I remember reading about Pete Anderson in a guitar magazine and seeking out "Guitars, Cadillacs..." and not having a sense of where country music had gone, immediately felt the Buck Owens sort of TV country I'd seen as a kid. Thanks for filling all of that in for me with this Zac. Always learn stuff here. That's why I'm such a bigger support of "Ask Zac"!
As a kid, I listened to a lot of Ricky Skaggs, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard. Then Dwight showed up and I felt the same way. Where was country music going? It was was way different
Pete Anderson and Mike Campbell are two of the most underappreciated guitar players. Their contribution to country music and rock ‘n’ roll is immeasurable.
Up until March 9th, with the stay-at-home orders, Pete has been playing blues every Monday night at the Burbank Moose Lodge. Very open to sharing his knowledge and his stage rig. He has his own line of guitars from Reverend.
Dana Jones That is F ink incredible! When the Rona blows over I am coming out to see it even if I have to join the Moose. I saw him on his first solo tour at a small club in early 90's. He came out with an attitude like he had something to prove from the start. Introduced himself with "Staches, stashes, Staches, where ever you put your stash is proud to present ME". And then he laid into it. We had a front row table at some point during One Day Our Time Will Come I realized some other local player was leaning over my shoulder toward the magic. I turned around recognized every killer player in town had town had showed up too. It was magic, man. We hung out at the bar drinking beer with him afterwards and his confidence and attitude was amicable and cool as hell. A bad ass but not an asshole. I'm coming out to the moose lodge when the Rona clears.
I started playing when I was 10 and still going at it at the age of 45. I grew up listening to classic country but was a total hard rock and heavy metal kind of kid in my early teen years. In high school I started listen to Dwight. I would ride around in my 82' diesel Jetta and the radio didnt have a cassette player so I was eating c batteries like a champ just reaching back and flipping my Dwight albums around in a crappy boom box. Pete blew my mind. With all the stuff I was into and so focused on shred techniques, Pete bent my ear like nothing I ever heard and strived to play like that ever since. Pete is one of my guitar heroes. So it was funny going from an RG Ibanez and instantly wanting a tele in the worst way. His sound was amazing and pre- internet mysteries still existed and just had me chasing that sound still to this day. Thanks Zac! Pete is so worth recognizing. He and Dwight changed things in the most radical way at that time and as far as I'm concerned nothing has had that impact and making the old so amazingly radical. The solo on Little Sister. My Lord
@@AskZac I was actually stuck, flat broke, and literally a thousand miles from nowhere in the late 90's and listened to the "This Time" album a lot. That song, and not to sound like I'm aspiring to any form of literary nobelness was a form of etherial escape for me!!!
@@TheMax1230 I don't know if this is the one, but it sure sounds like the tone on the record. 3 pickup tele style, some kind of tremolo, looks to be on middle pickup : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QpQ4c3b_RJ8.html
The first time I ever heard Pete Anderson with Dwight, was like the first time I heard Knopler on Sultan's of Swing. It changed me and challenged me completely, but for the better.
Pete is one of my biggest guitar heroes. He's well known for his work on Dwight's hits, but his work on Dwight Live is astounding. I've listened to almost every song in Dwight's discography involving Pete at least a couple times and Pete has requoted lick ideas only a handful of times. Absolute monster and his playing mindset is very unique, should really be talked about more.
I remember when Guitars, Cadillacs, etc, etc came out. Everyone was talking about it, because it brought back real Country Music, but was a fresh take on the genre. The videos were avant garde, his look was iconic, the graphic design on the album, everything said Dwight was a force to be reckoned with.
I totally agree ! Pete Anderson is VERY underrated. I.M.O. "Please, Please Baby" is The Pete Anderson track ! He just goes off, literally ascending up the fretboard until it runs out. GOD ALMIGHTY !
Tele plugged straight into an old Blackface Deluxe and cranked. That’s Pete’s vintage sound. I think he probably clipped the bright caps in his amp. Great episode Zac!
Nice one. I don’t remember who said it, but someone once said you have your entire life to write the songs for your first album and six months to write the songs for your second one. I guess a Pete was hip to that.
