Above: Rusty Anderson on the left with “The Paul McCartney Band”.
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Full Name: Willie Gary Johnson
Description: Guitarist, USA
Known For: He is best known as lead guitarist with Paul McCartney
Instruments: Guitar
Music Styles: Jazz
Location: United States of America
Date Born: 20th January 1959
Location Born: New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America
CONTACT DETAILS
Web Site: Official site
Other Links: For other links see below:
YOUTUBE VIDEO
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
Rusty Anderson
Rusty is an Rusty Anderson (born January 20, 1959) is an American guitarister.
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Description: Singer-songwriter, guitarist and artist USA
Known For: Guitarist for Paul McCartney
Instruments: Guitar
Music Styles: Rock
Location: La Habra, California, United States of America
Date Born: 20th January 1959
Location Born: La Habra, California, United States of America
CONTACT DETAILS
Web Site:
Other Links: See below:
YOUTUBE VIDEO
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
Rusty Anderson
An American guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is best known as the accompanying lead guitarist for Paul McCartney’s tours and performances since 2001, though he has worked with an extensive list of artists in addition to his own solo career.
Rusty Anderson grew up in La Habra, California. At age 8, his father gave him his first electric guitar. Anderson’s mother convinced him to take music lessons but after a few weeks he decided to stop formal lessons and, fueled by his passion for the likes of The Beatles, Peter Gabriel’s Genesis, The Mothers of Invention, David Bowie and The Who, Rusty soon formed the rock band Eulogy at age 14. He later attended Fullerton College and played guitar on the 1983 Down Beat award winning LP, Time Tripping while in the jazz groups in the music department.
The original members of Eulogy (who were together in various forms for six years) included singer Myles Crawley, bassist Dirk Van Tatenhove, drummer Ross Holly, and rhythm guitarist Mike Jones (who currently records as Zallen). Later ads included rhythm guitarist Bob Holmes, keyboardist Jim Hargis and drummers Mark Bustamante, Rod Mitchell, John Nyman, Jim Volpe and Chuck Billings. Eulogy won a sizable local following, playing with bands such as The Police, Van Halen, Eddie Money, The Runaways, The Ramones, Quiet Riot and The Motels. Eulogy also lent their talent to singer/songwiter/actress Ronee Blakley for the Wim Wenders film, I Played It For You, and appeared in 1980 alongside Blakley and Rene Auberjonois in episode “Sound Of Terror” of the television series Beyond Westworld. Eulogy broke up shortly thereafter and along with Van Tatenhove, Anderson formed the band Soldier. Musically evolving into a singer-songwriter/rock hybrid style they played live shows in Southern California. Paul Ratajczak produced and engineered 8 songs commissioned by CBS records.
Career
Less than a year later, Anderson formed “The Living Daylights” with Gregory Markel and John “Gogo” Kallas, a psychedelic/progressive rock band and Anderson’s first as primary songwriter. The Living Daylights put out a record on the Greenworld Label, but subsequently disbanded when Anderson signed a solo development deal at Columbia Records. Through Eulogy and Living Daylights’ manager Mike Jacobs, Anderson was then introduced to producer and A&R man David Kahne, who invited Anderson to play on the Bangles’ second album, A Different Light. This opened the door to a host of freelance recording sessions for Anderson, including Fishbone, Matthew Sweet, Neil Diamond, Animal Logic (with Stewart Copeland and Stanley Clarke), Belinda Carlisle, Susanna Hoffs, Little Richard, Parthenon Huxley and Carole King.
Ednaswap, back in the studio
In 1993, Anderson was invited by songwriters Scott Cutler and Anne Preven to join a new band – Ednaswap – along with Paul Bushnel and Carla Azar. The band released four major label records on East West/Elektra Records, and penned the worldwide Number One hit song “Torn”, performed by Natalie Imbruglia. After extensive recording and touring for five years, Ednaswap disbanded in the spring of 1999, following their final LP, Wonderland Park.
Refocusing his attention on recording, he went back into the studio to work with a number of other artists including Elton John, New Radicals, Willie Nelson, Sinéad O’Connor, The Wallflowers, Jewel, Santana, Stevie Nicks, Ronan Keating and Joe Cocker, plus Ricky Martin’s unforgettable surf riff in “Livin’ La Vida Loca.” During this period, Anderson kept his creativity in balance by continuing to write his own songs, the bulk of which materialized on his first solo record.
Paul McCartney
In 2001, Anderson, along with drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., got a call from producers Mo Jackson and David Kahne to play and sing on Sir Paul McCartney’s record Driving Rain; this became the birth of the Paul McCartney Band. After finishing the record and performing at The Concert for New York City, the band went on the road for a critically acclaimed tour, playing well over 100 shows in the US, Japan, Mexico and Europe, including those at the Roman Colosseum, Live 8 UK and Red Square in Moscow. Following the success of this tour four DVDs were released, all featuring Anderson on guitar: Back in the U.S., Back in the World, Paul McCartney in Red Square and The Space Within US. In addition to the studio album Driving Rain, Anderson would go on to play guitar on McCartney’s Chaos and Creation in the Backyard and, in addition to guitar work, would also contribute vocals to the 2007 release, Memory Almost Full. He also took part in Good Evening New York City and Good Evening Europe.
Solo release
With most of the songs written and recorded for his debut solo album Undressing Underwater, Rusty Anderson invited Paul to join him and the rest of the McCartney band to play bass and sing backup vocals on the lead track, “Hurt Myself”. Friend and former band mate Stewart Copeland also came in to play drums on the song “Catbox Beach”. The album was self-produced by Anderson, along with David Kahne, Mudrock and Parthenon Huxley. Undressing Underwater was originally released in late 2003 by his own Oxide Records, and re-released in September 2005 on Surfdog Records, iTunes and Amazon. Anderson’s second studio album Born On Earth was released October 2009. His third studio album Until We Meet Again is set for release in the spring of 2012, with pre-release copys available during the winter leg of Paul McCartney’s On The Run tour.
Other artists
In addition to playing live shows to promote his own record, Rusty Anderson continued to play guitar with a host of other artists, including Gwen Stefani, Steven Tyler, Richie Sambora, Regina Spektor, Dido, Cat Stevens, Miley Cyrus, Eros Ramazzotti, Nelly Furtado, Meat Loaf, Robi Draco Rosa and Lisa Marie Presley. In addition to Anderson’s solo songwriting career, he has written with and produced acts such as Chris Shaffer of The Why Store, Jordan Lawhead and Emma Burgess, resulting in song uses in TV shows Cold Case, Men In Trees, Kyle XY and Wildfire.
Gear
Guitars: Gibson ES-335 (1959 blonde,1965 cherry red as well as vintage Trini Lopez models ), Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG, custom-made Firebird[6] as well as Paul Reed Smith Privet Stock and Fender guitars. Rusty also occasionally plays Duesenberg guitars and Voyage Air.
Amplifiers:
Divided By 13 JRT 9/15 with custom 2×12 cabinets, closed, loaded with G12M Greenbacks (with McCartney)
Divided By 13 JRT 9/15 with 2x12D, closed, loaded with G12M Greenbacks (solo,studio)
1965 Vox AC30 head (studio)
Early ’70s Marshall Super Bass head (studio)
Early ’70s Laney Supergroup head (studio)
He uses Pete Cornish Instrument Cable
Solo albums
Undressing Underwater (2005)
Born on Earth (2009)
“Until We Meet Again” (2011)
Further information can be obtained at the web sites listed on the Links button above
WORKS
Solo albums
Undressing Underwater (2005)
Born on Earth (2009)
“Until We Meet Again” (2011)
External links: