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Dave Edmunds

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Dave Edmunds is a singer and songwriter hailing from Cardiff, Wales who was born on April 15th 1944. Since his debut in 1968 he has become one of the most influential pub-rock musicians of all time, with several hits all throughout the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Like many teenagers of the 1960’s, Dave Edmunds fell in love with the blues and early rock and roll singles that record shops of the time were importing from across the Atlantic. Inspired by them to take up playing guitar, he spent most of the decade searching for success in a number of different bands. For a long time he was one of the decade’s nearly men, playing in bands who’d sign to labels like Parlophone and Columbia but wider success remained elusive before forming Love Sculpture in 1966. “Sabre Dance”, their debut single, raced into the charts at number five and was championed by Radio 1 icon John Peel, who played it twice in a row on the radio show “Top Gear”. The band struggled for further success and split in 1970, and Edmunds would find far greater success in his solo career.

He got off to one hell of a start the same year that Love Sculpture split, scoring the 1970 Christmas number one single with “I Hear You Knocking”, his debut solo effort. It also raced into the U.S Billboard charts at number 4 and went on to sell over three million copies. Edmunds continued to have hits all throughout the early seventies, either by releasing them or by producing them for other artists like The Flamin’ Groovies and Ducks Deluxe. However, Edmunds would again attempt to find genuine success with a band in 1976, when he formed Rockpile with bassist and singer Nick Lowe. Ironically, the band only ended up releasing one album in 1980 because Edmunds and Lowe’s solo successes kept getting in the way, and the band split up the same year that their debut effort “Seconds Of Pleasure” was released.

However, the early 80’s were very kind to Edmunds, who enjoyed success all over the world with his solo albums “Twangin’” and “Information”. Ever since then he’s remained an unmissable live act with a back catalogue that most artists of his generation would kill for, for that, he comes highly recommended.

Live reviews

Where is that nice bloke, Dave Edmunds ? Has he stopped touring ? Even after 'Again', still nothing from Dai Bach, look you, is-nit! No promo tour either. If you see him walking his Border Collie dogs around 'Rockfield' in Monmouth, or in his local pub [where he tries out the odd discreet tune] buy him a pint of 'Brains' and get him to put out an a.p.b. Followers are still interested. There are enough followers to still fill out theatres here in Perth, Oz. Ex resident [child] of Cardiff Bay ['Tiger'] moved to London, 1950s, emigrated to Oz, 2001. Steve Davies. Oz.

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Dave Edmunds

Latest setlist, dave edmunds on may 12, 2017.

Kulturbolaget, Malmö, Sweden

Dave Edmunds Announces His Retirement

Written by: Alex Green

“Our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything,” Shakespeare once wrote on the subject of retirement.

Dave Edmunds is about to immerse himself in those trees, brooks and stones, because after a long career in rock and roll, the legendary musician is calling it a day.

Born in Cardiff in 1944, Edmunds joined his first band when he was ten and now, sixty-three years later, he’s played with his last.

Edmunds boasts the kind of musical CV that most musicians would kill to have a small percentage of. He’s played in great bands (Love Sculpture, Rockpile) had huge hits as a solo artist (“Girls Talk” and “I Hear You Knocking”) and produced everyone from Foghat to the Flamin’ Groovies to the Stray Cats. Additionally, he collaborated with an impressive list of luminaries, including Jeff Lynne, Nick Lowe, Ringo Starr, Elvis Costello and Eric Clapton.

“Dave Edmunds is a class act,” SEM’s Matt Sloan once wrote. “He’s pub rock royalty blessed with pop smarts and tremendous musical intuition.”

Although Edmunds has been relatively low-key about his retirement from live performances, his pal Brian Setzer took to social media to write the following note on the subject: “It’s with bittersweet announcement that my good friend and guitar legend Dave Edmunds is retiring after tomorrow night’s show. Dave produced the early Stray Ca ts albums that spawned Runaway Boys, Stray Cat Strut, Rock This Town, (Sexy) & 17, and I Won’t Stand in Your Way. He flew in to Finland to play his final two shows with me. I wish him all the love in the world in his retirement!”

Edmunds, who has only played around twenty shows in the last eight years, has not commented about what his plans exactly are. It appears his retirement certainly will take him off the stage, but no one is sure if he’ll continue to produce or record music on his own.

His last album was the instrumental album Rags & Classics back in 2015.

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Dave Edmunds

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About dave edmunds.

