The man behind the band that created blackgaze two decades ago discusses supernatural visions, his pragmatic approach to songwriting and tone, his love for the Jazzmaster, and his band’s new album, Spiritual Instinct.
At 14 years old, French guitarist Stéphane “Neige” Paut received a supernatural vision of a different place and time. Not knowing how to explain the vision to others, he grabbed his guitar and began translating his experience through the lens of the black metal he loved.
“It was strange, but I was able to remember a different place than where I was in this world,” he says. “Now, I’m living a very normal life, but at the same time, I have a part of myself that is still in this other place.”
Neige named his musical outlet Alcest, and the seeds of blackgaze (fusing elements of black metal and shoegaze) were sown. Thanks to the ominous ambiance of a diverse range of artists, blackgaze has since brought the influence of extreme metal to a massive audience. Not bad for a genre that was initially cast aside by the black metal community. But its rise to global consciousness got its start with Alcest’s 2001 black metal demo, Tristesse Hivernale.
Though the demo gained a substantial following, Neige found black metal’s monochromatic palette unable to illustrate the beauty of his celestial experience. To better communicate what he’d seen, he began tweaking the band’s sound by adding shoegaze-like ethereal passages, memorable melodies, and colorful ambiance. Within a single song, listeners could experience a war of darkness and aggression while simultaneously losing themselves in spacious beauty. Unknowingly, Neige was creating what would be named blackgaze.
“When I started this band, mixing genres was never the goal. It’s just that I grew up with metal and also wanted to do something different in terms of choruses and emotions,” Neige explains. “Actually, when I started Alcest, I didn’t even know about shoegaze.”
But even the new sound began to have its limitations. Not content to be pigeonholed, Alcest’s music moved even further away from its black metal origin, even flirting with indie and alternative rock on 2014’s Shelter. But with 2016’s Kodama, Alcest began rediscovering its black-metal-influenced sound and setting the stage for their latest release, Spiritual Instinct.
A glorious concoction of Alcest’s signature elements, major keys and alternative-rock influences abound on Spiritual Instinct. Swirling reverb and delay wash over every track, and each song delivers surprisingly catchy, sing-along melodies. But the Immortal-approved blast beat on the album’s opening track, “Les jardins de minuit,” signals that this album isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.
An outcome of grinding tour life and Neige’s ongoing battle with anxiety, Spiritual Instinct explodes to life with anger, demonstrating the darker side of his visions. And though it was Kodama that reintroduced these influences, Spiritual Instinct delivers them with a streamlined approach that exemplifies the best in Scandinavian-rooted metal. And that’s by design.
“I listen to a lot of minimalist composers like Philip Glass,” says Neige. “So, for me, simpler music is more direct. It doesn’t have to be super complex to be interesting.”
Complex or not, Spiritual Instinct attempts to demonstrate the balance between the darkness Neige has felt and the beauty he sees. Neige further explains to Premier Guitar this transcendent yin and yang.
How did Alcest start and how did you get to where you are today?
It’s a little bit of a special story. I created this band because when I was younger, I had a spiritual experience. I had some visions coming to me. I could remember the place where I was before being here. I know it sounds a bit strange. I had some memories from a place that doesn’t look like anything we know. I didn’t know what it was. For many years, I didn’t know what to do with [the memories] because it’s obviously not something that’s super common. I felt quite lonely. So, I decided to start a music project to be able to speak about it. That’s Alcest.
I started it when I was 14 or 15. I’m 34 now. It was a teenager’s project for 10 years. I was alone in the project for 10 years, and then in 2009 a drummer (Jean “Winterhalter” Deflandre) joined the project. We started to play live in 2010. Onstage, we have two extra members (Pierre “Zero” Corson on guitar/backing vocals, and Indria Saray on bass).
Initially, you were part of the European black metal scene. But your sound has shifted quite dramatically over the years.
I had a metal background, so that’s what I knew. The first Alcest tape is black metal. But very quickly I changed to something else because black metal wasn’t enough for me. I didn’t want to be a Darkthrone copycat. I had something to say. I wanted to say it in a very personal way.
Alcest’s sixth studio album, Spiritual Instinct, was recorded to tape over a period of three months with a “purist approach” of just guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. Neige’s tonal recipe is to make his Jazzmaster sound like a humbucker guitar by using an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, a Fulltone OCD, and a Marshall JMP.
