Redd Volkaert - The Telewacker - Ask Zac Player Spotlight - 139

well hello friends and welcome to Ask
0:56
Zac today we're going to Spotlight
0:59
probably the I guess one of the
1:01
telecaster's best friends and that is Mr
1:04
red volkart
1:06
I'm a huge fan and proud to say a friend
1:10
of red
1:11
and I love his playing and a couple
1:15
episodes ago I did uh I did one on the
1:17
the ashtray cover on telecasters and at
1:22
the end of the video
1:23
I played uh you know my little rendition
1:26
of red wing and somebody complimented me
1:29
and they said you sound like red volkart
1:32
on there and that was just I was floored
1:36
by that and then I I just started
1:37
thinking about how much I've relied on
1:41
read through the years for for input and
1:44
inspiration
1:45
and just how important he is as a
1:49
Telecaster player and as a torch bearer
1:51
of the real pure Telecaster sound so
1:55
today's episode is on red volkart we're
1:58
gonna have a new segment at the end it's
2:01
going to be Zach's book time
2:04
so in a couple of the live streams I've
2:07
had people say you have got to talk
2:09
about all those books that you have on
2:11
your shelves and yes I've read them all
2:14
and they're all you know of course music
2:17
oriented biographies or historical
2:20
pieces on instruments and such and so
2:22
I'm going to start
2:23
focusing on the the best of of my
2:27
library here and I'm going to talk about
2:29
them and recommend some books so that'll
2:32
be at the end
2:33
all right so while you're thinking about
2:35
it if you've been enjoying the show then
2:38
and you haven't done it already please
2:40
go down in the whole in the corner and
2:41
hit subscribe if you've already done
2:43
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2:44
supporting the show the best way is
2:46
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2:50
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2:51
also there's good old tip jar
2:53
information or you can go to askzac.com
2:56
and you can find things like this uh
2:59
amp schematic shirt and other other you
3:02
know
3:03
coffee cups and all sorts of stuff so I
3:06
really appreciate those of you that have
3:08
supported me all right so let's Dive In
3:11
so Justin read volcard was born March 6
3:17
1958 in Vancouver British Columbia
3:21
he started playing the guitar at age 10
3:24
and was initially initially influenced
3:27
by a lot of the rock guys of the time
3:28
again this would be about 1968 so there
3:32
was Albert King and deep purple and of
3:34
course there was kind of blues rock and
3:36
the British rock kind of coming in
3:38
but then he heard Buck Owens and Merle
3:41
Haggard and Roy Nichols and he came
3:43
under the spell and so he got
3:46
a 58 Esquire that he chiseled out and
3:50
put a Charlie Christian pickup in it and
3:52
uh
3:53
and started his uh his journey as one of
3:57
the great uh you know I guess modern
3:59
Telecaster players
4:01
he uh he played around Canada and then
4:05
spent some time in both Texas and
4:08
California in Los Angeles playing a lot
4:11
of a lot of live gigs before we moved to
4:13
Nashville and it's Nashville where he
4:16
you know really started becoming noted
4:19
especially through his playing with the
4:21
Don Kelly Band so he had at least two
4:24
different stints with the Don Kelly Band
4:27
and was just extremely influential now
4:30
if you need to learn more about Don
4:32
Kelly I've done an interview with him uh
4:35
that uh I'll uh I'll put a link in the
4:37
description also Don Kelly was one of
4:40
the most important band leaders in
4:42
Nashville and he always had a Top Flight
4:45
band including a Top Flight Telecaster
4:47
player and other guys that of course
4:49
went through his band include guys like
4:51
Brent Mason and Daniel Donato and Johnny
4:55
Hyland and JD Simone Guthrie trout on
4:58
and on and on
4:59
so red was in Don Kelly's band in uh and
5:04
apparently in part of the 80s and also
5:06
into the 1990s
5:08
and during that time he
5:13
he got the call from Merle Haggard
5:15
himself to uh to be the you know the
5:19
lead guitarist in Merle's band The
5:21
Strangers and he said you know in
5:24
