King of rockabilly Brian Setzer recently chatted with Guitar Aficionado about his instrumental masterpiece Setzer Goes Instru-Mental and all the gear he used to record it.
“I didn’t start off wanting to do a purely instrumental record,” Setzer tells Guitar Aficionado. “When I started writing songs for this record, I quickly completed six or seven songs with vocals. All of a sudden, I started fooling around with the melody chords that became the foundation for my version of ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky.’”
“Blue Moon of Kentucky” is the opening track on the album, which was released in April 2011. It is one of a handful of covers featured on the record, complementing Setzer’s masterful rockabilly/jazz-infused originals.
Setzer recorded the tracks almost entirely on his signature model Gretsch and Gretsch Hot Rod guitar, and tells the magazine that the Gretsch tone can’t be beat.
“For the rockin’ stuff, I’ve never been able to beat that Gretsch tone,” he told Guitar Aficionado. “I bought my first Gretsch 6120 when I was a kid. When I plugged it into my Bassman amp I went, ‘There it is!’ That was the sound I was looking for.'”
Read the entire interview on GuitarAficionado.com, and visit Brian Setzer’s website here.