talking roots, blues & rock in cm's 2013 guitar special

CANADIAN MUSIC IAN • [49]

Take five guys – Colin James, Grant Siemens (Corb Lund), Colin Cripps (Blue Rodeo), Luke Doucet (Whitehorse), and Travis Good (The Sadies) – get them talking about their guitars, and before long, you’ve gathered enough material to write a treatise on each player. Over the course of a week in late March 2013, I chatted with this handful of acclaimed Canadian guitarists. Some, like Doucet, I had spoken with many times before; others, like James, I interviewed for the first time.

Talking Roots, Blues & Rock In CM ’s 2013 GuITaR SpeCIal

By DavID MCPheRSOn

[50] • CANADIAN MUSIC IAN

Besides being passionate players, these artists are all

gentlemen. all five are friends and they share

a mutual respect and admiration for each other’s

playing. There is no competition. Over the course of several decades, they’ve each developed a unique style. When they’re fortunate enough to cross paths on the road, they are happy to trade licks and talk shop.

These five guitarists were introduced to the electric as teenagers. Some were self-taught; some took lessons. Whatever their early education, they all shared with me variations of

Colin James

GuitarsFender Custom Shop Stratocaster with Jumbo Frets (main)Gibson Les Paul CustomLarrivee AcousticNational DobroFender Stratocasters (various)

ampsFender ’65 Reissue DeluxeMatchless Chieftain AmpFender Vintage Super Reverb with JBL SpeakersLeslie Model 18 Guitar CabFender Bassman Amp

EffEctsTim Blunt Trailer Trash Custom-Built Pedal BoardDunlop 95Q WahIbanez TS-9 Tube ScreamerKeely Katana BoostOCD Distortion PedalBOSS TR-2 TremoloKeely CompressorBOSS Delay with TapKorg Pitch Black TunerRoad Rage True Bypass Looper

the following childhood memory: sitting alone in their basements or bedrooms with the record player spinning, and dropping the needle over and over again to learn particular guitar licks from the likes of Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, albert King, and Stevie Ray vaughn, to name just a few of their early influences and guitar heroes.

all five musicians were also influenced by a variety of musical styles. Doucet, Siemens, and James’ early education was steeped in the blues. Genres that caught Good’s ear early were classical, country, and bluegrass. Cripps was drawn to surf-rock

instrumentals and early- to late-50s rock and rockabilly.

The hometowns and cities where each guitarist spent their formative years also played a key role in their development, as did the early bands in which they played. all five describe the guitar as a tool that guides their musical journey and takes them to new landscapes. They never tire of exploring the palette of colours they can create using just six strings on their chosen axe, an amplifier, and a few effects. Some are self-admitted “gear heads.” Others are “Tele nuts.” Some simply prefer to let the instrument speak for itself and add subtle textures – such as tremolo and reverb –with pedals or amps when the song calls for such flourishes.

Whatever colours they create or whatever gear they choose to enhance their muse, these fine players constantly search for new, undiscovered sounds or hidden chords that pop out of their heads at the most unexpected times. While they are busy touring they don’t practice

FIve GuyS & Their Guitars

regularly, but in between tours, they all take time to further hone their craft.

But enough of my rambling; let’s hear from these five guys and their guitars.

My First GuitarGrant Siemens was 15 when he picked up his first electric. “It was a Kramer Striker,” he laughs. “I still own it. It’s the same guitar eddie van halen had. The funny thing is I wasn’t really into van halen; it was an american-made guitar that I could get for $250. It was a wicked deal and it had a Floyd Rose whammy bar, which I thought was cool.”

When I ask Travis Good the same

but it was a difficult instrument to play. The great thing about learning on a difficult instrument is that it’s like being on-deck in baseball where you have a weight on the end of your bat. you swing the heavy bat until you get up to the plate and then the bat feels light.”