interviews including the interview I did
5:25
with him that uh that he thought it was
5:28
a joke and uh and he uh he used some
5:33
profanity in talking to Merle Haggard
5:34
before he realized that it was that it
5:37
was Merle
5:38
and so this is kind of where I and a lot
5:41
of other people found out about red
5:43
so once he started playing with with
5:46
Merle Haggard he was on on a big stage
5:49
and appearing on television and being on
5:51
shows everywhere and he even put out a a
5:55
solo record uh that I have here
5:59
called a telewhacker and so this was
6:02
released in 1998 and the album uh you
6:07
know garnered him some some notice from
6:11
the guitar magazines and I remember
6:14
vividly seeing the article in Guitar
6:17
Player magazine that showed a picture of
6:19
red holding a bunch of telecasters and
6:21
Merle Haggard records and them talking
6:23
about his album and also the fact that
6:26
he was working with Merle well I found
6:29
out that Merle was playing in Corpus
6:31
Christi Texas and so my buddy Bobby
6:34
Lawson and I uh we went and saw Merlin
6:37
so I still have the ticket
6:39
so this was Huerta concerts presents
6:43
Merle Haggard and David Allen Coe Friday
6:45
September 4th 1998 at 8 pm
6:49
at the Texas Sky Park which was kind of
6:52
an outdoor you know concrete little uh
6:55
Park and uh yeah I was so excited to see
7:00
Merle and red
7:02
and
7:03
one of the reasons was that
7:07
of course you know growing up in the 80s
7:10
and 90s
7:11
when I saw Merle Haggard on television
7:13
the guitarist that was with him most of
7:16
the time in these performances was Clint
7:18
strong now I love Clint Strong's playing
7:21
and Clint strong is a fabulous player he
7:25
is a Bebop player and he would usually
7:27
play a wine red Les Paul Custom through
7:30
a PV session 400 amplifier and played
7:33
many times on the neck pickup played
7:36
really clean played the little Jazz
7:38
picks incredible Bebop player so clean
7:41
so fast a wonderful player but he was
7:45
really
7:47
not not like Roy Nichols in any way
7:49
shape or form
7:51
he fit with the bandwell and played
7:54
fantastic
7:55
however I wanted to hear that James
7:58
Burton Roy Nichols Telecaster thing and
8:01
just that vibe
8:03
so the chance to see Merle Merle Haggard
8:07
with red volkart was to me just the
8:10
ultimate it was it was you know as close
8:12
as you could get to seeing James Burton
8:14
or a Roy Nichols playing with him
8:17
so we went to the show and
8:21
I was looking on the stage and I could
8:23
see that Merle had two you know 410
8:27
Tweed basements and red volkart had two
8:30
dual professional amps so if you don't
8:32
remember the Dual professional it was a
8:34
custom shop like hand wired amp that was
8:37
you know looked like a Twin Reverb
8:39
except it had blonde covering and it had
8:42
like a fat switch and uh
8:45
and I think that he either had EVS or or
8:48
jbl's in the amps but he had two of them
8:50
they were both tilted back
8:53
and Merlin red came out and uh I I have
8:58
to say David Allan Coe opened the show
9:00
and he he was good but I was it didn't
9:02
matter how good David Allan Coe was I
9:04
couldn't wait to see you know red and
9:06
Merle so Merlin red come out and they're
9:08
both playing Merle's signature model
9:11
guitars that Fender had just started
9:12
making and they were these neck through
9:15
guitars that were based on instruments
9:17
that Jerry Jones
9:19
the guitar Builder that made all those
9:21
upgraded Dan Electro type guitars had
9:23
made for Merle back in the 80s and they
9:26
were neck through
9:28
because that allowed him to do hollowed
9:31
outsides and that way he could make the
9:34
instrument as light as possible and
9:35
still be you know strong structurally
9:38
so uh so and and Fender made a variation
9:41
of that when they started making a
9:43
signature model but because of course
9:44
Jerry Jones was not in he did not want
9:47
to make that guitar over and over again
9:50
and uh you know and Fender did so that's
9:53
what they that's what happened
9:54
so on their guitars
9:57
the one modification that was you know
9:59
very easy to tell even from the audience
10:01
