10 Albums That Changed Me - ASK ZAC EP 24

well hello friends and welcome to
0:20
another Ask Zac I hope you're all doing
0:22
well during this crazy time hope this
0:27
can be a good fun distraction and I hope
0:31
you're being kind to yourself and giving
0:34
giving some grace to others during this
0:37
again unprecedented time I just thought
0:44
it'd be fun to talk about some of my
0:45
favorite records these records really
0:48
impacted me hugely and maybe you've
0:52
heard of them maybe you haven't but I
0:55
hope you will take a gander and maybe
0:59
take a listen this will give you
1:00
something to do so yeah have a little
1:03
fun
1:04
so first off number one is Bob Wills and
1:08
the Texas Playboys this is part of the
1:11
Tiffany transcription series which were
1:15
kind of more loose and they did more
1:19
jamming in them it was you know recorded
1:22
to be sold to radio stations to play and
1:27
this one this is volume 5 and it
1:32
features jr. Bernard who it's kind of
1:37
tough to pick a favorite you know string
1:39
player guitar player with Bob Wills but
1:42
if I had to pick it'd be junior Bernard
1:43
and that's because of his distorted tone
1:47
and his kind of aggressive playing and I
1:49
think he was a big influence on Roy
1:51
Nichols and a lot of other players you
1:57
know this was recorded in 1946 and 47
1:59
and yeah it has a great live sound to it
2:06
it has a lot of energy if I had to pick
2:11
a favorite cut it would be Fat Boy
2:13
which is an instrumental that features
2:15
you Bernard junior Bernard played an
2:18
Epiphone archtop with two pickups that
2:21
he ran to two amps and he used a volume
2:23
pedal and he did like pull offs and you
2:26
could tell it he was listening to Django
2:28
Reinhardt and other things and yeah yeah
2:31
I really need to hear junior Bernard Fat
2:34
Boy rag yeah this really made Western
2:38
Swing cool to me before I thought it was
2:41
a little too polite a little too
2:44
polished and when I heard Jimmy Bernard
2:46
like that's it cuz he had kind of all he
2:49
was more aggressive and he had that kind
2:50
of distorted tone next up Merle Travis
2:58
you know of course by the time you know
3:00
70s and 80s seeing Merle Travis I mean
3:02
he was he was much older and you know of
3:08
course he died in the early 80s yeah I
3:14
think hearing this album you know when
3:17
he was you know really in his prime in
3:20
the late 40s early 50s it was really you
3:24
know it really blew my mind hearing his
3:27
guitar tone that's super 400 with those
3:30
big you know single coil pickups and the
3:32
Bigsby on it and the way he played and
3:36
this is just him playing electric guitar
3:39
there's no rhythm section there's
3:41
nothing because it's solo guitar I mean
3:45
that's that whole style of guitar
3:46
playing with the thumb pick the whole
3:48
Merle Travis Chet Atkins thing it's
3:51
supposed to be solo guitar and that's
3:54
what he did on this and so you really
3:55
hear the richness of that guitar and his
3:59
playing the probably the the cut that
4:02
you would need to hear the most is blue
4:05
smoke this is big influence on a lot of
4:08
the a lot of the rockabilly players a
4:10
lot of early rock and roll guys even
4:12
like Jeff Beck killer killer album I'm
4:18
gonna try not to overuse killer or
4:21
incredible but it's going to be tough
4:22
these are all albums that really
4:24
influenced me a lot and they really
4:26
impacted me next two guitars country style
4:30
Jimmy Bryant and speedy West this album
4:32
is even signed by speedy West to my
4:37
friend bill speedy West so this was
4:39
signed to my friend Bill McCumber his
4:41
great pedal steel player and who a
4:45
mentor to me who took me under his wing
4:48
and when I was wanting to play country
4:51
guitar and I knew nothing about it he he
4:53
let me borrow this big stack of Records
4:55
and I used to play gigs with him and he
4:58
used to tolerate me when I first got my
4:59
first B bender and I was just yanking on
5:02
it like crazy and just you know he would
5:03
just laugh at me and and sometimes he'd
5:07
tell me just play the melody or you know
5:09
maybe simplify that or something but he
5:11
he gave me this album and yeah this is
5:16
this is it's hard to believe you know
5:21
that this album was made you know in
5:23
