Muriel Anderson

Be a Reverend, entertainee, cool, go get you to LA, talk radio. Your listening to all of Yacht-Golo, with Jep-Golo, Hey, a LA talk radio. Guitar, an amazing instrument. It has developed into an incredible voice in today's music.

So many types of guitars, so many styles of playing, all sorts of gear. How does one make their voice be heard as a guitarist? My name is Jeff Florow and welcome to All About Guitar, where we talk tone, we talk technique, we talk gear. Where we discover how we can become better musicians in a world of constantly changing technologies, where we take a good look at everything guitar, and sometimes not exactly guitar, but just as important.

So we can be more successful as a musician in today's music scene. So sit back and relax, and let's explore All About Guitar. Good evening everybody, welcome to All About Guitar. We have a great show for you tonight.

Welcome to the New Year. This is my first live show for the new decade, and what better way to do it, but have one of my favorite guests and one of my favorite guitarist, Muriel Anderson. Welcome back and Happy New Year. Thank you Happy New Year too.

And this is a very, very special show tonight, especially because she has a new, I know how to describe it. There's an album in here, but there's a little more to it. It's called Acoustic Chef, and it's a cookbook and album, and the songs, we're going to get into this. The songs apply, the relationship between the songs and the food are significant.

So we're going to talk about that in a minute. And let me just explain a little bit. I'm really impressed by the fact that how Muriel, the way she's taking her music and pushing the boundaries of what, you know, it's not just a song or a musical piece, it's not just a CD. She's always kind of pioneered, done something a little bit extra.

And a perfect example is her last album, which is a pretty highly acclaimed album called Nightlight Daylight. I'll show you in a minute. It was chosen as one of the top 10 CDs of the decade by Guitar Player magazine, which is a thing to take lightly. That's a pretty impressive statement and just kind of shows you the craftsmanship and the musicianship of Muriel.

But this is very cool. I want to show you this. This is the album. And if I'm correct, you've applied for, is it a patent or?

Oh, no, I did a provisional patent way back in 2015, but haven't really. Check this out. I'll see if you can see this. She has LEDs in the CD cover.

Check this out. So I'm going to hit this thing and it should light up. You should see it. That's so cool.

And it's still available, but on her website, MurielAnderson.com. That's it. And this is a great album. Anyway, it's just a really cool one.

Not to be deterred or to go one step further, she now created what she calls as a multisensual experience, where you're using more than your ears to experience the whole concept of this album. So let me just start with that real quick and how this came about, the concept, because you had mentioned before the show that you wanted to do this for quite a while, and then how it became to be. Well, when we tour, people have kind of come to know that I love good food. We tour.

And oftentimes we end up in people's homes and playing music and having some of the most fantastic food, and really interesting food. And sometimes we're in the kitchen and we help the cook. And it's all part of the experience. It's the friendships that you make are enhanced by playing music together, and they're enhanced by eating together, and they're enhanced by cooking together.

And so it's a quality of life that is built upon many senses. And I don't think that we should leave some of them out when we're talking about really enjoying life. And so I've been wanting to share this experience that I have when I tour with people, and I was like, well, how do I do this? Well, we could share some of that in the music from all these different countries.

So I really try to experience the culture and get some of the real flavor in that music. And so I'm writing in the style of every country that's represented, and I have some special guests in that style. So, for instance, the French song that I have that goes with quiche. I wanted to get a real authentic French gypsy jazz player.

So I got Django Reinhardt's grandson, Lula Reinhardt, who's playing. I was so excited that he joined us. He's playing fills on that. And there's a beautiful accordion player on the Italian, just Rory Hoffman, just places gorgeous Italian style that just brings you there.

And all of a sudden you're sitting in your mind. You're sitting there in Italy and you're tasting that eggplant parmesan. And also I have Brian Allen to do the photography. He captures the feel of where we are and the foods that are being represented.

Now, the question was, we were talking a little bit before the show. Of course, you did all the photography. The photography, this food, if you, I dare you to, to thumb through this book and look at the food and not be hungry. You're either sick or you're dead.

I mean, the pictures are just beautiful of what you, and then there's some pictures of them working behind the scenes in the studio and stuff. But you, who cooked? We all do. Yes.