I have been very fortunate to see Pete Anderson with Dwight Yoakum about 5 or 6 times back when Dwight and I still had hair on our heads. I've also seen Pete about 4 times on his own. Of course last time was maybe 12 years ago. Just as an aside, the first time I saw Dwight and Pete it was on a triple bill with The Blasters and Los Lobos! Incredible show! We were all young guys then... I'm not a musician but I really enjoyed this video.
Great to see you recognize Pete Anderson with this video! Pete was my "gateway drug" into Twang country playing and I give him props anytime I can on my channel as well! Still can't believe he and Dwight went through so much together and then finally called it off over contracts & money. Even harder to believe they haven't worked all that out by now and done another album and tour together. Buck and Don....Dwight and Pete!
Zac, as per usual, this was an absolutely fantastic piece! 👏🏼 I can't believe that somehow I've only come across Pete's genius within the past couple years, but I'm so glad that a couple of guys, including yourself, have hipped me to him! What a fantastic guitar player, arranger, producer, and all around innovator. And yeah, his tone, especially with that wet/dry setup he had, gives me the chills! Great job again brother, thanks for posting! 🙏🏼😄
I love that you examine all the great Tele players from country, rockabilly, etc. That classic Tele you're playing is my dream guitar. I can't believe Pete hired a "stunt man" for Dwight - that's dedication man!
Have really been woodsheading Pete lately, I was struck at how really tight the band is on guitars Cadillacs, and now it makes sense to me, massive rehearsals, Pete’s hooks are not all the flashy but something that you end up humming later, it sticks in your mind, but what stands out to me most as a guitar player, is how he served the song rhythmically, really pushing the song , in a simple way , really sounds powerful, and not wanking to just show us his chops, he served up yokums voice on a golden platter, with a very tight band, just learned honkytonk man, to me that song is absolutely brilliant, Pete has his killer hook, then rhythmically pushes and serves the song well, the dynamics of the acoustic parts, another element here, the only time he really sticks out , it creates tension over the whole song not resolved till the very end, a very simple part played well, my god I wish I could write like that! I know this video is old, but I sure think it’s very valid, and maybe even more so today, so much to learn here. Thanks zak!
I grew up on country music but by the late 70s was losing interest then along came Dwight & I was blown away. Pete Anderson grabbed me like no one since Roy Buchanan. I became a fanboy & followed them across country. I saw 18 concerts from as close as I could get seats, just to watch Pete. What a monster of a player. Thanks Zac for another great show about another great artist.
‘Guitars, Cadillacs Etc.’ was my dawning moment for country music and country guitar. Blew my mind when it came out...I was listening to all the usual suspects that I still love to listen to and learn from...Zeppelin, SRV, the blues masters, Hendrix, Van Halen...and-I always say it-Dwight and Pete were in my pantheon right along with Page and Plant, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen, etc. I loved this installment of AskZac and looking forward to seeing the Pete interviews!
WooHoo! You are so knowledgeable about country music and all aspects of it. I simply love hearing about all these pickers from over the years. I can't get enough of it. I'm 65 years old now and was raised on all of this music and am a player myself and a Fender lover too! Thanks Zac for sharing your knowledge once again. 💖
Love this episode Zac. My wife and I did get to see Dwight with Pete Anderson on guitar in Birmingham back in the early 90’s I think. Anyway, that was a fun show, my wife was beside herself and I just enjoyed the guitar work.
That first Dwight record changed my life. You’re videos have lead me to leaving my Dusenburg’s at home and bringing my tele’s back on the road. It’s profound how lazy my playing has gotten since, I put my tele’s in storage. And my playing was already pretty lazy. Love your videos. Thank you for making them. 🙏🏼. A side note. Pete and Moot David opened up for us at The Brick in Washington back in around 2006-7 and he was playing through two lines 6’s. They sounded amazing.
I love that sound too. Pete's sound drove that album. Of course, Dwight's voice and the great songs might've contributed some. Great stuff. All that hard word that Pete oversaw. We always learn so much from you. Thanks Zac.
