Jim Campilongo

Not surprising, given its status as the first mass-produced electric guitar, the Fender Telecaster has achieved a secure, storied and singular role in the history of modern electric music. But even more than its history, what's really set the "Tele" apart has been the amazing roster of players who have squeezed, plucked and picked an extraordinary array of sounds the out of its mass of steel and wood.

From early country-rock pioneers such as Jimmy Bryant and James Burton, to virtuoso, genre-defying string-benders such as Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton, to contemporary rock players such as Keith Richards and Andy Summers, the Tele's twangy tone has attracted a steady stream of top-tier guitar slingers. To that venerable list you can now add another name: Jim Campilongo, a long-time San Francisco resident who recently packed up shop and moved to New York City to further his musical ambitions.

Whether he's chicken-picking staccato country lines, smoothly segueing into complex jazz chords or executing otherworldly bends and shimmering pinch harmonics, Campilongo has all the chops expected of a Tele titan. However, unlike legions of other technically proficient guitarists, Campilongo's guitar pyrotechnics are always in the services of the song, ensuring that both his original compositions and the covers he plays not only have a strong sense of melody, but are infused with a quirky, deep-felt personality. Any Campilongo show will offer up an original, sometimes strikingly unusual musical mélange that combines elements of Bakersfield country, traditional and off-kilter jazz, blues and rock, making it almost as hard to describe as it is to play. While Campilongo has a firm handle on the latter, he leaves it to others to come up with worthy descriptions. When all else fails, simply call it an exhilarating slice of Americana.

Although he makes the guitar-playing part of his career look remarkably easy, Campilongo has paid his dues -- when he's not playing or going out to see other musicians, he's working the phones, networking, sending out emails, mailing flyers and putting in all the unglamorous work it takes to build a successful career. He is also a frequent contributor to guitar enthusiast magazines such as Guitar Player, and even has his own successful guitar-lessons-by-mail business.

All his hard work is now paying off. Shortly after moving to New York he established a residency at the Knitting Factory, earning the same kind of praise he enjoyed when he was one of San Francisco's best-kept secrets. He has also become a favorite performer at Finland's Jamsa Music Festival every summer. Now, armed with a new CD, American Hips -- which featuries five-time Grammy winner Norah Jones on two cuts -- Campilongo appears poised to move beyond local critical acclaim and into more mainstream recognition.

Just prior to one of his Knitting Factory gigs this past spring, Campilongo sat down with StarPolish editorial director James K. Willcox to discuss his decision to relocate to New York, his approach to guitar, and earning a living in the music business.

To hear a live cut from one of Jim's Knitting Factory performances this past summer, click here.

Go East, Young Man

STARPOLISH: I find it interesting that you had established yourself in the San Francisco area and then picked up and moved to New York. Could you talk about your decision to make that move, and how it's turned out so far? Was there fear involved with leaving an area where you were comfortable and moving to a new geographic location?

JIM CAMPILONGO:  Initially, yes, it was really scary. I had a ton of sleepless nights. I came [to NYC] in 2001 just prior to the September 11th tragedy and I did some gigs here and was having a great time up until [September 11th]. Then, for about a week, I just wanted to get out of here and get home. Finally I did get home and when I got there I realized that I wanted to get back to New York, and I felt that way for months. Honestly, I wondered, "Man, am I going through a mid-life crisis, or what's going on here?" Eventually I came to the conclusion that there are a lot of clubs and a lot of opportunities here that aren't in the Bay area. I came here to New York hoping to up my career a notch or two and maybe bring it up to where I'd like to see it. I think, to a certain degree, I hit the ceiling in the Bay area and it seemed to me that moving here was a necessity as much as a choice or an option. I loved San Francisco, it's a really comfortable place to live... and there are definitely some things I miss about the Bay area.

STARPOLISH: I should probably point out that while we're talking, it's 15 degrees here in New York.

