June 2005
Interview by Shannon West

Talking to Brian Hughes was an earthshaking experience for me because I have been an adoring fan since the 1990 release of his first CD, Between Dusk and Dreaming. The day of our conversation was earthshaking for him and his wife, Pamela, in a more literal sense. They moved from Canada to the Los Angeles area about five years ago and they experienced their first earthquake that day. They moved from Canada to the Los Angeles area about five years ago they experienced their first earthquake. They were shaken for a few seconds, but had no damage. In the last 15 years Brian has released six CDs, each one a "must have" in its own way. All gems, no throwaway cuts or defaults to formula, and each so timeless that it sounds like it was recorded yesterday. During the aftermath of 9/11, Hughes' music was the place I sought solace, not just for the sense of peace, but also for the sense of joy and hope. His music is open and spacious when it comes to mood. You can bring to it what you want and take from it what you need. Along The Way, his latest, is an excellent introduction. He has also been a presence in the brilliantly gifted Celtic/World Music vocalist/songwriter Loreena McKennitt's body of work for almost two decades as guitarist and producer. He is currently writing material for his next CD and beginning work on a new one from McKennitt.

Smooth Views (SV): What is it like to be working on two projects that are so different from each other?
Brian Hughes (BH): I find it refreshing. Obviously I love Loreena's stuff. I think it comes from my experience growing up and starting off more in rock. I listened to a lot of Celtic music when I was in my teens but I never really got into playing it. I got into the improvisational aspect of jazz.  Then when I first hooked up with Loreena she was doing a lot of traditional pieces that I hadn't played but I was familiar with. I was able to bring a different kind of attitude that came from jazz although I wouldn't say what I play in that context is jazz. I think it's just the mindset of playing something that is outside the idiom.

SV: There's definitely some cross-pollination. Both your work and hers have a pretty wide range of world music influences. "Andalusian Nights" on Straight To You featured the violinist from Loreena's band and carried some of the themes that were on Loreena's The Mask And The Mirror CD.
BH: There was another one on the Under One Sky album called "Nasca Lines." We used to play that live with Loreena and Hugh Marsh, the violinist, got to really take off on that one. So there is cross-fertilization. Even though an album of mine is different from hers what I do on each one is two parts of me. I take on a different role working with Loreena being the voice and the front person. I get to stand back and be the accompanist. With my band I'm the one playing all the melodies, writing the music and being the featured soloist.

SV: You worked in a record store when you were growing up? And that got you into exploring a lot of different types of music?
BH: When I was in High School. It was great. I was always a big music fan. When I was in school, I used to go to the mall and spend hours going through albums. I managed to land a summer job that turned into a part-time job. It was great because people in each department would tell me stuff to check out. That kind of gave me a fast track to listening to a lot of different things. I had recommendations from people that where already in the know and were older than me.

SV: Were you already playing guitar?
BH: I was dabbling in it. The family music lessons thing. I got an acoustic guitar and learned a few chords and some Bob Dylan songs and that kind of stuff. One teacher was teaching me jazz but I didn't really know what jazz was, so I had this book with all kinds of jazz chords. I would be playing these things by looking at the chord diagrams and putting my fingers down, and it would make what I thought was a weird sound. I didn't know what it was supposed to sound like so I didn't really get anywhere with that part of it. I just stuck to my three chords. Then at one point I got into picking out a little blues-based lead solo off a record, and the light bulb just turned on. I transposed it all over the guitar, and I was able to play up and down. I could listen to Eric Clapton on a Cream album and figure out the guitar solo. I started going crazy transcribing songs and picking up licks off these various albums. There was a radio station in Edmonton, Canada, where I grew up that was playing a lot of jazz. I heard Grant Green and Wes Montgomery back to back and I was like... wow! I went out and got both the albums. I think the Grant Green one was called Idle Moments, which is still one of my favorites. I tried to figure it out but as it started going through all the changes that jazz often does I didn't quite get it so I found a teacher and started learning more about jazz. Then it made sense because I was listening to jazz so I had something to go after. I was probably about 18. Then I sort of went crazy with it like practicing 18 hours a day and sleeping with the guitar for about five years (laughs).

SV: How did you go from being heavily influenced by straight-ahead jazz to the more contemporary sound?
BH: I was in a summer music program and really got into playing jazz. I read in a guitar players magazine that Joe Pass had said the best way to get into playing jazz was to just go out and do it. There were all these ensembles at the school and everyone wanted to play fusion stuff. I was thinking I could do that in a rock sort of way so I asked my ensemble teacher if I could put together a trio and get credit for the course. I got a drummer and a bass player and we started practicing between classes and I went out and got us a gig at a local lounge. Knowing just enough songs....

