The Incomparable Guitar of Andrew Gold - Ask Zac 125

well hello friends and welcome to Ask
0:57
Zac today we are going to talk about
0:59
one of the unsung
1:01
pop guitar heroes of the 70s and that's
1:04
Andrew gold of course he deserves
1:07
attention on a much broader level as the
1:09
multi-instrumentalist
1:11
that he was and just all of the records
1:15
that he contributed to as a you know
1:17
kind of arranger harmony vocalist player
1:21
but today we're going to focus on
1:24
him as a guitarist and specifically on
1:27
two
1:27
um songs that he played on for Linda
1:30
Ronstadt and his guitar parts
1:33
really uh helped make them hits and
1:35
they're off the same album
1:36
they are of course you're no good which
1:38
i just played the the solo
1:41
and then also when will i be loved both
1:43
off of Linda Ronstadt's 1974 kind of
1:47
breakthrough album heart like a wheel so
1:48
we're gonna cover that a little bit of
1:51
Andrew's history and uh yeah talk a
1:54
little bit a little bit about his gear
1:57
and we're gonna talk about the making of
1:58
those songs and what what gear was used
2:01
to uh to create
2:03
those uh those sounds that that were on
2:05
those those two big hits so
2:08
all right
2:09
before we get started a little pause for
2:11
the cause
2:12
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2:14
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2:16
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2:27
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2:29
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2:33
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2:35
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2:37
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2:39
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2:40
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2:42
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2:46
so let's let's dive in so
2:48
Andrew Maurice gold was born in 1951 in
2:52
Burbank California of course Burbank is
2:54
really just part of Los Angeles at this
2:56
point but he was born into a very
2:58
musical family his mother
3:01
Marnie Nixon
3:03
was kind of a stunt vocalist so she was
3:06
the uh the voice of Natalie wood in west
3:08
side story and she was also the in the
3:10
singing voice
3:12
of uh different actresses in in movies
3:14
and then but also had a had a career of
3:16
her own Andrew's father Ernest gold uh
3:21
was famous as a as a composer and he uh
3:24
probably his most known work would be
3:25
exodus
3:27
so he was you know again born in 51
3:30
and when he was 13 in 1964
3:34
he was able to meet the beetles at a
3:36
some type of fundraising event and that
3:39
kind of helped
3:40
push him over the edge with musical
3:43
parents and also the the explosion of
3:45
the beetles
3:47
and Andrew was very influenced by
3:50
the uh the music of of that of the day
3:53
of the of the of the mid 60s and so he
3:56
kind of wore that musical influence his
3:59
in his entire life you could hear the
4:01
influence of the beetles the birds and
4:03
the beach boys on just about everything
4:06
he did
4:07
i mean he was always his own person but
4:09
you could always hear
4:11
that that little bit of influence like
4:13
the beadley influence in the the solo
4:16
and you're no good or
4:18
even the uh you know the uh
4:20
the birds kind of influence in some of
4:22
the arpeggiated things that he would do
4:24
but uh
4:26
he had a series of bands you know in the
4:28
uh you know la area and uh probably the
4:31
most
4:32
noteworthy would have been brendall
4:34
which
4:35
had Kenny Edwards who had uh
4:37
you know of course been part of the
4:39
stone ponies with Linda Ronstadt had
4:41
Wendy Waldman who of course is one of
4:43
the most famous and prolific pop
4:45
songwriters of all time
4:47
carla bonoff who is a great artist and
4:50
songwriter who had a
4:51
you know long solo career
4:54
and uh
4:55
yeah and andrew and so it was the the
4:57
four of them were brendel but they they
4:58
didn't release an album until uh
5:01
actually in the 90s they regrouped and
5:03
and did some
5:05
some recording and some shows but uh
5:08
where andrew's career really takes off
5:10
is when he joins linda ron's dad's band
5:13
along with kenny edwards kenny edwards
5:15
of course played bass and sang harmony
5:17
