A songwriting blues-rocker in the purist sense, Dudley Taft is succeeding in an era when nothing comes easy for his ilk. His new album, The Speed of Life, required a departure from the norm; while his previous three were recorded at his own studio in Cincinnati, this one used down time during a European tour to track songs with bandmates in Prague. And while its personnel varied, the songs are exactly what fans expect.
Speaking from his home during a power outage caused by a storm the night before, Taft rolled with the punches. “I’m very comfortable expanding songwriting in this weird little zone that is blues rock,” he said with a chuckle. “I would say I’m 80 percent rock, 20 percent blues. And that should be enough for anyone.”
Given your time on the job and your heavy touring schedule, does creating new music present any specific challenges?
Well, it’s my job and I’m always working on my craft, always looking forward to the next album, trying to make it good. For this one, I had 35 or 40 little ideas that I refined to get 12 tracks.
How does songwriting work for you?
Typically, a riff or a chord progression on guitar leads to an emotion or something to say that works with it. Rarely do I have words first; it’s “Get the guitar and go,” smoke a little weed to open my mind and try not to think of anything else. That’s when songs start to happen.
How old were you and what was going on musically when you were learning to play?
I was 12, going on 13 when I got interested in music. In Houston, my friends listened to rock and roll – Foreigner, Styx, then we got into Zeppelin, Deep Purple Skynyrd, Allman Brothers, and ZZ Top started happening. We lived in Houston for a year and a half, then moved to Indianapolis, where I found a guitar teacher’s phone number on a handbill. I learned to play on an acoustic, but when I was 13, electric guitar had me at “Hello!” From that point, whenever one of my favorite bands had new album, it was like, “I’ve got to listen to this immediately.” It’s hard to describe to kids now when they have instant access to millions of songs.
Are there a couple of songs on The Speed of Life that stand out for you?
“Miles and Miles To Go” and “Pretty Little Thing” for the same reason – they’re not just verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge. I’m proud of my solo work on those two songs, in particular, because they fit the vibe of the song so well. They’re a mix of melodic and snappier phrases without being shred, because I’m not shred (laughs). I would rather be compared to Jeff Beck, Billy Gibbons, or Joe Walsh than Warren DeMartini or Joe Satriani (chuckles).
What are some of the guitars we hear on the album?
An uncle died in 2023, and my brother and I were his only nephews; we got part of his estate and my portion was $8,900. I thought “I could throw it into my account, or I could do something meaningful.” So I went to Carter Vintage and bought a ’69 Les Paul Custom that is now my “Uncle Tom guitar” and is the one you hear on the solos in “Miles and Miles To Go” and “Pretty Little Thing.” There’s something about the pickups – maybe they have fewer winds – but they have a crisp sound. It’s not great for rock-and-roll power chords, but you can hear something in the chirp when the pick hits the string, and it’s gorgeous.
I was blown away when I first heard it. The guitar is heavy as f**k, so I won’t play it live because I have six other Les Pauls and I’ve always been a Strat guy. But, 45 years down the road, you start doing different things.
One’s style changes…
Well, as a player, I’ve developed my own flavor of solo language, and I feel very comfortable in it.
The beginning of the solo in “Pretty Little Thing” has these fluid, legato lines reminiscent of David Gilmour.
I like the smooth, spidery licks (laughs). Pink Floyd was huge to me when I was young – Dark Side of the Moon and, to a lesser extent, Animals and “Shine on You Crazy Diamond.” The chirpy rhythm stuff on that song and “Wanted Man” was done on a ’74 Tele Thinline.
How did you decide on amps and effects to use on the record?
Well, I am in love with blackface Fenders, so my typical rig is a ’66 Deluxe Reverb and almost always an original silver Klon. Nothing sounds like a Klon; it does a unique thing – it’s not really soft clipping, it’s not really hard clipping. It’s just nice. After that, I use an Analog Man Prince of Tone or, for a harder clip, a Fulltone OCD. Almost everything was recorded with those pedals. I’m also a fan of the Zen Drive, especially for a Strat when I’m playing a solo because it adds some nice thickness.
I have a couple of EL84 amplifiers that are nice – a Dr. Z and an Oahu built by Oliver Archut in the ’90s. He built these little amps and Keith Richards bought 15 of them, Paul McCartney bought one, Billy Gibbons has one. It’s two EL84s and just Tone and Volume knobs. One of those with the Zen Drive and a Stratocaster, it’s game over.
I also have a 1990 Vox AC30 that doesn’t sound too good, but the speakers are amazing – old Greenbacks in an open-back cab. I put mics about a foot from the speakers. I also have a Victory Jack of all Trades head with a 2×10 Alnico speaker cab made by Todd Sharp, and that thing sounds great.
I have different amps for other textures. When I want to get heavy, I have a Friedman I used on the backing power chords in “Burn It Down,” and I used a Bassman for the beginning of that song, with the Strat. I also have a couple Deluxes, a Pro, a Super, a Princeton, and a couple Vibroverbs. I have not found any modern amp that reacts on the front end like an old blackface Fender. Maybe it’s the sag, I don’t know.
Did you use more than one Strat on the album?
I have a few. My ’99 Mary Kaye is one of the first Relics ever made. It has a one-piece swamp-ash body and a birdseye maple neck, and it really sings; it vibrates nicely. Another is a Custom Shop that I found in Nice, France. It’s Surf Green with a rosewood fretboard, which has a midrangey sound. Those are the two shades of Stratocaster.
Any mods on them?
I don’t do anything crazy. I have stacked Seymour Duncan humbuckers in the bridges.
I also have this ’59 reissue with different electronics and a finish made to look like a Joe Perry Les Paul, and there’s something weird with that one – it’s so chimey, not like other Les Pauls when you use both pickups and the Volumes all the way up. Maybe it’s just the setup, but I f***ing love it. That’s on a lot of rhythm stuff. It has tiny frets, so I put .009 to .046 strings on it. I normally play .010 to .052.
And then I have this Jeff Hanna Collector’s Choice Les Paul. That’s the rock Les Paul, with a lot of low-mids. It’s great for chords.