When Doucet finally moved on to professional-grade instruments they were easier to play. “If anyone ever asks me

question, he chuckles, then rhetorically replies, “Who doesn’t remember their first guitar?” Good started playing classical when he was nine years old and took lessons from Red Shea – Gordon Lightfoot’s longtime guitarist who passed away in 2008. While Good does not recall the make of his first classical instrument, he does remember that his first electric was cheap and Canadian-made. “It was a piece of shit, but man, did I love that guitar!”

From there, Good was fortunate to get some pretty nice sounding second-hand guitars and gear from his dad and uncles – of seminal Canadian folk/country outfit The Good Brothers. “My dad always loves to tell the story about how he got me and my brother Dallas to play guitar,” Good says. “he lined up all the amps and the guitars in the house one day and said: ‘Don’t ever touch these!’”

Luke Doucet’s dad was also a professional musician, but it was his mom who gave him his first guitar for his 13th birthday.

“It was a relatively cheap plywood guitar made somewhere in asia,” Doucet shares. “I can’t recall the name,


what’s the best way to go about learning how to play guitar I always tell them to start with an acoustic because they are more difficult to play than electrics. you don’t want to take any shortcuts.”

Colin James is not one to take shortcuts. The six-time JUnO award winner, who was recently inducted into the Canadian Music Industry hall of Fame, first learned on a difficult instrument, too. The guitar was an acoustic owned by one of his older brothers. “It was a lefty, so I had to turn it upside down just to get going on it,” he says.

The first guitar James really “had to have” was later bought at a music store in downtown Regina; he was in grade six. “It was a sunburst epiphone,” James recalls. “I would probably laugh if I saw it now, but it was a nice guitar.”

he doesn’t remember how long

Grant Siemens

Corb lund & The Hurtin’ albertans

GuitarsHahn Guitars 228 (main) ‘53 Fender Dual Professional Lap Steel Jerry Jones Baritone Gretsch Black Phoenix Gibson F-9 mandolin Hamm-tone D-18 Acoustic

amplifiErsVictoria Ivy LeagueFender Blackface Princeton ReverbFender Silverface Princeton Reverb

EffEcts Sonic Research Turbo Tuner Strymon Flint Tremelo Strymon EL Capistan DelayDurham Electroncis Sex Drive Klon KTR Overdrive Xotic EP Booster

the epiphone was his main axe, but he does recall his first amplifier: a Sears vagabond. “It was a little 410 configuration and some of the speakers must have been ripped because it just overdrove like crazy.”

From the moment Colin Cripps first picked up an electric, he was crazy for the six-string instrument. Cripps grew up in hamilton, On and his first guitar was a Telecaster copy.

“I got it from Reggie’s Music when I was 15,” he recalls. “Subsequently, I ended up working there. It was the first job I ever had. I was so enamored with guitars from day one.” Cripps worked at the store, which is now long gone, off and on from the time he was 14 until he was 23. “The place had a big impact on my early guitar obsession,” he admits.

My Hometownever since the 1960s, Winnipeg has boasted a thriving music scene. The cold winters of the capital city seem conducive to spawning some great guitarists. neil young, Randy Bachman, Big Dave McLean — all passed through the “crossroads” of Portage and Main. Doucet grew up there, James moved there as a teen, and Siemens still calls The Peg home.

“I love Winnipeg,” Siemens says. “There is a great arts scene and it’s the only affordable place for a guitar player to live. Growing up here was a phenomenal musical experience because everybody is a killer player. Most of my favourite guitar players are from Winnipeg. I’m lucky I get to watch them every night, be friends with them, sit down and talk with them, and steal their ideas.”

early in his career, Siemens was big into Winnipeg’s blues scene, often playing with Big Dave McLean. Later, as he honed his craft further,


