Eugene Edwards: The Man You Want in the Band — and in the Van

Eugene Edwards (ne Jaramillo) shows up right on time, carrying two hot coffees and pastries from the Silver Lake staple Café Tropical.

No one asked for treats, but he’s got ’em, and a smile.

He unpacks a little Fender amp, an American made $2k Fender Telecaster, a mic stand and a mic.

But most importantly he arrives with tons of energy, and a never-ending wealth of stories and knowledge of music history and theory. It’s no wonder we, two strangers, ended up talking and laughing for three hours. (Fret not, Jordan edited it down to one tight hour.)

When he’s not winning over podcasters, Eugene tours the world as the lead guitarist for country star Dwight Yoakam.

So naturally we began our conversation about a podcast episode he did where he and his co-host, Dave Rayburn, marveled over Elvis Costello’s awe-inspiring “Get Happy” (1980). Their podcast, The Jukebox Graduate is a beautifully produced conversation between two longtime friends as they chat about records that mean a great deal to them.

Tony Pierce: You’re an excitable person. You’re a lively character. You’re meant for the stage, and you’re also incredible behind the mic. I have not heard energy from you like when you talked about Elvis Costello’s “Get Happy.”

Eugene Edwards: Yeah man.

There’s several themes that have developed so far in the 35+ episodes of this podcast. One is you can’t put people in a box.

Some might say, “oh you’re Native American, you have no business in a white guy’s country band.”

Or “you play a Telecaster, you have no business talking about metal.”

So, ‘Get Happy,’ which I don’t believe has any guitar solos —

It sort of does. Okay. So that’s interesting. You’re right. What would attract, a guitar player…?

And that is if I were to put you in a box. But you love it for the reasons I do, because there are 20 great songs, right?

It’s hooks. The melodic movement.

Also, the band is playing in that Stax / Volt / Motown… they’re playing with a little more swing to them than they were on the previous two albums…

They throw that playbook [of the first two records] out the window, and make ‘Get Happy’ and decide they’re just gonna pretend that they’re making an old Motown record, which is great.

Costello’s the least-accomplished musician on his instrument in that band. But of course he’s a great songwriter and singer, so that’s his primary thing. But when he needs to imitate a Booker T. or an or Al Green thing, he knew he could put that together. He could make that go.

When I saw John Fogerty years ago at the Kodak, he had four guitarists even though he was the only one who soloed.

Right.

We both love Springsteen. He’s got four guitar players. That seems like a lot. He’s got his wife on guitar, you can’t kick her out.

Yeah, she’s strumming.

You got Little Steven.

And he’s still got Nils.

And Bruce is a very good guitar player.

How come Elvis doesn’t get a real guitar player like you?

Elvis, I’m open, buddy. I’m good usually Sunday nights through Wednesday nights.

Is it ego? Because we know Elvis doesn’t get along with everybody.

You mean that’s why he doesn’t have another guitar player?

Would it kill him to have one?

My theory is that that set his overall sound apart.

Growing up as a kid, a latchkey kid in Yuma, Arizona, and watching MTV videos at the time in the early ’80s, there was Tom Petty and Mike Campbell, the guitar player. There was the singer/songwriter and the lead guitar player.

There’s always a lead guitar player in every rock band except for this one.

So I think it was just, “well, if we do that, then our songs will have that guitar solo thing just like everyone else’s.” So I think he was always trying to dodge what everyone else was doing. And that kind of forced them to not be typical.

And he also has the secret weapon of Steve Nieve.

He’s unique.

I don’t think any rock and roll keyboard player has so many flurries going on in the background. And then when it’s time for the solo, Elvis hands it over to Steve.

Trust me, as a kid who would sit at the edge of his bed playing along to Costello albums, there’s nowhere to jam some lead guitar noodling. It’s really dense stuff.

So why does Springsteen have so many guitar players? Because “Growin’ Up,” which you get your podcast’s name from, barely needs one. It’s a piano song with a piano solo. So why’s he carrying so much weight?

And then he brings in Tom Morello!

I think the thing here is that he has both Steven and Nils at the same time. I think this is a matter of “I don’t wanna make a Sophie’s Choice. I put the band back together. Steve’s available and so is Nils.” And it’s like “just put them both on the bus, it’s fine.”

Plus Nils can play lap steel, and accordion.

And he’s a great singer.

I think you now get to spread things out quite a bit. But I think it’s also not about how to deliver the music in any specific way, I think now a Springsteen concert is like this big family reunion.

They’re two men down, now. They’ve lost two E. Street band members. So now it’s sort of like, “while we can have absolutely everybody let’s just bring absolutely everybody.”