Pete Anderson os one of the all time greats. I hate that he doesn’t get as much mainstream attention as others. He is really super human. He is such a beautiful player. I don’t play in that country style, but Zac, you have one of the best behind the scenes channels of all time. Much love from Tulsa.
Another great video. I too love Pete’s playing. Anytime I pick up a Tele I haven’t played before I have to put it on the bridge pick up and play the intro to Guitars, Cadillacs to see if it’s got that sound.
Zack, man alive what an excellent review of the amazing Pete Anderson and his influence on country music and country guitar during his years with Dwight Yoakam. Thanks so much for doing it. The guy just knocked me down, bowled me over, with his playing in those years. As a former classic rock and blues type of guy myself, just getting into country guitar in a big way - Pete had a big influence on me. And I have always regarded Dwight as the modern-day successor to Buck Owens, just as I have regarded Pete Anderson as his Don Rich. There are certain guys - even in the country genre - who look down on Pete's work, but the man can flat-out play. His ideas were brilliant, his playing was traditional but unpredictable in a very pleasing way, and his tone and execution were simply superb. And his chops - contrary to popular belief - were nothing to sneeze at. Some of his more-complex passages are masterpieces of country guitar, full of twists and turns and subtle little touches that made his sound in those years unique. Thanks for the info on his "wet-dry" amp setup. That maybe clues us in as to why all of us striving to emulate his legendary tone and sound out in country guitar-land couldn't quite nail it despite playing Teles and vintage Fender tube amps ourselves! I hear that Pete's more-recent work is great too. I'd like to get around to listening to it sometime, if I could just get some of those classic 1980s and 1990s Dwight songs with Pete off my playlist for a while. Just love those old classics!
That was a great commentary, Zac...I didn't know that Nashville was using strats and going direct 'pre Dwight' Lots of irony there too, with Nashville's wimpy sound and Dwight and Pete being fans of 'that Bakersfield Sound ' 😁
I had the good fortune to become good friends with Pete during our time at GIT. I can remember numerous evenings when we would get together and work out licks late into the night at his place or mine. I learned an awful lot from him during those times. One day he called me and asked if I'd like to take his place in a country-rock band playing locally in the San Fernando Valley I asked him why he would be giving up a 4 night a week gig and he just said he was going to go and give it a try with a singer he knew. The rest is history.
Great stuff! Have always been fascinated by the journey the Yoakam/Anderson records took from feeling very alive and thrilling and almost cowpunkish to becoming very carefully crafted studio productions. And thanks for uploading the Richard Bennett interview.
Was never much into the guitar heroes of the 70s but when Pete Anderson came along in the 80s spun my head around. Saw him w DY at a small club in 86 or 87 and a few years later at an outdoor show. He utterly owned the stage ( well, Dwight held his own... ). Been following closely since then - he’s the real deal ( country, blues, jazz, etc ).
We caught Pete Anderson with Dwight Yoakam in concert Melbourne mid 90's Do not forget his slide playing !! He finished the concert with a 10 min blues inspired solo that is imprinted in my brain even today .. A very underrated slide player........... thank you Pete!!
Zac awesome video - I was listening to Dwight Yoakam around 86 87 88 - I had all his albums and I loved Pete Anderson’s guitar playing Apart from Johnny Cash this was the only country I had in my record collection and would listen to - Remember it was music like the jades and Garth Brooks her country music where embracing remember it was music like the jades and Garth Brooks her country music where embracing And now country music seems to be like a cross between hip-hop and heavy metal with a huge dollop of R&B and pop I think what diet and Pete were doing was real country - keep up the good work!
Another GREAT video Zac! I love the way you are never critical of anyone....like Mo West eliminating amps on recordings.....but you embrace the positive aspects of everyone, regardless of the stupid things they do sometimes. :) Also, thanks for mentioning Dean Parks, a hometown son of Ft Worth, Texas. A lot of people automatically think of Austin as the music source in Texas, but an amazing number of musicians come from Ft Worth. (and that obscure suburb to our east, Dallas) I am NOT a country fan, per se, but I can listen to Pete Anderson and Dwight all day. Thanks again, Zac.
