I've written a lot of new songs on my Bedell. I feel like I'm writing some of the best songs I've written and this guitar is definitely the reason. Different guitars have different songs in them and this one pours them out like water. And by the way, it is probably the most beautiful thing I have other than my beautiful Susie. But this guitar again, has a quieter sound, which affords me the ability to present my songs the way they were intended. I'm not a loud singer and other guitars I've used would often force me to sing harder which is not my game. What I wound up with is a guitar that is perfectly matched for my voice. He came up with the idea of laminating a piece of cedar to the top face of the guitar. But then came one of BedellвЂ™s great luthiers to the rescue. What I didn't know was that walnut is a very dense wood and does not vibrate well so getting any kind of sound out of it was gonna be a challenge unless run through an amplifier. Tom had mentioned I could pick any wood I wanted to build it and walnut it would be. It was then that I told Tom that what he was showing me would be the front and back of my guitar. When I saw the pieces that Bedell pulled off the shelf for me to take a look at it was well, love at first sight really - 150 yr. Walnut is a pretty common wood throughout East Tennessee where I'm from and I've seen the patterns in its grain and think they are just knocked out. What is it about that wood that spoke to you? Like melodies are to lyrics, the turquoise is to the wood. It caught my eye so when I designed my guitar I wanted to implement that feel. It was wood with these gold veins running through it. While perusing through a jewelry store one day I noticed a table candle set I think. It has beautiful turquoise inlayed in the top. Tom Bedell invited you up to Bend and helped you design a custom guitar. So no, my approach really hasn't changed.

There are certain ingredients in any song that are constants - great melody, a great hook and a great story. But then there are those days when it just seems to pour out of me.

I've heard writers say that their songs are like children to them. By no means do I mean to say that everything I write is great. I don't want to be writing a song and then realize that the melody I'm writing is something I heard a week or a month ago but, I hear enough out of my fellow songwriters when we do live shows to get a pretty good taste of the current market. To stay in the game you have to adapt and keep abreast of your musical surroundings. But in the same breath I will certainly tell you that I work just as hard if not harder than I ever have in my life. I'm not saying it's gonna be straight traditional country music but I will say the day is coming when the listener is going to want a more story laden lyric.Д¬ountry music has changed a lot too вЂ“ how has it changed your approach to songwriting? I do however think that in the coming months you're gonna see songs getting back to their roots a little more.

It's a new generation of listener and these artists are playing to their generation. I understand why you hear what you do on the radio today. I think the country music listener is a lot younger for one, yet we've still retained the purists as well. When you go back and listen to an old Jimmy Rogers song and listen to what Florida Georgia line is doing today it's pretty obvious it's a whole new ballgame now. I think a better word for what it has done is evolved.

Dillon guitar store co