and andrew was kind of
5:19
doing whatever what was needed
5:22
so he would play piano or guitar or
5:25
drums or what have you
5:27
and
5:29
they were starting to make the heart
5:31
like a wheel album
5:33
and they were working on tunes and one
5:35
of them was a song you're no good and
5:37
they had already kind of worked it up
5:40
and they had been doing it live
5:42
and then they appeared on the midnight
5:44
special
5:45
and that i'll put a link to that in the
5:47
description so in the performance it's
5:50
kind of a hodgepodge of musicians it's
5:52
not really her band per se it's kind of
5:55
a mix of players so you have
5:57
andrew playing a black strat with the
6:00
rosewood fretboard which is actually
6:01
linda ronstadt's guitar it's her 62
6:03
strat
6:05
and he's looking it looks like he's
6:07
using either a you know basement or
6:09
bandmaster or showman you know head you
6:12
know blackface one with a 212 cab
6:16
then there's
6:17
uh little feets drummer and then there's
6:20
like skunk baxter playing you know
6:22
bongos and
6:23
yeah and and so that's kind of an you
6:25
know the the tune is kind of almost
6:28
there it's not quite there yet uh they
6:31
because they hadn't gone in the studio
6:32
and recorded it and so you you can hear
6:35
that it's missing
6:36
the middle section the big guitar solo
6:38
and the and the breakdown
6:40
well they went into the studio and they
6:42
decided to leave this you know section
6:45
free
6:46
uh now in the in the studio version it's
6:49
ed black who was the uh guitarist and
6:52
pedal steel player in linda's band at
6:54
that point he's kind of playing those
6:56
kind of rhythm hits that you hear at the
6:58
beginning of the tune
7:00
andrew is playing most of the other
7:03
instruments he's playing wurlitzer he's
7:05
playing drums i believe he's he might be
7:07
playing uh i'm not sure if he's playing
7:09
bass or not but uh anyway he's playing
7:13
most of the other instruments and they
7:15
left this 16 bar
7:17
you know kind of gap in there
7:20
and while linda was gone of course this
7:22
is famously told is that while linda was
7:24
gone that he and the producer peter
7:27
asher recorded this uh
7:29
middle section and that linda hated it
7:32
at first because of course it sounded
7:33
like the beatles and it does
7:35
sound uh beetle-esque but it's you know
7:37
got other elements also
7:39
i think apparently uh having a beetle
7:42
influence at this point was kind of uh
7:45
not really uh
7:48
you know
7:49
looked upon kindly in the country rock
7:51
circles as it were so i think that was
7:53
also one of the reasons why
7:55
linda had some
7:57
had some reservations about this but
7:59
they they ended up you know of course
8:01
you know releasing it and it was a big
8:04
hit
8:04
um
8:07
the way it was recorded was
8:10
andrew used her
8:12
that black 62 strap that again he had in
8:15
the other performance
8:17
and he plugged it into linda's deluxe so
8:20
she had a fender deluxe amp
8:22
i'm guessing it was like a blackface one
8:25
but
8:27
that was turned up to eight
8:29
and that is kind of the distorted part
8:31
that you hear playing
8:33
the low notes
8:34
and you know in the solo and also of
8:36
course doing the the bending and such
8:39
that's that guitar
8:41
then you have
8:42
other parts that were recorded direct
8:45
with the same guitar and a lot of
8:48
there was an mxr eq that was used to
8:50
boost highs and then there were two uh
8:54
you know yuri 1176 compressor limiters
8:57
that were used and and it was plugged
9:00
direct so that's what you hear
9:02
uh some of the other guitar parts
9:04
specifically toward the end where you
9:05
have the strings come up really loud and
9:07
you have these arpeggiated parts that's
9:09
that's the strat played direct
9:12
through through a bunch of compression
9:14
and also there was an emt
9:16
uh disc
9:17
uh echo unit that was apparently warped
9:21
and added a little warble to the note
9:22
like chorus
9:24
and so that was so they they used that
9:26
and that's what gave it kind of the
9:27
chorus sound also
9:29
most everything was double tracked
9:31
and at times andrew would
9:34
either have them mess with the tape
9:36
speed or he would detune the guitar
9:39
slightly just to create a chorus effect
9:41
so that's that's you're no good
9:44
and of course that was a huge i think it
