Jeff Hightower http://www.mevio.com/shows/?show=healey A live interview with rock star Jeff Healey I get on the phone for half an hour with Jeff Healey and ask the questions I always wanted to know. This is a must-listen for Jeff Healey fans. en Jeff Hightower Jeff Hightower jeff@jeffhightower.com http://psstatic.podshow.com/images/shows/11601/shows/small/healey.jpg?2f073509675172556a405f191582e6f9 http://www.mevio.com/shows/?show=healey Podcast no Jeff, Healey, interview, guitarists, musicians Thu, 17 May 2007 07:30:22 -0700 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss PodShow PDN jeff@jeffhightower.com webmaster@podshow.com Jeff Hightower http://www.mevio.com/view/?kId=61411&tId=2
Skip forwards over a decade and a half and I have a column for a growing local music website.  My job is to punch through all the politics and get to the heart of music.  I considered myself the voice of the people.  I had a thought to try and interview a few big names for the site.  One of the first, I set out to attain was Jeff Healey.  I knew it was a long shot, but being muleheaded & stubborn, I made a few calls.  Months later, I was actually given permission to talk with Jeff.  We initially had a short conversation setting up the interview.  I started gathering information and studying his current area of music.  I was determined to find out what made him who he was.  How many times do you actually get to sit down and talk with your heroes?

28 minutes of interview later and I had found my answer.  After all these years of playing music, I finally understood.  He didn’t want fame from music.  To borrow a phrase from John Cafferty, it was about “pride and passion, and the thrill of it all”.  He spoke to me about hardships of the road, family, and what it was he was after.  He overcame everything not to become famous, but to play the music.

I feel that a lot of musicians today are looking at goals of world domination.  And I see one person who has conquered the world by himself.  Not by staying in the spotlight, but by standing in the shadows and doing it his way.   I constantly think of what I could do if I ever sold a song.  But I have come to that chapter of my musical career where I realize what it’s all about.  If I sell a song and make a few bucks, I will be happy and proud of the achievement.  But If I write what I know and never compromise that, I will have become the man and musician that I have been searching for over the past 16 years.

So how do you say thank you to your heroes?  Quite simply put…thank you for helping me to see.  Ain’t it funny how a man with no sight has seen more than most in the music industry ever will.

…If I never do anything else in music, I have come full circle and achieved the very thing I was after to start with.  Finding myself.

From the nest…

HornetMan ]]> This is a must-listen for Healey fans. This is a must-listen for Healey fans. Thu, 17 May 2007 07:12:43 -0700 Podcast no Healey, interview, Jeff, Jeff Healey, Jeff Healey Interview, Musicians http://m.podshow.com/media/11601/episodes/61411/healey-61411-05-17-2007.mp3