Audley Freed! (part 1)
A buddy of mine passed me a disc the other day to check out, by this band called Cry of Love. A ’90s release. Took exactly one listen to reach this conclusion: frickin’ great.
Great tunes, great singing (Kelly Holland sounds a little like Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, but better), simply and “rawly” produced — and gobs of WoodyTone, and super-tasteful and just-plain-good guit-playing.
Who’s the guitarist? Audley Freed, who as a different buddy reminded me played a stint (post-Cry of Love) with those same Crowes…and then the light started to come on. I remember watching the Crowes on TV somewhere (before YouTube), and being blown away by the taste and sound of “the other guitar player.” That was Audley. Man, I am bummed I didn’t look into him sooner.
Audley has since played with the Dixie Chicks, Peter Frampton and others. I gotta buy it all! Killer, killer player, with great taste and a great sound.
Brother Tone
Back to that disc, called “Brother.” Not a bad song on it, and you might even recognize this one (Peace Pipe) from some radio play.
The whole disc is like that. Raw, good and sweet guitar tone just drips out of the speakers. Thanks to the great detail provided on this Cry of Love fan site, it appears Audley used a self-built Warmoth Strat through a ’73 100-watt Marshall JMP Super Lead with 6550s to get that tone.
Dang! Sounds so great that for the first time in a long time, I had the feeling where I wanted to run out and buy the exact same gear he was using. I know you know what I mean! (Anyone got a deal on a JMP with 6550s?)
More on Audley to come, but in the meantime check out the 6-parter (!) of him talking tone, gear and technique (no s**t!) on YouTube, courtesy of the fine folks at Gibson. Here are a couple highlights:
Part 5. Worth a full listen, but check out around 4:16.
Part 6 — check out the lick at 2:30.
Category: Audley Freed, Marshall
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