Irish guitar great Joe Hodgson was obsessed with Led Zeppelin, inspired by Rory Gallagher, and gobsmacked by Gary Moore

By Steve Newton

Five years ago a guitar player from Ireland who I’d never heard of before, Joe Hodgson, sent me his new instrumental CD, Apparitions, thinking I might like it.

He was wrong.

I freakin’ LOVED it! 

Hodgson’s technical virtuosity and knack for gorgeous melodies made me an instant fan, kinda like what happened the first time I heard Joe Satriani. By the time I’d absorbed all of Apparitions‘ 16 tracks I was totally ready to label him as The Best Guitarist You’ve Never Heard Of.

It would be five long years before Hodgson would release another collection of songs, but the wait was definitely worth it, as the recently released Fields of Redemption sees him once more serving up a multiflavoured platter of adventurous and emotive music made especially with guitar freaks like me in mind.

In the following Q&A Hodgson discusses his new album, his early musical influences, his personal guitar heroes, and the actual instruments he favours for his craft.

Congratulations on the new album, Fields of Redemption, Joe. You covered a lot of musical ground over its 15 tracks, including getting bluesy and jazzy and Celtic-folksy, along with the rocking instrumentals you’re known for. Would you say Fields is a more diverse collection of musical styles than your previous CD, 2020’s Apparitions?

Yeah, I think it most definitely is. That wasn’t totally by design, though. When I sit down to play, I never have any preconceived notion of what style I’m gonna write in. I just let it flow. Apparitions did come off the back of being in rock bands for decades, so that would explain why it was more in a pure rock vein, although there were a few forays into other territories on that album as well.

But in recent years, I’ve been playing with musicians who play in many different genres, as well as listening to a wider variety of music myself. So that has all rubbed off on me. There were a few things which I deliberately set out to do. One was to do a pure blues track, just playing clean and playing it my way. The other was to record some acoustic guitar stuff, something I’d never done before. I just thought a little bit of fingerpicking might add that extra little element to the album, and let people hear me doing something they don’t associate with or expect from me. I guess I wanted to make a record that stretched me a bit as well. To hell with playing safe, Steve.

I was wondering if you had a personal favourite track on the new album, and why?

I’d say my favourite is “You I Think Of” for a few reasons. Firstly, it was a departure for me in that I’d never done that smooth, laid-back, melodic kind of playing before on record. So it was a challenge to pull off, but so enjoyable to do. Funnily enough, the track came into being almost by accident.

I was actually working on an acoustic version of one of my favourite Irish traditional songs, “Molly Malone”. While I was doing that, I started messing around, playing my own melodies over the song’s chord progression, and before I knew it, I had a brand new track written. I decided to use the refrain from “Molly Malone” to end the song, and I think that works well. I went on to record it with the Czech National Philharmonic Orchestra, and that was a fantastic experience.

To round it off, when I got married in 2022, my wife, Tracy, walked down the aisle to the string arrangement of the song. So, all in all, it’s a pretty special track to me.

Was Fields a more challenging album to make than your debut? Why did it take five years to get the follow-up to Apparitions out?

Yes, it was because I was determined not to repeat myself, so that involved being quite ruthless with the music. I actually scrapped a full album’s worth of material in 2022 for that reason. It was also a huge project in terms of the number of musicians we used from around the world, so that brought its own challenges, but nothing too stressful.

The main reason why the album took so long to make was that my house was destroyed after we had a burst pipe in December 2022. When I first witnessed the destruction, I found my Les Paul, my Strat, and my Martin acoustic floating around my bedroom. That was quite an experience. Anyway, the whole thing resulted in me having nowhere to record for 18 months, until the house was fixed up. But you know, things do happen for a reason, and it gave me a chance to really figure out what I wanted to record.

Inside the new disc it reads: “In memory of Stevie Savage”. Who is that?

Stevie Savage was my best friend for over 30 years. He sadly died in March this year after suffering a heart attack. He was my biggest supporter and a truly wonderful person. He was cremated on March 27th, the day before the first double A-side single from the album was released. That was a tough one. Stevie was a guitar player himself, and he introduced me to lots of great music that has stuck with me over the years. I was so looking forward to playing the new album to him, but alas, that never happened. I hope he’s in that great bar in the sky, kicking back and sinking a cold one.

Going back in time, I was wondering when you first fell in love with music in general. Do you remember the first records you ever bought?