like 1951 just the recording sounds
5:28
wonderful their tones speedy West you
5:33
know tone Jimmy Bryant of course
5:35
probably the first big telly player
5:38
mainly using the net pickup we don't
5:41
know what kind of strings use playing
5:42
it's probably using round line strings
5:44
probably 12 through 52 which whatever
5:46
they were putting on at the time and
5:49
just so you know I've gone around in
5:51
circles and no one can say for sure
5:53
whether it was round wound or flat
5:55
wounds they were put on early Fender
5:57
guitars stock but the consensus seems to
6:01
be that they think it was round wind so
6:04
Jimi was probably playing around wound
6:06
strings on his telly you know probably
6:08
12 through 52 and apparently he liked
6:12
those little jazz picks like you know
6:14
little fender heavy ones like Danny
6:16
Gatton and Roy Buchanan used and used a
6:21
not a tweed he used a wooden Pro amp so
6:25
before the tweed amps they had these
6:27
really cool woody amps that there that's
6:30
what they're called now and they had a
6:32
wooden cabinet and then they had usually
6:34
a metal strip down the middle and then
6:37
they had like a red
6:39
grill cloth and usually they had filled
6:42
coiled speakers and of course the one
6:45
Jimmy used was the top-of-the-line Pro
6:47
with that which had a 15 inch you know
6:49
field coil speaker in it so um you know
6:52
just a wonderful sound golly if I had to
6:56
think about a favorite cut on here it
6:59
probably Bryant's bounce or Arkansas
7:01
traveler I mean those just you know
7:05
Jimmy was a ridiculously good player son
7:10
sessions you know everyone's probably
7:14
heard Elvis but how many of you have
7:16
really taken the time to listen to the
7:18
son sessions okay you know cuz we can
7:21
all get bogged down in that late you
7:22
know that 70s stuff when he was really
7:26
you know he was not really in it anymore
7:27
and he was just kind of going through
7:29
the motions and it's sad but this album
7:32
and then of course also the Memphis
7:34
record that he made with Reggie Young
7:36
and the Memphis boys I mean to me these
7:38
are the highlights and and this is
7:41
really really influential stuff and if
7:44
you haven't heard the son sessions you
7:46
need to listen my favorite cut on here
7:49
you know besides you know of course like
7:51
Mystery Train or that's all right mama
7:54
would be blue moon and his voice Elvis's
7:58
voice is going through some echo just
8:01
really eerie spooky sounding it's just
8:04
it's a great sounding album and if you
8:08
think you know Elvis and you haven't
8:09
heard the son sessions you need to
8:12
listen to this there you go Chad I love
8:18
Chad Atkins who doesn't love Chet Atkins
8:20
if your guitar player it's hard to pick
8:23
because you know of course Chet had many
8:25
errors everything from smooth jazz to
8:28
you know of course he had his earliest
8:29
stuff with you know homer and Jethro
8:31
where he was playing really
8:32
adventuresome and you can hear that Les
8:34
Paul and Django Reinhardt influence you
8:37
know the sixties stuff were huge you
8:39
know of course did some classical
8:41
Spanish things and and was playing you
8:43
know straight melody and sometimes that
8:44
strings behind it
8:46
you have the mid 50 stuff that's
8:49
interesting because he actually has
8:50
fiddle and and pedal steel and
8:52
things like that like on the in session
8:54
album and I love that album - this album
8:57
is great because it's just him with a
8:58
basic rhythm section and you can really
9:00
hear his guitar and you can hear you
9:04
know the echo on it and he's playing you
9:07
know just of course beautiful clear
9:10
clean in a guitar playing the tones on
9:14
it are fantastic so mr. guitar alright
9:21
okay now we're going out to California
9:24
going to Bakersfield Buck Owens love
9:28
Buck Owens used to watch him on heat all
9:32
the time and I didn't really even
9:34
realize what a great artist he was I
9:36
just thought him is that corny guy that
9:38
was you know you know wearing bib
9:41
overalls and saying I'm a pic and I'm a
9:44
grin and then I actually heard you know
9:47
the the seminal you know 50s and 60s
9:49
stuff and Wow
9:53
you know of course the 50 stuff is where
9:55
you have all that great Ralph Mooney you