CAMPILONGO:  Yep, it's 15 degrees and it feels like it's dark all the time. It's been hard starting from scratch, but things have gone well and one of the reasons for that is that I didn't expect anything. I had a budget and I thought it would last me six months and then I'd be back in San Francisco. I had even made arrangements for a place to stay because I own a home in the Bay area and I had rented it for a year. I thought I'd get here, have some kicks, worst-case scenario maybe be homesick, then return to San Francisco in six months after spending my nest egg. That definitely hasn't happened. I haven't spent any money; I've been making some money. I did a Porsche commercial and I worked hard to get there; I put together these little packages with press kits and I mailed them around. This one group of guys called me, Music for Picture, and they had heard my CDs and really liked my stuff. They had me come in and I did a few sessions. In one session we just started playing in the studio and they recorded it and the client (Porsche) ended up liking that. It was basically a jam. It's music in a commercial that had become one of the 10 most played commercials in America. It's me and the bassist and the drummer's music. That isn't going to happen in San Francisco -- not right now, anyway.

STARPOLISH: Does getting a high-profile commercial studio session beget other sessions? I mean, do people then pick their heads up and say, "We want something like that!"

CAMPILONGO:  It hasn't happened yet, and I don't anticipate it. I think it would be nice if it did happen, and it would be nice if people knew that I did this really specific thing and that they can call me and get this really specific thing, and hopefully a really outstanding, likeable specific thing. So far that hasn't really happened, but I've been knocking on a lot of studio doors and I know that they're aware of me, and hopefully they listen to the CD I gave them so they know what I sound like, too. It's not like my phone's ringing off the hook or anything.

Session Work

STARPOLISH: A lot of people who are looking for session work say that L.A. is a better place than New York because of the amount of TV shows and film studios out there. You decided to come to New York. Was that decision a combination of wanting to do session work as well as the city's number of live venues where you could play? What made New York the choice as opposed to L.A.?

CAMPILONGO:  Well, first it's the city itself and the buildings... the restaurants, the lifestyle, the museums... it's a great city. If Orlando had a better music scene, I don't think I'd go there. I'm not saying I came here on some big pleasure cruise, but I did not come here to be a session man. I came here to knock on a lot of different doors, one being sessions, one being as an Americana artist who can go to Europe and please those audiences... One thing about New York is that there are a kazillion clubs where people can go out and listen to music. I haven't lived in L.A. -- I think it's a lot more happening than San Francisco, and maybe even more happening than New York, but there seems to be a vibrant club scene here [in New York], and so far so good because I'm playing more than I did in the Bay area. I like the energy of the audiences; it kind of reminds me of San Francisco in the 80s -- everybody seems to be drinking, smoking and mating, and I like that. New York's a hard place to live, so people are here for a reason. People aren't here because they can garden or because they can drive everywhere and find easy parking, and they aren't here for the spacious rental they're going to get for their buck. People are all here for a different reason than that, and maybe part of that reason is to go see music and art and go see people and to live.

STARPOLISH: I guess when you're living in a shoebox it makes you way more excited about leaving your 300-foot apartment and going out into another atmosphere. A lot of people are here despite all of those things that you mentioned, and maybe that forces you out a little more.

CAMPILONGO:  And it produces an energy, and it produces a "not taking the guys in the corner for granted" thing. Generally, every [artist] here is good -- I don't think I've seen anybody that was bad yet. I've seen so many outstanding, inspiring artists, and that's great -- there is a certain intensity at the clubs that I like. I didn't know what to expect [when I first moved out here], I thought, "Oh, boy. It's New York. Who's going to be in the audience? Andy Warhol trying not to look excited?" People are enthused here and I think it's great --that's another reason I came out here.

STARPOLISH: I think of you as a player's player -- other guitar players know about you, you've written for Guitar Player magazine... was that helpful in establishing yourself in a new town? Were there other players that knew about you that helped you get gigs in New York, or did you do it all on your own? My guess is that not everybody knows your name, but within the players' community you're well known -- how has that helped?

CAMPILONGO:  It has helped, and I think the only bad press you can get is your obituary. Yeah, I have gotten some press and a lot of it happened to be in Guitar Player magazine, so people who read that magazine know me, or people who really love Telecasters know me.

STARPOLISH: And that's sort of a tight-knit community as you find out...

