BH: And then went on tour for most of 2007, so I’m just kinda catching my breath a bit now. (Both laugh.)
Smitty: Yeah, that’s an understatement. Wow. And the records that you’ve worked on with her, these are not throwdown records. I mean, these are platinum recordings.
BH: Yeah, yeah.
Smitty: This is fantastic stuff, so you’ve just done so many great things and you have not just burst on the scene. When we go back to Straight to You and One 2 One and Shakin’ Not Stirred, I mean, these are legendary recordings, unique music that everyone loves and, man, I can’t say enough about the fantastic career that you’ve had. It’s just amazing.
BH: Well, that’s great. Yeah, I mean, I’ve been very fortunate, very blessed to just kinda do what I love to do and have it achieve some success.
Smitty: For fans that have not had the opportunity to see you in a live performance, I will say right now, you have totally missed something, and if you get the opportunity, don’t pass it up because, Brian, your live performances are more than just a guitarist kickin’ some strings. It is really something to behold and something to remember as just a wonder of a concert. It really is.
BH: Oh, well, that’s great. Yeah, well, certainly I hope that the folks out there can see me perform live sometime and, of course, if you can’t, I mean, the live album is the next best thing. (Both laugh.)
Smitty: Absolutely. What a way to capture that, you know?
BH: Yeah.
Smitty: Yeah, and accommodate the fans.
BH: Yeah.
Smitty: I love the experience of when you won the competition for Jazziz Magazine’s Guitars on Fire. Going into that, what did you think about that whole competition that says “Hey, you know, I wanna do that”?
BH: It was just one of those of those funny things where I think I was just flipping through a copy of Jazziz in the studio while we were just mixing Straight to You and noticed like the deadline was like that day or something.
Smitty: (Laughs.)
BH: And I thought, oh well, let’s just take this tune and send it to them and see what happens. It was kinda more of a—sort of almost a lark in a way, but there wasn’t a lot of chance for premeditation because I just found out about it and it was like the deadline was that day, so I just popped the track in the mail and there you go. (Both laugh.)
Smitty: See? You know, you’re recognized on a whim.
BH: Yeah.
Smitty: Wow, that’s incredible, man. Well, going back to the live recording, I gotta tell ya, “Thinkin of You” is just an amazing track, and that’s one of my favorites and, of course, everyone’s gonna love “While the World Slowly Turns.” That’s a great track. But I just latched onto “Thinkin’ of You” and that little thing Brazilian thing in there. (Both laugh.)
BH: Oh, that’s Ron Powell, the percussionist, doing his thing on the cuica, a Brazilian instrument.
Smitty: That was just amazing. Beautiful friction!
BH: Yeah.
Smitty: That was some sweet talk, you know?
BH: Yeah, yeah.
Smitty: Man, what a nice piece of music.
BH: Oh, thank you.
Smitty: It’s just amazing, and I really like “For You.” That’s a great track as well.
BH: Yeah, that one turned out very good. Funny, near the end of that one I broke a string (both laugh) on the guitar and then we went to end it, but the drummer kept going, so it has a very interesting kind of end to it, you know? I thought about trying to edit it out, but I couldn’t really, so I just left it in.
Smitty: Yeah, it was really cool. Those kinds of things really create just a great uniqueness of a track, you know?
BH: Yeah.
Smitty: And I love the artwork of this live album. It’s just really cool.
