Interview Richard Bennett new album 2025: Some Kinda Summer
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Richard Bennett Some Kinda Summer Release autumn 2025 Tracklist : |
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Henk
Q. Hi Richard, congratulations with your new album “Some Kinda Summer". So far this is your 8th solo album. The first one was released around 2004, Themes from a Rainy Decade. Did you ever think you would come to the point that you would have some solo albums and come to a point that you would have even....8 ?
A : I never considered making records for myself as a soloist until I was halfway through recording what became Themes From A Rainy Decade over 20 years ago. I considered what I’d recorded as demos that I could possibly pitch for licensing for film or adverts. Midway through the recording process I began to think those tunes had a certain unity about them and that’s when I decided to carry on with it as an album for myself. At that time if anyone would have told me that I’d have eight records completed I wouldn’t have believed it.
Q. A question pops up about the writing process, do you always write songs (on very regular basis) or are you doing the songwriting and recording in one bunch ? I suppose you have several guitars "laying" around and that you pick them up many times to play them and to see what comes out ? Or do you only pick them up when you have something in your mind ?
A : I’m always playing guitar at home and because of that I often get little ideas, some of which get developed into pieces of music. There are times when a melody will come to me when I’m out walking or doing something other than playing guitar and then I’ll get to an instrument and realise it. As far as recording I always record one tune at a time and finish that before moving on. Sometime a couple of months will go by before getting back to the studio to do another. That’s the reason that I only get a record out every two or three years.
Q. You always write instrumentals for your solo albums but did you ever write songs with text also, maybe for other artists and I suppose there's a huge difference in writing ?
A : I suppose the best known song I helped writing was Forever In Blue Jeans with Neil Diamond. That was a case of me already having the melody and Neil writing lyrics to that. Writing instrumental music you’re generally more free with melodies and structure than when writing a song to be sung.
Q. When listening to your 3rd album "Vally of the Sun" people can notice that there are several styles on that album, is it also the case for this album or is this more in one style?
A : I refer to my own records as musical whiplash. If you don’t like one tune the next will be something completely different.
Q. Is there something like one theme on this album or did you put songs on the album that fit well together and which were ready for recording in your opinion ?
A : This collection strikes me as summertime, even the slow songs, hence the title.
Q. Can you introduce us to the musicians on “Some Kinda Summer" ?
A : It’s mainly folks who’ve played on my records in past; Roger Spencer-bass , Ted Tretiak-drums, Nick Bennett-guitar . I added some friends here and there on various songs; Mark Fain-bass , Brad Jones-bass , Steve Ebe-drums . Guy Fletcher kindly contributed keys on a song called The Lure Of Breakers. I played bass on several tunes as well as adding keyboard on a couple.
Q. Did you record with George Bradfute at his Tone Chaparral Studio Madison, Tennessee again or did you use some other studio this time? If you go into the studio : do you record one song per session or do you record a few songs together? Do you record a few hours or the whole day?
A : Most of this album was done with George at his studio. I also recorded two songs with Brad Jones engineering and mixing at his studio in Nashville called Alex The Great . As mentioned, I like to focus on one song at a time and finish it up before moving ahead to another. Not always the most efficient process but I prefer working that way.
Q. Can you tell us in what time you record a song, average time ? And do you record live in the studio ?
A : I usually finish a tune in a couple of days working 10 in the morning ’til 5 in the afternoon. For the most part I record live with other players though occasionally I’ll go in myself and build a few parts up for the others to play to.
Q. How do you explain the musicians how you want a song sounds, do you talk it all over, do you play samples, do you give them sheets or how do you all work on it ?
A : I generally have a clear picture of what I want the finished track to sound like. I bring in chord charts of the arrangement that everyone gets. If I want a specific line or part from somebody I’ll either write it out of show that player what I want. That said, I’m always open to others input and opinion.
Q. You are playing now in a Hawaiian trio The Volcano Brothers (1920's and 30's music), wasn't it an idea once to make an album with Hawaiian music and if so, is this still a possibility for the future ?
A : We may get around to recording an album with the Volcanos. If I could write an albums worth of Hawaiian style songs I would record one for myself as I love that music and Hawaiian steel guitar very much.