Siemens played with songwriters such as Dan Frechette and

Scott nolan. “Like most kids in the Prairies, I started out

sitting in my basement, bored,” he recalls. “It’s minus 40 outside,

Colin Cripps

Blue Rodeo

GuitarsFender Telecaster (1955)Fender Telecaster (1968)Fender Jazzmaster (1961)Gibson SG Standard (1964)Gibson ES-345 (1964)Rickenbacker 360-12 (1967)Fox Acoustic (2009)Martin D-28 acoustic (1965)

ampsVox AC-30 (1967)Bernie Amp (1993)Fender Deluxe Reverb (1966)

EffEctsErnie Ball Volume PedalDiamond TremoloIbanez TS-808 Tube ScreamerNice Rack Canada BoostMalekko Spring Chicken ReverbDr. Scientist ReverberatorRoland GP-8 Processor

so what else are you going to do but play the guitar? In grade six, you could take band or guitar. Both of my older brothers took band and hated it, so I took guitar. I guess my teacher noticed something. he hauled me aside, gave me a Muddy Waters tape, showed me the pentatonic scale, and kicked me out of class. So I sat in my basement playing to that tape for years. It just grew from there.”

When he was 16, Colin James quit school and moved to Winnipeg from his hometown of Regina. Immediately he formed a blues band called The hoodoo Men, named after his favorite Junior

Wells record, Hoodoo Man Blues.“Winnipeg was a huge blues town,”

says the 17-time Maple Blues award winner. Like Siemens later on, James met and was infl uenced by Big Dave McLean. “he taught me so much,” the guitarist recalls. “When I moved to Winnipeg, the blues community went out of their way to teach me. Big Dave and bands like hound Dog would let me come down to these hotels on a Saturday afternoon. I was underage, but as long as I came onto the stage right from my hotel room and returned there afterwards, they would let me sit in for a couple of songs. That really meant a

lot to a young kid. It gave me hope and kept me going.”

Doucet knows well the challenges of being a young kid with bigger aspirations – wanting to play gigs but not being old enough to play certain venues. Like James, the guitar slinger was also reared on the blues. When he was 13, his dad moved back to Winnipeg from new Orleans. It didn’t take long for father and son to start playing together.

“I hired him to play in my band,” Doucet begins. “a couple of friends and I got a little gig at a restaurant called

The Bella vista. The guy who owned the place said he would hire us, but we needed to have an adult in the band that would be responsible for us since they were a licensed venue. as soon as my dad joined the band we went from playing The Kinks, The Stones, The Who, and Led Zeppelin to being a full-on blues band playing the likes of Little Walter, howlin’ Wolf, and Muddy Waters.”

The blues was – and remains – an important touchstone for the 39-year-old. “When I pick up the guitar now it’s still there,” Doucet explains. “It’s one of the things I love to do the most … just sit for a little bit and ruminate on the blues.”

My Guitar HeroesSiemens’ guitar heroes include a pair who played with Merle haggard: Roy nichols and James Burton. “I also really dig Steve Crawford, Ry Cooder, and Keith Richards,” he comments.

as the youngest of the guitar slingers featured here, Siemens grew up listening to and loving Doucet, Cripps, and The Sadies. “Those guys were all heroes of mine, too.”

One of James’ guitar heroes was Canadian amos Garrett. “I love amos,” he says emphatically. “he taught me a lot when I was a kid.” James’ other guitar heroes include a trio of “killer players”: albert King, albert Collins, and Stevie Ray vaughan.

“When I fi rst heard Stevie play on a David Bowie record, I was convinced I was listening to albert King,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘Wow, Bowie got albert King to play on his record.’ Then I learned it was this guy from Texas called Stevie Ray vaughan. I started

PHOTO: STEVE DORMER



to read a few things about him and his guitar collection. no sooner had I started to listen to him that I met him! It was ridiculous,” James adds. “My band opened up a show for him and we became fast friends.”

For his part, James’ good friend Cripps loved early rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll. he discovered many guitarists thanks to Guitar Player magazine. “I loved Buddy holly and Gene vincent and that whole mid- to late-50s scene,” he says. “I loved the music of the guitar players that came from that era, especially vincent’s guitar

player Cliff Gallup. That spoke to me more than the blues.

