RL SUSHKO
VUDUBLUZ GUITAR
SOUND & TECHNIQUE
A musician's tone and technique is something personal, for some they are blessed early with finding their 'sound', while others like myself slowly evolve into their own. These days my focus is on playing the blues from a jazz or bebop approach, I like to call it Funky HardBop Blues. There's some BB King, some Robben Ford, Grant Green, and Ronnie Earl in there somewhere. When I was young my dad turned me onto Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges just blew me away. Ellington's band / orchestra swung hard, his compositions were everything from gorgeously poignant to ripping to complex colors of sound and emotion. His soloists blew through everything with a grace and command that just floored me. This is exactly what I want to bring to every playing situation.
RL SUSHKO
Bob Sushko has over 40 years experience and has performed with some of the World's Greatest Blues Artists Including: 'Honeyboy' Edwards, Louisiana Red and Cornell Dupree.
He has performed at Woodstock '94, the Amsterdam Crossing Borders Festival, Blues 2003 Festival, and worked alongside groups such as John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Rick Derringer, Terry Reid, Chuck Rainey, Cornell Dupree, Marshal Tucker Band, Phil Guy, Honeyboy Edwards, and Shannon McNally.
Bob worked extensively with famed Spoken Word Artist and Actor Frank Messina, played guitar alongside Danny Lane in Papa Hoodoo Medicine Show, recorded for R&B Soul Man Sam 'MagicMan' Waymon (brother of Jazz great Nina Simone), performed with Jazz composer Derwin Holder from Sonny Stitt and Danny Gatton, The Stingers with the late Ralph Jones and Joe Nevolo (Mahogany Rush), Mark Egan, Erik Lawrence, Larry McDonald, Brian Jackson, Karl Latham as well as composed music for playwright Tony Sokol's "Vampyre Theatre.
Bob has studied music and guitar with
John Berenzy NYC and Robert Fripp (King Crimson)
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GEAR TALK
Like most musicians I've gone through my share of guitars and amps and pedals. Today, I use a Fender American Telecaster which is very dear to me for personal reasons. It is outfitted with a neck kit and a bridge pickup personally wound for me by Jay Monterose who was involved with the late great Danny Gatton. The neck pickup is a Dimarzio Twang King. Together they provide me with the tone I am looking for, very 'tele' sounding but with strat tones in the neck position.
My amp is a godsend from luthier and super tech Alan Watsky (Mr. Wizard) who took a Fender Blues Junior and installed the infamous Bill M mods. I replaced the stock Fender Special Design speaker with an Eminence Cannabis Rex and swapped out the Sovtek preamp tubes for Svetlana tubes. This amp is my secret weapon, it delivers vintage Fender tones and is exactly the sound I have been looking for.