The Story Behind My Five Favorite FJ Videos

Though it’s now the norm for every magazine and newspaper to have video content, that wasn’t always the case. Ten years ago, one needed a Flip phone (remember those?) or an actual camcorder to capture video on the fly and post it onto the internet. But then Canon decided to pack a bunch of video capturing functionality into their 7D and 5D DSLR cameras (the same cameras most magazines were using for stills) and the rest is, well, history.

I remember the exact moment when the Fretboard Journal decided to double down on video: It was 2009 and my wife was five months pregnant with our first (and only) child. My world was about to change in a big, immeasurable way. I figured, accurately, that I probably would never have the luxury of free time again. And thus, I enrolled myself in a ten-day documentary filmmaking bootcamp… all the way out in Rockport, Maine. It wasn’t my goal to travel across the country to live out of a dorm room, but the timing just worked out: It was literally the only class of its kind that would take place before my kid came along.

So I found myself on the East coast filming lobster boats and locals, and learning how to edit videos at the Maine Media Workshop. And, though the short films that I hurriedly completed during that week-and-a-half showed little promise, this soon-to-be-father had a new skillset he could hone back at home. I was going to start filming our subjects.

Believe it or not, the first real video I ever shot for the magazine remains one of our most popular: Jackson Browne performing “Something Fine” on his Gibson Roy Smeck guitar. I’m not sure Jackson even knew what he was in for when he let me film him – it was supposed to be a tour of his studio and guitars for the FJ#22 – but he graciously agreed to let me get up-close and film him. We still get comments today wondering how I mic’d him. Not many know that I recorded him with a simple, first-generation Zoom H4 and nothing else. (I had yet to invest in any mics.) 

Since then, we’ve covered a lot of ground. The most popular Fretboard Journal video we’ve ever posted on YouTube is John Pizzarelli performing the jazz standard, “I’ve Got Rhythm.” A close second is Bill Frisell’s legendary “Surfer Girl” video, which we recorded for our 12 Days of Fretboard holiday promotion way back in 2012. We’ve also captured young artists like Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings, out-there acts like Xylouris White, elder statesman like Bucky Pizzarelli and Bob Bain (RIP) and everything in-between. We now film about one artist per week.

One additional fun fact that you may not know: Though I try not to read YouTube comments to preserve my sanity, the most controversial Fretboard Journal video we’ve ever posted, by far, has to be banjoist Bill Evans walking us through “the history of the banjo in 14 minutes.” When we recorded that fun and seemingly innocuous video, I had no idea just how many four-string banjo fanatics would be pissed off. We still get hate mail to this day. Live and learn, next time we’ll cram “five-string banjo” into our video title.  

With that out of the way, here are the five FJ videos that mean the most to me, right now. Subject to change, of course.

This one was as surreal as it gets: The Jackson Browne invited me to Groove Masters, his Santa Monica studio. We had a great time talking about guitars and gear – Jackson is seriously as passionate about tone and gear as anyone I’ve ever met – and then I nonchalantly asked him if I could film him playing his Smeck. He obliged and the rest is history. 

At this point, thousands of people around the world know the FJ not as a magazine but as some wall of CDs that Bill Frisell is often filmed in front of for YouTube. Over the years, we’ve filmed Bill a lot – he lived in our neighborhood and became a great friend to the magazine. Being in a room with Bill playing solo, mere feet away, has been a transcendent – and sometimes tear-jerking – experience. But his improvised duo with Tim Young – an incredible guitarist now based in LA – is the one I listen to the most. Tim was in town playing with Zony Mash and decided to visit us. I mentioned this to Bill and he showed up to say hi. The two had never played this work before but Tim and, with about 30 seconds of preparation, they launched into it, one of my all-time favorite FJ moments.

 

Every year at Wintergrass – the big bluegrass gathering that takes place in Bellevue, Washington – we curate something we’ve dubbed the Vintage Guitar Workshop. Inspired by David Grisman’s Tone Poems project, we get a couple of musicians onstage with a few dozen vintage guitars and see what happens. It’s always nerve-wracking – most of these priceless guitars are lent to us by kind souls / friends in the audience – and always full of surprises. When Julian Lage grabbed a very special 16” Gibson L-5 during our workshop, Critter decided to sing a breathtaking version of “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Who knew this amazing guitar phenom also had such a great voice? Still can’t wait for a forthcoming Chris Eldridge solo album.

I try to avoid trends at all cost but for a brief period in 2014, I was gung ho on live streaming our video sessions for fans around the world. We bought a ton of live streaming equipment at no small cost (this was long before it was made easy by YouTube and other services/devices) and we set out to launch what we dubbed the Fretboard Journal Live. Truth be told, it was a huge pain to pull off each episode – audio glitches, connectivity issues, stressed out camera crews, the realization that we could make our videos so much better with just one more take – and we eventually shelved the idea for more controlled video shoots. Even though it was riddled with technical errors, I’m still grateful that we were able to share the story of tenor guitar phenom John Lawlor with a wider audience. He is, truly one-of-a-kind.

 

Jason and Pharis Romero build some of the most beautiful banjos we’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, they also happen to live in one of the most remote locations you could ask for in North America: Horsefly, British Columbia. So when vagabond photographer Matt Miles asked if he could visit the Romeros for us, we jumped on the opportunity (anytime someone is willing to drive eight hours so I don’t have to, I oblige). Matt has a great eye and the story of the Romeros is still be the best documentary we’ve ever shot. Sadly, the workshop featured in this video burned down in 2016, destroying not only their banjo inventory but also Alice Gerrard’s 1943 Gibson J-45.

Honorable mention: Nels Cline & Julian Lage performing a Fretboard Journal Live session back in 2015. Their last composition - "The Bond" (starts around 43:00) - left me as close to speechless as this talkative guy ever gets. Gorgeous.