was that both of them had changed their
10:03
pickups
10:04
so both Merle and red had single blade
10:08
pickups on there and at the time I
10:11
didn't know what they were but then of
10:12
course later on I found out that red had
10:14
gotten some Jake Jones pickups that in
10:18
fact initially he had really liked the
10:21
original version of the Joe Barden
10:22
pickup that was a single coil it had a
10:24
single blade
10:25
and but it was short-lived and so there
10:28
are shots of Danny Gatton playing the
10:31
single blade Barton pickups but they of
10:34
course changed it and made it humbucking
10:36
and somehow red had a set of those
10:39
pickups that he put in his guitar and
10:42
Merle wanted them and so he was able to
10:45
get Jake Jones to make kind of copies of
10:48
that Original Joe Barden design because
10:49
Joe Barden would not do it because he
10:52
felt like the humbucking was a better
10:54
design
10:55
so they played fantastic and it was just
11:00
amazing to hear those songs because
11:02
Merle was still in fantastic voice and
11:06
red was playing all those licks in the
11:09
way they were supposed to be played and
11:11
it wasn't like he you know mimicked note
11:13
for note what James Burton and Roy
11:15
Nichols did but he he played in that
11:18
spirit in that vein and that's what I'd
11:19
wanted to see that's what I was missing
11:21
with Clint strong and again total
11:24
respect for Clint strong as a player but
11:26
red it was it was just the perfect fit
11:29
Merlin red
11:30
it was a fantastic show and one that
11:33
will always be a sweet a sweet memory
11:36
and one of the best shows I've ever seen
11:39
so fast forward a couple years
11:41
and I started working for Brad Paisley
11:45
and
11:46
we were going to Austin and to do a show
11:50
and I was of course I was Brad's guitar
11:53
tech at this point
11:54
and Brad told me he said now we're going
11:57
to have somebody sit in it's red vocard
11:59
of course I was very excited and and I
12:02
said so is he going to play at the end
12:04
of the show and Brad said no he's going
12:06
to play the whole show
12:07
now that was very unusual because Brad
12:09
would have guests come on but usually it
12:12
was at the end of the show
12:13
and they would do like a song or two but
12:17
he was going to have red come out with
12:19
the band and play the entire show
12:23
so red shows up and he's got you know
12:25
he's got his Telecaster in a gig bag
12:28
and he's got this Tweed looking amp and
12:31
as I get closer I can tell it's a it's a
12:33
high-powered Tweed twin
12:35
and I offer hey can I can I help you
12:38
with your amp and he very he smiles and
12:42
says sure and then I found out why he
12:44
said that it was because the amp weighed
12:46
about 100 pounds it had an evm 12l and a
12:51
JBL d120f so right there that's
12:55
35 pounds just in the speakers okay so
12:59
because that EV is about 20 pounds the
13:01
you know the JBL is about 15. so you've
13:04
got 35 pounds of speaker then you take
13:06
the amp itself
13:07
so the amp was actually a uh it was
13:09
built by Eric borash kind of he's more
13:12
known as Evo here in town and he makes
13:14
amps and digital I mean not digital he
13:17
makes a really cool uh spring reverb
13:19
units and uh great Builder great guy
13:23
great guitarist
13:24
um
13:25
so I carried that amp and thought I was
13:28
gonna you know slip a disc or something
13:30
but I I got his Tweed twin set up and he
13:32
had a small pedal board he had one of
13:34
those little
13:35
bcb3s that's the the little gray plastic
13:38
pedal board that boss made but it only
13:40
fit three pedals on it he had a CS2 the
13:44
blue compressor pedal with three knobs
13:46
he had the dm3 analog delay and he had a
13:50
a blues driver a bd2 unmodified you know
13:53
just normal and then he had some type of
13:55
little Korg tuner that was just kind of
13:56
wired in there up top
13:59
and that's all he had Telly those you
14:02
know three petals a tuner and a Tweed a
14:04
high-powered Tweed twin with an Eevee
14:06
and a JBL
14:07
and every single song Brad gave him a
14:10
solo and he played amazing and of course
14:13
