To me there are only two kinds of music: music I like, and music I don’t like. This goes for the music I listen to and how I approach writing my own music.

I like variety in food, drinks, entertainment. With music, my playlists are all over the place. I could go from listening to Beck to Bach, Miles Davis to Van Halen, or Pat Metheny to Muse. In my own music I strive to embrace all of my many influences. For me this approach keeps things interesting.

Chet Atkins is a guitar player whose music has influenced me. His tune “Jerry’s Breakdown” blew me away the first time I heard it. Chet recorded “Jerry’s Breakdown” with another brilliant country picker named Jerry Reed. When I heard that tune I told myself, “I have to learn this”. Overtime I made the tune my own and eventually recorded it.

In keeping with the spirit of having two guitar players jamming I asked the legendary guitar virtuoso and Tone Wizard, Carl Verheyen to sit in and lay down a guest solo (1:53). It turns out that Carl is also a huge Chet Atkins fan with an affinity for this tune. Along with the solo Carl also laid down a pumpin’ acoustic guitar track with his 1950’s era Gibson.

I have known Carl for many years and he was actually the first person that I bounced the Tone Wizards book idea off of. He agreed to be my first interview for the book and the rest, as they say, is history.

You can Hear and Download my version of “Jerry’s Breakdown” here:

https://curtisguitar.bandcamp.com/track/jerrys-breakdown