9:46
was linda's you know biggest
9:49
the next one was when will i be loved
9:53
this one um
9:55
it only has direct guitar
9:58
it's the same strat except this time
10:00
instead of one i think it's on the back
10:02
pickup on the first one on on when will
10:04
i be loved it's definitely the back two
10:06
pickups because he's even said that in
10:08
an interview
10:10
and it was
10:11
into the the two you know 1176 you know
10:14
compressor limiters with the mxr eq also
10:17
there was a uh
10:19
a noise suppressor that was used that
10:21
had a real fast gate
10:24
and that's what helps give it that very
10:26
kind of keyboard sound
10:28
also you have the fact that it's like
10:29
there are three guitar parts that have
10:32
been doubled so it's six tracks of
10:34
guitar
10:36
and they're all
10:37
direct and the last one the one that's
10:40
the highest part was actually played by
10:42
slowing down the tape
10:44
and he played it normal and then
10:46
speeding it up
10:48
and so
10:49
that's why it has such that that les
10:52
paul kind of sped up track because again
10:54
that was a trick
10:55
that les paul developed where he would
10:57
slow the tape down play something and
11:00
then of course when you sped it up it
11:01
sounded almost like a mandolin and at
11:03
really high speed
11:05
so that was those were the the three
11:08
guitar tracks that were all double they
11:10
were harmonized and that's the the solo
11:12
on when will i be loved again it was the
11:14
black
11:15
linda ronstadt 62 strat on the back two
11:19
pickups and uh those those two tracks
11:22
really
11:23
made
11:25
you know they really made this album
11:27
sell i'm gonna pull it out real quick
11:30
uh
11:31
it's a fantastic album and if and if you
11:34
don't have it then you definitely need
11:36
to give it a listen or pick it up also
11:38
on just a brief side note also this
11:39
features some wonderful b bender work by
11:42
the great bob warford who was a
11:44
kind of friend and protege of clarence
11:46
white and so you have dark end of the
11:49
street
11:50
and uh and willen that feature wonderful
11:54
guitar solos by bob warford also just a
11:58
another another side note i really love
12:00
the uh the banjo opening part on
12:03
faithless love and the harmony vocals of
12:05
uh of emily harris on i can't help it if
12:08
i'm still in love with you the old hank
12:10
senior classic so anyway this is this is
12:13
a golden record and uh highly recommend
12:17
that you pick that up
12:19
so then
12:20
oh andrew uh you know continued to help
12:24
with linda ronstadt's career but he also
12:26
started a a solo career on asylum
12:29
and he uh released you know a number of
12:32
solo records probably my favorite is uh
12:36
or my favorite two i should say
12:39
are this one what's wrong with this
12:41
picture so i picked this up in the in
12:43
the 90s i think after
12:45
i think either after uh reading an
12:48
interview with andrew gold that was done
12:50
by john jorgensen or it was after uh
12:53
seeing uh brendel on on television
12:56
and they did you know some of their own
12:58
tunes and they also did one while i'd be
12:59
loved and he replicated the
13:02
the solo
13:04
using ricky skagg's glazer purple glazer
13:07
telly with a b bender and he played the
13:09
solo on that and it was of course it
13:11
missed the the harmony but it was very
13:13
close and it was interesting he even
13:15
used the b bender so
13:17
uh yeah kudos to andrew gold but this
13:19
one
13:20
this album is great and it has a
13:23
you know of course this has lonely boy
13:25
which of course was a was a big hit and
13:27
it doesn't feature uh andrew playing
13:29
guitar that's actually wadi wattel but
13:31
uh every you know this this is a a great
13:34
one
13:35
and then also
13:36
you have uh
13:39
all this in heaven too this this has the
13:42
thank you for being a friend which of
13:43
course
13:44
you know was a
13:46
a hit and then also used as a theme for
13:48
the golden girls but of course he didn't
13:50
sing
13:51
another uh you know session singer sang
13:53
the uh the the tv thing but this this is
13:56
a really fun album it is at times more
13:59
keyboard oriented especially on the tune
14:03
oh never let her slip away and that's a
14:06
great one also uh this album has freddie
14:08
mercury from queen singing some