The concept and message that [black metal] has is completely the opposite of mine. The place that I wanted to portray is very beautiful, otherworldly, and ethereal. It’s not some creepy forest with demons and stuff. That’s why the music was very fragile, luminous, and ethereal. The black metal people, they didn’t know what to do with us. Now you have bands like Deafheaven. But back then, it was a completely new sound.
So the sonic shifts were to better illustrate your visions and memories?
Yes. Maybe if I grew up listening to classical music, my music would’ve been classical. But I got into metal. I thought it was a very interesting type of music and very powerful. I thought, “Why not use this music?” But instead of speaking about negativity, hate, and stuff like that, I would use very different types of imagery and messages. What I wanted to evoke was a very heavenly place. It has nothing to do with the metal clichés.
You have an immensely personal connection with your subject matter. Are you the sole composer in the band?
I write everything in the music and the lyrics. I’m a drummer, too. So, we work on the drums together. Winterhalter has a very good ear and very interesting opinions. We don’t necessarily listen to the same types of bands. What he has to say is always very interesting. It’s usually something that I would’ve never thought of. So, I listen to what he has to say about my songs.
Throughout Spiritual Instinct, I hear influences as diverse as Emperor, Sonic Youth, and even Isis. Who are your guitar influences?
Actually, I don’t listen to a lot of hard rock. I’m more into melodic types of music. I’m not so much into guitar heroes. For example, I love J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr. I really like Robert Smith from the Cure. I’m a big Cure fan. I love Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins, too. What he did on the first Pumpkins records is incredible. I also listen to a lot of new wave and indie rock.
Where did you get your black metal influence?
I was into black metal when I was 14. I didn’t do this rock, then heavy metal, then thrash metal, then black metal evolution. I was listening to everything on the radio. Then a friend of mine showed me black metal, and it was love at first sight.
I was listening to the first Emperor album, In the Nightside Eclipse. I didn’t know that such music even existed. It took me away from down-to-earth reality. What you see on the cover is what you have in your mind when you listen to the music. You’re transported to this dark fantasy, dark-side-of-nature type of place that I was really into. With the experience I had, I was attracted to things that took me away from reality.
Shown here on tour in 2015, Neige and co-guitarist Pierre “Zero” Corson work together to fully realize the complexity of Alcest’s cinematic songs in a live format. Photo by Tim Bugbee
Your sound quickly moved on from black metal, but your last album, Kodama, brought some of that feel and aggression back. And now, Spiritual Instinct picks up where that left off. Why bring it back?
It’s related to how I’ve been feeling these past few years. I’m kind of an anxious person. I struggle a lot with anxiety. When we were touring for Kodama, I was really exhausted. Touring is nonstop, and you’re away from your home. And you’re even away from yourself because you can’t be alone for a second. You lose touch with who you are. So, when I started to write new music for Spiritual Instinct, I realized that what I had to say was much angrier and much darker.
What separates Spiritual Instinct from Kodama?
Kodama was more or less a concept album. It was inspired by a movie called Princess Mononoke, by a Japanese filmmaker named Hayao Miyazaki. The concept is about the fight between the natural world and the human world. So, the album is about this and the love I have for Japan. It’s not entirely connected to the real Alcest concept.
Spiritual Instinct has come back to my main idea of a way to express my views on spirituality. And this album is a little bit more in your face. All the songs are very different. We have a song that sounds almost like a pop song. Then we have this very cinematic track and then something way more metal.
The album sounds incredibly full, but there aren’t layers. How did you achieve such a huge sound?
This music doesn’t have a lot of elements. It’s just guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. In the studio, we really tried to find the best possible sound with this limited palette. And I’m not into crazy effects. My pedalboard is really simple. I’m more interested in pure songwriting than effects.
Maybe it’s because of my classical training, but I think if you play the song with an acoustic guitar, it still has to sound great. We always have this very purist approach in the studio. For example, we spent a week just to find the guitar sound.
In a Facebook post, you said, “Recording it was a long and challenging process.” Why was that, and can you take me through the process?
Everything was on tape. It’s a much stronger and more complicated process. Sometimes you have to wait for keying the machine and stuff. And we were not 100 percent ready to go to the studio this time, but we were being pushed a little bit to get in there. It’s not a good idea to go to the studio and not feel completely ready.