CAMPILONGO:  It is. Every now and then here I became surprised when I leave a tail-between-my-legs message on some club owner's answering machine and then receive an excited call back from the club owner saying, "Wow, I heard you were in New York!" That happened at the Raccoon Lodge -- this guy was so excited. Sometimes I thought, "Well, if this guy's excited about me, he can't be all that great --not if he's fawning over me." Then later on the guy said, "I played guitar with Billy Cobham," and, "Do you have any of those Jimmy Rivers' solos transcribed in standard notation, cause I use them for reading practices in the morning?" And this was the club owner, or the guy who books the club! All of a sudden I started thinking, "Geez, I better change my strings before playing in front of this guy!"

STARPOLISH: Because he became a peer.

CAMPILONGO:  Exactly, that happens a ton here in New York. But now and then [my status with other guitar players] does help. I did get press and thank God, because it's hard anyway.

Being Proactive

STARPOLISH: You seemed to be very proactive with contacting clubs, reaching out to media... for example, you sent an email to us at StarPolish, and I remembered you from Guitar Player and seeing you live in San Francisco. That's something not a lot of artists do. So it struck me that are very proactive about your career, where it seems that a lot of artists wait for things to happen.

Jim Campilongo with two members of the Finland Army

CAMPILONGO:  I did, and sometimes I just absolutely hated it. I have certain systems that I depend on and I act as my own boss even though I don't feel like my own boss. First off, to give some good advice, I would say that when you meet someone, think about what question you want to ask them. If it's somebody who's into session work, then ask him about that aspect of the industry. Everybody has a certain angle, so when I meet somebody in the industry I think about what would be the best questions to ask them. So talking with you would involve a completely different set of questions than talking with [noted session guitarist] Hugh McCracken. And that's not easy. When you think about what is a good question to ask Hugh it can leave you tongue-tied, but nonetheless, that is one aspect I think about --especially when I came to New York.

The other thing is that [being proactive with your career] takes mundane self-discipline. When I write down on a piece of paper that I'm going to call somebody, there are no two ways about it; I am going to call that person. I don't get rid of that paper until I at least leave a message for that person. That goes with booking, it goes with going to Staples to get mailers for sending out press kits and everything I have to do in that day -- even when it's the most thankless, frustrating, tedious job ever conceived by God or man. Sometimes it does feel that way.

STARPOLISH: A lot of people think their job ends with the creation of music, and that's fine if you want to play music, but if you want to be in the music business there's a whole other set of things that need to be taken care of. I don't think a lot of emerging artists are really aware of the business aspects, which is really why StarPolish came about -- to marry the creative side with the rigorous follow-through and discipline that enable artists to survive in music. It seems like you have a handle on that.

CAMPILONGO:  Well, thanks, and that really does mean a lot because it is a part of who I am and it is a part of the little success I've had -- that and luck and God's grace. A lot of it is being this junkyard dog who won't let go of someone's pant leg, and I appreciate [your comments] because so many times musicians are painted as guys who sleep until 3:00 in the afternoon then get up and play saxophone in front of the mirror, and I feel so far from that. I'm up at 7:00 a.m., and tonight I have a gig that's from 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Many times in a week I'll have a 22-hour day. That's not to say that I'm some crazed workaholic -- I'll goof around and rent a movie during the day sometimes.

What I tell people is to do one thing for your career everyday. Send a postcard to a radio show, find out the public radio stations in your area and contact them, whatever... do one thing everyday. That really sounds simple, but it isn't. After six months if you did one thing everyday, chances are you're going to have a lot to show for it.

Categorization & Airplay

STARPOLISH: I find the type of music you play hard to describe, and unless you're doing something I'm not aware of, when I've seen you play your music is instrumental. Do those two factors make things a bit more difficult for you? Could you talk about pursuing instrumental music, and where that has a place in a city like New York? Also, is it tough to get the type of music you play on radio, where there's such an emphasis on pop music with vocals?

CAMPILONGO:  Yes and no. Sometimes it makes it tougher in that I'm misunderstood -- sometimes people view me as a silent movie, and they'd rather see a movie with sound. In that way it makes my job a little harder because in my mind, and I think accurately so, there's more imagery to catch your imagination. I'm not in his caliber, but when I listen to Thelonius Monk I'm glad there's not a vocalist, because the music brings me through a whole array of emotions. Sometimes your average guy would rather hear something that's like "Start Me Up" by the Rolling Stones, or even your most sophisticated listener would sink their teeth into something with a vocalist because they can project themselves into that much more easily than they can some weird instrumental thing. That's where it's harder.

