Counting a number of modern-day guitar heroes among your close friends could intimidate even the most accomplished guitarist, but not The Imaginaries’ shredder-in-chief, Shane Henry, who called upon his famous six-string-wielding pals to lend their talents to the band's upcoming album, Fever.
The new album features tasty guitar work from not one big name, but three, with Joe Bonamassa, Vince Gill, and Ariel Posen all stepping up to provide a sizeable dose of their signature licks – and Shane says he has a retro Chevy and streaming giants Netflix to thank...
You've known Joe Bonamassa for a long time, having opened for him early in your career. How did he end up appearing on the album?
If you buy it, it's going to cost you a vintage Les Paul
"We actually have a connection outside of music in our love for old cars. I restored an old Chevy pickup back in 2017. It was a fun hobby when I was off the road, and I wanted to take my mind off music.
"It was a slow process, but I got it done, and I started posting pictures of it. And [Joe] was like, 'Man, I love this truck. Is it for sale? I want to buy it!' And I was like, 'No, it's not for sale.' I just kept teasing him. I was like, 'If you buy it, it's going to cost you a vintage Les Paul.'
"Finally, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and so I sold him the truck. Joe got the truck to Nashville, and I told him, 'You know, this is an original truck, you're going to want a shop to go through it.' Well, he realized right away that it needed more horsepower, and it drove like a tank at 55mph. He had a hot rod shop go through [it].
"A year and a half, two years ago, while we were working on this record in Nashville, he saw that I was in town and he wanted to show me the truck. So I said, 'Well, hey, we're working at the studio, why don't you come by and show it to me?' He came by and we hung out, and we happened to be working on Crossroads at the time. And I said, 'Dude, this song needs some Joe Bonamassa slide on it.'"
I believe you have Netflix to thank for landing a collaboration with country legend Vince Gill?
"Our connection with Vince was through our Oklahoma roots. We were part of a movie called A Cowgirl's Song. It was a sweet little movie that came out on Netflix, and we did all the music for it. Through that process, we met a really amazing fiddle player from Oklahoma named Byron Berline – he's kind of a legend. He played on Rolling Stones records and all kinds of stuff.
Our friendship with Vince really started from a cold call about this movie project that he actually wasn't available to do
"The director wanted a real, legit country star to do a song on the soundtrack. So my wife Maggie asked Byron if she could get connected with Vince Gill's manager. And Byron said, 'I don't know who his manager is, but I got his number, here you go.'
"So our friendship with Vince really started from a cold call about this movie project that he actually wasn't available to do because he had started his Eagles show.
"We had a song, Whole Lotta Livin', which has a little bit of an Eagles vibe. I was doing a solo on it, which sounded pretty cool, but I wanted something that had a little different flair. So we just asked him, 'Hey, would you be up for playing on this?' He had us come over to his studio. We brought the track, and he just played on it. It was really cool."
I know you are a lover of vintage guitars. Your first was a 1959 Telecaster. What's the story there?
"I collect the black [panel] Fender amps, and the two I didn't have were a Vibrolux and a Tremolux. And I found a Vibrolux on Facebook Marketplace, and I thought it was a reissue. Come to find out it was a 1966 original – and it was in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
"The guy had $1,200 on the listing. He's like, 'This was my grandfather's amp, I inherited it, and I'm not a guitar player. I want somebody who loves to play guitar to have my grandpa's amp because I want it to be played. So I bought it from him.
"As I was about to leave, he said, 'Hey, I want to show you something else, you might be interested in my grandpa's old guitar.' So he goes in the back room, pulls out a cheesy case, and there's the '59 Tele. It wasn't a stock guitar at the time. It had a late '60s maple neck on it.
"So that day, I just told him what he had and that he should probably get it appraised. I said, 'If you ever do decide to sell it, let me know!' Two months went by, and I got a phone call. He said, 'Hey, I decided I want to sell it. I was cleaning out my grandpa's workshop, and I found the original neck in the rafters in the case. I'll take 3,500 bucks for it.' So that's how that guitar came into my possession."
Do you have any advice for players looking to purchase their first vintage guitar?
I took a picture of it and sent it to Joe. I said, 'Hey, man, what do you think of this?'
"Find a friend who knows everything about them, first of all! Before you purchase one, make sure you know what you're getting. And if you buy from a reputable place, you're probably going to pay what it's worth.
“I did reach out to Joe [Bonamassa]. When I went to look at [my] '64 Strat, I wasn't totally sold that I was going to buy it, because it was a hefty purchase. It was $12,000. I took a picture of it and sent it to Joe. I said, 'Hey, man, what do you think of this?'
“I had [the guitar] appraised. We just did some videos in Nashville for Carter's Vintage Guitars, and they appraised it for $27,000. So that makes you feel good right there. I've owned it for four years, and it's doubled in value."
Not content with just writing music for your band, scoring movies for Netflix, and relentless touring, you also have your own pedal company – Westerlund Audio. What made you decide to start your own pedal brand?
"So basically, the whole thing started because Jim Robinson, who was the keyboard player that connected Maggie and me, for Christmas, about seven years ago, built a pedal for me, and I thought it was really cool.
"It was an overdrive that was a little bit Dumble-inspired. I thought it was really cool. It's like we're always all looking for something that's going to inspire us sonically. I thought, 'Man, I think this is something that other people would like,' so we started working on it. I feel like we almost gave up because it was so hard to do.
"I think it turned out incredibly well. It sounds amazing, and it's very easy to use. Vince Gill was the first person to purchase one of our Westerlund pedals. He uses it on the Eagles gig, which is amazing."
Fever is out now. For more information, visit The Imaginaries.
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