Guitars at the Grammys: who played guitar for Carrie Underwood and other mysteries solved
The Grammys delivered with another great show this year, full of some truly solid performances. While I didn’t see the one WOW moment ala Aretha Franklin in ‘98 or Beyonce a couple years back, there were some fun collaborations like Keith Urban and B.B. King or Dave Grohl sitting in with McCartney. And, as always, there were some atrocities. I’m not going to mention any names here but their initials are the Jonas Brothers. But hey, this is a guitar blog. Let’s get to the point already!
I don’t know if it’s the fact that I am now the proprietor of a guitar blog, but I noticed some amazing guitar featured very prominently this year. You already know most of them: The Edge, B.B. King, John Mayer, the usual suspects. But I want to highlight three guitarists whom you might not know as well.
- T Bone Burnett - known first as a great solo artist (check out his self titled record from the late ’80’s. Great stuff), then as a producer, T Bone had his breakout success with the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou?. That album sold so many albums that I’m convinced that every suburban home in America must be required to have a copy (right beside Thriller and the Eagles’ greatest hits). But this was the first time I remember seeing him featured so prominently on guitar, performing alongside Robert Plant and Alison Krauss (he produced their record, which won Album of the Year). And he brought it, playing some tasty two note lines on gear that has probably been around longer than anyone who will ever read this blog post!
- Rusty Anderson - Many people discovered Rusty for the first time when he played that jaw dropping solo during Paul McCartney’s performance. Rusty has been playing with Paul McCartney since around 2001, but he’s been tearing it up on guitar for over two decades. He’s easily one of the better straight up “rock” guitarists out there. Little known fact: Rusty played the solo on Ricky Martin’s “Livin La Vida Loca”. For more info, check out this interview with Rusty.
- Orianthi - About two thirds of the way through Carrie Underwood’s set, this female guitarist just about stole the show with a BLISTERING solo. I spent the rest of the show trying to track her name down, only to find out I’ve met her before! She recorded her latest album with Howard Benson, who also produced Third Day’s Revelation. If that performance was any indication, we will be seeing a lot from Orianthi! And it doesn’t hurt matters that Orianthi is also a fellow PRS endorsee! BTW - if you like great songs and great guitar, you owe it to yourself to check out Orianthi’s Myspace page. Be sure to check out the “Highly Strung Duet” featuring one Steve Vai!
(BTW - if anybody saw these performances and saw exactly what gear these guitarists were using, let me know in the comments below!)
If you enjoyed this post you might like these:
- Links for Friday 1/16
- Links for Friday 2/13
- Links for Friday 2/27: the SE ONE and Empress Superdelay
- Best guitar solo of all time?
- It’s a great time to play guitar