David William Edmunds (born 15 April 1944) is a Welsh singer, guitarist, actor and record producer. Although he is mainly associated with pub rock and new wave, having many hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has always been towards 1950s style rock and roll.

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April 15 in Music History: Happy 80th birthday, Dave Edmunds

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April 15, 2024

History highlight:

Singer and producer Dave Edmunds was born in Cardiff, Wales, on April 15, 1944, making him 80 today. Edmunds has released more than a dozen albums under his own name, and had his biggest solo hit with his version of Dave Bartholomew’s “I Hear You Knocking” in 1970. Edmunds was also the frontman for power pop group Rockpile — also featuring Nick Lowe on bass — who were active sporadically between the mid-’70s to the early ‘80s. Edmunds has also played with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band and Stray Cats.

Also, today in:

1894 - Bessie Smith, the "Empress Of The Blues," was born on this day. She was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and '30s and is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers of her age.

1967 - Decca released The Who's "Happy Jack" in the U.S., the band's first single to crack the Top 40 here.

1967 - Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Somethin' Stupid." The song was written by C. Carson Parks and was originally recorded by Parks and his wife Gaile Foote as Carson and Gaile in 1966. Frank and Nancy Sinatra's hit is the best-known version of the song … but when you think about it, there's somethin' creepy about a father and daughter singing this song together.

1971 - The Beatles won their only Oscar, taking home Best Original Song Score for their movie Let It Be .

1972 - Roberta Flack started a six-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."

1987 - Queen were presented with an award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music at the 32nd annual Ivor Novello Awards held in London.

1989 - The Fine Young Cannibals went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "She Drives Me Crazy."

1995 - Montell Jordan started a seven-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "This Is How We Do It."

2001 - Joey Ramone, singer-songwriter and lead vocalist of punk-rock band the Ramones, died at age 49. Born Jeffrey Ross Hyman in Queens, N.Y., he co-founded the punk rock band the Ramones with friends John Cummings and Douglas Colvin. Colvin was already using the pseudonym Dee Dee Ramone, and the others adopted stage names with the surname "Ramone,” so Jeff Hyman became Joey Ramone. The name "Ramone" was inspired by Paul McCartney, who briefly used the name "Paul Ramon" during 1960 and 1961, when the Beatles, still unknowns, did a tour of Ireland and used pseudonyms. The Ramones are often cited among the first to define the punk-rock sound, and although they enjoyed only limited commercial success, they heavily influenced the 1970s punk movement in both the United States and United Kingdom. Recognition of the band's importance developed over time, and they are now considered among rock's all-time greats; as such, the Ramones were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

2014 - The Afghan Whigs released their seventh album, Do to the Beast . It was their first album in 16 years. It features “Algiers” and “The Lottery.”

2015 - It was reported that digital music revenues matched physical sales for the first time in 2014, thanks to strong growth in the streaming market.

2019 - English songwriter Les Reed died at age 83. His major songwriting partners were Gordon Mills, Barry Mason and Geoff Stephens, although he wrote songs with many others such as Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook, Peter Callander, and Johnny Worth. Reed co-wrote around 60 hit songs, and is best known for the Tom Jones hits “It's Not Unusual,” “Green, Green Grass of Home” and “Delilah,” as well as Engelbert Humperdinck's “The Last Waltz.”

Country musician Roy Clark was born today in 1933.

Marty Wilde is 85.

Legendary Australian hit-maker and producer Mike Chapman is 77. Chapman co-wrote Tony Basil's 'Mickey' and produced dozens of hits for Suzy Quatro, Blondie, The Knack and more.

Phil Mogg, lead singer of UFO, is 76.

Linda Perry, pop songwriter and frontwoman for 4 Non Blondes, is 59.

Samantha Fox is 58.

Frankie Poullain, bassist for The Darkness, is 57.

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Luis Fonsi is 46.

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Dave Edmunds: my stories of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Moon and more

Dave Edmunds travelled on Led Zeppelin's private jet and spent an afternoon with George Harrison playing Beatles dress-up. These are his stories

From his humble beginnings as a mechanic in a Cardiff garage, Dave Edmunds has ploughed a diverse and successful musical furrow. 

From his lightening guitar work on a novel interpretation of Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance (with his trio Love Sculpture back in 1968) to the pure and simple down-home rock’n’roll of I Hear You Knocking or radio-friendly late70s hits like I Knew The Bride, Girls Talk and Crawling From The Wreckage , Edmunds is a musical journeyman who has performed with and is respected by most of the world’s greatest musicians. 