14:10
harmonies on here and
14:13
so yeah and it's got great harmonized
14:15
guitar
14:17
and uh
14:18
yeah great songs production
14:21
all right
14:22
after uh
14:23
after his asylum era kind of you know
14:26
record
14:27
label career kind of came
14:29
to an end he uh he kind of spent time
14:33
with uh graham goldman i think from 10
14:36
cc so he was with him for a while they
14:39
had a group called wax
14:41
and then
14:42
andrew would would go back and forth he
14:44
would he would return to linda
14:46
ronstadt's band you know every once in a
14:48
while i think uh when she was touring
14:50
with aaron neville he played with her
14:52
for a while uh there's even apparent you
14:55
know there's
14:57
uh tonight show appearance where andrew
14:59
is playing guitar along with mike landau
15:02
and they're backing up linda ronstadt
15:03
and aaron neville uh that's quite nice
15:06
and then he played with her in some
15:08
other performances in the 90s in the 90s
15:10
of course he did the the brendel
15:13
uh reunion which uh already kind of
15:16
mentioned and that was very well done
15:18
and there's there's performance of
15:20
of them at the ryman
15:21
with ricky skaggs that that can be found
15:24
online and that's where they do when
15:26
will i be loved and you get to see again
15:29
andrew playing the the solo on
15:31
ricky's purple glazer telly with a b
15:34
bender
15:35
then uh
15:37
you know of course he also did the final
15:39
frontier the mad about you theme song in
15:42
in the 90s
15:44
and he kind of started you know
15:45
releasing some independent records and
15:48
doing some some tribute bands where he
15:51
was really able to
15:52
kind of uh relive you know some of his
15:55
you know early love of of like the birds
15:57
and and the beatles and and the beach
16:00
boys and uh
16:02
yeah just a a great musician also had a
16:05
nice career as a songwriter he wrote
16:07
songs for you know for trisha yearwood
16:09
and wynonna judd that were hits you know
16:11
like i saw the light for uh winona and
16:14
better your heart than mine for trisha
16:15
yearwood which is
16:17
one of her
16:18
better tunes that i wish would have been
16:20
a hit
16:22
um
16:23
yeah
16:24
then uh
16:25
you know of course he uh
16:27
he had a bout of cancer and then he uh
16:30
he died
16:31
from uh from heart disease of some kind
16:34
some heart failure and that was in
16:36
in 2011
16:38
and he was only 59 at the time but
16:41
he had just a great
16:43
legacy and he had a big influence on
16:46
harmony guitar and popularizing that
16:49
both on you know the records he played
16:51
on and also it became kind of a thing
16:53
because you had
16:56
you know i guess the you could have you
16:57
could say that the beatles did it early
16:59
on with uh and your bird can sing
17:01
but you know of course the allman
17:03
brothers did it in in more of a uh you
17:05
know in their
17:07
southern
17:08
blues rock you know kind of fashion but
17:11
andrew really did it in a um in a
17:13
wonderful pop way and of course he did
17:15
it on art garfunkel
17:17
albums and
17:19
all sorts of different records and of
17:21
course i'll put a a spotify playlist
17:23
together so you can
17:24
hear a bunch of both andrew gold and
17:26
also tunes that he he played on but yeah
17:29
great
17:30
influence on on guitar playing and
17:32
guitar sounds
17:34
using both amped sounds you know with
17:38
like using linda ronstadt's deluxe or
17:40
going direct just creating a lot of
17:43
really interesting guitar sounds and
17:44
interesting guitar parts
17:47
um
17:48
gear he used through the years so of
17:50
course early on you see him with linda
17:52
ronstadt's black 62 strat
17:55
then later on he gets a 70s strap that's
17:58
maple neck black
18:00
with a black pick guard but with white
18:01
pickup covers and white knobs and you
18:03
see him play that a lot with linda
18:05
ronstad
18:06
um
18:08
he also seen some playing a les paul
18:10
deluxe with the mini humbuckers
18:12
um
18:13
and probably you know any alt during all
18:15
that time you know early on he's using
18:17
you know fender amps and then by the
18:18
time linda ronstad's really going strong
18:20
they're all using music man
18:22
gear which i'm guessing they had an
18:24
endorsement or i guess also they were
18:26
just popular at the time
18:28
uh
