As iconic as certain songs become, they often reach that rarefied status because of a single sonic moment: something that cuts through, lodges deep, and never quite lets go. Rick Vito’s slide guitar work and soaring ride-out solo on Bob Seger’s “Like a Rock” is one of those moments. Big, bold, and unmistakably American, the tone carries both soul and strength; qualities that helped it resonate so powerfully in the Chevrolet truck campaigns it anchored for more than a decade. During that run, Chevy trucks held the top spot in the market; when the campaign ended, so too did that reign. Yet as present as it became, Vito’s solo remains one of those pieces of playing that many recognize instantly, even if they can’t quite place its origin. It’s a testament to its enduring impact and to Vito at the peak of his powers.
Over the course of a remarkable career, Rick Vito has played alongside an array of top-tier artists, most notably stepping into Lindsey Buckingham’s role in Fleetwood Mac in the late 1980s. His tenure helped return the band to the charts, highlighted by another finely crafted slide performance on “As Long as You Follow.” Though accomplished across the full spectrum of guitar styles, it is slide where his voice has always rung most clearly. It’s fitting, then, that his latest release, Slidemaster, brings that signature sound to the forefront.
A collection of 12 instrumentals, some new, some revisited, Slidemaster unfolds like a cinematic score. The tracks drift and swell with the atmosphere of a 1970s Western, rich with mystery, tension, and moments of aching beauty. It’s music that rewards both passive and active listening, inviting you to lean in and appreciate the nuance and control that have long set Vito apart.
Rick Vito. Courtesy of Hub Wilson.
The album also features interpretations of Peter Green and Sam Cooke songs, thoughtfully reimagined to match the album’s tone while further underscoring Vito’s lyrical approach to the instrument.
We caught up with Vito to talk about the making of Slidemaster, the carefully chosen gear behind its distinctive sound, and the story behind his unforgettable contribution to “Like a Rock,” a part that, as it turns out, almost never happened.
Ray Chelstowski: The record has a real soundtrack vibe, reminds me a bit of Knopfler’s Wag The Dog record. It’s very Western in tone. Was that intentional?
Rick Vito: For some reason a lot of my instrumentals seem to take on a cinematic quality. I think it’s just the nature of a good instrumental song. It took a good amount of time to pick the right 10 or 12 songs out of about 30. At first the record was all over the place. I reeled it in. There was a lot of material that you might consider to be “world music” or having Eastern influences. So, I kept putting together lists of 10 to 12 songs and after what ended up being a really long time I came up with these. I don’t have a completely thought-out reason why they flow like this other than I spend a lot of time editing and throwing away songs that didn’t seem to work with the others.
RC: So were the lists you made the way you settled upon the current tracking?
RV: I made demo tapes of the lists. One song that I was certain would be the lead-off cut ended up in the middle of the record. After a few months I just started hearing things differently. So, I kept arranging things differently until I finally found a song order where the first song grabs you, the second and third back that up, and the top four or five become the real meat of the record.
RC: With instrumentals, what comes first. The song title or the music?
RV: Some of the songs had different titles at one point. For example, there a song with a Bo Diddley riff that I used to call “Bo’s Beat.” And just before putting the final stamp on the record I changed it to “The Big Beat,” just in honor of that big beat that he created. Other songs on the record just seemed to name themselves over time.
RC: How long did the recording process take?
RV: Well, this is actually a collection of instrumentals. Some of them have appeared on previous releases. Then a little more than half were recorded within the past year. I had the older ones to draw from, but I did make little changes here and there and remixed and remastered everything so that I would all be fresh.
RC: Any special gear used?
RV: There were about five or six different guitars and probably just two or three amplifiers that I used. I have an association with Reverend guitars; I had four different signature [models] that I put out with them. The reason I like to use them is that I can get all the features that I like in one guitar. So, I used a few of them for several of the tracks. Then I have a guitar that I put together that is an old Teisco and we slapped an early 1950s Supro lap steel pickup on it. So that had its own voice. I used a 1929 National Triolian for a song called “River of Blues.” I also used a 1957 Supro Dual-Tone for a few songs. And I used the Les Paul TV that I used on “Like A Rock” for one or two of the tracks.
RC: You tackle two Peter Green songs on the record. Were they always in your mind for a project like this?
RV: Well, I had cut “Albatross” a few years ago. The records that I chose to take songs from were ones that didn’t really get out into the public. They were on smaller labels that didn’t really have the distribution so there weren’t many copies sold. So I had “Albatross” available. And “The Supernatural” I had done years ago on a whim and just had it on ice. So, I re-did the lead guitar a few months ago using a whole different approach.
Billy F. Gibbons of ZZ Top and Rick Vito with Peter Green's original "Greeny" Les Paul Standard guitar. It's now owned by Kirk Hammett of Metallica. Courtesy of Rick Vito.
RC: Could this become part of a series?
RV: I was thinking about that when we put this out. We could easily do a Volume Two. Let’s watch and see how the record is received. Let’s see where it gets the action and then gear [a] Volume Two to that. I’d love to include some of those world influences because they just sound so interesting.
RC: You have a long relationship with a lot of artists like Mick Fleetwood and Bob Seger. Did you run this record by anyone before shipping it off?
RV: No. My best sounding board is my wife. And, the two women who run Mojo Records are people I can run things by and I can tell by their response if they’re excited or not. That helped me in a few different spots.
RC: Your solo on Bob Seger’s “Like A Rock” may be one of the best-known because of how present and long the Chevy campaign was and lasted.
RV: I’m really proud of it, and ironically it almost didn’t happen. When I went to meet (Bob) Seger to do that session he put up the track and pointed out the areas that needed a solo. As I listened to it I could just tell from the mood and the sound that it needed a slide guitar. And he said, “Oh no. I don’t want that. It sounds kinda too bluesy.” I asked him to give me one pass because I play a different way [than blues-style], and I thought I could [add] something very lyrical. Man, I got the front solo and the back solo on the first pass. The only thing I had to fix was the ending because I didn’t know when it was coming. It was a perfect storm. It was all one take from beginning to end. I tried to do it [again] in a few more passes but could never get it as good as the first one. I’m lucky that the guy pressed the red button.
0 comments