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Anthony Moser

Artist Series - Guy King

Guy King – Truth

Photo of Guy King the blues musician - photo by Aaron Porter

Guy King: I feel like this is the best album I have recorded so far, with songs that I would love to perform live, and this was my goal. When I contacted Delmark [Records] and spoke to Bob Koester the first time I told him, “I’m going to give you something that I can reproduce live.” He asked me what I meant, and I said “I’m going to make this sound great on record, but something that I will do as good and hopefully better live because it will have all of the animation and live feeling that people know about my live performances (and that Porter from


BG talked about)”. So I tried to get some of it when I was singing in the studio; there were certain comments and adlibs that I never did before on a record, which I do live. I tried to put in more of me, but in a cleaner way; cleaner, not smoother: orchestrated—like a record should be.


BG: I’m curious about this because your last two records as I understand it—I Am What I Am and It Is What It Is, and By Myself—both of those were pretty close to live when you cut them right?

GK: And Livin’ It, which was my first one.


BG: Right. But Livin’ It, was that one that you tracked out? I was just curious as to how much this was similar to your other experiences. Were you going in and mostly laying this down with the band and then adding here and there, or was it more like building the framework and then putting it in a piece at a time?


GK: This record was produced by Dick Shurman for Delmark. It was working with a label for the first time for me, which was different from me just calling my band and going to the studio and “taking care of business”, but Dick knew me enough since the time I played with Willie Kent. So he knew what I sounded like. He knew my sound, me playing solo, my quartet and my larger band with the horn and also saw me play standards. He saw me play Blues and Jazz, so he wanted the album to sound like me.


BG: That’s important.


GK: It is. The process before coming to record was us talking to each other (Dick, the band and I), trying to come up with the material that will keep us on track and lay a nice concept instead of just some songs thrown together. The songs had to connect some kind of way; that way being the way I play, the way I sing and tell the story and execute the songs.


I know it sounds like a big record in production as far as how many pieces are playing on the album, but you know, I play with my larger band on a regular basis, so the horns are a relevant and regular part of my sound. It’s not like we were coming in and recording the rhythm section and then thought, “let’s record some horns to make it fit”; “Let’s call some horns. Let’s call some girls in to have some background vocals.” This album was not done this way. Everything was mapped out before we entered the studio. I already worked things out in pre-production, and I charted out the horn and background parts to go along with my rhythm section.


When the rhythm section came in to record, everyone already knew where the horns are coming in, where the background vocals are, and what the harmonies will be. Of course I leave room for interpretation and improvisation on the spot if something feels right or perhaps even better than the original plan. On Dick’s advice, we were all in the studio playing together a day before the session. Rehearsals like this can be difficult because of schedules. Realistically, we tried to do the best we could with the budget we had. I mapped it out beforehand and Dick knew it and he loved it. There were also two tracks that never made it on the album. It’s a long record! It’s 70 minutes, but there are two tracks we shelved that are great.

BG: You’ve got to save something for the bonus re-release in 10 years.

GK: [Laughs] exactly, and I think that the tracks that were left out are really good!


BG: This is obviously, compared to the other stuff that you’ve done, a much more collaborative experience. You said you talked to Dick Shurman first about this whole process?

GK: Dick and I talked about working together for a few years. He wanted to produce me; I wanted him to produce me. There were things about us. I remember liner notes I read when I was 16 years old on an Albert Collins album that said “Produced by Dick Shurman. I did not know who he was yet then. We met during the time or shortly after me playing with Willie Kent. I released Livin’ It I sent him a copy, he liked it and we got closer. Now, he produced my album! Dick and I are friends as well. It was nice to “bring it back around”. We wanted to do something together. He said, “Guy, what do you want to do? Do you want to do solo tunes on the album? Do you want to use your smaller combo, the four-piece, and then add the horns and the girls on some of the stuff?” And I said that I would like to do one album, one sound. Concentrate on one thing.

Check out Guy King and his other albums at GUYKING.NET

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