9:58
know pedal steel playing on it of course
9:59
when you get into the 60s then you get
10:01
you know we're you know Don Rich's
10:03
guitar and harmony parts you start
10:05
hearing that and they really you know
10:06
hit their stride you know you know
10:09
through the early 6th early to mid 60's
10:10
was really their their prime and this
10:13
album was cut right in the middle of
10:14
that and I love trouble and me and of
10:17
course I love I got a tiger by the tail
10:20
crying time yeah Memphis I got to meet
10:27
buck and I got to play with him once and
10:30
it's the only time in my life had been
10:33
completely dumbstruck I think the other
10:34
time was when I met William Shatner I
10:36
was just kind of over the top but you
10:40
know I met a lot of guitar players a lot
10:42
of famous you know musicians and singers
10:44
and stuff like that but meeting buck was
10:46
just kind of over the top and Brad
10:48
Paisley introduced me to buck and I
10:51
couldn't say anything and I think Brad
10:54
was a little bit embarrassed and he said
10:55
and I was wearing all black of course
10:57
and and Brad said well as you can tell
11:01
Zac is a big fan of the man in black
11:02
and
11:04
Cohen said he said well you ain't gonna
11:07
find a bigger you know fan of them of
11:09
Johnny Cash than me so but anyway that
11:12
was a nice moment when buck and Bret
11:15
kind of saved me when I was dumbstruck
11:18
okay Merle tons of great Merle Haggard
11:23
records but this is the one for me the
11:26
album before it has you know swingin
11:29
doors and the bottle let me down which
11:31
of course swingin doors was a fill ball
11:33
bottle let me dam is James Burton this
11:36
album is a hundred percent James Burton
11:38
and you have everything from like I'm
11:42
alone some fugitive we're on his red
11:44
fifty two telly look that he refinished
11:46
red the pickups were out of phase and of
11:50
course it had the old wiring which meant
11:52
he would to get both the both pickup
11:54
sound he would have to carefully balance
11:56
that three-position switch and when he
11:58
did that he would get both pickups but
12:00
they were out of phase and that's the
12:02
sound you hear on AMA loans and fugitive
12:04
so listen carefully to it and you'll
12:06
hear oh yeah that's that's out of phase
12:08
also some of the Ricky Nelson stuff is
12:11
also out of phase all of me belongs to
12:15
you house of memories some one told my
12:18
story in a song yeah favorite Haggard
12:22
album Albert King with Booker T and the
12:31
MGS produced by Al Jackson jr. this is
12:34
the one I mean for me for Albert King
12:38
it's it's where everything came together
12:40
great songs great production great band
12:43
great performance
12:46
my favorite is crosscut saw because of
12:48
what Al Jackson did rhythmically on that
12:52
tune and and Albert's you know tone on
12:56
that it's fantastic
12:59
I've always wondered if maybe he used
13:02
you know Steve Crawford Harvard or what
13:04
I don't I don't know what he you know he
13:06
was probably playing his Flying V
13:08
there's rumors that he used one of
13:10
croppers Telly's into the Harvard on
13:12
some of it so we don't know but some of
13:15
it certainly sounds like like humbuckers
13:17
into a too
13:18
or a super or something but another
13:21
another great all right Emmylou Harris
13:26
never heard Amy Lou Harris before when I
13:30
was a teenager and heard Eric Clapton
13:33
record called just one night it was a
13:36
live album and I could certainly I
13:38
certainly even as a teenager I knew what
13:41
Clapton sounded like and then you heard
13:42
this other guitar player especially a
13:43
lot further on up the road or or setting
13:46
me up where he or Albert Lee actually
13:48
saying but found out of course that the
13:51
guitar player was Albert Lee and of
13:54
course you know pre-internet you you
13:56
know I went to a used bookstore
13:59
I was called half-priced books and they
14:01
had a location in Corpus Christi Texas
14:03
and I went there and I bought every old
14:06
guitar you know Guitar Player magazine
14:08
that they had and they had a stack of
14:10
them and they were like 25 cents each
14:11
and so I probably you know spent twenty
14:13
or thirty dollars on old guitar
14:15
magazines and out of that there was an
