Carl Verheyen Discusses Rick Vito

[michelej1]

This is from a Verheyen interview

http://modernguitarist.guitarinterna...09/11/04/carl/

Matt: You’ve got some of the top guitarists in the world on your latest record, including Rick Vito, Joe Bonamassa, Steve Morse, Robben Ford, Albert Lee and Scott Henderson. How did you decide on who you would ask to be on the record, was it a tough choice to narrow down your picks to just six players?

Carl: It was more like I picked my friends and guys that I know, guys that are amazing players as well as friends of mine. The only guy I didn’t really know beforehand was Rick Vito. I was doing a clinic at a place here in L.A. called California Vintage Guitars, which is a wonderful guitar shop where they empty out the middle of the shop to host clinics.

I’ve seen great players there like Pat Martino, Ted Greene, just some amazing players do these clinics. I’ve been lucky enough to do several clinics there over the years and during one of those afternoons I looked out into the crowd and there was Rick Vito. I think he even raised his hand at one point and asked a couple of questions.

I didn’t really know him before that, but I was thinking it would be great to have a slide solo on a tune I had written for the record called “Higher Ground,” so I asked him if he’d be into doing a track for the Trading 8s record and he said sure. I had been a fan of his going back to his days with Bob Seger, and of course his stuff with Fleetwood Mac is amazing. The other guys were really musical friends, and I felt I shared a bond with them that would really contribute nicely to the album as a whole.