Brian and I both cook and stuff. And how did you get these recipes? Are they your recipes? Some are my recipes or Brian's.

Some come up from my family history, which is from Finland, four generations ago, so from my great grandparents. And I wrote a song in their style for that era. That's interesting. And most of them come from our travels.

So both from going there, like for instance, in Italy, we learned how to make those Italian recipes in Italy, actually, from families and in Budapest. From, in fact, I thought that the recipe book was done, completely done until we went to Budapest. And there I met a young couple and we went to their home and played music together and cooked over an open fire. We cooked goulash.

And after the first taste of this goulash, I said, oh no, I've got to add goulash to the recipe book, which means I have to write Hungarian tune. So that's when I wrote paprika and found a wonderful Hungarian fiddle player with me. Can we play a little cut of that? Yes, I have that.

Let me take it so you get an idea. It really is about the music. I know we're talking about food. And that's a whole thing in itself.

But here's paprika. Take a listen. That's great. I had to show the goulash.

And there's a picture here of them cooking it over the open fire, like she was mentioning. That's from that very first experience. That is very, very cool. Now, let me ask you this.

This is kind of a tangential question. But how many recipes didn't make it into the book? In other words, do we have enough for book two? There is a book two in our minds.

Because there are some that didn't make it in some tunes. Also, I have a wonderful Japanese tune. And I couldn't find just the perfect Japanese recipe. So we're still looking for that perfect Japanese recipe.

And I think there is a tour of Japan in our near future. So I think we have to go back to Japan. And the first time I was there, I was really exploring the music there. And then this time I got to go back and really explore the cuisine.

Well, some of my friends that I worked with at Panasonic from Japan, if you guys know something really good, post it on the all about guitar and I'll forward it to her and give her some ideas. So they used to cook some amazing stuff. And also, I've never really explored Indian music. And I would love to discover it.

It's a whole different world. And so that's, I think that making some Indian recipes will be a good culprit to really explore the culture. So those are two things that are not going to happen. I can get a chance to go to India and that part of the world.

Oh, I certainly hope so. Because my niece just married into an Indian family. And so I think that we're kind of... A couple of my friends have gone there.

And I'm sure if you were there, just being in the country will inspire you. Because it's just a whole different world. It's nothing like what we're over here. And even Europe, it's a totally different type of environment.

Even Asia, for example. I mean, Japan and China, they're unique and there's some really beautiful things and stuff, but it's a whole different thing. It's kind of interesting. Alright.

So a little more into the process of it. So you were figuring out, you were writing music to the nationality, the type of the style of music from that country, to the... that corresponded to the recipe. Was it an Italian recipe?

Was it going to be an Italian song? Yes. But sometimes it came the other way around. Okay.

Because I wrote a tune for my grandparents. We found an old film from 1929. And when we put it on the projector, we realized that that was during prohibition. And my grandparents had gotten one of the first home movie cameras.

So of course, they took video of their vacation to Canada, where they proceeded to walk into a bar and stagger out, walk into another bar and stagger out. I mean, the very funny black and white film. And so I took... I said that this black and white silent movie needs its own music.

And so I wrote a tune. I call it a fine pickle. So now I've got a fine pickle. It was a brand new tune.

So I had to include my mother's pickle recipe. Oh, very welcome. So there's one that came the other way around. Okay.

Sure, sure, sure. Okay. So I'll play a little bit of a fine pickle here. Okay.

And then that's a good excuse for me to talk about this guitar and some of the things. We'll kind of get into the gear between the songs. Now, and it feels like a silent movie soundtrack. You've got the style.

I mean, I was like waiting for the piano. Well, actually in the recording, I have a Dixie Land brass band playing with me. Oh, very good. So you've got a trombone and tuba in there.

Now, let me ask you, because you're... And this is a good example of that. Stylistically, did you have to do a lot of research to write that or did it just come to you? No, it just came to me.

I just kind of put myself there mentally, you know, kind of place myself there. And a lot of this is kind of technique that I learned from Jodakins, a little bit I learned from Leo Kaki, a little different from the thumb technique. But in writing the music, in some of the other countries doing like, you know, a Hungarian tune or Italian tune, did you find your... Did you have to do any kind of research to kind of get the style?