My Mum was a huge Beatles fan, and she’d always tell me about how great they were. I managed to borrow a few of their albums, and I was hooked. That led me to bands like ELO, and I credit that for inspiring me to write in what I think is quite a melodic vein. The first album I ever bought, though, was In Through the Out Door by Led Zeppelin.

I was at school when I began reading about them, and I just became fascinated by their story. So I went into town and bought that album. It changed my life, and for years, I became obsessed with them. I bought everything they ever recorded, and to this day, they’re my favourite band. They were four absolute geniuses.

I realize from your bio that Irish guitarists Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore had a huge influence on you. Can you recall what it was about those two players that connected with you so strongly?

Well, the reason I play guitar is definitely down to the moment I first heard Rory Gallagher. It was just magical, and it felt like his guitar was bursting through the speakers. I was lucky enough to see him three times: Punchestown Racecourse, Lisdoonvarna, and Omagh. He was unbelievable each time, and you could literally feel the electricity in the air.

But seeing Gary live had an even more profound effect on me. I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He was an incredible player and, for me, pound for pound, the best guitar player that has ever lived. I saw him live many times, and his command of the instrument, in any given style, was quite astounding. His playing was beautiful, tough, edgy, fearsome, and fearless. There will never be another Gary Moore.

Do you have a personal favourite Gallagher or Moore album that you look to for inspiration?

With Rory, it’s definitely the live album Stage Struck. That was him at his rockiest. For Gary, it’s a more difficult choice, but if you put a gun to my head, I’d say We Want Moore. As you know, that’s a live album as well, and it’s pretty incredible. That was partly recorded during his tour supporting Rush, and I think you interviewed him around that time.

It’s real balls-to-the-wall playing, and to me, he sounded head and shoulders above anyone else around at the time. The Americans had Eddie, George Lynch and Jake E. Lee, real heroes of mine too, but we had Gary, and he had that little bit extra. He was just magical.

Rory Gallagher was famous for his battered Strat, whereas Gary Moore tended to be more of a Gibson Les Paul man. Which brand of guitar do you favour?

It depends on what side of the bed I get out of in the morning [laughs]. When I was in London, I played the Les Paul for about 20 years, but in recent times, I’ve come back more to playing Fenders. My favourite guitar to play is my blue Fender Marauder. They were first made in the 60s, but they were discontinued. When they were reissued in 2011, I bought two of them. That was lucky enough because they were discontinued again a few years later. I was intrigued by the triple humbucker, which sounds great. It just feels good in my hands. It’s like finding that woman who feels just right, Steve. And this guitar is the one for me. It’s very versatile as well, and you can play almost anything on it. 

How many guitars do you own, and if you could keep only one which would it be?

I’ve got seven electrics, a bass, and three acoustics. Which one would I keep? That’s a tough one. The Fender Marauder is obviously a contender, but it would probably be the Les Paul for sentimental reasons, and because I’ve had it for so long. My late Mum bought it for me many moons ago, and it always reminds me of her. I’ve also done over 2000 gigs with it, so it’s seen the inside of many pubs, clubs. and concert halls in the UK, Ireland, and various parts of Europe.

It’s a beautiful instrument, and it plays fantastically well. It has an eventful history in that the neck has been broken and repaired four times. I’ve got the master luthier Bill Puplett to thank for healing it each time. Bill looked after that guitar for over twenty-five years for me, but sadly, he died last year. So, everything taken into consideration, it’s got to be the Les Paul.

Just in closing, I was wondering what you’ve been listening to in your spare time these days, Joe, and what the last piece of music (CD, vinyl, streaming) was that you actually purchased?

I always gravitate to my first loves, Rory, Gary, Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin and the like. But of the newer acts around, I love John Mayer’s albums. He’s a great guitar player, too. Other guitarists I like are Marcus King, Simon McBride, and Eric Steckel. They’re phenomenal players, and they can do it all. Eric, in particular, really digs in and plays with great grit and fire.

The last album I bought was an old album from 1991, Voodoo Highway by Badlands. I love this album; great songs, brilliant singing, and of course, amazing guitar playing from Jake E. Lee. It’s a masterclass in blues rock guitar, and it’s perfectly captured. God bless Jake; he was amazing with Ozzy, too, and if I ever had the chance to meet any other guitar player, it would be Jake E. Lee.

To hear the full audio of my interviews with such Joe Hodgson-approved guitar heroes as Gary Moore and Jake E. Lee subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 500 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with rockers since 1982.