Everything combined made us stay for three months. Three months for 40 minutes of music … it’s a bit much. Sometimes you just lose your mind.
How were you able to expand your playing and writing on Spiritual Instinct?
This album is more direct, and the songs came to me in a much faster way than usual. Usually, I find a few riffs, and I put them together. It takes ages for me to finish a song because I’m a perfectionist, and I work on details. This time, for example, the single of “Protection” was written in just a few hours, and I didn’t change anything. That was very refreshing.
As a musician, you’re always looking for this very genuine and very pure type of inspiration. Something that just comes to you. That’s what happened with this album. It came to me very, very quickly, and I thought it would be cool just to leave it as it is and not try to make it more complicated than it is.
You often play Jazzmasters and other offset-style guitars. What draws you to them, and did you use them on the album?
There are guitars, and then there’s the Jazzmaster. It’s quite difficult to play, the neck is really long, and it’s very precise. You hear everything on the Jazzmaster. I really love this instrument. It really sings, and that’s the instrument I’ve been using to write my songs. Mine’s an American Vintage. I bought it in 2012. In the newer Jazzmaster series, I didn’t find any guitar that was like it. Maybe I got pretty attached to this specific guitar. But one day I want to own a vintage Jazzmaster.
Unfortunately, I can’t use the Jazzmaster live because it just makes too much feedback. I don’t want to use a noise gate, so live I use a [Fender] Toronado from ’98. I’ve seen a few guys playing this guitar. I was like, “What the heck is that? I’ve never seen it before.” I love the shape, and I think it’s a little bit in between a Gibson and a Fender.
Guitars
2012 Fender American Vintage Jazzmaster
1998 Fender Toronado
Amps
1970s Marshall JMP Super Lead (studio)
Marshall JVM410H (live)
Roland JC-120
Fender ’65 Twin Reverb Reissue
Marshall 1960 4x12 cab
Effects
Electro-Harmonix Big Muff
Fulltone OCD
TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb
Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
TC Electronic outboard delay/reverb
Strings and Picks
Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom (.010—.052)
Dunlop Tortex .88 mm Green
How do you get such a big sound from a Jazzmaster in the studio?
The challenge is to make the Jazzmaster sound like a humbucker guitar. The [Jazzmaster] sound is very transparent. It’s very, very light. To adjust for that, we use a Big Muff. I think it’s the same setting as J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr. And we run it into a Marshall JMP. We also use an OCD. I really love the Fulltone OCD.
The JMP is from the ’70s. It’s a Super Lead. For the clean tones, we use a [Roland] Jazz Chorus. It’s one of my favorite amps. For the reverbs and stuff, it was nothing fancy. I have a TC Electronic Hall of Fame that I really like. It’s not the fanciest reverb in the world, but it does what I’m looking for, which is this aquatic sound. There is this MOD preset on the Hall of Fame that I really like. Just a little delay, and that’s it. I have this very basic [Boss] DD-3. I might sound a little bit disappointing with my pedals. [Laughter.]
Do you track your reverb and delay to tape?
It was a mix of a little bit of reverb to the tape, and then in post-production from a TC Electronic hardware thing. But I don’t remember the name. We used another reverb after the tape to make it sound big.
Do you use the same amps and pedals live?
I’m into having a clean platform and using distortion pedals. Before now, I was going through a Fender Twin Reverb and a Jazz Chorus at the same time. It was sounding really, really cool. But it’s not the same as a Marshall.
I’m really attached to the Marshall sound. It’s a very unique range. It was difficult to recreate using combo amps, so in my setup now I have the Marshall JVM410H. I’m using the clean channel and pedals. It’s really stupid because this amp has four channels I could use, but I’m just using the clean channel for now.
You also played bass on the album. What did you use to get that sound?
It was a Jazz bass that a friend lent us. I think it’s an American Jazz bass. For the amp, it was an Ampeg SVT Classic. We also used a pedal called the Darkglass Microtubes B3K. It was cool for the distortion while not taking any of the bass frequencies.
Your writing balances black-metal aggression, soothing ambiance, and catchy songwriting. Those three things don’t usually go together. How are you able to marry them so naturally?
