“It’s hard to go out in front of people with an acoustic guitar and improvise for 30 or 40 minutes, but I had a compulsion to do it. I just had to in a way that I can’t really explain.”

There’s a difference between music that’s original and music that’s retro. A lot of bands now are kind of retro 70s whether it’s Kraut-rock or… I’ve heard people suggest that we’re kind of retro 80s.

I don’t think I had a specific moment when I thought, “I’m not going to play music anymore.” I just played less and got involved in other things.

I’m uptight in general, and it’s hard for me to play in a situation where I’m not rehearsed or I feel like I’m not prepared. So it’s always hard for me to come away from those and think it was the best thing I could do.

With Fred McDowell, I just love the way he articulates the notes. I’m hardly unique in that, but there’s just something about that that I love.

I did pull out my old Telecaster, and have been thinking I’d like to play that loud with a drummer. But I haven’t actually done that yet.

I definitely have a different perspective on music in general. But once I actually have a guitar in my hands, I think I disappear into the same black hole that I was disappearing into when I was 15.

So a lot of traditional rock sounds, you can’t play them. But to be honest, there was no particular intention when I started playing with four strings. It just worked out that way and it sounded cool.

With a four-string, the middle range is less of an option. That kind of 5th that you play on those A and D strings isn’t there.

I bought me a guitar about a year ago, learned how to play in a day or so.

Life is too short to play bad music

I had some music lessons and my mum played every instrument but the guitar.

My guitar is my torch, my soul carries the flame. Make no mistake, I’m a true blues man.

Duane Allman inspired the group to explore the extended jam format that was already a staple of the Allman Brothers act.

If I learned to play guitar it was so that I would have something to sing to, if I learned to write a song it was so that I would have something to sing. So the gut feeling you’re talking about comes from singing and communicating the lyrics and what it is that we feel.

As a guitar player, you can gravitate to the blues because you can play it easily. It’s not a style that’s difficult to pick up. It’s purely emotive and dead easy to get a start with.

Guitar playing isn’t really for everybody.