A soft-spoken and humble fellow, here he relates some of his past experiences from his long and eventful musical journey, including having a pint with Jimi Hendrix , knocking back several more with Keith Moon , dressing up with a Beatle, being hailed by the next Messiah by a Beach Boy, and doing a bit of demolition work with John Bonham .

Jimi Hendrix

In about 1968 I had been doing pretty well with a band in Cardiff, and I was a motor mechanic. I decided to hand in my notice and to seek my fame and fortune in London. So I moved up and got a little poky flat somewhere. The places to go then were Giovanni’s in Denmark Street, where all the musos would hang out, and The Ship, a pub in Wardour Street. 

I went to The Ship one night, and it just so happened that Jimi Hendrix was playing at the Marquee down the road. All I knew about him was that I’d heard the record Hey Joe and that there was a buzz going round. So I was in The Ship with a friend from Cardiff, and Jimi walked in with a couple of guys and stood next to me at the bar, and we got talking. 

He asked me if I liked Eric Clapton and I said: “Oh yeah. But I’m into Steve Cropper and the MGs.” Which he seemed quite impressed with because that Stax thing was still a bit underground. We had a pint, and what struck me was that I’d never met anyone so opposite to their image; he was charming, polite and quite a gentleman. And that impression stuck with me. 

When I finally walked out into Wardour Street it was absolutely jam packed, everybody was trying to get into the gig. I heard a rumour that he earned £400 for that show, an outrageous sum of money at the time [laughs].

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I got call from the head of RCA records, which I was signed with at the time, who told me about this guy called David Putnam who was making [the movie] Stardust , a sequel to That’ll Be The Day , and they wanted someone to do the music for it. I sent them a version of an Everly Brothers song and they said: “Right, you’ve got the job.” 

So I went down to Rockfield studios [in Wales] and I was left all on my own to do what I wanted. Then they asked me if I knew any musicians with acting skills, because they didn’t want the band in the film to just be actors. I piped up and offered my services, and I got a job in the film as one of the band members who doesn’t say much. 

Keith Moon was in the band, and that was a riot. I didn’t even drink until I met Keith [laughs], I was just a pot-smoking hippie. So there was me, Karl Howman [actor] and Keith; we became the terrible trio of the film set. I remember one time we were on our way to Manchester to film at the Belvue. We were in Keith’s limo, with me and Karl in the back, and we stopped at a service station somewhere on the M1.

When we arrived there was a bus full of schoolgirls who were getting out and assembling ready to go in and eat. Keith had his driver Eddie stop the car, then he took all his clothes off, stripped absolutely naked, and ran in among the schoolgirls, around the petrol pumps, back into the car and off we went. Of course, the schoolgirls scattered like pigeons. Keith used to get away with murder, and if you hung out with him long enough you got the impression that you could too. He got a lot of people into trouble because of that.

George Harrison

I used to hang out with George in the mid-80s and I was often up at his place, to keep him company, because he didn’t get out that much. I went up there one time and there was just me and him in the house. He picked up a guitar and started playing some Beatles songs. He sort of looked at me with a sly grin, as if to say: “You know what you’re getting here.” Normally we just talked about anything other than music. Then he said: “Follow me.” 

We got up, went through a corridor, upstairs and got to a huge wardrobe, which he opened and there were a lot of Beatles suits in there: the Shea Stadiums outfits, the silver suits with the black collars; there were also three Sgt Peppers jackets, which we took off and tried on. He laughed and said: “I think I’ve got Paul’s here, but don’t tell him.” 

We spent the afternoon trying on Beatles clothes. I was amazed how small they were, these suits were absolutely tiny. I would say that George Harrison was one of the most interesting people I’ve met, and as a musician he knew what he needed to know about music. Like a lot of us, if you were born between 1939 and 1945 you were privy to things that a lot of people might have missed.

Brian Wilson

I’d produced a band called The Flamin Groovies, and they popped over to see me when I was in LA. I was with the band’s frontman Chris Wilson and guitarist Cyril Jordan one night and they said: “Let’s go to Brian’s house.” I said: “What are you talking about?” And they said: “We know where he lives, and we met him once and he said come over.” And I said: “Oh yeah, sure.” 

