Lower Broad Blues (feat. Johnny Hiland)

#118 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Lower Broad Blues, features the legendary Nashville picker, Johnny Hiland. Johnny grew up in Maine, with an eye disease called nystagmus (he's legally blind). He started playing guitar at age 2, played his first talent show at age 5, performed on Dick Stacey's Jamboree on local TV at age 7, and won Talent America at age 10, with sister Jodi and brother Jerry, "The 3 J's," playing bluegrass country. The 3 J's broke up when Johnny turned 15, due to his voice changing. Having picked up the electric guitar at the age of 12, Johnny left bluegrass and started playing country, rock, and blues. In 1996, Hiland moved to Nashville and worked as a session musician for country artists including Toby Keith, Ricky Skaggs, Janie Fricke, and Hank Williams III. Meanwhile, he played with the Don Kelley Band at Robert's Western World. Hiland signed with Steve Vai's Favored Nations label as a solo artist. After reaching the top of the heap, Johnny left Nashville for Chatham Virginia where he lives a simpler but no less musical life. He's released two records over the COVID "break" and also offers telecommuting session work (that's how we did this) and private instruction via Skype. Pretty cool to be able to study with a cat that was named one of the “Top 5 Best Chicken Pickers” by Gibson.com, one of the “50 Fastest Guitarists of All Time” by Guitar World Magazine, and, one of the “Top 3 Country Guitarists” in the 2017 Vintage Guitar Magazine Readers Poll. None of which is hyperbole. Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Oakland Born/Nashville residing, funky MF, Derrek Phillips, (Gloria Gaynor, Robben Ford, Charlie Hunter) on drums, and myself on rhythm guitar and bass. The track was recorded at NTA, San Bruno, CA, The Phamily Room, Nashville TN, and Johnny's place in Chatham VA. Expertly mixed and mastered by the super bad, F. Reid Shippen.

Bottleneck Stomp (feat. Johnny Stachela)

#117 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Bottleneck Stomp, features the tone-filled slide guitar playing of Johnny Stachela. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Johnny was already in the right place and right time and had the goods when opportunity knocked. Originally cutting his teeth on the gods of Hard Rock like Zep, Sabbath, and AC/DC, Johnny, like a lot of us white boys of a certain age, eventually found his way back to the roots. And there he found the three Kings (Albert, Freddie, and B.B.) and of course the Holy trinity of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Elmore James. Johnny cut a couple of solo records with Govt. Mule bassist, Jorgen Carlsson, producing and at the same time began a year-long residency at the Santa Monica blues club, Harvelles, where he would share sets with his longtime friend, guitarist/singer Duane Betts. In 2017, Duane and Johnny formed Duane Betts and the Pistoleers and in 2018 they began collaborating with Devon Allman, ultimately leading to The Allman Betts Band and the Allman Family Revival. Johnny has been enjoying favorable comparisons to the celebrated legacies of Duane Allman, Warren Haynes, and Derek Trucks, which he takes in humble stride. Johnny's a good sport, he didn't even flinch when I sent him this track in 5/4 and I love where he takes it. Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Andrew Guterman (Rick Estrin) on drums and myself on bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA, Johnny's place in L.A., and diabolically mixed and mastered by the Supreme Ruler of Greaseland, Christoffer "Kid" Andersen.