he was a HomeTown crowd because by this
14:16
point you know red had lived in
14:17
Nashville but he had he had moved to uh
14:20
to Austin actually during the time he
14:22
was playing with Merle and so he was
14:25
kind of a HomeTown favorite and so the
14:27
audience of course really ate it up that
14:30
Brad had read and read played fantastic
14:33
fast forward a year or two I'm still
14:36
working for Brad and
14:38
we start recording the the mud on the
14:40
tires album
14:42
and he decides he wants to do an
14:44
instrumental with uh with red and so he
14:47
has red flown in
14:49
from Austin and he comes up and he's got
14:53
that same little pedal board
14:55
and we had a rental amp I think we had a
14:58
drip edge a 68 super Reverb for him
15:03
and at this time he had a no Caster that
15:06
was Sunburst I think it was one of those
15:08
red just finds all the cool telecasters
15:12
I mean he always has a Cool Telly I mean
15:15
and this one was something where it was
15:18
like refinished by the fender Factory
15:20
later on so it was sunburst white
15:23
pickguard no caster
15:25
and he played fantastic in the studio
15:28
and I really enjoyed it because I got to
15:30
I got to see him record
15:32
and then also uh I was kind of his uh
15:35
chauffeur so I I got to take him back to
15:38
the uh to the hotel he was staying at
15:40
and I got to talk to him and you know of
15:42
course we went to we went to dinner and
15:43
ate Mexican food together and and such
15:45
and it was just really fun to hang out
15:47
with him and Brad and and just hear them
15:49
you know tell stories and during that I
15:52
found out that unbeknownst to me Brad
15:54
had been a big fan of red for a long
15:57
time and that back in the 90s that Brad
16:00
would go and see red volkart play with
16:02
Don Kelly down at Roberts downtown
16:05
Nashville
16:06
so yeah it was a really uh special and
16:10
fun time and then fast forward just a
16:13
couple more months and Brad Paisley got
16:15
married to his wife Kim
16:17
and they had a wedding reception on the
16:20
beach in Malibu California and under a
16:23
big old tent was red volkart and his
16:26
Trio and they they flew him in and yeah
16:30
he had his bass player and his drummer
16:32
with him and they had rental amps they
16:34
had twin reverbs and it was a
16:38
kind of a big kind of Hollywood kind of
16:40
deal there were record execs from
16:42
Nashville and there were actors of
16:44
course Brad's wife is an actress and uh
16:47
so there were a lot of actors there and
16:49
Hollywood types and I really didn't know
16:53
anyone besides uh you know red and Brad
16:57
and uh and so I really didn't know what
17:00
to do and then finally I just you know
17:02
it was acted like it was okay if you sat
17:05
in with red so I had you know I had a
17:07
Telly with me and so I just got up and
17:09
there were some extra amps and stuff for
17:11
people to sit in so I just ended up
17:12
playing for a couple hours with red
17:13
volkart and it was quite the kick to the
17:17
pants you know because every time you
17:19
played a solo you knew that you were
17:21
gonna get your butt whipped by red but
17:22
it was the it was the best thing ever
17:24
and I I can vividly you know see him as
17:29
he smiled and sometimes would wink at me
17:31
as he would bend the neck on his Telly
17:34
and and just make all sorts of wonderful
17:36
sounds so
17:38
yeah really really haven't enjoyed Red's
17:43
playing he is kind of the the torch
17:46
Bearer for uh kind of clean you know
17:51
kind of older Telecaster sounds sounds
17:53
that have kind of been forgotten by many
17:55
and also you know when you see him play
17:57
you know he's going to be doing songs by
17:59
Lefty Frizzell and Ray Price and of
18:02
course Merle Haggard and win Stuart and
18:05
Buck Owens and it's just so nice to get
18:07
to hear those
18:09
classic you know country Tunes performed
18:12
at such a high level by you know a great
18:14
singer and and player
18:16
uh of course more recently uh red came
18:20
up and uh he did the the true tone
18:23
lounge with me and that was a real honor
18:26
and uh you know he was only in town for
18:29
a day and I went down to the hotel that
