Cellist Pablo Casals is arguably one the greatest musicians the world has ever known. At the age of 80 he was asked why he continued to practice five hours a day. Casals answered, “Because I think I am making progress.” Coming to Moe’s Alley on Tuesday, Oct. 8 is a guitar player with that kind of ethos.
Grammy winner and guitar-playing legend Redd Volkaert is renowned for being one of the greatest Telecaster players in history. A true giant of country music, Redd won a Grammy for his own work in 2009, after making an international name for himself as lead guitarist for Merle Haggard. His interpretation of the classic Roy Nichols guitar style led to a quote in Guitar Player magazine by Haggard: “When I close my eyes, I sometimes hear Roy Nichols playing over there, and that has never happened before.”
Go to “Redd Volkaert at The Floyd Country Store” to watch a video of the smoothest intonations of gliding swing guitar you’ve ever heard. I asked Redd how one takes guitar mastery to this level and he said, “Practice. It’s muscle memory.”
Volkaert says he would practice 10 hours a day and then play five hours a night: “I did that for over 30 years.” Volkaert is from Vancouver, Canada, and began performing at 16, playing clubs six nights a week until the mid 1980s. He moved to Los Angeles in 1986, did three gigs a day, and still practiced just as much. He moved to Nashville for 11 years and did the same thing there.
“I would play three shifts a day, like a ten to two in the morning, then until two in the afternoon. I’d do a duo with somebody. I did that three or four days a week. And then I would do a two to six with a band, maybe four days a week. When I wasn’t doing that, I would practice from six to ten. I would do seven nights a week with different bands and then ten to a quarter of three. I did that the whole time I was there. Then I moved to Austin, Texas for twenty years. There I played seven nights a week. I’ve just been a whore on a guitar for forty years.”
Volkaert will be joining the powerhouse western swing trio the Western Flyers, reminiscent of a Texas-style, Bob Wills sound. The all-star lineup is led by western swing master Joey McKenzie on guitar and vocals, fiddle champion Ridge Roberts, and acclaimed upright jazz bassist Matthew Mefford.
Volkaert says Ridge Roberts is probably the best fiddle player you’ll ever hear. “He’s won the world championship, twice. And every other fiddle thing in the States you could possibly win. And here’s the deal. He is 19 years old. I love playing with these guys.”
Redd Volkaert is considered such an icon on the Telecaster that several guitar models are named after him. He emerged as a solo artist with the celebrated release of Telewacker (1998) and No Stranger to a Tele (2001), showcasing a diverse mix of country and swing in the Bakersfield honky-tonk tradition. Show producer Ginny Mitchell says Redd is hilarious as well. Indeed, in 2009 he received a Grammy for best country instrumental performance for “Cluster Pluck.”
Redd spent more than a decade in Nashville, playing with Ray Price, the Statler Brothers and eventually Merle Haggard. In 2000, Volkaert moved to Austin, where he played at the Continental Club for 20 years with his own band on Saturday and Sunday. Redd now lives in Galax, Virginia, and performs internationally in addition to a residency at the Floyd Country Store in Floyd, Virginia. He says Galax is a quiet town of 7,000 people, and he believes he may have the only Telecasters in town.
Ginny Mitchell’s Posse will open, a rootsy mix of Americana, folk and country. She will be joined by Redd Volkaert and Santa Cruz lap steel icon Patti Maxine.
The Western Flyers with Redd Volkaert play at 8pm on Oct. 8 at Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $25 adv/$30 door. ticketweb.com