Yes. Sometimes I did for the Hungarian tune, relative bars, given us a recording of an old, really old-fashioned gypsy band, the Hungarian gypsy. And so really listened to them and kind of leaned well. Some of it's just really a super schmaltzy kind of thing.

And then some of it was the dance. So I used a combination of both. And what you heard for that little excerpt was the dance part of it. And that kind of part of it is the more schmaltzy part.

And so I kind of captured that. That's interesting. So the... Because it's not easy to emulate those styles to get that, to catch that flavor.

Oh, what do we... I mean, I've heard... I come from Italian families, I'm familiar with certain stuff. But I mean, this is pretty broad.

There's a lot of different... I mean, globally speaking, there's a lot of different styles here. That's pretty interesting. But that's what makes it fun.

I mean, that kind of a challenge. That kind of a big challenge like that is what makes it fun. It pushes you in different directions. Discover new things.

And then also too, the... How did you decide on how to orchestrate it in terms of the musicians you used and was a lot of it written out pretty specifically? Or did you pretty much let them go at it? I did it both ways.

For the spring parts, I wrote out the parts that I wanted for the strings. When I hired a string quartet. And for instance, the tune J.S. Bach, I wrote out the string parts and wrote it in the style of J.S.

Bach. And then in the part where it goes into that Greek little section, just happened to be the day I was recording the strings, happened to be the day of the annual Greek festival that inspired the piece to begin with. And so after recording the strings, I went out and danced, re-glined dances to the live band, and I asked the bazooki player, and I asked the band to record in this middle section that goes into 7-8 time. And so I let him wing it on the bazooki for the 7-8 time part, and then it goes back into the string quartet.

You want to go ahead and play that? I have a clip of that of J.S. Bach, where you go? Let me take a listen.

Now let me ask you something about that. I love that. That's a beautiful piece. There's a lot going on in there.

20 string nylon string hard guitars. So it's got nylon strings in the treble part and the bass, and for the super trebles, it has steel strings. Okay. So I used to...

That's why I threw me off because I heard the steel string, and then she's playing basically a classical... Yeah, but then the first part was actually the bazooki, too, that gave them a little bit of that sound. So it was primarily the nylon strings and the sub-bass. Yeah.

Well, let's talk a little bit, because you have the super trebles, which is a new add-on device that you created. And I think we need to take a look at this, and you might want to hold it a bit. Okay. So that little part clamps on.

It comes off, so you can put it on any guitar. You don't have to use it with a picture of that one. You're having it holding it up. You don't have to use it on a harp guitar.

You could use it. She could put it on her classical guitar and use it almost on any guitar you want. And it's very... Go ahead and explain it, because it's really cool.

Right. On the recording, I use that in a finish tune, because it sounds a lot like the finished gantalata. So I use it on a regular guitar, but I also use it on the harp guitar to add range. So you get a huge range from the high notes to the low.

And this particular set of strings, I'd ask several builders to make me attachable super trebles. And finally, Lucas Bruner did. And it's now available if you go to BrunerGuitars.com. It's BRU-N-N-E-R.

And it's just a little attachment comes with a pickup, so you can play live with it on stage. It's pretty live. I mean, we're not plugged in. He's playing acoustically.

That's just loud. What's that wood that's the board? The board is laminate, and he tried several types of wood. So there's actually several different types of fine wood here laminated together to give it strength.

And it's very stable. So it took several tries to get it to be just right. And now it's... I hardly even tuned it.

It stays in tune. It's brilliant. So I could do it too. This is the one that goes, I had mentioned before, the French one.

Okay, this is the French one. You have to imagine a Lula Reinhart's playing here together with me on this. This is written in 1951. On your Paris skies.

That's right. That's great. That sounds great. That little device is amazing.

Let's talk a little bit about this guitar. This is an unusual guitar because it's made out of graphite. Yes, and that's only because I flew here today, I mean, via San Jose, from Hawaii. And so this is the first Hawaii tour with a...

Or no, the second Hawaii tour with a harp guitar. And it was pretty hard in the wood to go spend a couple weeks in Hawaii. So I thought I would bring a completely impervious guitar. Yeah, there are people who use graphite guitars because if they're in extreme weather, they can handle it and they don't go out of tune.