18:31
he was staying at picked him up we did
18:34
the interview in about two hours and
18:36
then I drove him back and he had to get
18:38
onto sound check and it was just
18:40
so much fun to get to hang out you know
18:43
with him some and get to get to do an
18:45
interview and it was during the
18:46
interview that he told me that he was
18:48
going to be moving to Virginia which is
18:49
where he lives now so and uh and he is
18:53
still performing and one of the reasons
18:55
he moved was he kind of wanted to slow
18:57
down because while he was Austin in
18:59
Austin he was playing six or seven
19:01
nights a week sometimes multiple shows a
19:04
day
19:05
and he just found that he wanted to slow
19:07
down so he's still playing a fair amount
19:10
but he but he has slowed down he's out
19:12
in Virginia and sometimes he'll go out
19:15
and play shows on his own locally at the
19:19
Floyd County store and they have an
19:21
online presence and you can find
19:23
performances of of red playing there
19:27
also uh he he you know he tours you know
19:31
with a western swing outfit and uh and
19:34
they they do shows you know all over the
19:37
place they've even gone as far as Dubai
19:39
and uh so that's that's that's really
19:42
fun thing that he does and that the band
19:43
doesn't have a drummer and and red will
19:45
play an arch Top guitar it's one of the
19:47
few times where you'll see him without a
19:49
Telecaster but uh yeah
19:52
really enjoy and love red volkart
19:56
um
19:57
let's gear wise
20:01
red has pretty much always played
20:03
telecasters uh he uh he's had a number
20:07
of black guards and white guard you know
20:10
50s white guards and even you know
20:12
customs and things you know through the
20:14
you know 60s Tellies and such
20:17
but he's probably most associated with
20:19
black guard Tellies and he's been you
20:22
know featured in like Dave Hunter's
20:24
Telecaster book or he's been you know in
20:27
The Black Guard book or the pine Caster
20:29
book uh and that's you know he he is one
20:32
of the authorities on Vintage
20:34
telecasters he really knows all the
20:37
little bits and parts you know because
20:39
there's so many things not everything
20:41
has
20:42
you know blatant markings on it and some
20:45
things you are not able to identify
20:47
things like screws or maybe the shape of
20:50
a you know Chrome pickup cover or
20:52
something like that but he can because
20:53
he's had so many old guitars and taken
20:56
them apart or found old parts and
20:58
restored them and so
21:01
that's uh that's one of the reasons why
21:04
I said he's you know one of the
21:05
telecasters best friends the other thing
21:08
is I say he's the Telecaster player's
21:10
best friend because he is such a kind
21:13
and supportive person you know if you're
21:16
if you're a good guy then red is in your
21:19
camp and red is going to support you and
21:21
say kind things and it's going to help
21:24
you and he's just a great guy
21:28
and that is truly special someone that
21:32
is a great player and a great person
21:36
let's see let's talk about gear
21:39
you know I of course you know he's
21:41
played all these early you know Tellies
21:43
but uh amp wise you know of course for a
21:46
long time he used Fender amps you know
21:48
with JBL d120s or k120 speakers
21:51
more recently he's played grammatico
21:54
amps and John has made a number of amps
21:58
for him that he's played
22:00
also uh well then there's also been like
22:03
PV LTDs and some other you know kind of
22:06
you know interesting you know
22:07
transistorized amps from the 60s and 70s
22:09
that he's played including some Show Bud
22:12
amps and the most recent Show Bud amp
22:15
that he's been using is this little
22:18
practice amp so Show Bud made this amp
22:21
that had a 15 in it
22:23
and they made kind of a smaller version
22:26
that there were only a handful of them
22:27
made and they were made for like Buddy
22:29
Emmons and Lloyd Green and people of
22:31
that ilk and
22:34
he has one of those and it's it's lower
22:37
powered and it has a 12 inch JBL d120 in
22:41
it and he had a friend of his back in
22:43
Texas go through the amp and also put a