I don’t like bands that make patchwork songs. For me, if I play a riff that sounds a bit like Smashing Pumpkins and then a riff that sounds a bit like Emperor, there should be a link between them. It should go naturally from one place to another. What I try to do is make [the parts] flow in a natural way where you don’t think about genres.
When it comes to our sets, people have used all the possible genres to describe our music. I tell them, “Forget about the genres. It’s not about the meeting of black metal and shoegaze. That’s just secondary.”
You came to your sound in a very pragmatic way. But there’s no denying that it did spearhead the blackgaze genre. Bands like Deafheaven are doing very well and owe a lot to what you created. How does that make you feel, and do you feel loyalty to the genre?
It’s crazy, man. I prefer not to think so much about it. For me, as I told you, it’s way more than just mixing black metal and shoegaze. There’s a whole concept behind the project. But if people see it as a mix of shoegaze and black metal and it inspires them to make their own thing, I’m very honored. That’s why I prefer not to think about it. I mean, it’s still very underground music.
Neige’s Fender Toronado embraces both dark and light during this live version of “Protection,” off of Alcest’s new album, Spiritual Instinct
The Man in Black returns with the unreleased Songwriter album. John Carter Cash tells us the story.
“The Man Comes Around” is a much-played song from the final album Johnny Cash recorded before his death in 2003, American IV: The Man Comes Around. Now, the Man in Black himself has come around again, as the voice and soul of an album he initially cut in 1993, titled Songwriter. It hits the street on June 28.
For fans who know Cash only through his much-loved American Recordings series, this is a very different artist—healthy, vital, his signature baritone booming, his acoustic playing lively, percussive, and focused. This is the muscular Johnny Cash heard on his career-defining recordings, from his early Sun Records sides like “Cry! Cry! Cry!” and “Folsom Prison Blues” to “Ring of Fire” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” to later, less familiar hits like “The Baron” and “That Old Wheel.” In short, classic Cash—the performer who became an international icon and remains one even 21 years after his death.
I recently visited the Cash Cabin recording studio—a log cabin on the Cash family property in Hendersonville, Tennessee, that was originally built as a sanctuary where Johnny wrote songs and poetry—with PG’s video team of Chris Kies and Perry Bean to talk about Songwriter with John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny and June Carter Cash.
In addition to getting the lowdown on Songwriter from John Carter Cash, he showed us some of the iconic guitars—including original Johnny Cash lead guitarist Luther Perkin’s 1953 Fender Esquire and a Martin that was favored by the Man himself—that dwell at the busy private studio. Check out this visit.
Guitarist, songwriter and bandleader Grace Bowers will independently release her highly anticipated debut album, Wine On Venus, August 9.
The new album adds to a breakout year for Bowers, who was recently selected as a U.S. Global Music Ambassador as part of the U.S Department of State and YouTube’s Global Music Diplomacy Initiative, is nominated for Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2024 Americana Music Association Honors & Awards and will make her debut performance on the legendary Grand Ole Opry on her eighteenth birthday, July 30, 2024. Other performances this year include shows supporting Slash, The Red Clay Strays and Brothers Osborne as well as stops at Levitate Music & Arts Festival, Floyd Fest, Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, Bourbon & Beyond, XPoNential Music Festival and Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival. See below for complete tour itinerary.
Grace Bowers & The Hodge Podge - Tell Me Why U Do That (Official Video)
Produced by John Osborne (Brothers Osborne), Wine On Venus captures the electric energy of Bowers’ live performances with The Hodge Podge. The record consists of nine soul-infused tracks including a new version of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Dance to the Music” as well as previously release single, “Tell Me Why U Do That,” of which Forbes praises, “an infectious, joyous party and a worthy introduction to Bowers.” Additionally, The Bluegrass Situation declares, “an exceptional breakout talent who seems primed for a long career to come,” while RIFF Magazine calls her “The next generation’s star of American rock, blues and funk guitar.”
Of the record, Bowers shares, “I’m so excited to share my first album with the world in August! It’s been a long time coming, and I’m proud of what was created with the incredible Hodge Podge and John Osborne producing. We recorded everything live, as it should be, for this sonic journey. I hope you love it as much as I do.”
Additionally, of the title track, she reflects, “My nana was 100 years old when she passed away last year. She would always tell me that when she died, she would be drinking wine on Venus. She was a little eccentric but thought that was just something so cool. When she passed, I wrote a song about it.”