They're pretty rock solid. Yes, and I was confident with the supertribbles that those will be fine and they were completely fine. Very stable. So that was the purpose for the graphite guitar this time.

This is made by Emerald and it's made in Ireland. That's right in Ireland. And my regular harp guitar is the wood harp guitar is made in Portland, Oregon by Mike Dulin. Well, okay, Dulin is the one...

Is that the classical? Yes, that's the classical one. A harp guitar, and that's in Seattle? Or Portland?

But there's quite a few builders now of harp guitar more than they're used to be. So I think more and more people are building these instruments. Yeah, I've seen more at the NAM show too, but I've not seen the classical one that you usually... Now this one's steelstring, but she usually plays a classical six string in it with the drone strings.

Which is interesting. And then, well, what you heard on that other clip that I played with the classical guitar, it sounds like three different people because the character of each instrument is totally different. So you have the big bass strings and then you have the classical guitar and then you have the... The steel.

Yeah. It's one of the few instruments that is steel and nylon on the same instrument. Right, right. So, but this guitar with the steel strings, it's an interesting sound.

I must admit it must be hard on your nails. I have to say on my nails frequently. Yeah, that's the problem. It's the strings in your nails.

It really goes. Let's talk a little bit about this other guitar that you were playing previously. You might as well get into that right now while I'm thinking of it because I will forget. Now this guitar is your main six string that you use.

It's the main six string I've been touring with. Yeah. And it's a camps guitar. The one that I generally record with is the tiara negra flamenco.

And it's designed by the duo that I've often toured with from Germany. This is a Blanca. Yes. And I never thought that I would gravitate to a flamenco guitar.

But after touring with tiara negra, I just really noticed that the immediateness of the sound is very nice for all types of music. And so if I'm playing like a Susan Martin, there's a lot of different sounds in the instruments. Or if I'm doing it, you won't get to. People that is not easy to bend like that in that guitar.

A lot of different types of techniques I get to kind of capture the feel and the sound of what kind of music I'm going to play. Yeah. No. I see a lot of guys using more of the flamenco guitars because they cut well live.

It really does help. But the way you play, a lot of it's the way you play, but also to the guitars well balanced. It has plenty of depth to it. It doesn't get too boomy.

Yeah. And it's a well balanced instrument. So this one is a cedar top if I'm correct or spruce. I'll say this one is spruce.

And then the back is what? Cypress. This is cypress. Yeah.

So it's a very typical, that's your standard flamenco. Cypress that's the wood that's plentiful and cheap and spained historically. Now your negra is the top is still spruce. Cedar.

Cedar on that. But if I'm playing bluegrass, I'll go play a martin dreadnut. And so that's a whole different sound that you want. Well, in fact, there's actually one tune in the new book in the new CD, acoustic chef, that I wanted something to go with the roasted roots medley, the most root vegetable medley.

And so I thought I would do a roots medley, a medley of roots tunes, and each fiddle tune having something to do with food starting with tater patch. And so for two weeks, all I did was flap pick on a flaptop. And just to try to get my flapping chops back. And then we recorded with my very favorite fiddle player, Michael Cleveland, just great fiddle player, Mike Bob on the bass and then on Clawhammer banjo, I have Jack Pearson.

And we had a great session. And on the way home, there was a traffic jam. It was a traffic jam. Everyone's turning left into the horse barn.

And it was the night of the full moon pick and party. And I just happened to have my martin guitar and a strap and I had been flapping for three weeks. And so I turned left into that barn and just played in jam sessions until the cows came home. Let's count.

Do you have that pulled up? This is called the tater patch. Take a listen. That's great.

You're a great flat picker. Oh, thank you. Totally would not have, from all the other music, I've heard most people with fingers that play with their fingers. They're not as much of a flat picker, but man, you just went down.

Well, it really helps to be playing with those guys with Mike and Cleveland and Mike Bob, Jack Pearson. They inspire you to play. That is really good. That's some good stuff.

I love it. That's a martin. Yeah. That was a martin.

I'm going to ask you, I want you to go back to this guitar real quick. So this is a spruce top. What was the back? Cedar.

Cedar. That's a cedar back. Sorry. Cypress.

Cypress. Cypress. Cypress. And then the negrette was a cedar top.

