Chris Isaak: True Blue Crooner

Singer/guitarist on recording his album 'Forever Blue' in his garage

Guitar Player
October 1995
By Andy Blukis

"I'm a sucker for songs that are very emotional and sound real," says Chris Isaak of his most affectionate and personal album to date, Forever Blue. "A lot of people look at this stuff and say, "You got this great big window and people can see you inside,' but it's not really a window. It's a great big mirror."

Isaak blends his emotionally gripping lyrics d'amour into murky boogies like "Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing' and shimmering ballads like "Somebody's Crying," creating a melodic, carefully tailored set of songs. Chris' full-throated falsetto crooning is inspired by his love for Hawaiian tunes, while his album's vintage tone comes from a wide array of guitars, notably a Gibson L-5, an Epiphone Emperor, and an Ibanez Joe Pass model, played with deliciously full tremolo and reverb through blackface Fender piggybacks.

Although Chris played most of the lead during recording, he says, "I'm not a hotshot guitar player. I can't peel off riffs, and I'm not crazy about playing a lot of leads." The album, recorded in Chris' garage with producer Erik Jacobsen, resurrected older gadgetry like a Marlboro echo/reverb unit, a revolving Standel reverb, and a standard Echoplex.

Although melancholic, Forever Blue does not descend into depressing self-pity. "I haven't had a lot of bad luck," Isaak says. "I've had a little bit, but let's face it, my life is like a candy-coated dream charm. I'm healthy. I got my family. I got a good job. Everything's going swingin'."

Isaak's Forever Blue tour introduces versatile lead guitarist Herschel Yatovitz. "A lot of bands have singers who are also wanna-be guitar players," Chris says, "and they screw things up because they play riffs too much, and there's nobody to play rhythm guitar."

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