By Courtney Grimes

Few voices are as seductive as the one that belongs to Chris Isaak. For over two decades, Chris has attracted audiences around the world with his smooth voice and timeless sound. Born in Stockton, California, Chris developed a unique style early on which remains a blend of rockabilly, pop-rock, blues and surf rock.   Chris began performing in his early twenties with his first band, Silvertone, who released their first, self-titled album in 1985 (Warner Brothers). From there, Chris developed a solo-career with the same band members from Silvertone, but didn’t hit the charts until five years later with his single, “Wicked Game,” from his album Heart Shaped World.     Chris continued to establish himself in the music world throughout the 90s with albums such as San Francisco Days, The Baja Sessions and Speak of the Devil. Simultaneously, he developed an acting career with roles in “Married to the Mob,” “Silence of the Lambs," “That Thing You Do” and his own television series on Showtime, "The Chris Isaak Show."   During his visit to the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Chris took some time out before the show to chat about his famous Gibson, his house fire and being a control freak.

CG: Tell me about your first guitar.

CI: My first guitar that I got was a Checkmate. It had a picture on the top of a little chess head. I bought it at a place that sold like…guitars and rat poison and Purina dog food. I was in a small town, so they sold everything. But I went in there and I bought that Checkmate guitar and I didn’t tell anybody and I played it when no one was around.

CG: Why?
CI: Because I didn’t know how to play very good at first and I was thinking….well, when you really have big dreams you’re afraid they’re gonna go, “Oh that’s stupid…” and you’re going, “this is everything. This is a big deal.” So when no one was around, and even when I could make one chord I would play the chord and go (made huge strum and ‘rock star’ face).

And after the Checkmate guitar I got my first decent guitar, an Epiphone. And I got the biggest one I could get and it was white and now it’s kind of yellowish because it’s been around for quite a while. I’ve worn holes through it from playing it, and it’s also been through a fire, I had a house that burned down. And when the house burned down I said, “well, everything’s gone.” And they said, “well, we found a guitar case.” I was afraid to look inside. But it was perfect. Didn’t get hurt.

But this guitar, I used when we first went out, my drummer and I would go out and we didn’t have the record company or anything so we just did a little tour for my record. And we were just a two man outfit. We played the radio stations, bars, record companies, and I’d been out for a while. And somebody in Europe lent me a J-200 and I went, “Wow. This is an orchestra you can carry with ya.” I’m not a big guitar player, I admit it. But when you play a J-200 at least you get some respect. I’ve got a lot of Gibsons, but the J-200 is my favorite. I don’t have anything negative to say about Gibsons, only positive things. This one has been around the world many times.

CG: Why do you think your music continues to hold appeal after two decades? CI:  There’s a couple of things, and it doesn’t have anything to do with talent, and it’s not that my music is better because there are a lot of people with more talent or plenty of talent and good music. But I think my arrangements and the music I do are pretty traditional. I never jump on ‘this week’s trend.’ For example, you might have written a nice song and put all synthesizers and say it’s 1982. Well by 1987, synthesizer is dead and your song sounds dated. And my stuff has always been pretty much based on guitar, drums, bass, piano…and that is in a sense pretty traditional. People can understand that. It’s never in style, but it’s never out of style. The other thing is, I’m not asking people to do Chinese arithmetic. To listen to it, it’s not like, “oh I’m screaming and I don’t use words.” My thing is rock and roll music you can dance to and love songs. I’m not really trying to tax you, I’m trying to give you something nice.

CG: What has been your favorite song that you’ve recorded?

CI:  They’re like your kids. You love the short, crazy one just as much as the others. I like “Forever Blue.” That’s a pretty song…

CG: Are you really a control freak? CI:  No. I don’t ever use those words – control freak. Here’s a story I think that tells where I come from. I was reading a magazine article one time about a minor league ballpark. And they were always full to capacity, and the big leagues were empty and they’re going, “how come the minor leagues are always full?” And they went to the guy who ran the minor league stadium and he said, “I give people a good time every time they come. The seats are clean, the lawn is cut, the parking lot is cheap and easy to get into, the food is good – all the details are taken care of.” People who come to see my show, I’m responsible for the stands, but in a way I’m responsible for the parking lot, I’m responsible for the loud guy next to ‘em, I’m responsible for the opening act, everything. Because really when they go back to their friends and they’re like, “Did you have a good time at the Chris Isaak show,” if they got gouged on parking, or shoved by a drunk or they had to wait half an hour because we didn’t come out on time, all that stuff means their good time. I love my job and I don’t wanna give it up for nobody. And I want everything to be right. Everything counts. I do everything I can to

make it good. We dress up, and we’re on time. If we’re not on time it’s because of some technical problems.