So we hopped into a car and drove up to these gates, Cyril jumped out of the car and said: “It’s Dave Edmunds with The Flamin Groovies” [laughs]. And, sure enough, the gates opened and in we went. We were welcomed into the house by Marilyn Wilson and Stan Love – Mike’s brother – who was doing security. Stan came up to us and said: “Look, I don’t know if you’ll get to see Brian, he’s upstairs in his room. But if you do, don’t give him any drugs.” So I said: “Wouldn’t dream of it. Haven’t got any, and wouldn’t anyway. We understand.” 

So we went in. Cyril had a copy of [the soundtrack album] Stardust with him. On it I’d done a real Phil Spector version of Da Doo Ron Ron , the multi-tracking and all that. Cyril put it on the record player. It got to that track, Brian turned up! He came downstairs in his dressing gown, walked into the room; he was huge, about 350 pounds. He said hi and then ignored us. He just walked over to the record player, picked up the needle and put it back on Da Doo Ron Ron . 

As it was playing, he walked in a very characteristic way from one end of the room to the other. He’d walk right up close to the wall until his nose was touching it, turn around, and in military fashion he would walk right across the room to the other wall and then turn round again. He did this pacing backwards and forwards until the record ended, then he would put the track back on and do the same again. He did this about three or four times. Then he came over and said: “That’s God on drums,” and then turned round and walked out of the room. We never saw him again. And by the way, I have to tell that it was me on drums [laughs].

When I was doing the Ringo Starr tour we had a press conference in New York. I had nothing to do that evening. Ringo’s press secretary called me and invited me to see The Band at the Lone Star café in Manhattan, so I went. When we got there she disappeared into the group’s tour bus, which they were using as a dressing room because there was no room in the club. 

When she came out she said: “The boys want to meet you.” And I said: “Oh I don’t want to do that,” because I don’t like people doing that to me. And she said: “No, they insist you go in and say hello.” So I went into the tour bus and talked to Levon [Helm] for a bit, because he’d played with Ringo, and Rick Danko. Rick then disappeared into the back of the bus and came back with two guitars, a Gibson and a Fender, and said: “Which one do you like?” I said: “Personally I use both of them, depending on circumstances.” 

And he put the Gibson around my neck! I said: “What are you doing?” He said: “We’re on now” [laughs].The next thing I know is that we all walked on stage, someone plugged me in and I ended up playing the whole set with them. We did every song, all the ones you know and love. We did them all! I remember walking back to my hotel that night and I couldn’t believe what had just happened. It was The Band; they were as cool as you could get, and they were the royalty of the music business.

Led Zeppelin

Being on Swan Song was great. How it happened was that I had a few hit records with RCA, we had our own Rockfield label, and the deal ran out and I was free. So I was sitting around at the studio recording, and Robert Plant came down to check out the studios. He had a listen to some of my stuff and offered me a deal right there and then. Within a week I was signed to them [Swan Song] and they gave me a cheque for a load of money. And I had the album ready, with no more studio costs, nothing. That’s the way to do deals. 

I went to [Zeppelin manager] Peter Grant and he said: “Alright, Dave, we’ll sign you to the label, but I don’t want to do it with any lawyers. You can trust us. I’ll give you the same deal as Zeppelin’s done with Atlantic.” And that’s what he did! And I recouped on every album. And recoup is good. It was the perfect record deal: I was allowed to do what I wanted. 

I would say that the two best people I’ve worked with in the business are David Putnam and Peter Grant. Two more opposite characters you couldn’t meet, but they were the most honourable people that I’ve ever dealt with in this business. I must admit that I felt like their mascot. They were chuffed to have me and I was chuffed to be with them. They took me on tour with them. They had a jet, and we’d take off standing up with a drink, without wearing seat-belts and all that. 

Robert was my contact, I didn’t really socialise much with the rest of them. Having said that, I was in a limo in New York with Robert and Bonzo once, and Bonzo tore the inside of the limo to pieces for reasons I never understood. It was an interesting experience travelling with them to see what life could be like with the big boys.

This feature originally appeared in Classic Rock 115, in February 2008 .