“everyone has their first guitar hero,” Cripps adds. “Mine was Pete Townshend. It wasn’t like I wanted to learn every Who song, but he was an inspiration in terms of attitude.”

When Good was 18, he joined his father and uncles in The Good Brothers. “That was a serious crash course in playing country and bluegrass,” he comments. “at the time I had only been

playing electric guitar for a few years and I had to learn to play as quick as I could. There is nothing like learning in front of people.”

My playing Style“I like the fact, maybe just because I’m tied into the Canadian music scene and I know a lot more people in it, but it doesn’t seem like anyone is trying to be like someone else,” Siemens comments. “everyone has a unique style

Luke Doucet

Whitehorse Guitars Gretsch White Falcon (2003) Fender Telecaster (1966) Shyboy Telecaster (2008) Creston Telecaster (2013) Harmony Stella Acoustic (1959) Larrivee Parlour Acoustic (1998) amplifiErs Gibson GA18 (1959) Gibson GA18 (1961) EffEcts BYOC Reverb BYOC Analog Echo Radial Switchbone ABY


Travis Good

The Sadies

Guitars Gretsch Chet Atkins (1972) Gretsch Chet Atkins (1964) Martin D-28 (circa 1980)

amps Fender Vibrolux (circa 1960) Fender Deluxe Reverb (circa 1970)

EffEcts BOSS TU-3 Tuner

at Columbia who signed people like Dylan, but John hammond Jr. was this unbelievable acoustic-blues performer who loved Robert Johnson and all that stuff,” he explains. “In the ‘60s, he was also going to become the next Mick Jagger. he had the swagger and was my hero.”

When Good started playing with the whammy bar on his Gretsch guitar, his playing style significantly changed. “It wasn’t on purpose,” he explains. “It had a lot to do with the guitar. It took a long time after I bought that guitar to even start playing it. I just thought it looked cool. It sounded good, but it was just so big and clunky that I couldn’t get my head around it. Then I realized I’m kind of big and clunky, so maybe it was the perfect fit.”

Cripps says his style is usually dictated by the group of musicians playing with him at any given time. “When you’re a kid, you’re a sponge,” he explains. “you are so absorbed in wanting to learn the instrument and draw in as much as you can … you take from all kinds of things just to figure out if you are any good at it. you take some stuff from here and some stuff from there and then throw it all into this big pot. eventually, I end up taking my strongest direction from the musicians I’m playing with and the importance of that vocabulary. Whatever style I develop is a product of that environment.”

If Cripps had to sum up his style, he’d call it a melding of old-school ‘70s rock with rockabilly, and other influences from 1981 on. “The edge defined for me the idea of a single instrument having a single voice,” he adds. “In some weird way, I’ve always been a bridge between these two camps.”

Guitars & Gear“I’m a Tele nut,” says Siemens. “I’ve always played Telecasters. My main electric, a hahn 228, is made by a guy named Chihoe hahn. It’s a well-built, custom-made Tele-style guitar. It’s phenomenal … just how Leo [Fender] would have made it back in ’51.”

The Gretsch White Falcon is Doucet’s go-to. “I love that instrument,” he says. “I love the way it sounds and the way it feels.”

Back to Siemens for a moment; besides an obsession with Telecasters, he is also a “reverb nut.”

“I love reverb and tremolo,” he says. “If I’m going to use any kind of effects, those are the two things I gravitate towards. I bought this thing called the victoria Reverberato, which is just like an external head that is two reverbs and harmonic tremolos. I bring that wherever I go. I can plug it into any amp and I get super lush reverb and amazing tremolo.”

Doucet is also a reverb fan. In

and it’s a supportive group – probably

because there are as many guitar players in all

of Canada as there are in La; that encourages you to sound

different.”Siemens has always loved roots

music and it’s the genre that defines

his sound. “Country, blues, and the combination of the two are definitely my strong suits,” he says. “My playing style is definitely a hybrid of these loves: country and blues with a bunch of Stax [Records] thrown in there because I’m a Stax nut.”

