ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996 TAG: 9603220033
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
Singer-songwriter David Wilcox, usually a man who waxes somewhat philosophic about life and poetics and the power of music in people's lives, wasn't in that sort of mood.
He wanted to talk about electric guitars and amplifiers.
That might sound strange coming from Wilcox, who has built a career as a solo acoustic guitarist and folk singer. But it's really not all that strange, Wilcox explained in a telephone interview to promote his show Sunday night at the Iroquois Club in Roanoke.
Plugging in has been something Wilcox has wanted to do for a long time. He just wanted to do it right. ``The only reason I haven't done it before is that my search has taken so long,'' he said.
The search Wilcox was talking about was his search for the right guitar and the right amplifier to create a ``welcome rich and righteous'' sound. In other words, an extension of his established acoustical style, not ``harsh distortion that distances people.''
Here is where Neil Young was some help to him.
It's true, Young is no stranger to harsh distortion, but he also has a very warm, approachable acoustic side. Wilcox got to visit Young on tour and observe this acoustic side up close. He was impressed with Young's collection of amplifiers.
``It's like this amazing guitar amp museum that he travels with, only he plays it every night.''
Wilcox particularly liked the sound of the tube amplifiers, as opposed to the more conventional transistor amplifiers. The tube amplifiers don't distort, he explained. They react to the music, almost resonating like the top of a guitar. ``There's something so physical about the way a tube reacts. It's sort of an instrument all its own.''
The amplifier brand he has since settled on is Matchless.
Meanwhile, he similarly studied electric guitars, finally finding to his suiting a carbon fiber high-tech guitar called The Parker Fly made by James Olson in Minneapolis.
Wilcox is recording a new album incorporating this new electric side. He is even enlisting the help of a band. And it has influenced his songwriting. ``It allows me to cover a more interesting range of emotions,'' he said.
He cited a song he recently wrote, ``Time to Think,'' about a woman who has been wronged, throws her man out of the house and is left to ponder the future without him. She lets out a ``stark and desperate stifling scream.
``The electric guitar has knowledge of that emotion. The acoustic guitar doesn't,'' Wilcox said. ``The electric guitar can say 'I've been there.'''
This doesn't mean Wilcox is trading his soft flannel sound for leather and grunge.
``It'll still sound like me, but it'll sound sort of like the same car with a bigger motor in it.''
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Singer and songwriter David Wilcox will perform Sundayby CNBnight at the Iroquois
Club in downtown Roanoke. color.