Pete Makowski joined Sounds music weekly aged 15 as a messenger boy, and was soon reviewing albums. When no-one at the paper wanted to review  Deep Purple 's Made In Japan in December 1972, Makowski did the honours. The following week the phone rang in the Sounds office. It was Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. "Thanks for the review," said Blackmore. "How would you like to come on tour with us in Europe?" He also wrote for Street Life, New Music News, Kerrang!, Soundcheck, Metal Hammer and This Is Rock, and was a press officer for Black Sabbath ,  Hawkwind ,  Motörhead , the  New York Dolls  and more. Sounds Editor Geoff Barton introduced Makowski to photographer Ross Halfin with the words, “You’ll be bad for each other,” creating a partnership that spanned three decades. Halfin and Makowski worked on dozens of articles for Classic Rock in the 00-10s, bringing back stories that crackled with humour and insight.  Pete died in November 2021 .

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Dave Edmunds Making Rare Concert Appearance

Dave Edmunds in a 1982 Columbia Records publicity photo (Lynn Goldsmith)

One of the unsung greats –  Dave Edmunds – will be making an increasingly rare concert appearance later this summer when he performs at the  Great British R&B Festival on August 26. The Welsh singer and guitarist, now 72, revealed the news on his  Facebook page , which appears to be his only social media touchpoint as he doesn’t have a website. A quick glance at his concert history on his  Setlist.fm page shows four performances in 2015, three in 2014, five in 2013 and no others since 2009. The vast majority of those appearances were in Sweden.

Edmunds’ music is often based on 1950s rockabilly style. He famously teamed with  Nick Lowe to form  Rockpile in 1976 with  Billy Bremner and  Terry Williams . Though they only have one official album – 1980’s  Seconds of Pleasure – in fact, they four released many recordings together. Edmunds was signed to the U.S. on Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song label via Atlantic in the U.S. Lowe was signed to Columbia.

Edmunds’ 1978 album  Tracks on Wax 4 – which featured such songs as “Trouble Boys” and “Deborah” – and Lowe’s 1979  Labour of Lust with the pop hit “Cruel To Be Kind,” were essentially Rockpile albums though credited to the two as solo artists.

Edmunds first made an impact in 1970 with the #1 U.K. (and #4 U.S.) hit “I Hear You Knocking.” He later earned modest Top 40 success with “Slipping Away,” the John Fogerty composition “Almost Saturday Night” and Elvis Costello’s “Girls Talk.”

Edmunds’ last U.S. dates were a handful of shows in 2002 and 2003.  Best Classic Bands ‘ Founder Greg Brodsky saw his May 2002 concert at the now-shuttered Bottom Line Cabaret in New York’s Greenwich Village when it was just Edmunds and his guitar in an intimate setting on a cross-section of material including the standards “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “That’s All Right,” his cover of Graham Parker’s “Crawling From the Wreckage,” and Lowe/Rockpile’s “I Knew the Bride.”

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Edmunds released an instrumental album,  Rags & Classics in 2015 that showcases his beautiful guitar playing on such songs as “Cannonball Rag,” “A Whiter Shade of Pale” and “God Only Knows.”

Let’s hope he enjoys the August festival appearance so much that he organizes a real tour.

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Dave Edmunds Talks About New Album and Working With Music Legends: Exclusive Interview

In addition to Dave Edmunds ' stint with the band Rockpile and his long list of solo albums, he's worked with his share of legendary artists throughout the years.  Paul McCartney , Jeff Lynne , Elvis Costello and Carl Perkins are just a few of the people who have crossed paths with Edmunds over the course of his career. Which makes the title of his latest solo release, On Guitar… Dave Edmunds: Rags & Classics , an appropriate one.

Only this time, it’s just Edmunds in the studio, playing all of the instruments for his takes on a batch of well-known classics -- from “ A Whiter Shade of Pale ” to “ God Only Knows ” and “ Your Song ,” and even   R. Kelly 's “I Believe I Can Fly.”

“I recorded this, off and on, at home over a period of four months," Edmunds explains in a press release for the new album. "But I guess the idea of making a guitar album had been lurking subconsciously since I was 17 years of age. That's when I discovered the fascinating guitar styles of Chet Atkins, Merle Travis and, later, Jerry Reed, along with other truly innovative guitarists of the ‘50s and ‘60s music revolution.”

During a recent conversation with Ultimate Classic Rock, Edmunds related the complete story about the origins of the album. He also discussed a few of his famous collaborations and productions.

The new album sounds like it's an idea you’ve had in your head for a long time.

Kind of. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get around to it. I’ve got a little studio at home, and I used to record on analog tape when I had a studio in L.A. But I’ve gone digital ... I got the studio set up and I just started messing around and doing things without really having much of a plan for it or even plans to release it. I record for fun a lot of the time, and that’s how some of these tracks came together. Then it started shaping up to be a guitar album, so I thought, “Well, I’ll keep going and see where we get.”

