out in California, I've been in Florida and it was still there. So this is my destiny because I tried every guitar after that and it wasn't I just this was just made for me, which is perfect for me and nobody else plays well but me so.

2:54 The ES125T, that's the model and there are all these other Gibson models inspired after this one. And this is, you know, might be you might be the one who popularized it the most. I would say I was looking, doing research. There were people who've tried them out, but this is like your number one axe. No but you go back far enough.

3:14 The original 1 was an acoustic guitar and was arched top with F holes and after that as time went on that I found we found other ones that didn't have the cuddle and had a pickup in it. Then they moved on even more and then had to cuddle with one pickup and then they moved on to 2. So it originally was an acoustic guitar with F holes and then it evolved into this instrument. And you call it Old Red.

3:41 When did it get its name? Immediately. No, not really. I think somebody in our guitar tech called it that because it. Look, you can see it's old. Yeah. And originally it was this color you can see I. Yeah, that's a buckle rash. Yeah. Exactly. And this is it was sunburst, but after time it faded and it was it became this color. So it was originally this color.

4:04 Oh, it was all red. Yeah, yeah. So he called it real old red, ancient red. I'm glad the 125 found a home or, or I'd say our first guitar, not just mine. I would say it's like our first instrument because without the guitar, we wouldn't, we wouldn't have had a band. We got such a sensational sound out of that guitar and nobody else plays that model.

4:25 But I'm glad I found a home. So what riffs came out of old red that you can remember vividly? Oh, this is going to be one that lives forever. Well, I wasn't looking at forever, I was just looking for it to get through the 1st gig. You know that was as you should. My yes and it did so I said. But we we learned this song, Madison Blues by Elmer James. Anyway, that's the rift we did.

5:07 That was the first song we rehearsed and I didn't even play it on this guitar. I was using Jeff's brother's guitar in his basement. And then we got the guitar and I, I think I fooled with it in the basement on Jeff coming to pick me up to the gig and I really broke it in the first night we played so great so. When you guys were here chatting about the history of the band and how many years you've been through all the different shows, is there one thing that comes to mind playing this guitar that is just maybe it's not necessarily the guitar is the focus, but something that a memory that reminds you when you look at this guitar.

5:44 A bad memory was it was the only guitar I had and we were in Portland, OR and we had we're going to go to England and someone stole it. Someone stole the guitar. I went to my dressing and it was gone and it was the only guitar I had. And luckily I had some beat up old piece of crap in the back of the car and I had to use that.

6:03 Then I got the Wilmington and then they they found another one like this in England for me to play, which is not even close to this was a freaking nature. This was a, it was like a Chevy Nova that ran like a BMW. It's an inexpensive instrument. This was just rare. And I took some of the top guitar techs in the world and they just said this guitar is 3 times louder than it should be. I mean, it really has P 90s on these. It's a freak.

6:30 But they stole it from me. And then we, we in Portland, OR, we got on the radio and they put a reward for it, a reward. And they had a store and they said with the money will be laying on the counter, there'll be no police, no nothing. You bring the guitar in, there's like $100 reward. You bring the guitar in, leave the guitar take.

6:51 And they really did it. The people in Portland really helped me if I hadn't have got it back so. They took your ransom money and you got it back. Yeah, pretty much. You know, the guy felt terrible because they think, well, these rock stars, they got a million guitars. I have one. You know, another person like that is Brian Setzer.

7:08 He has a certain instrument he plays like Ted Nugent does. He plays a Birdland and that is the instrument we play. So when they took it, I didn't have a backup and even when I did play the one, it wasn't the same guitar. It was just not like this one. So I got it another one and we had to get guitar techs to modify it.

7:26 So be as close to this one as possible. I see. Yeah, I see. So with this guitar on the road, you're playing the Opry tonight, actually. What kind of performance can people expect on this store? Well, it'll probably be the greatest thing they've ever since seen since Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix, to be modest. I think that that that might be an understatement. Let's just hope it's fun and nobody gets hurt. Well, you have a lot of different tricks up your sleeve. Who are you?

7:59 Some of your performers who have inspired you. Well, John Hammond was 1 hound dog tailor and there was another guy when I was growing up that I looked at and said, but I never could get his name right. You know, I've been trying to figure out his name. It was either Mick Richards or Keith Jagger, whoever that guy. Is sound a lot like you I think Mick Richards and Keith Jagger. Yeah, yeah, Keith Jagger or Mick Richards, whoever that guy is. We met The Rolling Stones before we saw him play. Now that's big.

8:30 Be hard pressed to flip a coin. Who treated us better, The Rolling Stones or Steve Miller? I mean just just I'm in class all the way. I was listening with my girlfriend Xena to 1 bourbon, 1 Scotch, one beer. I I was just commenting on the fact that how rare that song form is where you're speaking, almost like it's like rap poetry or something happening over that droning.