Q. For the foreword you can always count on some of your friends like Mark Knopfler, Neil Diamond, Marty Stuart, Rick Allen, Pieta Brown, Duane Eddy so who will do the trick this time ?
A : My friend Jim Carlton has put some very kind words together for the liner notes. Jim wrote a wonderful book called Conversations With Great Jazz and Studio Guitar Players. He is also a contributor to Vintage Guitar and Just Jazz Guitar magazines. Over the years he wrote comedy for The Smothers Brothers, Joan Rivers and Jim Stafford. He’s a great guitar player as well.
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Q. Do you take your catalogue out to get some placement for it, or are you hoping for that because it's very difficult to make some money with albums in these times....
A : I have an agent doing that very thing, licensing for use in movie, television.
Q. Question about the album layout, I suppose your son Nick did this terrific job again ?
A : Yes, Nick does a great job, this layout is no exception and came together very quickly. I found an image I liked and made a suggestion or two and Nick put it together in his own way. He’s a talented guy at so many things.
Q. Can we hear Nick on almost the whole album or did he only play on a few songs this time?
A : Nick’s onboard for most of it. There are a couple of solo guitar pieces that are just me.
Q. Do you play a pedal steel or Hawaiian steel on this album ?
A : There are a two Hawaiian steel tunes though neither are Hawaiian in style. Also, one on pedal steel called Debonair.
Q. Kava Keen, this opening song is a really fresh, uptempo en bright song. Perfect to open the album. Is the songtitel referring to the kava plant and what instruments are used on the song ? A for my ears nice strong bass with tight rhythm comes in around sec. 40 , is it an upright bass or a usual one?
A : Kava Keen is actually a reference to the instrument playing the melody, a Cavaquinho, pronounced kava-keen-yo. It’s a small bodied Brazilian instrument not dissimilar from a ukulele but with a slightly deeper body. The bass is a Fender electric with muting under the strings at the bridge, played with a plectrum and through an amp.
Q. The Lure Of Breakers, this one starts with the bass and then you come in, what can you tell us about this one and what instrument are you playing, the bass is also your part ?
A : The bass is the same as Kava Keen, in fact that bass appears on several songs on this album and I played that part. The instrument playing the melody is an 8-string Clinesmith steel guitar. The entire body is made of cast aluminium, no pedals and has a beautiful tone. Not much of a story behind the song, it’s a melody that came to me while out for a walk one morning. Even though it’s played on steel guitar I don’t think of it as Hawaiian or Polynesian, to me it’s a folk song.
Q. Guy Fletcher is on The Lure Of Breakers, so I suppose you send him the song, he did his thing with the keys in London and he mailed his part to you, or how work these things nowadays, can you explain a bit ?
A : My engineer, George Bradfute, sent Guy a stereo file of the completed track and Guy recorded his part in London. Hen then sent a file of the keyboard parts back to us, all via e-mail, and we blended the keys into our master recording. If one cannot do these things in person, this is an acceptable option and certainly less expensive than a flight to London and back, hotel, studio cost, etc.
Q. Our Summer Scene is the longest song on the album so there must be something special about that made you decide to make it in this length?
A : Same bass again. No reason particularly for the length, just felt like the right thing to do at the time. I also liked the idea of re-stating the introduction as the fade out so that added a little extra time to it as well.
Q. Whistlejacket is a unique and intriguing title, and the song itself feels vibrant and full of life. Can you tell us if there's a story or idea behind this piece? What inspired its energy and character? Drums come in great after your intro, what did you want to express with this song if you can explain ?
A : This tune was written on and for a 6-string bass which is a long scale guitar tuned down a full octave. There are some twists and turns in the melody that when played down that low became muddled and I wondered what it might sound like in a higher register and played on steel guitar. I thought it sounded good on steel and it also played easily in an A6 tuning, the same instrument and tuning as The Lure Of Breakers. I was just looking for a little push and excitement with the track and think it makes a nice addition to the album. Whistlejacket was the name of a celebrated race horse from the north of England in the mid-1700s. He was a beautiful chestnut coloured Arabian Stallion with a blonde mane and tail. A nearly life size painting of him hangs in the National Gallery in London. If you Google Whistlejacket, you will find this portrait. The horse was named after a cold remedy from that same period made of gin and treacle called Whistlejacket. I’ll take the gin, hold the treacle.