In addition to Bowers (guitar), the record features Joshua Blaylock (keys), Brandon Combs (drums), Eric Fortaleza (bass), Esther Okai-Tetteh (vocals) and Prince Parker (guitar) as well as songwriting collaborations with respected artists such as Ben Chapman, Meg McRee, Maggie Rose and Lucie Silvas.
Originally from the Bay Area and now calling Nashville home, Bowers began garnering attention after sharing videos of herself playing guitar on social media during the pandemic. In the years since, she’s been featured on “CBS Mornings” in a piece focused on a new wave of young female guitarists, performed alongside Dolly Parton as part of her Pet Gala special on CBS, joined Lainey Wilson as part of CBS’ New Year’s Eve Live celebration, performed as part of the “Men’s Final Four Tip-Off Tailgate Presented by Nissan” and been sought after by everyone from Devon Allman to Tyler Childers and Susan Tedeshi to Kingfish. Of her 2023 Newport Folk Festival debut, Rolling Stone declared, “Her 20-minute performance gave the distinct sense that everyone lucky enough to have attended was witnessing a star in the making,” while The Tennessean calls her “a 17 year old Blues guitar prodigy,” with a, “heart as big as her talent is vast.”
Most recently this summer, Bowers performed alongside Billy Idol at the Fired Up For Summer benefit concert and raised $30,000 for MusiCares and Voices for a Safer Tennesseewith her 2nd Annual “Grace Bowers & Friends: An Evening Supporting Love, Life & Music” benefit show. With the release of Wine On Venus (distributed by The Orchard), Bowers will further establish herself as one of music’s most intriguing new artists.
For more information, please visit gracebowers.com.
Johnny Cash on the front porch of the Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Cash initially shelved the album in 1993, but now his son, John Carter Cash, has spearheaded a project to revamp and release the recordings, with the help of Marty Stuart, Dan Auerbach, Vince Gill, and other notables. Read on to get the details and see a gallery of vintage instruments and other artifacts from the Cash Cabin studio.
“The Man Comes Around” is a much-played song from the final album Johnny Cash recorded before his death in 2003, American IV: The Man Comes Around. Now, the Man in Black himself has come around again, as the voice and soul of a just-released album he initially cut in 1993, titled Songwriter.
For fans who know Cash only through his much-loved American Recordings series, this is a very different artist—healthy, vital, his signature baritone booming, his acoustic playing lively, percussive, and focused. This is the muscular Johnny Cash heard on his career-defining recordings, from his early Sun Records sides like “Cry! Cry! Cry!” and “Folsom Prison Blues” to “Ring of Fire” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” to later, less familiar hits like “The Baron” and “That Old Wheel.” In short, classic Cash—the performer who became an international icon and remains one 21 years after his death.
In addition to theSongwriter album, it’s also worth noting that there is a new documentary, June, that puts June Carter Cash’s life and under-sung cultural legacy in perspective. Johnny wasn’t the only giant in this family. Just the biggest one.
“I think it’s important to support my father’s legacy in the world in which we live,” says John Carter Cash, who, in addition to his own work as an artist, is the primary caretaker of his family’s estimable body of work.
I recently visited the Cash Cabin—a log cabin recording studio on the Cash family property in Hendersonville, Tennessee, that was originally built as a sanctuary where Johnny wrote songs and poetry—with PG’s video team of Chris Kies and Perry Bean—to talk about Songwriter with John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny and June Carter Cash. [Go to premierguitar.com for the full video.] In this shrine of American music, Johnny Cash recorded most of the American Recordings series, and many others, from Loretta Lynn to Jamey Johnson, have tracked here. It’s also where John Carter Cash and co-producer David “Fergie” Ferguson took apart the original Songwriter sessions and put them back together, stronger, with musical contributions by Marty Stuart, Dan Auerbach, Vince Gill, a blue ribbon rhythm team of the late bassist Dave Roe and drummer Pete Abbott, backing vocalists Ana Christina Cash and Harry Stinson, percussionist Sam Bacco, guitarists Russ Pahl, Kerry Marx, and Wesley Orbison, keyboardist Mike Rojas, and John Carter himself. Johnny’s vocals and acoustic rhythm guitar, and guest vocals by Waylon Jennings on two songs, are all that was saved from the 1993 sessions, cut at LSI studios in Nashville.