22:46
digital Reverb circuit in it and that's
22:49
an amp that you see him perform a lot
22:51
with
22:53
um you know with with trios and such
22:55
where he doesn't need as much power
22:57
and uh and it's a you know of course red
23:00
makes everything sound great but it's a
23:02
great sounding little amp and uh I've
23:05
not been able to find another one like
23:07
it because I would I would snatch it up
23:09
if I could
23:10
uh strings he's been uh for a long time
23:13
he used labella's uh and as heavy as 12s
23:17
or 13s
23:18
and then in the last couple years uh
23:21
partially to allow other people to sit
23:23
in and play his guitar without
23:25
complaining he started using Ernie Ball
23:26
11's pick wise he's used uh you know
23:31
these uh oh these fancy schmancy uh you
23:35
know picks let's see
23:38
why am I blinking blue chips so yes I
23:42
have one one here so he's been using
23:44
Blue Chip picks and uh and those Ernie
23:47
Ball strings and and he doesn't just use
23:50
vintage telecasters he's a big supporter
23:53
of uh you know Boutique Builders and so
23:56
Asher and a number of other companies
23:58
have built guitars for him and many
24:00
times when he travels he doesn't take a
24:02
vintage guitar he'll take one of these
24:03
Boutique built telecasters but usually
24:06
he wants one with a big neck light Ash
24:09
body brass Saddles and kind of a vintage
24:12
style
24:13
you know pickup set up and he kind of
24:15
likes the nickel silver cover on the
24:17
neck pickup for a clear sound
24:21
yeah I think that uh that covers the old
24:24
uh gear thing uh yeah if you're into
24:28
physical media I recommend you know
24:31
picking up till a whacker and uh no
24:33
stranger to a Telly those are both
24:35
really cool of course you can also find
24:37
those online there are all sorts of uh
24:40
lessons that he's done for uh for True
24:43
fire and he's done older you know video
24:46
lessons that you can find online and
24:48
they're very much worth picking up and
24:50
of course if he's ever playing anywhere
24:53
you should absolutely go see him so
24:57
red volcar one of my favorite players
25:00
proud to say he's a a friend and of
25:03
course he got me uh using a JBL speaker
25:05
so all right now it's time for Zach's
25:08
book time
25:12
today
25:13
we're going to talk about one of my
25:14
favorite biographies or it's
25:16
autobiography A Memoir it's one train
25:18
later by Andy Summers
25:21
I picked up this book when it was
25:23
released not being a huge fan of the
25:26
police I mean of course I enjoy the
25:28
police and have enjoyed Andy's playing
25:30
but I really enjoyed his uh his writing
25:35
he's a he's a great writer and it's this
25:37
is a very enjoyable read whether you
25:40
pick it up or check it out from the
25:41
library I highly recommend this one of
25:45
the things that you don't realize was
25:46
that he was he was a bit older than the
25:50
other two members of the police and so
25:52
he's more of a contemporary with guys
25:54
like Eric Clapton and such and he was
25:56
you know playing in bands in in England
25:58
in the 1960s and in fact he talks about
26:01
how he sold
26:03
his burst to uh to Eric Clapton after
26:07
you know you know Eric's was was stolen
26:10
and uh yeah so you get all these great
26:13
stories and again it's just an enjoyable
26:16
read and I think uh
26:19
you know just on on another front I
26:21
think Andy does not get enough
26:23
uh credit for how important he is as far
26:26
as Pop guitar playing I think he's you
26:29
know as important as Chuck Berry you
26:31
know was to the 50s I think Andy Summers
26:33
was to the late 70s and 80s I think so
26:35
many people
26:36
you know learned about using effects
26:39
using delay
26:41
chord voicings that were different you
26:44
know more having more of a jazz
26:45
influence the the removing the third and
26:48
heading those ad nine chords and such I
26:52
think uh Andy is a amazing player and
26:56
he's a fantastic writer and so uh check
26:59
out one train later by Andy Summers
27:02
all right guys well I hope you've
27:04
enjoyed today's episode and I'll see you
27:06
next time
27:07
bye-bye