His big band is back again, ready for another sold-out night of big-band jingle jangle as only guitar rocker Brian Setzer can deliver.
Hes done so from the late-70s rebirth of rockabilly with him at the wheel The Stray Cats to the 10th anniversary of his Brian Setzer Orchestras Christmas Rocks tour.
I never imagined I could get this big band off the ground, Setzer said during a recent telephone interview.
But here he is, a decade later, working up classics like his Gretsch-ed version of the classic Nutcracker Suite; a hilarious take on Youre a Mean One, Mr. Grinch; an electrified, horn-laden Dig That Crazy Santa Claus and more. Each year, he adds new music to the mix or new riffs.
The Grammy-winning, 54-year-old axe icons music is steeped in punk, swing revival, jump blues, jazz, rockabilly and good old-fashioned rock and roll. Hes a musicians musician, and one most want to see again and again.
Asking him how many songs he has written or rewritten or how many albums he has made or played on is like asking me how many tattoos I have, he said, then laughed.
I dont know. A lot is the answer. To know what he plays or doesnt its really something only a concert can make clear.
Its called live music thats what I do, he added. If you want to know what I play, you gotta come out and see it.
A whole lot of people have done just that. This tour sells out annually and has built a following from related popular live DVD and albums that he has recorded over the years. Hes bringing it to Oklahoma for one show Friday at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Catoosa.
I do see a lot of the same folks every year, Setzer said. People really do like this band.
He plays solo, as a trio or as an 18-plus-piece band during this tour. Sometimes, hell do all three in one song, especially some of the Stray Cats classics like Stray Cat Strut and Rock This Town, which build into full-band, dancing-girl vocal backup productions with full horn sections. Often, hell play the same songs a different way every night. Thats his jazz influence, which he mixed with Vegas-style big band, classic early-era rock and a vibrance that gets people dancing in the aisles.
Its aces, he said, his Gretsch guitar pluck-plucking in the background as he talked. There were intermittent riffs on The Flintstones theme song, and then he broke into The Fishin Hole (also known as the Andy Griffith Show theme)
as rogue jazz chords interjected themselves.
Recognize that one? he
asked. People love to hear bits and pieces like that.
Im always adding new things to the show. There will be 4-5 new things this year, too.
But dont expect a line of guitar effects pedals or out-of-this-world gadgetry when he plays. The man plays.
I use some back delay like they did in the 50s, but pedals and gear and gizmos and bells and whistles are fun but grow old really fast.
If he wants a new sound, he downtunes. Distortion? Turn up the amp.
Its really black-and-white for me, he said. For rock, amp up. For rockabilly, amp down.
That keep-it-simple approach only highlights his mastery and his singing and guitar styles as well as his gorgeous, custom Gretsch guitars. The leopard-print one and the green Grinch one lordy, they are stars in their own right.
But we still have to have the cord with the hollow body to get the sound we want.