Doucet remembers ruminating for a long time about the notion of having his “own sound” until he received some good advice from dear-old dad. “I remember him saying, ‘your style will materialize on its own whether you like it or not.’ The point he was making, and the point I now make to other people if they ask me the same question, is that it’s really important to learn repertoire from people who have come before you. There are people out there who will say

you should never learn other people’s licks because you will just sound like them,” he continues. “That’s bullshit! you are never going to sound like them. you can learn all the Robert Johnson you want, but if you are learning Robert Johnson, Jimmy Page, Brian Setzer, Marc Ribot, and Martin Tielli all at the same time, you are not going to sound like Robert Johnson. Instead, you are going to sound like a whole bunch of things all mashed together. and, more likely than not, you are going to sound like you.”

James modeled his early guitar playing after John hammond Jr. “his dad was a famous record executive

Travis (front) & brother Dallas Good of The Sadies.



most cases, he relies on his amp to deliver

the effect. “My amp is a Gibson version of [the

Fender Deluxe Reverb] – an explorer G-18. It has a sound

that breaks up in a certain way that is really beautiful.”

Beyond reverb, Doucet usually likes to keep things simple these days. “I find you can use the sound of your fingers more if there is less happening between the guitar and the amplifier.”

Good also favours a Gretsch when it comes to his axe of choice. “about all I play with The Sadies are my two old Chet atkins Tennesseans,” he shares.

Like Siemens, Cripps is fundamen-tally a Telecaster player. “I also have an old Gibson SG. That was my main guitar all the years I played with Kathleen edwards. It’s funny, it changes depend-ing on what you think will give that music a voice or give your approach to it a different take. I’m known for having a bunch of guitars and part of it is I’m obsessed with them, but for me, the approach has always been to use differ-ent colours for different situations.”

Good uses a pair of amps that were handed down from family members. “The one that was my dad’s is an autoharp amp – an old vibrolux. I also have an old [Fender] Deluxe Reverb,

which was his guitar monitor back in the day. When The Good Brothers started getting proper monitors, they stopped using amps on stage and I got them all.”

James’ first record contract included a deal with Fender. he got three “freebies” back in 1989 that became his go-to guitars for many years. Only recently has he diversified. “I got a Gretsch Sparkle Jet around the time of the Little Big Band II record and I really enjoy that guitar,” he says. “I also just got a brand new Olympic white Strat with a matching head stock that I’m crazy about from the Fender custom shop. I love it.”

On practiceFor most touring musicians, practice comes and goes. “Lately, I’ve been practicing a couple of hours a day when I’m not on the road,” says Siemens. “Sometimes, after a three-month tour, taking a break is often better practice than practicing because it makes you want to pick it up and play more. The last tour I got to play with a few of my idols: Buddy Miller, Kenny vaughan, and Fats Kaplin, so that inspired me to pick up the guitar again and hone some more skills.”

Doucet says he can go a long time without practicing, but all the while he is still listening and learning. “I hear music, melodies, rhythms, and notes,” he explains. “as long as there is music around me, I’m able to assimilate a fair bit of stuff and I can keep learning. I really appreciate the regimen of practicing. The months leading up to and after my Sleepwalk Guitar Festival, I find myself wanting to practice a lot because I usually have my head rocked pretty hard by the talent that is there.”

Good was flattered to be featured amongst these other talented players and says he still has a long way to go with his guitar playing. “It’s weird,” he concludes. “I’m playing more guitar now than I ever have. I’m getting hooked in my old age!” n

David McPherson is a Toronto-based professional writer and corporate communicator; McPherson lives by his self-penned motto, “Music is the elixir of life.” With 14,780 songs on his iPod and counting and a growing vintage vinyl collection, he’s always discovering new music. Follow him on Twitter @aspen73.


talking roots, blues & rock in cm's 2013 guitar special

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