Q. Beauty And The Beatnik, has a really really beautiful guitar intro and sound (with some vibrato to me), is that Lindsay Johns Bennett in the background humming ? And who does the whistling ? That whistling gives it a western thing to me at that point in the song...but it also has a bit of a classical background for me ? It has a playful yet sophisticated feel to it. Can you share how this track came to life? Was there a specific imagery or theme that guided its creation?"
A : The whole inspiration for this came to me as I was staring out the window with a guitar in hand and mindlessly played a C major 7 chord followed by an F# minor 7. Those two chords sound a little at odds with each other but it caused me to wonder about the possibilities there. Those are the chords you hear going back and forth on the intro. I rolled up my sleeves and got to work seeing where that might lead and it eventually developed into Beauty and the Beatnik. Lee Hazlewood made some wonderful duet records with various female partners and they always juxtaposed the beautiful female voice and Lee’s gruff vocal. I suppose I was thinking some of that with the music of this tune. The “beatnik” whistler is the very talented songwriter, guitar player and bowling hustler Wes Langlois and that’s Lindsay Johns Bennett doing the “beauty” voice later in the piece. This was one of two songs I did with Brad Jones and it was he who suggested the string section part. We arrived at a melody motif together and Brad orchestrated it for strings. We both wanted something reminiscent of mid-1960s LA records, something you might here on a Glen Campbell record. After all this long-winded explanation, Beauty and the Beatnik is simply a folk-pop tune to me.
Q. Is Lindsay also involved on other songs ?
A : Lindsay’s just on Beauty and the Beatnik.
Q. What influenced the unique mood and style of Kuro Kimono, almost only guitar with spreaded notes on this one, was the title inspired by the Japanese clothes or did you find somewhere else some inspiration ?
A : Kuro Kimono is Japanese for Black Kimono, a type of robe worn by a woman. This tune has been around for 20 years or more but I never felt it was complete. I took another look at it while putting tunes together for this album. I still liked what was already there so it was another case of rolling up my sleeves and writing a second section that I'd felt was missing. I went back and forth with quite a few things until I arrived at what you hear. Once that was in place I felt it would be a nice solo guitar piece for the album and recorded it with George, doing many ‘takes' until we felt it had the right mood and flow. The guitar I used belongs to George, a Gretsch 1959 Country Gentleman reissue model, a great sounding instrument, lots of tone and George recorded it beautifully. The piece always struck me as somewhat Asian sounding, hence the title.
Q. What was the creative process behind "Debonair" and how did you approach crafting its distinctive tone and atmosphere ?
A : I wrote this on pedal steel in a style that I admire but one that I don’t really play. I had the melody in my head and knew where I wanted it to go and sound like but the mechanics of where the chords and melody laid on the instrument came very slowly, definitely a case of hunt and peck. Once I finally found where everything was I became obsessed, practising the song every day for a couple of years before feeling confident enough to record it. Debonair was played on a 1958 Fender Pedal 400 steel guitar, 8 strings, 4 pedals. That’s Roger playing bass, Ted on drums and Nick on rhythm guitar.
Q. What instruments did you use in 'Fronture's Frontier', and how did you decide on their arrangement to create the song's unique sound?
A : The main guitar is a Gretsch Country Club model that belonged to my friend Al Casey. The last album that Al recorded was titled "The Return Of The Great Green Gretsch” and it is that guitar. It’s clearly a western theme and I wanted to make the most of it with French Horn and Trombone leading the charge. I heard the horn parts in my head so simply wrote it out and called the players. Jim Hoke plays some beautiful “western” harmonica on this one.
Q. Can you talk about the arrangement, the choice of chord progression, and the rhythm from "Lorna" ? How did these elements come together to shape the overall mood and feel of the track?
A : There’s not much of a back story on the creation of this, I just let the melody take me where it wanted to go and I came along for the ride. It’s a waltz and a very simple recording, acoustic bass, piano, rhythm guitar and drums. I kept thinking about adding a string section but in the end decided against it because I liked the simplicity as it was, it didn’t really need any more than was already there.