18:29
then you know of course later on in his
18:31
career you know like in the later 70s
18:34
you start seeing him using rickenbackers
18:36
and gretches and vox amps and things
18:38
like that he starts kind of wearing some
18:40
of the beetle influence a little bit
18:41
more
18:42
and uh and in the 80s he starts playing
18:45
a tele custom probably a 66 you know
18:48
transition logo one that's what you see
18:49
him playing
18:51
with uh linda and mike landau and aaron
18:55
neville on the tonight show performance
18:57
and he gets into all sorts of things uh
19:00
you know i had jerry jones base6 and
19:03
you know all sorts of different guitars
19:05
rickenbacker 12 strings and you know
19:08
and
19:09
just all but always had really great
19:11
guitar sounds and uh
19:13
and was always more concerned about the
19:14
music than just being a guitar player so
19:16
of course you know he played a lot of
19:18
different instruments well and of course
19:20
was an amazing harmony vocalist and uh
19:24
and singer in his own right
19:26
so
19:27
i hope uh hope this just kind of
19:30
gives you a little uh
19:32
a little appreciation for him i'm gonna
19:35
grab my pick real quick
19:37
um
19:38
one little interesting thing today i'm
19:40
just using my dano caster you know kind
19:42
of frankenstein tele this is a phil
19:44
kabichi body
19:46
and i'm using a little uh fender vibra
19:48
champ reverb and i'm using uh an old
19:50
ibanez mastortion
19:53
one thing that's interesting about the
19:55
tune is in the original recording you
19:57
have in the breakdown you have this kind
19:59
of thing
20:05
so it was played that way on the
20:07
recording but then in the in the live
20:09
versions of it every time they they
20:11
start this descending things
20:20
[Applause]
20:20
[Music]
20:23
you know which which is really nice i
20:24
like uh both versions and then also
20:28
it's interesting seeing where at times
20:30
he'll play the solo by himself and
20:31
sometimes dan doug moore who was the
20:33
other guitar player
20:35
and steel and pedal steel player would
20:37
sometimes play
20:39
harmonized
20:40
parts on that and also he would doug
20:42
moore would play the harmonize the
20:44
harmony or at least one of the harmony
20:46
parts on when will i be loved that's how
20:48
they would pull that off live because
20:50
how are you going to do that now at at
20:52
one time they had andrew
20:55
waddy wattel and dan dougmore in the
20:57
band all at the same time and so they
20:59
could pull off they could all play
21:02
you know electric guitar and
21:04
and uh and they could pull off the when
21:06
will i be loved uh you know track you
21:09
know pretty much they wouldn't get the
21:10
same sound because it wasn't all direct
21:12
but uh yeah you had three really great
21:15
you know guitar players uh
21:17
all those are great and dan doug moore
21:19
is severely underrated because he's more
21:22
known as a nashville pedal steel player
21:24
but he's played so much guitar on
21:26
nashville recordings and and he you know
21:29
even played like the opening
21:30
uh acoustic part on uh
21:33
oh let's see
21:35
what is the it's the uh
21:37
yeah
21:39
golly i'm blanking oh it's the warren
21:41
zevon tune
21:43
and uh poor poor pitiful me so that's uh
21:46
that's uh dan doug moore at the
21:47
beginning of that and of course dan
21:49
dogemore is also the pedal steel part on
21:52
on a blue bayou so all right sorry for
21:55
that little uh pause there but yeah go
21:58
out and listen to some andrew gold also
22:00
i need to give a a note of thanks one
22:03
mix online had a wonderful article about
22:05
you're no good that i pulled some
22:07
information from
22:09
and also
22:11
uh what was really helpful was this old
22:13
country guitar magazine
22:15
uh by guitar world that again had this
22:18
uh interview with andrew gold that was
22:20
conducted by john jorgensen
22:23
and so
22:24
yeah
22:25
that was a really neat one so a lot a
22:27
lot of great info from that where he
22:28
kind of got
22:30
more technical and you know of course of
22:32
course john's gonna ask great questions
22:34
about you know what he was using to get
22:36
sounds and such so thanks to
22:39
john jorgensen and to mix online so
22:42
all right guys well i hope you've
22:43
enjoyed today's episode and i'll see you
22:45
next time bye