What was the back and size of the negrette? This would? Well, see, I have one that's rosewood and then I actually have one that's cedar. It's a tiara negra model.

Sorry. You have a cedar thing inside. So I want to. Okay.

So it could either be. All right. So that's interesting. Because those woods are, that's more, would be more like a classical.

The cedar top with the rosewood. Yeah. That's more conventional. But what I want to ask you is this little device that she has, that's, she places it underneath.

I've never seen this before. That's so cool. This is a neck up. And the only reason for this is for my back.

It just props the guitar up and makes it much easier on the back when you're playing. And you can just sit flat footed and. You don't have to have the little foot stool. Don't need a foot stool.

Don't need to cross your legs, you know, to prop the guitar up in the right position. So it's, you know, anything that you can use to prop the guitar up a little bit. Here's what I'm going to write like, do you don't, when you place your classical, do you do it like that? No, I found that with the neck up, it's actually just as comfortable to have it on the right leg as a left leg.

So it allows for just a little bit more motion, a little more movement to have it on the right leg. That is great. It does give you, it brings the guitar up where it's in the proper position. So you're playing relaxed.

Yeah, I use some of these notes up here. I know that I know there's no money up in these notes. Yes. Tommy Tedesco said all the money is below the fifth fret.

That's right. That's right. But no, that's true. Because I see how you're playing, especially your left hand, it's relaxed and your right height is perfect.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's really been helpful over the years. Right.

And you basically, now on some of the tunes, I'm trying to remember the first one we had played, the low E string was tuned down to what a C or a D. A D. Down there. Down there.

That is pretty rich. A D. The low D. Yeah.

And that's a plonka flamenco. It's very clear. Yeah, you could just by changing the angle of your fingernail finger tip, you can go from having that bright sound to a pretty rich sound inspired by my great-grandparents. So I wrote it kind of an old, finished waltz.

Beautiful. What's nice is that it's not to the bottom end doesn't overpower, it's well balanced. As you're going up and down, you're hitting the middle strings a lot in the melody, it's very consistent. I'm noticing that.

The guitar's really balanced. Well, thanks. You know, that's the same guitar that I used to have a few minutes ago in playing superstitions. So it's fun, the real variety of tones.

No, it's a real versatile guitar. But I think that using the flamenco guitar, it does. It has a clear low end. It's brighter.

And that's a problem with some of the classicals in that play, especially the rosewood ones. They get real bottom-heavy. They get bottom-y. Now, let me ask you this.

What strings are you using? I use my signature GHS strings. So I've been really happy with GHS. They intonate beautifully, so they're very pure sounding strings.

And I asked if they could make the string, the third string could be just a little bit thinner. So it would be less cubby sounding, more of the same sound as the first and second strings. And so they found a titanium alloy that's used. And so now these are signature strings, and they call them Muriel classics.

And would you consider them a light gauge or a medium gauge or a 4K? Yeah, they're the standard gauge that most people use, which is called hard tension. But the sixth string is a little bit harder yet because that's the one that I take down to D2 or if I'm playing flamenco. That's the string that I want to really lay into the sixth string.

So in either case, I'd want a little bit more tension on the sixth string. So that's why that is a little long. And that doesn't pose any problems on the guitars. You know, like electric guitars, I was just a friend of mine brought over to the guitar.

She had like Slinky bottom. The high end strings were really slinky and the low end were higher gauge, and it twists the neck a lot of times. You don't have any issues? No, no problems at all with using it on all different guitars.

It seems to be a real standard gauge. You're changing tunings all the time too. But still, the guitars are really the balance. Whatever you did, you did it right because it's a really balanced set.

I mean, it would seem sometimes, do you find you have to work to bring out? Like if you're playing a piece where you have middle voices and that's usually the telltale sign of a really good guitar or a cell guitar, the middle voices. If you're playing something polyphonic and you're trying to get those middle voices out, it sounds to me like it's pretty effortless. Oh yeah, I don't even think of that.

They come out very easily. And when I amplify, I play with EQ a little bit. So my concerts that I'm doing this week, I'll be going through both direct and mic. Oh really?

So you do both? I do both. Sometimes I get such a great sound out of the direct. I don't need the mic.