Q. Elegia finds its beauty in its slow and deliberate pace—can you share how you approached crafting the tempo and mood of the song, and what emotions you aimed to evoke through its restrained elegance?
A : While I was going through some older pieces I came across this, albeit in a very different style, sort of an up-tempo jazz thing but it had never been completed, it was just a melody sketch with different chords than how it ended up. I took it in the complete opposite direction, slow with a somewhat classical guitar approach to the chordal structure and how they were voiced. As soon as it slowed down the rest of the song kind of wrote itself pretty quickly. I played it on a 1974 Gibson Howard Roberts model guitar.
Q. Slankey has a distinct character—can you delve into how you developed its groove and melodic structure? Was there a particular story, mood, or imagery that guided its creation?
A : Just kind of an rhythm and blues come country tune. It was the first song I recorded for Some Kinda Summer. Nick and I went down to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to take advantage of the great r&b vibe down there, but in the end I wasn’t completely happy with what we’d done, in large part due to me. So, I circled back around and re-recorded it here with Brad Jones at his studio.
Q. Beyond Durango has a vibrant uptempo rhythm—does the title refer to Durango in Colorado, Mexico, or perhaps to something other? Does the rhythm reflect the essence of the place or idea behind the song?
A : More often than not, when writing I usually begin with a melody idea, no matter how scant, and build the chord structure on top of that. Beyond Durango was exactly the other way around, I had what I thought was an interesting chord sequence for the first part of the song and wrote a melody to go with those chords, then came up with the second section after that. I didn’t have a title when writing it but in the end thought Beyond Durango sounded like a good fit for the song.
Musicians on "Some Kinda Summer" are :
Roger Spencer, Brad Jones, Mark Fain, Richard Bennett: bass
Ted Tretiak and Steve Ebe: drums
Nick Bennett, Kenny Vaughan: guitars
Dave Hoffner, Brad Jones, George Bradfute, Guy Fletcher, Jeff Taylor, Richard Bennett: keyboards
Brad Jones: vibes
STRINGS:
Austin Hoke: cello
Monisa Angell: viola
David Angell: violin
Josee KLein: violin
Brad Jones: STRING ARRANGEMENT on "Beauty And The Beatnik"
John Hinchey: trombone
Jennifer Kummer: French horn
Jim Hoke: Harmonica
Lindsay Johns Bennett: vox
Wes Langlois: whistling
RICHARD BENNETT : SOLO GUITAR and STEEL GUITAR
Produced by Richard Bennett
Co-produced, recorded and mixed by George Bradfute at Tone Chaparral Studio Madison, Tennessee
"Beauty And The Beatnik" and "Slankey" co-produced, recorded and mixed by Brad Jones at Alex The Great, Nashville, Tennessee Additional recording: Dave Hoffner at Hoffner House and Nick Bennett at Heavenhell Recording
Mastering and Edit: Eric Conn and Don Cobb at Independent Mastering Nashville, Tennessee
Design and Layout: Nick Bennett
Mastering: Eric Conn, Independent Masterin, Nashville, Tennessee Cover image: Matt Hardy, matthardy.com All songs written by Richard Bennett, Moderne Shellac Music/Great Southern Songs/Ten Ten Music (ASCAP)
Licensing contact: Barry@tentenmusic.com
Wishing you all the best with the release—this album is bound to resonate deeply with listeners everywhere. Thank you again, Richard, for a memorable and enlightening conversation, Henk
Published December 2025
Approved by Richard Bennett
You can order “Some Kinda Summer” (2025) at Bandcamp here
You can order “Tall Tale Tunes” (2022) at Bandcamp here
You can order “Ballads In Otherness” (2018) at Bandcamp here
You can order “Contrary Cocktail” (2015) at Bandcamp here
You can order “For The Newly Blue” (2013) at Bandcamp here
You can order “Valley Of The Sun” (2010) at Bandcamp here
You can order “Code Red Cloud Nine” (2008) at Bandcamp here
You can order “Theme From A Rainy Decade” (2004) at Bandcamp here
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