14:18
article on Albert and talked about some
14:21
of his favorite players and then it
14:23
mentioned a lot of a lot of albums that
14:25
he played on and of course it mentioned
14:28
a number of albums that he played on by
14:30
this emulate hearse well I decided well
14:34
I better check out one of these
14:35
emulators records so on a family trip
14:38
from Kingsville to El Paso we stopped
14:43
off in San Antonio and I begged and
14:45
pleaded if we could go to Apple records
14:47
which was my favorite record store in
14:49
San Antone was on San Pedro it's no
14:52
longer around but we went in there and I
14:55
was looking around and my dad told me as
14:58
I was looking he said I'll buy your
15:00
records today and I knew it was gonna be
15:02
a good I knew was gonna be a good day
15:03
okay it's been my own money my dad was
15:06
taking care of my records that day so
15:09
anyway so I saw this and on the liner
15:11
notes said you know Albert Lee played on
15:14
most of them then there was that guy
15:15
James Burton I said oh yeah I know who
15:16
James Burton is so he played on two cuts
15:19
but the rest of them were all Albert and
15:21
then to boot you probably can't see this
15:24
but there's a shot of Albert playing a
15:27
black guard and of course it was a
15:30
three-hour drive back
15:32
from San Antonio to Kingsville and I
15:34
just stared at this and looked at and
15:36
read it over and over again and finally
15:38
we got home put the record on the record
15:40
player put the needle down on the first
15:41
cut was you hear that that debted added
15:44
added out of that intro to luxury liner
15:47
and it completely floored me another of
15:50
course it has Pancho and Lefty this is a
15:53
you know a wonderful must listen to
15:56
album all of my friends hate you never
16:00
can tell c'est la vie because in college
16:03
I played the song non-stop because I was
16:06
trying to figure out how to play the
16:07
solo and I did learn how to play the
16:10
seller note for note but yeah but they
16:13
of course hate it now
16:14
I had my be vendor equipped le and you
16:20
know just playing that over and over
16:21
again and that's actually the album
16:23
luxury liner that's the album that
16:24
really that made me go out and buy a
16:26
Telecaster and wanted Abby bender
16:29
Delbert McClinton live from Austin this
16:33
came out on alligator but it was a
16:35
Austin City Limits episode and so I both
16:39
saw it on TV and a friend of mine gave
16:43
me the cassette of this and this album
16:46
really floored me it made me love kind
16:51
of Texas Roadhouse music for a lack of a
16:53
better word you know horns and great you
16:57
know kind of R&B blues kind of rocking
17:01
guitar parts and this album has two
17:04
great guitar players had David Millsaps
17:06
and Stephen Bruton David kind of let
17:10
Bruton kind of take the spotlight and so
17:13
Stephen Bruton took most the solos on
17:15
here and I vividly remember him you know
17:19
watching it on TV because he had an
17:21
all-black
17:22
Telecaster with binding and it had a
17:25
persons white be bender on it and he
17:27
used to be been in a very non country
17:29
way and it was very cool and he had like
17:33
a tweed super and a black face of Ivor
17:36
Lux and he had some kind of like one of
17:38
those old Ivan has multi effects units
17:40
that had the little rack-mounted thing
17:42
and they attached pedal board
17:44
that and he played fantastic tons of
17:49
great solos on here but I really enjoyed
17:53
his on the Otis Redding tune I've got
17:56
dreams to remember he actually played a
17:59
Fiesta red strat on that and he was
18:01
playing those kind of Steve cropper kind
18:04
of 6/8 kind of you know low arpeggiated
18:07
parts and it was just fantastic floored
18:10
me
18:10
of course Bruton is loved by many here
18:14
in Nashville everyone that's ever worked
18:16
with Delbert McClinton loves the late
18:18
Stephen Bruton and I of course you know
18:21
bought many of his albums and loved his
18:23
playing and sad I never got to meet and
18:25
meet him these are honorable mentioned
18:29
now Lester the road hog Moran and his
18:33
Cadillac Cowboys live at the Joni Mack
18:36
Brown High School this is a comedy album
18:38
it's the Statler Brothers and this is
18:40