Had you ever tried to go down the road on a project like this before?

Doing instrumentals? Not a whole album, but I’ve thrown in a few things. About 15 years ago, I decided I wanted to see if I could do some touring in America, just solo acoustic gigs, and so it gave me a chance to do some of the old Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed guitar picking stuff, mixed in with some of the songs that I’m known for. So that got me up to speed a bit in terms of my playing. I don’t know if instrumentals are a good idea on a vocal album, but [for On Guitar ] I wanted to do well-known songs that people would recognize, not just obscure instrumentals or newly written stuff that people would find it difficult to relate to.

I love the vibe of what you did with “Black Mountain Rag.”

Yeah, from Chet Atkins! I got really into that when I was about 13 or 15 years old. I had an EP by Merle Travis and then later started listening to Chet Atkins. Then soon after that, I got into all of the rock 'n' roll stuff and left that behind. But I’ve picked it up in the last few years and gone back to try to catch up with what I missed and didn’t learn back then. A guy called Tommy Emmanuel inspired me to do that -- he’s one of the best acoustic guitar players in the world right now. He’s a good friend of mine and I’ve played with him a few times and that might have put it into my head to make a guitar album, but [to] cover the electric and then go into the acoustic along with well-known songs and then some of the more obscure stuff, just to cover the whole spectrum.

Were there any songs that you tried to do that didn’t quite get where you wanted them to be?

No, strangely enough. I find that if you keep tapping away at something and if you really believe and you have something in your head, you’ll eventually get there.

Were there challenges?

Getting it finished, I suppose. It seemed never-ending at one point. But then as I got over halfway through, I got more encouraged to keep at it. I just record when I feel like it. If it had been booking a studio and hiring musicians and getting an engineer and a producer, this album would never have gotten made. It’s just a hobby, you know? Like most of my career has been really. It’s never been goal-oriented, it’s just a hobby, a what-shall-we-do-next? sort of thing.

Have any of the artists heard your versions of the songs?

I don’t know. I’d like to send a copy to Jeff Beck -- not that I’m doing any Jeff Beck songs on there. I’d like Elton John to hear “Your Song,” because I’m quite proud of it. Kate Bush, I think, and the producer, would be interested “Wuthering Heights.” So I might get around to that.

Can you remember the first time that you heard “God Only Knows”?

Nineteen-sixty-six. That’s been a favorite of mine and many other people, and it’s probably one of the most perfect pop records ever. I’ve taken it apart musically as I’m listening to it, trying to figure out who is doing what and how it all came about. It’s so weird. It starts off as two accordions playing and a French horn. That’s a strange lineup to start a record! I’d worked out all of the harmonies, how they did that, who is singing what lines and yeah, you just pick on some of it and you say, “I wonder ;... ” It’s pretty outrageous.

I’ve been doing that all of my career with diversity in music -- not a unified style like, say, AC/DC or something where you know what you’re going to get. As much as I love those guys and people who do that, having a unified sound and a style of their own, but I’ve been all over the place. A bit of rockabilly, a bit of bluegrass, a bit of country with Carlene Carter and then pop stuff, and then I like to sing harmonies like Brian Wilson .

You produced the Everly Brothers reunion album EB’84 . What was it like working with Phil and Don at that point?

It was interesting. I was very nervous for months before, as well leading up to it. And then I learned some things about Don and Phil -- like, you can never be friends with both of them at the same time. Each one has their own circle of friends, and they don’t overlap. They weren’t that keen on singing, like, working hard at it. Don was very friendly -- he’s the one I clicked with, not so much with Phil. Phil would show up late and Don would come into the studio, and he liked to sit there and tell stories about the old days. And he had a load of stories. But to actually get them in front of a microphone and work at it was not the easiest thing.

And yet I would guess that for you, the results once you were able to do that, were quite something. I can remember seeing the concert video that came out of the reunion that they did around that time. I watched that not long after Phil passed, and it’s still an astounding watch more than 30 years later, just the harmonies and the talents those guys had together.

Was that the Albert Hall gig?

That’s the one.

Yeah, I was there for that. Soon after, I got the call to do [the album] and I had to pinch myself -- I couldn’t believe it. We did that, and I got Paul McCartney to write a song for them and found a few [other songs]. I was the one looking around for the songs, really.

