Julian Lage has been reflecting on the solo acoustic guitar shows he played last year when shared the bill with one of his heroes, the great Leo Kottke, and has shared some of the wisdom he picked up from the experience.
Speaking to our friends at Guitar Player, Lage had some advice that will help any player who is taking to the stage unaccompanied. It’s the sort of thing you should keep in mind every time you go to perform – the audience might be watching and listening, but you are the one in control of everyone’s experience.
“Something Leo expressed to me that was so helpful and continues to be a mantra of sorts is that – especially as a solo artist – if you’re okay with what’s going on, the audience is too; and if you’re not okay with it, then they’re not,” said Lage. “That’s not to say you have to always be okay, but it’s important to remember that you’re setting the terms. You’re the one onstage. If you have to stop to tune, don’t ever feel embarrassed or that you’re holding up the show. Your presence is the whole thing.”
Be yourself. Trust in what you’ve got to do, and trust that’s enough. By the time you walk onstage you’ve done more than enough
Julian Lage
Lage admitted that he approached these shows with Kottke with a little trepidation. He would play an hour’s solo set, then Kottke would play an hour. Relaxing into it and doing his own thing was the way to get past any sense of anxiety, to the point where the ultimate goal is to “forget that you’re playing a guitar and just feel like you’re playing music”.
In other words, you’ve done the hard part getting there, yes it is kind of weird, but just get up and play – and don’t forget to try and have some fun while you are up there.
“It’s helpful for me to remember we’re all taking part in this unusual ritual,” says Lage. “There are a lot of things going on that don’t necessarily happen all the time, such as having a room full of people just quietly watching an acoustic guitar. That’s a rare and beautiful thing.”
Lage has just released Speak To Me, an album that expands his usual trio to a six-piece ensemble, and finds his guitar working in concert with more instrumentation than ever before on record. And with a lot of the new material on Speak To Me performed on his Collings OM acoustic, that presented its own challenges.
Speaking to MusicRadar about the recording of Speak To Me, Lage said the record was influenced in part by Brian Eno, and that engineer Mark Goodell helped place the acoustic at the centre of all this instrumentation and not let it get lost.
“He is almost like a co-producer because one really distinct, singular part of this record is that it is centred around the acoustic guitar, which inherently is way quieter than everyone else on the record,” said Lage. “Logistically, why you typically don’t lead a six-piece band with an acoustic guitar is because you can’t be heard! I am shocked that we are able to pull that one off.
“It set a parameter where vulnerable acoustic music could lead the charge and, by the same token, be invisible and blend into the background, and I think you hear that on something like 76.”
In his Guitar Player interview, Lage says says Kottke has taught him how to enjoy the experience of being a soloist, being up there, unaccompanied.
“He’s taught me a lot about how to simply enjoy that experience. You’re not letting anyone down. Be yourself. Trust in what you’ve got to do, and trust that’s enough. By the time you walk onstage you’ve done more than enough. And then the rest is play. That’s the rough architecture.”
Leo came up with this incredible technique rooted in Americana and folk. He was like the speed-metal guy of the acoustic 12-string!
Steve Stevens
Lage is one of many players to be inspired by Leo Kottke, and some of Kottke's influences transcend the acoustic scene. Steve Stevens said Kottke was one of 10 guitarists who blew his mind, crediting him for inspiring the intro to Billy Idol's Rebel Yell.
“Whenever people ask me how I came up with the intro to Rebel Yell, I always have to say it came from those Leo Kottke things that had independent bass and treble lines going,” he said. “I couldn’t really play a lot of that stuff, but I started trying on an acoustic guitar. This was at the end of the folk thing that was happening, with James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Crosby Stills & Nash… then Leo came up with this incredible technique rooted in Americana and folk. He was like the speed-metal guy of the acoustic 12-string!”
Julian Lage's Speak To Me is out now via Blue Note. You can read Lage's interview with Guitar Player here.