Pete Anderson has probably influenced my picking more than any other single player. I'll never forget buying the "Guitars, Cadillacs..." cassette one hot summer in OKC and hearing it for the first time; it changed everything. A giant in his own right, and without Pete I might never have discovered Roy Nichols, Don Rich and Clarence White. Within a few weeks of hearing that first album (I know, the e.p. on Oak, but G,C etc. was really the first album) some friends and I had the privilege of seeing Dwight play at a strip mall country bar called Nothin' But Country. Pretty sure the band was just set up on the floor, and we saw them leaving the gig in a couple of black Lincoln Continentals. What a show. I wish Pete and Dwight could make up and put out at least one more great album. Thanks for the video!
First time I heard Guitars & Cadillacs I didn’t know a guitar could sound like that made the hair on my body stand up. Would listen to that album over & over. When Pete quit playing with Dwight I quit listening. Always enjoy the insight & history you present as well as your playing & tones. 👍🔥🎸🦅
Pete Anderson one of my top 3 favorite guitarist of all time (Chuck B, Don R, Pete A), the first time I heard that guitar in 1986 at the start of Jr High I was hooked in big time. It was the best stuff on country radio!! Finally got my Ask Zac Tshirt I ordered, good day!! Thanks for the nod to Pete A today Zac, love your channel sir!!
Pete is a badass. Blue collar Motor City country lick genius. I love to listen to Dwight on Bakersfield Beat, but I’m really there to catch the early Pete Anderson tunes.
In 86’ our Bass player lived in SannAntonio,& listened to KBUK on Sundays.He recorded a new song called Guitars Cadillacs on a Sony Walkman and played it for me over the phone. The album hadn’t even been released I don’t believe.From that moment forward,it was all we had on our setlist,along with tunes from the Wagoneers out of Austin. That bass player is Brinson S.’s brother Charlie. We were all in a band playing full time.
Great episode Zac! Pete is the reason I got back into country music. In the 80s there wasn’t a whole lot of good country music. I remember the first time I heard Dwight, I went the next day and bought the record and have been a big fan of Pete and Dwights ever since.
Pete sounds like he listened to Roy Buchanon doing those sixth bends and suspensions . He played for the song and had the good sense to cover classic honky tonk...definitely the anti Nashville sound...his leads hardly sounded worked out and 1st or second takes seat of the pants LIVE playing ...we covered lots of Dwight in the band I played it at the time ...people loved dancing to it .It was just fun music to play and because of the trad. Sound it appealed to new and old.. the hardest thing was finding a vocalist with that Dwight Yoacham honk. Thanks again Zac..great episode.
The other day I dug out a vinyl copy of "A Town South of Bakersfield 2 " from '88 , it's pretty much a Pete Anderson album, he produces and plays on every track of different artists he compiled plus his own outfit, Pete and the Hotshots...
I spent a lot of time trying to replicate Pete's stuff. A couple years ago when he went full Axe Fx he sold me his Number 1 Deluxe Reverb from the old Dwight days. That amp is a monster.
It had an EVM 12 when I received it. It does sound like the mids are on 10. Converted to 6L6s with what looks like a twin transformer although it could be from a Super Reverb possibly. It gets so hot there is a little computer fan installed lol. This thing is loud loud loud! There is also a 1/4 inch out that syncs the tremelo with the other one he sold back in the early 2000s as well as an effects loop. Here's a link to some pictures on Reverb. reverb.com/item/4529821-pete-anderson-1965-fender-blackface-deluxe-heavily-modded
What pickups are in that telecaster BTW great information....I met Redd in Austin Tx several time he played my old 50s Esquire one night a The Continental
I’m a bass player who obsessed with a couple of three guitar players and you mentioned 2 of them here , Pete and Redd are my fave “country” players along with Nels Cline and Wayne Krantz
Thanks for the great videos and Spotify link! Pete Anderson’s playing made me want to pick up a Telecaster! His tone and technique are amazing. Those early Dwight albums will always be my favorite but I love his Blues and solo albums too!