In addition to getting the lowdown on Songwriter from John Carter Cash, he showed us some of the iconic guitars—including original Johnny Cash lead guitarist Luther Perkins’ 1953 Fender Esquire and a Martin that was favored by the Man himself—that dwell at the busy private studio. [Go to the video at premierguitar.com for an eyeful.]
Only 44 of these Rosanne Cash signature model OM-28s were made by Martin. John Carter Cash says it’s his favorite guitar to play, and he and house engineer Trey Call attest that it’s probably the most frequently chosen instrument by guests recording in the studio.
Photos by Perry Bean
Only Johnny Cash’s original vocal and guitar tracks, and Waylon Jennings’ performances, were kept from the 1993 sessions. Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, Dave Roe, Dan Auerbach, and others contributed new tracks.
Speaking about Songwriter, John explains, “In some ways, these recordings fell through the cracks. I was in some of the sessions and can hear my guitar on some of the original recordings.” Dave Roe was also on those initial sessions, but he’d just started to play upright bass and didn’t have the finesse he lends to the revamped album.
The idea with Songwriter, John Carter relates, wasn’t to do anything more with the music than make it stronger. His dad was initially unhappy with the overall playing on the LCI recordings. “We didn’t add elements to make it about the ‘now’ or more ‘Americana’ or whatever,” he says.
The amp room at the Cash Cabin studio has some small but potent combo treasures.
Photos by Perry Bean
Nonetheless, Songwriter does take the Cash legacy to some new places, including the realm of psychedelia. Although the song “Drive On,” about a trucker who survived the Vietnam war with internal and exterior scars, was written for the 1993 sessions, it debuted in 1994 as part of the American Recordings album. The Songwriter treatment is radically different, from the panned amp, beating with tremolo, that opens the song to the concluding lysergic odyssey of 6-string provided by John Carter and Roy Orbison’s son, Wesley. It might well appeal to Johnny, who was a musical maverick—insisting that then-controversial figures like Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger, as well as a just-emerging Joni Mitchell and Linda Ronstadt, appear on the ABC network’s The Johnny Cash Show, which aired from 1969 through 1971.
This is June Carter Cash’s piano—an antique Steinway upright that still earns its keep as one of the studio’s active instruments. Nothing in the Cabin is a museum piece.
Photos by Perry Bean
John Carter, who is a singer-songwriter and producer, and is currently at work on his own fourth solo album, notes that the sonically spacious Songwriter opener “Hello Out There” resonates with him most, emotionally, as its lyrics balance the possible end of humanity with a message of hope. But every song on the album brims with empathy and kindness in strong measure. “Like a Soldier,” which blends Johnny’s patented guitar thrum with an introspective story about his battles with addiction, and “She Sang Sweet Baby James,” about a struggling single mother singing the James Taylor song to comfort her infant, are two more examples. And the guitars are always prominent, whether they’re Russ Pahl’s steel providing ambient textures or Marty Stuart’s hard-charging country licks, which breathe fire into the album.
A stained-glass portrait of Mother Maybelle Carter with her autoharp. Mother Maybelle invented a style of guitar playing, where melody was executed on the bass strings and rhythm on the high strings, that influenced Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, and a host of other famed pickers.
Photos by Perry Bean
For Stuart, who toured with Johnny Cash for six years and played on many of the Man in Black’s recordings, the experience of working on the retooled Songwriter, as well as his time with the senior Cash, was “mystical—everything about him was mystical. Even after I left his band, anytime the chief called, I was available. To the day he passed away, he was the boss. So when John Carter called and said he needed guitar on some of his dad’s tracks, I went over there. It’s so natural to hear that voice in the headphones. What I always loved about playing against him is that his voice is like an oak tree. You can put anything you want next to it, and it still stands out.”
From father to son: On his 10th birthday, Johnny Cash drew John Carter Cash this chord diagram for “I Walk the Line.”
Photos by Perry Bean
The exterior of the Cash Cabin—one of the sacred places of American music and still a busy working studio.
Photos by Perry Bean
This 1953 Fender Esquire belonged to Luther Perkins, who was a member of Cash’s first recording bands and played on all of the Man in Black’s foundational recordings for Sun Records—likely with this guitar.
