Peter Stroud - One of Today’s Top Sidemen

Meet Peter Stroud, one of today's top sidemen, most versatile session players, and a talented songwriter. Dedication to classic tone and reliable gear is what piqued his interest in Seymour Duncan products. Later, his never ending quest for great tone inspired Stroud to partner with close friend, Dan Boul, and develop their own boutique tube amplifier company, 65 Amps. These amps are designed to allow a guitar's inherent tone to shine through, so it's essential to have pickups that deliver the desired sounds for the assortment of gigs he handles.

Best known for his tenure as a member of Sheryl Crow's touring band, Stroud also has extensive touring and recording credits that include work with Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Pete Droge-to name a few, and jams during Crow's sets with guest musicians like Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood. It's a dream gig few will ever experience.

Stroud spoke with GroundWire's Lisa Sharken on a sunny April afternoon from New Orleans, before a leisurely day off from the road. He outlined the details of his main gig and the gear he chooses to get the job done. As a longtime Duncan endorser and self-professed tone aficionado, Stroud shared his insight about the various pickups he's using in his stage and studio guitars, as well as describing his experience as a test pilot for P-RailsTM.

Which players inspired you most when you were learning?
That would be Jeff Beck, Freddie King, Billy Gibbons, and of course, Jimi Hendrix. I would say all of the '70s guys like Jimmy Page and PeteTownshend were very influential.

You've worked with Sheryl Crow for years. How did you get the gig?
It's been 10 years. I met Sheryl in '96, when I was playing with Pete Droge. Then a couple of years later, she re-formed her band for The Globe Sessions tour, and she offered me the job. I recorded with Sheryl on C'mon, C'mon, and a whole host of things like soundtracks. I co-wrote a song with her on C'mon, C'mon called "Hole In My Pocket," but I haven't recorded with her on the last couple of records. She collaborates quite a bit with Jeff Trott, who's a great guitarist. They just have this great energy together. Bill Bottrell collaborated as well on writing and playing for Detours, Sheryl's latest record. They're very organic with their approach to writing and recording on the spot.

How many different instruments do you play onstage?
I play electric and acoustic guitar, and mandolin.

Which ones are fitted with Seymour Duncan pickups?
I have a Les Paul® Standard that has Antiquities, a Fender Jaguar®. HB with a set of Duncan Jazz humbuckers, along with my main slide guitar, the old red G&L F-100 with a pair of Seth Lover's. I also have a Tele® with the Antiquity for Broadcaster. I've used so many of their pickups over the years. I lean towards the lower-gain pickups rather than the higher-gain ones, having found that they are more broad in their dynamic range. Seymour nailed the P.A.F. sound with the Antiquities, and I really like the Broadcaster pickup too. I've been using Seymour Duncan's
pick-ups since becoming aware of them in the early eighties. I believe my first was a Custom Flat which may have been around '80/'81. I have a white '65 Strat I bought back then, and I put it in the bridge position to get more beef out of it.

Tell us about your experience testing P-Rails. Which guitar did you sample those in and how did they perform?
In my '61 Reissue SG®/Les Paul. This particular one is a great all-around guitar, so I thought it would be a good one to drop them in. The thing I really like is how they cleaned up and had a nice sparkle when you'd roll the guitar's volume back. And when you crank it, it sounds like the amp's about to explode. They retain a very true P-90 sound in humbucker mode with the rail. Those single-coil rails have a sound of their own and when you split the pickups to use on their own or mix and match the rails with the P-90 coils, you get some very cool sounds.

What are you playing through onstage?
I have a Bradshaw® switching system with three older Line 6® rack units-the Filter Pro, Delay and Mod Pro. Then I have a drawer of pedals that includes the Duncan [SFX-01] Pickup Booster, which is really cool. I use it for leads. It's very clean, it retains the amp's tone and I like the tone cut switch which I use it to clip off a little of the top end. I also have a couple of compressors like the Electro-Harmonix® Black Finger, Moollon® compressor, Prescription Electronics® Experience Fuzz pedal, Electro-Harmonix Tube Zipper, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail, then Boss®
NS-1 noise suppressors behind all of the noisy pedals. I also have a Moollon wah.

I use 65 Amps® obviously! Two 65 London's and the Monterey, our latest model. The London is an 18watter with EL84's and the Monterey is 22 watts that I switch to for cleaner tones. I'll A/B between the Monterey and the London, then take a stereo feed out of my rack that feeds into the second London, so that whenever the delay or modulation is in stereo mode, it kicks in the second amp.

Does your studio rig differ greatly from your stage gear?
Yes, it does. I use a Pedal Train® pedalboard and take a slew of pedals with me. I don't even have all the pedals connected and will just figure out what I'll use at the session. I prefer pedals going into the front of the amp. Sometimes I'll try two or three delays to get bouncing effects between the two amps. I'll also use the Duncan [SFX-03] Twin Tube Classic for recording. I do a lot of stuff in my home studio for other people who send me tracks, where I'll lay some guitars on them and send the files back. Most recently I recorded a song demo using the Twin Tube Classic into an old Ampeg® G12 and a blackface Fender Deluxe Reverb, both amps dialed for a cleaner sound and used the Twin Tube Classic entirely for the overdrive. It sounded killer. It has rich overdrive. I think that's one of the best preamp pedals out there.

Describe one of your most memorable experiences onstage.
It's been amazing to share the stage with folks like Keith Richards, Steve Earle and Eric Clapton. Everybody you can imagine has been onstage with Sheryl over the years. Chrissie Hynde, Stevie Nicks. Keith Urban joined us a couple of years ago on our last tour, and that was a blast. It's a thrill to have these opportunities. One of my career highlights was when we played Central Park back at the end of '99 and Clapton is leaving the stage while Keith Richards is walking on. We did "Happy" and "Sweet Little Rock & Roller" with Keith, and I have a picture of us playing face to face. It was rockin'! He was totally a band guy, right in there with us. It wasn't about Keith coming up to have his moment. He just jumps right in and becomes a band member.

What advice would you give to another musician who is striving for a job like yours?
As far as becoming a sideman, I've always said it's a given that you're expected to be able to play well, and I think that what the people look for in a sideman is versatility or personality in your playing, and also just being a cool guy able to get along in just about any situation. For Sheryl, we're there to facilitate what she needs and wants, even if it's spur of the moment. If she comes in and says she's going to do this song this way, I've got to change things. You jump, and you look forward to that as being a chance to try something different. I think that side people should understand they are there to facilitate the artist, as opposed to if it's your own band where you're the boss. If there's any other advice, I'd say to write songs. Be creative. Learn how to market yourself, as well as being creative. Being a great player is not always going to make you a working musician. It's only one piece of the puzzle.