Truetone Lounge

Jim Campilongo is one of the finest Telecaster players of the modern era. On his many great albums, Jim brings his beautifully unique approach to everything from honky-tonk, to jazz. In our Truetone Lounge discussion, we cover everything from his history as a player, inspirations, to his current practice regimen. We also could not help but talk of his love for late 50s Telecasters and Princeton Re...

Famed Guitarist, and groundbreaking guitar educator, Arlen Roth, is our guest for the latest Truetone Lounge. We cover his touring days with John Prine, Phoebe Snow, and Simon & Garfunkel, and how his side hustle as a guitar teacher transitioned into authoring books. Those books turned to audiotapes, and then after his work with Ralph Macchio on the movie Crossroads, he turned to guitar instructio...

Welcome to the Truetone Lounge. We are kicking off this show with the legendary Al Perkins. Al sits down with Truetone's Zac Childs (also a columnist for Vintage Guitar Magazine) for a casual and informative chat with Al about his life, career, and tools of his craft.

Gordon Kennedy is a 2-time Grammy Award-winning musician, songwriter, and producer who happens to also have an amazing musical pedigree. His mother was a regular on the Louisiana Hayride with a recording contract, and his father was a member of the famed Nashville A-Team and ran Mercury Records’ Nashville division for 21-years. The stories abound about his musical upbringing, as he watches his rec...

Bill Crook is one of the most respected electric guitar builders of the modern era. Bill shares his guitar building philosophies, and how his days touring with the group, America, influenced the features and functionality of every Crook Custom Guitar.

Audley Freed’s musicality and easy-going attitude have garnered him gigs with Cry of Love, The Black Crows, Peter Frampton, Dixie Chicks, Joe Perry, Sheryl Crow, and, many many others. In our Truetone Lounge interview, Audley shares everything from riding to gigs in vans with his early band, Cry of Love, to playing with Jimmy Page at the Greek Theatre, to his current position as one of the most in...

Andy Reiss is one of the true western swing and jazz guitar greats in Nashville and can be seen just about every Monday night with the amazing Time Jumpers. In our Truetone Lounge interview, Andy discusses his time in San Francisco during the height of the hippy movement, his move to Nashville and mentorship with Harold Bradley, and how he ended up on tours with everyone from Slim Whitman to Reba...

Bob Britt is a true journeyman guitarist who has played with a veritable who's who of legendary musical artists.

Bob Britt is a true journeyman guitarist who has played with a veritable who's who of legendary musical artists.

To celebrate Truetone’s 25th Anniversary, we sit down with founder and president, Bob Weil, to tell both his own story and that of the company he launched in 1995. The idea to launch a business began to germinate when Weil was using an off-the-shelf volume pedal that he wished had some sort of a visual indicator. Finding that no such pedal existed, he began learning about electronics, eventually s...

In part 3 of our Truetone Lounge interview, Brent talks about the psychology of working in the studio and gives great advice to the aspiring session guitarist.

Brent Mason is one of the titans of the Nashville studio scene whose impact on the "Nashville Sound" cannot be overstated. His versatile and ear-catching guitar work has helped define the works of some of the greatest Country Music Artists of all time.

Chad Jeffers is currently celebrating his 13th year playing arenas with Carrie Underwood. Prior to Miss Underwood, he toured with Keith Urban, Kenny Loggins, and was a member of a band signed to RCA Records. In this Truetone Lounge, Jeffers shares volumes of great advice for the up-and-coming players, coming from both the position of the artist and the sideman. He also stresses the importance of n...

Brent Mason is one of the titans of the Nashville studio scene whose impact on the "Nashville Sound" cannot be overstated. In part 2 of our Truetone Lounge interview, Brent discusses his iconic Tele playing...

Via Skype, we chat with Guthrie on what he has been up to. We start off talking about picks, but move on to his philosophy of using the right amp for the right venue. He then takes on a lesson talking about using chord notes when soloing, and some substitutions.

Chris Rodriguez is one of the most in-demand sidemen in the music business. In our Truetone Lounge interview, Chris talks about an exceptional career playing music with some of the world's most beloved artists.

Daniel Carson is the long-standing studio and road guitarist with singer-songwriter, and Christian music artist, Chris Tomlin. In Our Truetone Lounge interview, Carson takes us from the Suburban to the tour bus on his career that started with Tomlin while Daniel was still in high school. Besides sharing his fascinating story, he also passes on important playing concepts, how he uses effects, and h...

David Grissom is one of the top American roots guitarists. His singular playing style and tone have garnered him multitudes of sessions, tours with acts from the Allman Brothers to John Mellencamp, and a long-running successful signature model from Paul Reed Smith Guitars. In our Truetone Lounge interview, Grissom takes us from his childhood in Kentucky and Indiana to the storied music hub he has...

In January of 2019, Daniel Tashian won the coveted Album of the Year award at the Grammy’s for his work on the Kacey Musgraves Golden Hour album. In our latest Truetone Lounge interview, we sit down with the award-winning producer/songwriter/guitarist to talk about the album, and how he began collaborating with Musgraves. He also shares how he was inspired by seeing his father perform with Emmylou...

In our visit with Derek in the Truetone Lounge, we talk with him about his gear, and he demonstrates some of his session tools in Part 3 of this 3 part series.

Derek Wells is one of the top session guitarists in Nashville, TN. He has played on numerous top 10 albums, singles, and was recently nominated for the 2016 Academy of Country Music Musician of the year award, in the guitarist category. We talk with him about his beginnings as a touring guitarist in Part 1. https://truetone.com https://truetonelounge.com

Guitarist Greg Martin lives at the intersection of hillbilly, blues, gospel, and rock, and is one of the greatest proponents of pure guitar and amp tones. In our Truetone Lounge interview, we cover his years of playing the club circuit, work with country star Ronnie McDowell, and his meteoric rise to fame with the Kentucky Headhunters.

Duke Levine is an in-demand sideman, solo artist, and is one of the foremost roots-based guitarists of that last 30-years. His well-crafted instrumental albums contain melodies and moods, which is why he has also done acclaimed soundtrack work with Mason Daring for many of the films of John Sales. Duke can also burn on the guitar when needed while playing with Peter Wolf, and the J. Geils Band, pl...

Derek Wells is one of the top session guitarists in Nashville, TN. In our visit with Derek in the Truetone Lounge, we talk with him about his break into the session world in Part 2 of this 3 part series.

Guthrie Trapp is one of the finest guitarists in Nashville, TN. In our Truetone Lounge interview, we talk with Trapp about his early playing experiences on the Gulf Coast, why he moved to Nashville, and how performing with the Don Kelley Band punched his career into overdrive. We also discuss his musically eclectic new album, Life After Dark, that features Vince Gill, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Jimm...