I'm not Mr. Positive or anything, but what makes it easier is that I'm not competing with pop artists. My competition is few and far between, especially because what I do is so unique. It's why I was on the Laura Cantrell radio show last year -- if I was an outstanding, beautiful young country singer, I might have had a bit more trouble getting on her show. Instead, I'm an average, old, ugly instrumentalist and I can be on that show because I'm unique and I'm not competing with this huge market that's almost breaking at the seams. I never know what to tell people about what I play -- everyone tells me it's like a David Lynch soundtrack and I'll go with that, that seems good enough for me. I kind of think that I have a unique voice that combines American elements of music. But nonetheless, I think I would have a heck of a harder time in New York City if I played like Wes Montgomery.

STARPOLISH: You mean more of a mainstream pop-jazz sort of thing?

CAMPILONGO:  Yeah, I think that would be tougher.

STARPOLISH: Because there's more competition in that area?

CAMPILONGO:  Yeah. Did you see me do my de-tuning solo the other night?

STARPOLISH: Yeah.

CAMPILONGO:  It was a little show that night, but sometimes if I do something like that it literally creates a rumble and the audience gets really excited by that. Sometimes they start yelling and cheering me on, and I'm really noticed when that happens or I do something like that. I think because I do something unique that isn't everywhere, even if it is instrumental, it's my strength and it's my weakness.

Crossover Appeal

STARPOLISH: Because I happen to be a guitar player -- and a Telecaster player -- I know how hard it is to do what you're doing to get those unique sounds -- the natural and artificial harmonics, pulling on the neck to get certain bends, bending adjacent strings in opposite directions and creating these shimmering, discordant tones. I mean, I can appreciate from a technical standpoint how difficult it is for you to do that, and to make it look rather easy. But does the average person who comes into a club understand that what you're doing is quite extraordinary?

CAMPILONGO:  I hope they think it's sexy. I hope they think it's funny. I hope they think it's sad. Never do I do anything so that some guitar player will be impressed. Sometimes I can't help but have that cross my mind in this town when sometimes you look and it's like Abraham Lincoln sitting in front of you watching you play, but I play songs. They're not endless guitar solos, they're not impossible to play leads, they're songs -- sometimes whimsically named, like "Cat Under a Car" or "Bought Some Swampland in Florida." But they aren't called "Jim's Boogie" or whatever, like a Joe Satriani thing -- no offense to Joe.

STARPOLISH: A lot of times speed is how people judge a person's technical ability, and on one of your songs (Twister) you do this sort of fast, chicken picking stuff and some very fast runs. So you can obviously do that, but in general you don't play particularly fast, where a lot of guitarists would want to demonstrate how fast they can play. Your songs are constructed in a much different and, in my opinion, a harder-to-perform manner, and it seems like everything is subservient to the creation of the song, rather than  "Look how fast I can play," or "Look how many notes I can bend at one time."

So I guess this is a rather rambling preamble to a question about having to please two audiences: the guitar nuts who come to stare at your fingers, and the more mainstream fans who want to hear the songs. Is that a tough balance, to serve both those audiences, and do you think you pull it off?

CAMPILONGO:  That was a really good question, and it's something that I'm always thinking about. I'd like to think I do... I'd say as much as Bill Frisell can. He has a sophisticated audience, probably less of a Hellecaster kind of audience than I probably do, just by the nature of my playing, so there might be a bit more of an expectation for me to burn. I've been thinking that maybe I should play a couple more fast ones. I did "Mister Sandman" on one of my CDs and thought, "You know, that always makes everybody happy."

STARPOLISH: Given the type of music that you're pursuing, I think the expectation level is interesting. Sometimes people don't really look into where they overall fit into the music market, then they're disappointed when they don't have Britney Spears' sales when they're playing Bill Frisell-type of music, which by its very nature is going to have a more limited audience. Is having realistic expectation levels part of being able to enjoy what you do?

