Thursday August 14th, 2003

Christian band Salvador receives rare Chet Atkins SST 12-string guitar

by Michelle Nikolai

For Nic Gonzales, the energetic lead singer with contemporary Christian band Salvador, Tuesday, Aug. 12 was a day of firsts - the band released its first Spanish language album, Con Poder (With Power), and Gonzales was presented with a new Chet Atkins SST 12-string guitar. The 12-string is a rare model from Gibson USA (Gibson's solidbody electric division) that has only been created a handful of times - for artists Travis Tritt, James Taylor and Joni Mitchell.

"Wow, I cannot believe how beautiful this guitar is, it's amazing!" Gonzales beamed with a 150-watt smile. "We have a gig tonight, right? We're going to make one up!"

The Chet Atkins SST is the steel-string version of Gibson's Chet Atkins solidbody acoustic series. The usual six strings are doubled, with the four lowest-pitched pairs tuned an octave apart, which creates the rich, harmonic sound that is often associated with Latin music. Gonzales' guitar has a special antique white finish and ebony fretboard with star headstock inlays.

Salvador's new album for Word Records, Con Poder, signals a return to their Hispanic roots - Gonzales is a fourth generation Mexican American whose grandfather was an amateur musician. The band will open for labelmate Jaci Velasquez this fall on her tour.

Gonzales, 26, is no stranger to the six-string SST model, he's owned one for years. "Before we got signed, I bought one because Dave Matthews owns one," he explains. "Our first little video shoot that we had, I had my SST. Everybody knows that I play those guitars. They'll be like, 'Oh yeah, Salvador - the guy that plays the flat-body Chet.' So that's like the thing. Even in Austin, a lot of people who know our music know I play the black Gibson - I see myself with these guitars for years."

Nic with members of the Contemporary Christian band 'Tait'

The Spanish language album is something the band has wanted to do for years. Salvador's eight band members were all born in America and Austin, Texas is their home base - a city whose eclectic musical influences, including Spanish musical forms, come together to create a "melting pot" effect.

"I think something in everybody has a tendency to want to get back to something of their heritage or their roots," Gonzalez says. "Obviously, Latin music is an amazing thing in our hearts that we've always wanted to do, but not necessarily Mexican music. We've wanted to do Salsa music, which is based off what they call Afro-Cuban beats - it kind of originated that way."

"There's been a lot of different 'versions' of Latin music made in the world, and we just wanted to see if we can cover a few," Gonzales continues."We want to be students, just like everybody else, of the Latin music world." Rolling down the highways and byways in their tour bus, the band listens to artists like Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Santana's newer rock-based music with Latin beats, and Los Super Seven.

Included on the album are traditional hymns like "Con Poder," "Montaa"(Mountain) and "Un Da a la Vez" (One Day at a Time), the latter song written by Kris Kristofferson and Marijohn Wilkin and featuring internationally known Latin Christian artist Vicente Montao. Con Poder also includes contemporary and inspirational songs; Salvador wrote or arranged four of the songs as well. They will add six rotating musicians to their touring Salsa band lineup - traditionally, Salsa bands are made up of 14 members. Gonzales says they are using no artificial backing tracks - it's 100 percent live and authentic music. The guitar styles vary from Requinto (played on a smallbody parlor-type Cuban guitar) to Tres (played on a traditional, nylon-string Spanish guitar) to Boleo (done on a 12-string guitar). Gonzales is pictured with a Gibson Montana J-45 on the album cover, which he calls his "songwriter guitar."

"It's a really great guitar to write songs on, it's become my studio guitar," he enthuses. "It sounds great plugged up. Like every other guitar player in the world, I love my guitars. They're all like my children - they're equal in my eyes.

"Today I have a new favorite son, but tomorrow I'll love them all the same."

In addition to the new album, Salvador will release a Live Worship DVD and CD Sept. 23. Gonzales will soon do a promotional tour in Puerto Rico.

The band is a favorite of the Billy Graham Organization and his son's ministry, the Franklin Graham Crusades. They have played in Honduras as well as the United States. Their recent gig with the Billy Graham Crusades drew 74,000 people to San Diego - the largest gathering at one time in the history of the city, surpassing the Super Bowl.

"It's absolutely fantastic to see no denomination and no [organized] religion, just the good news of Jesus Christ. That's how we live our lives," Gonzales concludes. "It's such an honor to be there with such a great evangelist."