Excellent points. But also you’re a touring musician. And even though you’re ridiculously talented — I’ve only a heard one bad note from you in everything I’ve seen on YouTube.

And I’m not kissing your ass. I was trying. I was hoping to find a bad note.

I think there’s something to be said for the guy in the van who’s not a fucking asshole. Someone you can get along with.

Now you’ve hit the thing. If you have a national-level gig, like I do, you will get asked… “How do you get a gig like this?”

Me and other guys, sidemen, if you will, we talk about this a lot.

Look, there’s somewhat of a minimum amount of proficiency you truly need on any given instrument. You have to know enough.

But it really does boil down to, “can I live with you for two weeks on a bus? The hang is soooo crucial.

I was referred to Dwight when he needed a guitar player by a great friend of mine who was already in his band.

He said, “hey Dwight wants to talk to us.”

So I go down to talk to him about it. There was a guitar there and I picked it up and he had an acoustic. He would just start like some old Sun Records tune and I’d play along. Or he’d start on an old Merle Haggard song and I’d play along. I don’t think we even played much… an intro, a verse, and then we just stopped and talked.

He didn’t need to hear me. He didn’t need to see, “can you play this lick and play that lick?” He just sort of gestured to me and said, “well, obviously you’re, you’re a guitar player. Are you available to do these dates?”

He didn’t wanna be burdened with, “well, let’s see your technique.”

It’s like, “well, you were referred. I know you must have technique.”

And I think it probably didn’t hurt that I have no serious addictions, I’m a homeowner, husband, father, like I have responsibility, so I’m accountable for something.

I’ll probably show up when I’m supposed to.

Are you the one that’s always late for the 4 p.m. Lobby Call or sound check?

How often are we asking, “hey, where’s So-and-So?”

Those are the demerits.

Moving to Eagle Rock at the turn of the Century

We bought our house in August of 2001 in Eagle Rock. It’s been over 20 years. And I’ll tell you, those first several years, it was tough to sleep at night because there were helicopters overhead.

And now, they’re not.

So you’re gonna have to explain to me how that’s not good.

Gentrification is usually somebody saying, “everything was better when I arrived.” They don’t talk about what it was like before your ass got here.

So all the street names in East LA are very New York-based because guess who was there before the Latinos?

I have a retired uncle who lives in Glendale and he cracks me up because he he’s so angry about the demographic change in Glendale. And I’m just thinking, well how do you think John Wayne’s family felt when your ass moved here in 1960?

We don’t see ourselves as the change.

Or maybe we get territorial, like, “look, I went through this crap and now I don’t want anyone else ever moving here that doesn’t look like me.”

It’s a very funny thing.

Let’s talk about guitar solos in country music.

You mentioned something about this when we were setting up. What’s the question?

The question is where are they? You get two bars. I feel like most country lead guitar players —

Are you talking about modern country or just in general?

Modern country. When you are on the stage with Dwight, you get —

Tons.

Yes. You do get tons.

But they’re not long?

No.

Oh. Oh, okay. So yes —

By the way, Dwight seems very generous about that.

He is generous.

He plays his acoustic, he sings his song, all the girls swoon, and then he steps back at the right time. You get some love. And then the steel guitar player gets some love.

And that to me is so beautiful. You’re a real band. A full ensemble. You’re all talented musicians.

But you don’t get to play behind your back. You don’t get to play with your teeth. You don’t set that thing on fire.

I don’t have to, Tony.

You don’t have to click that play button to hear the entire conversation we had, but if you don’t you’ll miss out on Eugene talking about Taylor Swift, how Blues and Country songs are structured differently, why the Telecaster is perfect for achieving that Country twang, and why he loves the Eagle Rock Plaza.

And best of all you can hear him play that thing. So click that thing, Hoss!

Want more Eugene? You can hear his weekly radio show M/W/F at 10a/10p on Live 365.

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Hear in LA is produced by Tony Pierce and a guy who chopped more than half of this conversation down to a lean hour and change, Jordan Katz. And he did it with a smile.

Editing, music supervision & mixing by Jordan Katz.

Songs by Orgōne and Jordan Katz.

This blog post was produced and edited by magical elves who trimmed down the transcript of the podcast to this representational sample and merged words and basically screwed everything to all hell so you should just listen to the interview for exactly what was said, ok.

OKAY?

Shout out to:

Cindy for the graphic.

Jen Adams for the encouragement to do this years ago!

And thanks to Joe Armstrong who said, oh I know a guy in Eagle Rock you’ll probably get along with.

Holy crap you were right, Joe. Thank you!