9:00 Yeah, it's kind of like a street poetry. It's kind of like a street rap. It's great, you know, with a, with a John Lee Hooker boogie thing behind it. Were you just in the room trying to come up? You were coming up with a verse. You're like, actually, maybe the verse just needs this. No, that's not how it happened.

9:16 I'll tell you how it happened. I'd listen to a lot of John Lee Hooker. I'd have to say he's another one besides Hound Dog. Big influence on me playing the guitar. Big, big influence. He could do so much with one chord that some people can't do with a dozen chords. So we did this song, Bourbon, Scotch and beer. We've already been playing it for a while with the band we had at the time in Boston, and people are watching the World Series and it was not that many people in the club. And I knew this song House Rent Blues by John Lee Hooker, so nobody right, I didn't think much of it. So I went and got off my stool and went up to the stage and just picked up the guitar and started doing the riff. I want to tell you a story like

9:58 of the house rent that thing. And little by little, the people at the bar were going and one, and then our drummer came up and he and then our bass player come up. And just as I went into Brooklyn, it was completely improv, completely wasn't planned at all. And that day Jeff Simon and I have been evacuated from our house. So we really did have the house rent Blues because where we lived, they doubled the rent.

10:25 Someone else bought it and doubled the rent that we couldn't for. We were out on the street so it was a real deal. Yeah, that came from from real down on your luck like pain. Exactly. So I just threw it in there and then as soon as I went on bourbon, the whole bar emptied on a dance floor. I said we're going to keep playing it this way.

10:42 Awesome, man. Yeah, the refrain where it changes the cord, it like lets people know and then you're back in. It's like sucks you back. And it's really amazing that that just came from pure Blues angst. Yes, pretty much. You know, And when they say art imitates life or life imitates art, whatever, however they that phrase is one way or the other, in one way or the other, Yeah. I saw you're using a slide.

11:05 Is that a constant a fixture to your? I saw Muddy Waters, he used copper and I, I, so I decided to do that. It just works for me, that's all, you know? Kind of has like a more abrasive. Yeah, it's kind of a brassy sound, you know, just different, you know, And it seemed I tried everything else and not for me. This.

11:23 This is what works well. It's good enough for Muddy Waters, good enough for me. OK, that's a good. Well, man, it's been so cool to meet you. And we were at your unveiling ribbon cutting where you cut it right away. By the way, did you, did you do that on purpose? You. Knew wasn't I supposed to snip? Was I supposed to?

11:41 Well, they definitely did want you, but none of their cameras were set up. Luckily I was in the bird's eye view. Got you. Wow. I've I've seen A Hard Day's Night as much as anybody else and I couldn't resist it. When the John Lennon bit. It was so good. When they're measuring the guy for the suit in their hotel and he goes, I christen the ship open, I know to try this bridge open. So I couldn't resist.

12:02 I had to do it. Well, that sort of describes your musicianship, I think, is you just go with what you're feeling. What do you think about that exhibit and being included in the Musicians Hall of Fame, inducted into this? Place I don't I don't think it's I don't think it's ever going to really, I don't think I'm ever really going to process it. You know, it's very, very some of those people that are there I, you know, to be in the musician, this Hall of Fame is something because I always thought of myself more of a performer who uses a guitar to do what I do. Our guitarist Solar and our sax player buddy Leash, They're like real musicians.

12:41 The rest of us are destroyers. I feel that. Well, I heard you say some of that sentiment yesterday and that sort of self deprecation I think is what makes people truly great and makes the best art. Well, some people say that they'll come up and say, you know, I'll say this, that or the other and they'll go, well, you're so humble.

12:58 I'm not humble. I'm just realistic, you know, you know, the eyes and the beholder, you know, to one person's brilliant is another person's bullshit. You know, I said that's and you can't, you can't account for that. So I just roll with it. You know, I saw you think I'm bad, I'm bad, you think I'm great, I'm great, whatever you say.

13:20 The late great Johnny Winter, who I did a lot of shows with. He he had a quote that I later originated. He said always play for fun. And I thought about that. I said, yeah, so when young people are playing their instrument, whether it's a guitar or anything else, they will say, well, how do I get my kid to practice?

13:44 I said, don't use the word practice because it sounds like work. Good advice. Tell them, say, why don't you go play the piano? Why don't you go play the xylophone? Why don't you play the guitar? See, if you tell them to practice, that's like work. And I said always play for fun because the more fun it is, the more you'll play.

14:01 And the more you play, the better you'll get at it. And the better you get, the more fun you have. You see how it goes. See. Exactly. It's beautiful. George Thorogood, thank you. So. Much my pleasure, believe me. And