SV: ...to get through the time it would take for people to drink enough to not know you were repeating them...
BH: It was a pretty ballsy move on my part I suppose. I chose a trio because I didn't want to have a piano or any accompaniment. I wanted to force myself to do all the chords and melodies. I found this club and we went down and played for the manager. He hired us and we ended up playing there for about two years. That's how I learned to play jazz. While I was doing that I started to get into writing more. That's where some of the earlier songs like "The Lakes" from Dusk and Dreaming came from. I opened myself up to the other influences and started incorporating world music, pop and everything I liked at the time into my style instead of sticking with just playing standards. I thought my area of expression was in the writing and my style of playing and expressing my emotions that way.

SV: There were some songs on the first two albums, "May Dance" and "Deux Cafe" come to mind, that sounded very similar to a certain strain of Pat Metheny Group songs. Was there a PMG influence or was there just a point where your styles converged?
BH: Those early albums were an influence for sure. There are other guitarists I studied more but I liked the music and the vibe. He was certainly an influence but guys like Jim Hall and George Benson were influences too. I guess what came through on Between Dusk and Dreaming was more the sound and style that came from using similar kinds of instruments, acoustic piano and percussion. It all evolves and obviously Pat's albums continue to evolve in whatever direction he chooses and my stuff goes along in my direction. I feel pretty comfortable and happy that I have a sound and people enjoy it and it's me.

SV: Outside of that, when Between Dusk and Dreaming came out there was nothing else out there that sounded like it. There was a lot of George Benson and Earl Klugh influenced music and the Nouveau Flamenco thing was kicking in, but nothing sounded like this CD. Do you think growing up and developing musically in Canada was a factor?
BH: Growing up where I did, which was a prairie city, cold in the winter and big open sky in the summer, I think that influence comes through, and being distant from the American jazz scene sort of shaped me because it wasn't something I could go out and hear all the time. When I was playing and writing I wasn't really thinking about getting played on the radio. After I got signed and the album came out I went off to do some gigs in Scotland and I got a call that it had gone "top five" in the States. I was going "'top five on what?" I didn't even know any radio station would play us. It caught me totally off guard. Maybe that's why the music was different. I hadn't heard the format so I wasn't listening to try to create a sound that would fit it.

SV: Under One Sky followed pretty quickly and continued a lot of the themes of the first one. By then you knew about the music scene in the US and the radio stations, so how did you maintain that originality?
BH: All I have ever done is write what I am hearing and feeling, just trying to express myself. A lot of the writing at that time came out of playing live and thinking the band is going to get bored with these songs, so I better write some more. I would continually write so there would be new material. So it was born out of that as opposed to thinking that the last one went top five and I had to repeat that.

SV: There was a gap between Under One Sky and Straight to You. What happened?
BH: I decided it would be better to start my own label and record the music then license it to another label. Straight to You came out about eight months earlier in Canada than in the States. Once it was out in Canada I started shopping it in the States and that's when Higher Octave picked it up.

SV: During that gap "Casa Magica" from that CD won the Jazziz magazine "Guitars on Fire" competition. How did you end up entering that?
BH: I think Pamela walked in with a copy of the magazine that had the entry form, and we were just finishing mixing that song. The deadline was literally the next day. It was just one of those strange circumstances. We saw the thing and burned a copy, sent it off, and there ya go! It certainly helped having that little bit of notoriety when we were shopping the record in the States.

SV: Some of the songs, especially the intros, sounded a bit like what was becoming a stylized smooth jazz sound. Was that intentional or just the way things fell together?
BH: I was just doing what appealed to me. I was really unsure about "Soul Fruit." When I wrote it, it had more of a funky shuffle kinda groove, and I felt like as a follow up to Under One Sky it wasn't fitting in. Then the label liked it and wanted it to open the CD.

SV: It was a big hit for you. Was there any pressure to replicate that?
BH: I don't know. Maybe going into One2One there was the thought that a song might work the same way. I've consciously tried to stay true to myself and write what feels right. Ultimately, I have to go out and play these songs all the time, so if it was a direction I don't feel comfortable with it's not something I'd want to get onstage and play every night. Especially live where we turn them inside out, and every night is different.

SV: On One2One you decided to not use the electric and acoustic guitars and just go with the Gibson and the hollow body sound because you said at the time you felt like the electric guitar sound was disrupting the continuity of your CDs.
BH: I didn't do my wild rock guitar stuff on Straight to You either, but I did use the nylon string. I thought on One2One I would just focus on one sound because I thought all the variety was confusing people. "Here Comes Trouble" (a fusion guitar song with a rap interlude) on Under One Sky kinda freaked people out if they hadn't seen it in our live show, and the record company felt like it broke up the flow. I could kind of see their point, and after that album I haven't really done that again (laughs). I was focusing on one guitar on Shakin' Not Stirred too but the nylon string is back on Along the Way on songs like "Omaha Unbound" and "Endless Road."

