Zak And His Unhappy Guitar
Special Rider Blues Download
In a world where fancy home studios and software plugins reign supreme, the sound of Zak & His Unhappy Guitar is a breath of fresh vacuum-tube analog air. When he’s not the resident electric guitar virtuoso for the gleefully perverted rockabilly band The Alley Dukes or tremolo picking in the surf-rock group The Treblemakers, Zak conjures up the voodoo magic of prewar blues with just his voice and an acoustic guitar.
Zak generates his raw analog sound by capturing his live performances with authentic vintage instruments and recording gear, just like they did in the days when the idea of “multitracking” was decades away from invention. “I see this as no-frills music,” he says, “and I feel that it should be recorded live, the way it is intended to be performed.” All of Zak’s gear is much older than he is, often by over 50 years. His main axe is a National Duolian acoustic guitar from 1931, but some of the other guitars in his arsenal date to the 20s or even earlier. Zak finds vintage instruments incredibly inspiring to play because “these old guitars have a soul and there is so much music in ‘em waiting to be unlocked.”
Performing as a solo artist presents Zak with unique challenges. “With a band it’s easy to make people pay attention; sometimes all you need is volume and an outrageous stage act, but as a solo acoustic act it is definitely a different world, especially when faced with an audience that is completely unfamiliar with the pre-WWII blues idiom,” he says. However, Zak relishes the chance to display the kind of music he loves to people who might not have encountered it before. “If I manage to turn just one person on to Fred McDowell or Bukka White or Charley Patton or whatever, I’m happy.”
Such reverence for his musical forefathers is characteristic for Zak & His Unhappy Guitar: “Humility would stop me from comparing myself to any of my influences. I don’t pretend to be the torchbearer of some extinct tradition,” he states when asked to compare himself to other artists. Listening to a tune like “Special Rider Blues,” you hear that veneration for history committed to tape. The brash, metallic tones of the guitar and Zak’s soulful growl of a voice conspire to create a timeless sound that could have been recorded any time between the 1920s and yesterday.
Be on the lookout for a full-length solo CD with accompanying shows from Zak & His Unhappy Guitar in the near future.