Other times I'll use a microphone just to bring a little bit of the reality, the realness out of the high end. So I get plenty of really good sound of the low mids and then use the mic just to go high. Now what's the pickup that? What's the system you're using on this?

The camps has their own system. That's all wrong. Yeah, that's all through. And then my other guitars I get the rich barbera pickups because there's a separate pickup for each string.

So it's like having six individual pickups. And that way it can be balanced so one string isn't louder or softer than another. Now live, what my D is, it's interesting question. Yes, I have found a CAD microphone.

It's designed for cymbals. That's what I use for the guitar mic. It's a small microphone. Yeah, it sounds a lot like the Neumann KM84.

I used to travel with an old Neumann KM84, disappeared some gigs in someplace. And then I found the CADs and such a similar sound. They're very easy to tour with. Is that just to give a little more top and air to it?

Or and then you use, you get more of the bottom end from the pick or does it sound pretty deep? They both sound pretty natural. Yeah, so that's the object. It's a small capsule.

These are pretty big capsules so it gets the low end of the guitar really well. But I'm surprised that a little capsule like that, a little like a pencil type of microphone that would get that. That's interesting. Now let me ask you, when you record, what do you use mic-wise?

I have a wonderful microphone from Germany. It's a stereo runner microphone. The dirt runner. That's what you use primarily for the guitar?

Yes, I use that. And now I found a little Sony microphone that I supplement that with. So I have been using the stereo mic plus a little Sony off the side. And then you use that for both the classical and the harp guitar?

Yes. And when you do put that mic, the dirt runner, how far do you pull it away? I have a reasonable distance. So maybe eight inches away or so.

So it's not too far away. So it's six to eight inches away. You put it by the 12th fret? Yes, the 12th fret.

And it's just a stereo mic right? It's a stereo mic. So that's, yeah, it captures most of what I need to capture. There's a similar kind of sound.

We used the Sony mics on the vocals. There's one that we haven't done yet that uses the Sony mics that is my favorite cut on the entire acoustic shaft, which is the two-fin horsemen. Okay, let's go ahead and play that. And then let's explain to me what you were using.

Well, and what do you want to do now? Well, maybe we should explain now because we should tell people don't turn your radios off that it's supposed to sound like this. Okay. All right.

Because they're singing, they're doing the two-fin throat singing, which it's getting two different sounds out of their voices at the same time. So it's getting this high whistle that's actually a harmonic that's coming out of their throats. And then they're getting this little kind of sound like a sheep there. And that's coming at the same time.

And so it's amazing. The different kind of things that they're doing with their voices during this. So I tried to write something in their style. And do you have the whole kind of clip?

No, I just have the clip. It shows it doesn't it? Yes, it does. All right, take a listen here.

So that is great. I haven't heard anything like that since Spenderevsky. But anyway, we're out of time. I knew this would fly by really fast.

What I really want to talk about really quickly is this next week of she's going to be playing all around town if you're in the LA area. Thursday January 16th, she's going to be playing at the House of Blues, Women of Fingersdaw Guitar. And she'll be there at 7 p.m. And it says 8.30 p.m.

or is there two sets? Let's see. There's three sets. I'm playing at the 8.30 set.

The 8.30 set. Okay. So she's playing on the 8.30 set at the House of Blues. Then Saturday, January 18th, she's returning to the Ruth B.

Shannon Center at Woodier College. And she'll be with Andy McKee. Andy McKee, I'm really looking forward to Saturday show. That should be fun.

Then the 19th. That's 8 p.m. I believe. Okay, you didn't have a time.

I think that's 7.30. Sorry, 7.30 p.m. Well, it says 7.30. That says 8 p.m.

So usually they're at 8. But I'm not sure. So I'll get there at 7.30 to be there. Yeah.

Go to my website, your website. Go to my website, click on the link that says acousticchef, yurielanderson.com, and click on acousticchef. And you can listen to all the cuts and check out all the recipes right there. Oh, very, very cool.

Yes. And if you have any leftovers, send them here to me. I'll try them out. Anyway, thank you so much.

It's great to have you again on the show. And both of you guys, this is a wonderful project that you guys didn't look forward to part two. And everybody else, I'm going to let her take us out. Have a great week.

We'll see you next week. Yuriel, take it away.