Photos by Perry Bean
Stuart’s instruments of choice for Songwriter were a ’50s Telecaster owned by Clarence White that bears the first B-bender, a 1939 Martin D-45 that Cash used on his ’60s/early ’70s TV show and gifted to Stuart, and a silver-panel Fender Deluxe, in addition to John Carter’s ’59 Les Paul, another of Johnny’s old Martins, and a baritone that resides at the Cabin. And Stuart’s focus was getting back to the template of Cash’s original Tennesse Two and Tennessee Three bands, and the guitar style created by Luther Perkins, Stuart’s first guitar hero. “They had their own language, and it’s a foundational sound inside of me,” he says. “With Johnny’s voice and the thumb of his right hand on the guitar as a guide, that architecture was all there. I heard the album the other day for the first time, and I thought, ‘Man, John Carter and David Ferguson worked their hearts out to honor the real sound.’”
John Carter Cash bought this 1959 Gibson Les Paul at Gruhn’s in Nashville. It has a neck that is atypically slim for its vintage and appears as part of the psychedelic guitar interplay on the Songwriter song “Drive On.”
Photos by Perry Bean
John Carter Cash remembers this Martin 40 H from his childhood as the guitar Johnny kept around the house to play on a whim or when he was chasing a song idea. The year is unknown, but as a guitar that Johnny Cash played, it is priceless.
Photos by Perry Bean
Here’s the headstock of the Stromberg that Mother Maybelle Carter used on the road while touring with Johnny Cash and her daughters. Her main guitar, dating back to the first recordings of country music, which she made as part of the Carter Family, was a Gibson L-5, but she judged this instrument hardier for travel.
Photos by Perry Bean
Fishing was a favorite pastime of the Cash family. This is June Carter Cash’s fishing reel and tackle box—one of the many personal and historic items in the cabin.
Photos by Perry Bean
When Johnny Cash completed his novel about the apostle Paul, titled Man in White, he commemorated the occasion by scratching his initials and the day into the arm of the studio’s rocking chair—his favorite place to sit.
“In so many ways,” John Carter allows, “my father is always with me. People everywhere still love my father’s music. For instance, a 15-year-old kid wrote saying that without the strength through hardship my father expressed in his songs, he would not be alive. So, I think it’s important to support my father’s legacy in the world in which we live.
“My father made a distinction between the business of Johnny Cash and himself,” John Carter notes. “It’s almost like I’ve studied Johnny Cash my whole life, and so I can tie the two together somehow and still go through the healing process of losing a father while embracing him and his work on a level that spreads his music’s joy and brilliance to the world. I believe that his goal for his music and his life was to share with other people out there who connect on a level of the heart.” And that echoes, boldly, throughoutSongwriter.The new destination on Reverb will feature an always-changing collection of new and like-new music gear from top brands for at least 20% off retail prices.
“Outlet music gear is a fantastic value for music makers. Often, it’s brand new overstock or clearance music gear that retailers or brands are simply looking to clear out. Other times, it’s gear that’s been opened, used for a demo, or simply doesn’t have its original box, but is otherwise in like-new condition,” said Jim Tuerk, Reverb’s Director of Business Development. “With the launch of the Reverb Outlet, we’re making it easy to access your favorite brands for less.”
The Reverb Outlet will feature high-quality discounted music gear from Reverb’s community of authorized sellers, ranging from retailers like ProAudioStar and Alto Music to brands like Focusrite and Korg selling discounted items directly to music makers. All of the new and like-new music gear in The Reverb Outlet:
- Is at least 20% off retail prices—but often more
- Is sold by authorized retailers and brands
- Comes with free shipping, and
- Has a minimum 7-day return window.
“With economic pressures making it harder for music makers to invest in music gear, it’s more important than ever that the music-making community has access to affordable musical instruments. We launched the Reverb Outlet to make it easier for music makers to find the best deals on the instruments that will inspire them,” said Reverb CEO David Mandelbrot. “Now that players can shop discounted outlet music gear alongside our huge range of affordable used music gear, it’s easier than ever to find the perfect instrument for your budget.”
Visit the Reverb Outlet today and check back often, as new deals will be added regularly. Please note that as of now, this is available to those in the US only.
For more information, please visit reverb.com.