A Conversation with Anne McCue (continued)

PM: Along with the tunes, though, the tones, more and more, stand out on your records, I think.

AM: Thank you.

PM: So we should talk about gear, because you're definitely a tone-meister of rare dimension, as regards guitars and amps and stuff. What guitars are in play? Is it always the black Les Paul?

AM: Not always, but that's the guitar I go to for that thick creamy tone--

PM: Sure.

AM: --that I get on some of the songs. And then Doug Pettibone lent us a few of his guitars. He's got this--it's like a Telecaster with a Bixby.

PM: Ah...

AM: Yeah. But it's a cheap guitar--he picked it up, and fixed it up. So it doesn't really have a brand. And we call it the "redbird" because it's red.

PM: But it's just a bastard.

AM: Yeah, it's a mongrel, or whatever.

PM: A mongrel, that's what I mean.

[laughter]

AM: Yeah, it's a great, wonderful guitar. And he's let us use it on the last two records. It just gets a really beautiful sound. And having the Bixby, we also use that one. And he lent us some of his acoustics, the Martin and the Gibson, old guitars.

PM: Yeah, the acoustics sounded fantastic, like they were really old great boxes.

AM: We used my Mayton [a great Australian acoustic] as well. So we got three different acoustics, and that's good when you're doubling acoustics, to have two different guitars.

PM: Right, absolutely. That was a great guitar sound on the title track. What's the signal chain there? What are you using?

AM: I've got three different guitars on that. For the A sections, I played the redbird; for the B sections, the Les Paul; and for the C section, the lap steel.

PM: Ahh.

AM: Yeah.

PM: And are you using a lot of pedals these days?

AM: Yeah, I guess I've got about eight pedals.

PM: You were always a big pedal board kind of gal.

AM: Yeah, it's kind of a hassle traveling, but nevertheless, it's worth it when you can get some different textures going on.

PM: When you're cutting guitars in the studio, what amps are in play?

AM: I've got my amp, which is a Jamison, which is made my Phil Jamison at Matchless.

PM: Ahh.

AM: Yeah. And then we also had a Fender Bassman, a Zinky, a Super Six, a Cornford.

PM: Damn, I don't know some of those amplifiers, Anne.

AM: Yeah, I think some of them are little places out in mid-Texas, somewhere like that. Dusty's friends make them.

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