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like them enough to cover them. I do have to say, though, that having one of my
favourite singers, Little Milton record a song I wrote with Ric Estrin (of The
Nightcats) called ‘Never Trust A Woman’, and, well, to hear Little Milton sing one of
my songs still blows me away.
LL: Let’s talk guitars! Which guitar(s) and amp are you currently in love with
playing?
DA: It all depends. I don't have a huge guitar collection like some folks do. For the
recording studio, I use my trusted 1964 Stratocaster and an early 90s Fender re-
issue of an early 60s Vibro-Verb amp and those two tend to work for whatever
musical style I'm playing in. For live electric gigs, I have an exact copy of my 64
Strat that I play through a 71 Fender Twin Reverb amp. The combination of those
two will blow your head off so they're quite effective at shows. I also have a
gorgeous 1934 National Duolian Steel Bodied guitar that I record with as well as a
1954 Martin D-18 that I use in the studio. For live acoustic performances I play an
early 2000s Martin DC Aura. It's an amazing guitar that Martin sadly no longer
makes for whatever silly reason.
LL: There must be some great stories behind the making of the tracks on your
latest release From An Old Guitar: Rare and Unreleased Recordings. Could you
pick a few tracks that stand out in your mind and give us the skinny?
DA: Well, I'm proud of everything on the album but I'm particularly proud of the
covers of Bob Dylan's Highway 61
Revisited, Willie Dixon's Peace and the
Earl Hooker's instrumental that I called
‘Variations On Earl Hooker's Guitar
Rumba’. The track that I really get a kick
out of, though, is a version Lil' Hardin
Armstrong's 1920s, viper blues vamp
‘Perdido Street Blues’. I've dug that
instrumental since I was a kid and
recording it with two of my childhood
friends and fellow Blasters, John Bazz on
stand-up bass and late Gene Taylor
playing piano as well as another lifelong
pal, the genius steel guitarist Greg Leisz,
truly means the world to me. It was also
fun to play some of Johnny Dodds
clarinet licks from the original recording on my 34 National Duolian guitar.