What are your memories of working with Jeff Lynne on your Information album?

I was mightily impressed with Jeff and the way he works in the studio. He’s sort of making it up as he goes along. I did the two tracks with him for the album, but a lot of people complained about that and I got some flak for it, I think because they heard a bit of synthesizer and it was like, “How dare you! You mustn’t do that!” And I thought, oh my God, what have I done?" And then I suggested when George Harrison was thinking of making a record but he wasn’t quite sure, I was in the process of moving to L.A. and George [said] “I might make a record or I might not,” and I said, “Why don’t you get in touch with Jeff Lynne? He’s magic in the studio.” After about two years of me telling him this, he finally got me to bring Jeff to the house. They hit it off and I moved to America and that was it -- I was out of the loop then.

Now looking back, I’m not sure why I was quite as enamored with Jeff ... although he is tremendously talented in the studio. Sometimes, I listen back to some ELO records that impressed me back then and they seem a bit dated now. A bit too contrived. And I wondered, well, perhaps I should have just stuck to [my own plans]. I only did it because I wanted to see what it was like to work with a producer and not be producing myself and see what would come of it and what the experience would be like. Well, he took over -- when he [produces something], he does all of the backing tracks and he got me playing a lot as well. In a way, I kind of regret that whole thing. I liked the first two tracks -- we did another three or four tracks after that and we shouldn’t have done that -- we should have left it where it was.

This is the 25th anniversary of Nick Lowe’s Party of One album. What are your memories about working on that record?

It’s a wonder it got made. Because Nick came to the studio with some great musicians, but with no rehearsal and no idea of the arrangements. He just had ideas and they were sorting them out in the studio. Nick is a very funny guy to be around when he’s drinking, and he likes to drink when he’s working, and he talks and talks and he’s a very entertaining guy. He was doing a lot of that. When we did try to record things, no one was doing anything -- they were just plodding through the chords of the song and then he’d say, “Oh, perhaps that’s not going to work.” Like “All Men Are Liars,” at one point, he said, “Nah, this isn’t going to work” and I went, “Whoa, hold it -- that’s too good! We’re not going to drop that.” I said, “You go in the other room with the guys and have your drinks and have a party or something.” And I played a lot on that, I played piano and the acoustic guitar and the six-string bass and I think I brought some discipline to the whole thing. I have a feeling that it might not have been completed if they hadn’t have had me or someone like me.

Because there was no discipline in the studio, no one knew what to do musically. There was no guidance and a lot of tracks were being dropped and I said, “No, no, no, let me just work with this stuff and I’ll try and get it back together.” And the album now, I think it’s terrific. I think it’s a really unique album.

Do you think the challenges of wrangling that album and getting it to the finish line, did that keep the two of you from doing further work together?

No, we’d actually broken up the band with the Rockpile thing, that was all over. But Nick just came back to me and said, “Well, you’re out in L.A. and I’m going to record in L.A., would you come and do the production?" And that was it. We got on fine. It was great. Good fun.

Will you get a chance to play some of this new stuff live when you tour?

I don’t know. I haven’t thought of it. I hadn’t recorded it in any way that I was thinking of doing it live. I would have to get to the band that I work with in Sweden. The next time we rehearse, I might try some [of the material] -- it’s only a four piece band. So I don’t know yet. We’ll see how this goes.

H ow did you end up working with guys in Sweden?

Because it’s a great market for me! They’re stuck in this time warp of late ‘50s and early ‘60s rock 'n' roll stuff. They go about their business in the usual way, but when they get to a gig, and you know, the weekends, [they really have a lot of fun]. They have these classic car rallies where there’s thousands of American classic cars there that they bring out in the summer. It’s a great market for me. I can practically go there whenever I want and either do a tour or a weekend of gigs. I was just working with this band over the years and that’s my favorite outfit -- the best band I’ve ever had. It’s been confined to Sweden so far, but we’re thinking of going to Australia at the beginning of next year. And then hopefully onto America.

Are you working on any other material at the moment?

No, not at the moment. I just finished this and I have the other album, Again , which I put out almost two years ago. But it wasn’t released officially in America, not the CD, because of contractual things. But I recorded five new songs for that -- and wrote them. Then I got onto this one, so no, I’m just sitting back at the moment and I’m planning the next year or so.

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Dave Edmunds

With a history rich in the traditions of rock & roll, legendary guitarist and songwriter Dave Edmunds has made a place for himself as one of the more...

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