SV: Why did you decide to relocate to California?
BH: It felt like I needed a change of scene, and my record company was based here too. There seemed to be more gigs and more opportunities. And it coincided with Pamela and I taking a vacation. Back in 2000 we went to the Caribbean in January. Knowing what it's like in Toronto in January then going somewhere where it is 85 degrees every day we felt like maybe we should think about California. A month later we were down here checking things out, and we moved down for good in July that year. That was the trigger, but it had been on my mind for a while. There is a great pool of musicians that I've managed to hook up with here too.

SV: And you called Along The Way a travelogue reflecting on this move?
BH: It was reflecting on the move emotionally and physically and the sense of uprooting from somewhere you've been for a long time and shifting coasts and countries. It's a bit of a musical postcard of places and people and things I have experienced in the past touring with my band and touring with Loreena.

SV: In terms of the postcard theme it seemed to bring back some of the elements of your early work and focus on a wider range of influences than the two previous ones did.
BH: Yeah, its kinda like old friends and reacquainting with things.

SV: You've always produced your own CDs, and you haven't done any covers or vocals, and the vocalist you do work with is Loreena, who is one of the most distinctive and beautiful voices out there.
BH: Obviously that association has been a great fortune of mine. She's such a wonderful vocalist it makes it difficult to want to go to a different kind of vocal. To go to something vocal just for the sake of having a vocal doesn't make sense to me. I'm not a singer except for a pretty good Neil Young impression, but I don't think I want to go there! To me it would be gratuitous to do a vocal track just to get airplay. With cover tunes I would have to feel like I just had to play that tune and that it would be fun to play. So far it just hasn't resonated with me to do that.

SV: Do you think that has hurt you as far as record companies or A&R people are concerned?
BH: Probably. I guess that's why I've produced my albums. I felt that if I produced it, at the end of the day if I was happy with it I could say that's good and we're done. That's why I've done that instead of giving the power over to a label or a producer. I'm sure I could work with somebody co-producing or producing in some capacity but it might be more to point out things I might be overlooking as opposed to making hard-line sorts of decisions.

SV: You have done some work with the guys in 3rd Force though? Your first project with them was Force Field and it was a really different sound for you. That CD was really ambient and groove oriented. Were you in the studio for that? How did it feel doing something so different?
BH: That came from meeting William (Aura) and Craig (Dobbins) when we were on the same label, and they asked me to come in and play. A lot of times there's just kind of a groove, and I pick up the guitar and play with it. I might throw out some ideas, and they do a fair amount of editing on it. I think I played on about seven songs on the new one (Vital Force). They're fun to work with, and that's one of my things. If it's fun, I'll do it. I just try to avoid situations that don't suit the way I play. I've done a few gigs with them now that they are out playing live, and it's been a lot of fun. Eric Darius was on the album, and actually, I am going to be doing a gig with him tonight.

SV: He's incredible. That will be a fun gig for you and the audience! One of the things about your solo work that takes you by surprise when you're listening over time is there is so much complexity and serious soloing going on but it weaves over the melodies so seamlessly it makes complexity sound accessible.
BH: To me the melody is what keeps the song hanging together. I've never enjoyed music that was more technical than melodic. I mostly write almost like a singer/songwriter. I feel like I have to be able to sing the melody, and it has to have a dynamic to it, hooks and things that repeat and come back so you get that in your head. Then when I go off a tangent and build and shape a solo the listener can still hear the melody, and it doesn't become so abstract. They can hear that thread throughout the solo because it's tied to the melody.

SV: Do you actually sit down and write or do melodies come to you at odd times or all of the time?
BH: Both. Sometimes if I sit down and start writing and playing an idea will come out right away, or I will noodle around and get some idea that catches on. Other times I might be just sitting around and hear something in my head. Or I might be getting ready to go to bed, or I'll already be in bed and have to find some convenient way to put it down, because no matter how memorable it feels when you are half asleep and it comes to you, it won't be there in the morning if you don't get it down.

SV: Can you give us a little idea of where you feel like the next CD is going to go?
BH: Well, I'm really into Telecasters right now. I think the next one may be a little bit different from what everyone has come to expect. So we'll see.....

Visit Brian Hughes' website: www.brianhughes.com
For more information on Loreena McKennit go to her website www.loreenamckennitt.com

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