For Pat Faherty of Canyon Lights, starting at the source is the only way forward. When the former GA-20 frontman listens to the blues, more often than not it’s going to be originators like Hound Dog Taylor or T-Bone Walker.
And when he reaches for inspiration to create the riffs behind his new band’s rolling early ’70s rumble, he’s coming from the same place as guys like Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton.
“All of those guitar players who started the concept of the guitar riff, they were learning comping before the style even existed,” Faherty says. “They were learning to back up the melody, not take over the melody with their guitar playing. I think what helps me for Canyon Lights is that the riffs come from the comping style of playing rhythm guitar.”
Faherty and drummer Tim Carman, his bandmate in GA-20 – a band that, incidentally, recorded an entire album of blues covers, 2021’s Try It... You Might Like It: GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor – formed Canyon Lights after jamming on riffs and song ideas that didn’t fit the more conventional blues of their previous band.
Modeled in the mold of power trios like the James Gang – whose Walk Away they covered and released earlier this year – and Cream, Canyon Lights paints with a much broader brush.
Breathe Easy, their debut album’s title cut, is rooted in a bluesy shuffle and accented with slide licks, but Faherty’s approach to vocals and harmonies carries the song deep into the disco decade. And the single-note picking in the intro to Song Behind Those Tears rings like a long-lost Byrds tune before he lays down the stomping main groove.
Faherty’s ability to move seamlessly from chunky riffing to slinky funk to ripping slide reveals his virtuosity. After all, he’s schooled in jazz and once took on the role of Eddie in a Van Halen cover band; he even posted YouTube tutorials on how to play some of the late guitar legend’s solos during Covid days.
I grew up with a lot of different sounds in Boston in the ’90s. I have a basic rock background, but I was also playing punk, hardcore and metal
“I grew up with a lot of different sounds in Boston in the ’90s. I have a basic rock background, but I was also playing punk, hardcore and metal,” Faherty says. “All of that coalesced into certain kinds of vibes that just weren’t going to work with GA-20.”
Breathe Easy has the organic tones and feel of garage rock’s glory days, but those blues touchstones are still Faherty’s north star.
“That live video of Buddy Guy doing First Time I Met the Blues in 1970 that was in the documentary Chicago Blues – if I could ever even get close to the feel or touch of that performance, I'd be able to die a happy man,” Faherty says.
- Breathe Easy is out now via Canyon Lights.
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
