DAVID BROMBERG INTERVIEW
(Originally aired on July 21, 2011)
Few guitarists have credits that run as deep and wide as David Bromberg. He began his career in the 1960s playing guitar and Dobro for the likes of the Eagles, Jerry Jeff Walker, Jerry Garcia, Ringo Starr, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Link Wray and Jorma Kaukonen. When Bromberg launched his solo career with a self-titled album in 1971, George Harrison cowrote a song with Bromberg for this debut and even added his signature slide guitar to some tracks. Bromberg released several more acclaimed albums during the '70s and then abruptly quit the music business. After 17 years of silence, he emerged in 2007 with the Grammy-nominated Try Me One More Time, a comeback album that delighted fans and Bromberg's musical colleagues.
For his 2011 album, Use Me, Bromberg called in his chips and asked a handful of high-profile musicians, singers and songwriters to join him in different studios around the country. The premise was simple: Each guest would contribute a song, play or sing on it, and produce it, with Bromberg adding lead vocals and playing guitar or Dobro. This bold move yielded an adventurous mix of music featuring Vince Gill, Widespread Panic, Dr. John, Linda Ronstadt, Keb’ Mo’, Levon Helm, Los Lobos, Tim O’Brien and John Hiatt. The common thread uniting this stylistically diverse project is Bromberg's playing and singing. In our exclusive interview, Bromberg describes recording Use Me, and what it was like to work with such a stellar cast.