I saw Pete when he worked with Steve Forbert in the early maybe mid 80's he was incredible. I didn't know him but I never forgot him after he was introduced.
Pete is the King in my humble opinion. Got the chance to see him with Dwight in Austin in the 90'. Also blown away with his blues playing these days, which I had the fortune to witness live at the Moose in LA a couple of years ago.
I do believe Pete went to GIT. Pete is a great player as seen by the comments on here. In my nowhere career I could never get a band to rehearse heavily. Only one band I ever played in would rehearse just about every night and what do you know it was the best band I was in. Great video Zac.
Just found your channel through the search for The Harvard Amplifier and ended up binge watching your videos. You have a refreshing take that is backed by insight and talent/experience. Bless you and your telecaster! Oh yeah, Subbed!
@@AskZac I also found your TrueTone interview with Pete Anderson. What an affable guy! He didn't want no "hippie dippie" slathered on his working Telecaster!! LOL!
Those C6 bends are mimicking the C6 neck of a pedal steel, i.e. on a double neck pedal steel the neck closest to the player, mostly used for jazz/western swing/old school Texas country.
I didn't know anything about Pete Anderson except that there's a signature model guitar from Reverend. This was really great to learn more and I'll definitely check out some of the songs you've referred to. Thanks Zac!
Pete andersons playing especially with Dwight is kind of Old school meets wacky but its him being him you gotta find you....,its very very clever stuff,some of it is really mad off the wall kind of stuff and things like Aint that lonely yet are just sublime..,but having said that he played the song you know and wasnt just sitting there waiting to shred...,best thing you can be is a team player,just awesome,a constant joy to hear,thanks Zac..
I got busy with my day job and quit playing for 20 years. In '04 I was working in Iraq and a buddy downloaded a complete Dwight Yoakam playlist to my computer. I stayed in the Middle East for 5 1/2 years listening to that. When I retired and came home I bought a Pete Anderson signature guitar.
Yes...!!!! Thank you! You're opening declaration of Anderson being underrated got me to subscribe! Lol thank you for honoring one of my heroes and biggest influences!!!
@@AskZac I saw where you worked at Music Man in Kingsville... I gave lessons there in 88-89. I was there with the Saenz family and Russell Blomsteadt managed it.
When I bought my t style guitar (Harley Benton TE-20 left handed, brass saddle, fender 62 neck, Only Music blues tribute lone star bridge, gunstreet bleed wiring and bone nut upgrades) the first thing I learned was the beginning of Guitars Cadillacs!
I'm still playing at 67. The first electric guitar I ever heard was Luther Perkins. I've been a strat guy for 30 years but just got the first Tele I've had in a long long time and I'm lovin' it. Traded a Marshall Amp for it. I enjoy your videos.
Wow great combination of music and talk... really well presented..I would have liked to hear his take on Fast as You... I think i blew up my steels fuzz tone trying to copy his solo
I got in a message board exchange with Pete Anderson over our shared delight of the amp emulations found specifically on the POD 2.0. Especially the 50’s small Fender Amps and Pete tells me the blackface fender deluxe emulation are the best out there. He’s a great guy and it’s a downright shame him and Dwight stopped working together...
Thanks for another great episode Zac! I just got my main telecaster back after doing the tone bypass for the neck pickup, as you recommended. Why did I never do this before!! I've taken the covers off, used strat pu's in the neck, but never thought of this to get a more open sound from this pickup. Thanks!
Hey Zac. If you could take the time to answer a question i have, i would really apreciate it. Im looking to purchase a fender deluxe or twin reissue . i can not decide between the 65 or 68 custom . With my pedal board im trying to cover tones of merle, waylon, hank junior, whitey Morgan, laur jometes, all the way to early zz top. Which amp would work best for that. None of the demos for each do it for me. Is it worth just micing a deluxe? Or should i spring for a twin?
That was such a pleasant and interesting vid. Thank you. I had to buy,"Guitars,Cadillacs" in 86'. That sound was something. I don't have a Tele yet but have the bug thanks to players like you. Should I get the Butterscotch or the Paisley? Can't wait. Yuma,AZ.