CAMPILONGO:  Perhaps, but I think everybody wants more. I thought it was funny when I read about squabbles between Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono -- Paul McCartney wants the credit on "Yesterday" to read  McCartney/Lennon. He wants credit. I'm not putting Paul McCartney down; my point is that it's human nature. Even Paul McCartney wants more. Paul McCartney has probably been written about as much as any artist in the 20th century, but here he is, still wanting more credit. I think that's human nature. I think I'm fairly realistic and I certainly don't expect my record to be the darling of everyone, but sometimes I do think I should be playing in Europe -- that it would be successful and good. I've been in this business long enough to know that. I also feel like I wish I could play on more commercials, and perhaps have my music in movies more because I think it's a perfect fit that would make a film better, and obviously benefit me creatively and financially.

There are certain things I'm hoping for, and I can't say that I expect them, but they're realistic hopes. I don't expect to be some poster boy. I also want to put out a record, and I hope it's a great record. I hope my peers like it and that the people I respect dig it. I put out a record, Table for One, and it's probably my favorite record. It's a little harder to find, actually -- it might be on the verge of selling out and being out of print -- but I really love that record. I got an email from some guy a few years ago saying that he and his wife used to put it on during dinner, and that really meant a lot to me. When I was a teenager it would have made me run away screaming, but now I think it's really sweet, it's really nice. In a way it's a tribute to that record that people can do that. In a way it's also heart wrenching to me.

STARPOLISH: Do you put out your records yourself now? Are you on a small label? What has been your experience with labels?

CAMPILONGO:  I haven't had that much experience. Usually labels flirt with you in a way and then they say things at the end where I walk away happy, but by the time I get home I forget what they said. I think they study it in college -- it's a secret course. To make a long story ambiguous, certain labels have flirted with me, but ultimately I put out the records myself.

The first record I put out, this other guy financed it and it was our agreement that we would print up 1,000 -- and 800 might be left up in my attic until I was an old man. Now, this was the first 10 Gallon Cats record, with the face of Ernie the Cat on it, and it sold well. That was the beginning of Blue Hen Records, which started as a vanity label then got distribution. Once you get distribution you have a name card and once you have a name card it's easier to make another CD and get it in the stores under Campilongo. That was the beginning of, so far, a five-CD career.

STARPOLISH: So you're available in some retail outlets?

CAMPILONGO:  Tower, Virgin, and fine record stores everywhere -- and certainly at JimCampilongo.com!

STARPOLISH: That's the other thing I wanted to talk with you about. How effective has the Internet, and having a website, been for you as an independent artist?

Jim Campilongo

CAMPILONGO:  Invaluable. People are starting to catch up with the technology -- you still need 8 x 10 glossies and to mail people CDs -- and it's really unnecessary in a way -- but my website is truly an online business. All I need is an awning. I get email everyday about the aspects of that website. I have lessons by mail, which is done really well. Every time I write an article and there's a link to my site, I see that the number of people on my mailing list has increased substantially. People won't just read about me, go to their record store, find out there's no Campilongo and end up buying a Duke Ellington record instead, and then forget about me. Instead they'll go to JimCampilongo.com and pick out which of my CDs they're going to get, read my life's history and join my mailing list. I think the Internet is so great for independent artists. And I'm linked to Norah Jones' website.

STARPOLISH: You played with her for a little while, right?

CAMPILONGO:  Yeah. I remember us playing in San Francisco and we played a couple of country gigs. We played this one place called The Jupiter, and it's a cool club, but they made us play outside and it was 35 degrees and we were freezing. That was just a couple of years ago, and now she's won a bunch of Grammy awards. I think it's great that somebody who deserves those awards got them. I think it's admirable that she doesn't flaunt her sexuality, and I think she has some really great influences. When she sings I hear a little Ray Charles, and she really digs Willie Nelson -- she digs stuff that an older person would like. I know everybody in her band and everybody on her records.

So I feel like it means I'm running in good company. It gives me, to myself, some credibility. I'm just human and some days I think, "What's the point? I'm mediocre." I don't believe in myself everyday of the week, but knowing that I played with somebody who won so many Grammys, and whom I think is great, means a lot. It's also interesting to see that success does exist. She's the second or third Grammy-winning artist that I've played with. I played with Peter Rowan, and I played with Cake. Actually, I don't know if Cake won a Grammy or not -- maybe they didn't.

Note:  To purchase American Hips or any of Jim's previous four albums, visit www.JimCampilongo.com  or www.Amazon.com.