the perfect album for times like these
18:43
just find this on Spotify if I know on
18:46
YouTube just listen to it just enjoy it
18:48
if it doesn't make you laugh then you
18:50
know then yeah
18:54
slap yourself do whatever you need to do
18:56
this is a great album you know the
18:57
guitar players name is Wichita so if you
18:59
hear people joking about you know
19:01
calling you at our player Wichita it's
19:03
alluding to this there's all sorts of
19:06
little jokes that are on this album that
19:08
tons of performers you know joke about
19:11
to this day so if you haven't heard this
19:13
album you need to hear it and it's easy
19:15
to find and it's great
19:17
and thanks to the guys at Claussen's
19:20
music and Corpus Christi that that clued
19:23
me into this album so alright JD sigh
19:28
Moe got me this next album we usually
19:32
give each other albums on our birthday
19:36
so our birthdays are a day apart and
19:37
it's coming up in April I'm on the 24th
19:42
and yeah I don't think we'll be able to
19:45
get together this this year but a couple
19:48
years ago he gave me this one and I you
19:54
know of course being from Texas I was
19:55
very familiar with the Fabulous
19:57
Thunderbirds but I was mainly
19:58
familiar with like the tough enough era and
20:01
that was great but I never heard this
20:04
album and so this was their first album
20:08
and it is a true gut bucket blues record
20:12
I mean it is just you know the four of
20:16
them and it sounds ridiculous I mean
20:21
it's like a Muddy Waters album or
20:23
something I mean it's it's great I know
20:25
it's a but a couple of white guys
20:26
playing blues but they they're slaying
20:30
it and you know of course jimmy has said
20:33
over and over again that he actually
20:34
used that 70s telly you know on the
20:37
album yeah it's a great one I hope you
20:43
all are familiar with this one JJ k JJ
20:46
Cale naturally you know a friend of mine
20:50
in Houston clued me into this album and
20:53
yeah this is another one of those
20:54
records you can just kind of keep
20:56
flipping and flipping and flipping and
20:57
listening to it has such a great vibe to
20:59
it the songs the playing it's got
21:02
everything and of course you know a lot
21:03
of these songs were covered by other
21:05
people they call me the breeze of course
21:08
my favorite and I love the the fact that
21:10
you hear that that really primitive drum
21:12
machine at the beginning you know and
21:15
it's great yeah
21:17
what's not to like about JJ Cale and
21:22
this is our last one my aunt
21:27
Lisa Davis in Albuquerque New Mexico
21:30
including me into this in the 80s she
21:33
had a Toyota SUV and and she listened to
21:37
this album all the time Willie Nelson
21:40
Stardust of course it wasn't until a
21:42
couple of years ago I asked her about it
21:43
and she said oh it was jammed in there
21:45
and she said I loved the album but you
21:49
know it was like that was only it was
21:51
jammed in there she couldn't get it out
21:52
but it would keep playing so for years
21:54
she listened to Willie Nelson Stardust
21:57
album and so a number of years ago
21:59
of course I picked it up on vinyl and
22:02
this is such a soothing album and such
22:06
great production work by Booker T of
22:08
Booker T and the MGS Booker T Jones
22:11
produced it just his take you know
22:17
Willie's take on all those classic you
22:19
know this kind of started that oh let's
22:21
do the American Songbook well I mean as
22:24
far as I can tell this is probably the
22:25
first one that really did that and of
22:27
course a record label didn't want to put
22:29
it out and it ended up being you know
22:31
selling you know millions of copies but
22:34
this is a great one and if you haven't
22:36
heard it and if you haven't heard it
22:37
recently you just need to put it on so
22:41
well guys thank you for you know kind of
22:45
listening to me kind of have fun
22:48
reliving some of my favorite albums of
22:51
all time and yeah comment below on some
22:54
of your favorites you know put put a
22:56
list of some of your favorite albums and
22:58
and if you haven't heard one of these
23:00
and then you hear it and it moves you
23:02
tell me alright well I hope you all have
23:05
a great week and we'll see you next time
23:07
bye bye