Wired for Sound

Desmond Maley is the music librarian at the J.W. Tate Library,
Huntington College, Laurentian University, and the editor of Newsletter
of the Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and
Documentation Centres.

The impetus for “interviews with musicians” literature began in 1979
with the publication of Great Pianists Speak to Adele Marcus. Now, with
Wired for Sound, we have its electric-guitar equivalent. Represented are
38 guitarists from the blues, rock, and country traditions, but no one
from jazz, although its importance is acknowledged. Each interview is
accompanied by a brief biography, and the conversation touches on
familiar themes, such as influential artists and styles, song writing,
recordings, career, and instruments.

Wired for Sound is complicated by the fact that it pays homage to the
Gibson guitar and is the companion to a video documentary that premiered
at a Gibson-sponsored event in Nashville in 1997. The narrative is
liberally peppered with references to a vast array of Gibson guitars for
which there are no color illustrations. The black-and-white pictures of
the performers holding their favorite instruments (taken as photographic
stills from the documentary) are not particularly good. An introductory
chapter on guitar construction would have been appreciated. All in all,
the appeal of this book is limited to guitar aficionados.