Talking with The Colonel & The Governor
Tommy Emmanuel and Martin Taylor have released a new video of them talking about their new album The Colonel & The Governor. Tommy breaks down the title and explains that he's "the Colonel" due to his status as a Kentucky colonel, and that he's always called Martin "the Governor" as it's a British term of endearment and also because Martin is simply "the best".
They talk about some of the songs on the album and there's footage of them playing as well. Martin talks about the process of taking existing tunes and transforming them into your own. "It's funny how you can just change a tempo, reharmonize slightly and it just goes into another direction", says Martin. They also talk about Martin's technique of using a piece of cardboard through the strings of his guitar as a way to mimic the sound of a steel drum on a Caribbean influenced song they do.
They describe the album as such:
"It's melodic music, it's fun, and I think that a lot of the younger generation will discover music from the past that they didn't know existed. And they're so much fun to play." - Tommy Emmanuel
"Even though there's a lot of improvisation on the album, it's very much a melodic jazz album. The improvisation comes from a melodic standpoint. We just have a lot of fun interpreting the melodies and playing around with them. And also, we're paying respects to our musical grandfathers." - Martin Taylor
Needless to say, it's a really great album that we highly recommend to anyone who likes music. Click on the link here to purchase your own copy on The Colonel & The Governor.