Exclusive interview with Benjamin Schultz
Some musicians learn their craft. Benjamin Schultz lived it. Long before he became one of rock’s most technically accomplished and quietly influential guitarists, he was a teenager in Tampa jamming with Jimi Hendrix at the Men’s Garden Club Sunday jam, introduced to the icon at a no-tell-motel bar through a friend who designed Hendrix’s stage wardrobe. That kind of origin story would be enough for most careers. For Schultz, it was only the opening chapter. By 1970, he had formed The Original Wizard with Paul Forney and Chris Luhn at the University of South Florida, a free-form rock band that toured the South and Midwest opening for Iron Butterfly, Chicago, Mountain, Rod Stewart, and Duane Allman and the Allman Brothers, and performed before 675,000 people at the legendary Goose Lake Pop Festival.
It was Allman himself who handed him a Coricidin bottle one night and told him to try it on for size, a single moment that helped shape the slide playing Guitar World would later call slippery and instinctive, with or without the bottle. Decades later, a sealed original pressing of Wizard’s only album sold for $15,000 in the Netherlands, proof of a legacy that has only deepened with time. Now, with a career spanning Berklee, the New England Conservatory, and five decades behind the board and on the fretboard, Schultz sat down to discuss his latest single, his roots, and the instincts that have carried him through it all.
Ben Schultz https://open.spotify.com/artist/3UTbuGu0rmWXZIw4RYspm8
We caught up with Benjamin Schultz and talked about what he’s up to and his new, forthcoming single “It Hurts Me Too,” a deeply personal reinterpretation of the blues standard that was originally written by Tampa Red, who first recorded the song in 1940. Along with Schultz, the track features the late renowned keyboardist and vocal legend (Bonnie Raitt, Jimi Hendrix, Etta James, Joe Cocker, Crosby) on lead, and powerhouse Bekka Bramlett on back-up vocals (Fleetwood Mac, Dwight Yoakam, Vince Gill, Robert Plant, Buddy Guy).
Tell us about your new single and why you decided to do a cover of it and the meaning behind choosing this one to do?
I originally heard a friend’s band do this at The Baked Potato in North Hollywood in the early ’90s. I really liked it, but with my Jimmy Page influences, I heard a completely different way to approach the track…a heavier, not traditional blues like Tampa Red or Robert Johnson. More British.
Tell us something about the release no one knows?
The radio edit. It used to be required for all AM and FM singles — the “cut down” to say everything in the shortest time possible. That form is still around. Shortening a traditional blues song and keeping its authenticity was tough, just like my edit on Zeppelin’s “The Rain Song” radio version, which is out now. The trick is, you don’t hear what was removed.
Who all played on it?
I’m the whole band, except for Mike Finnigan on Hammond B3 and lead vocals, and Bekka Bramlett on background vocals and tambourine.
What specific guitars, amps, or effect pedals defined the core tone of this track?
Guitars: an old Epiphone SG tuned in “Drop C” open tuning. No amps, no pedals. Doubled the rhythm track. Slide — you just go for it. Your interpretation of the melody that came before you.
I used the Jimmy Page “Headley Grange/Rolling Stones Mobile truck Helios console” direct-in (DI) method. It’s now widely known because of YouTube. It was invented by The Beatles’ engineers, and further expounded on by Andy Johns (he taught me) and Ron Nevison, who were two of Zeppelin’s engineers. It involves using specifically a Helios console strip and two 1176 compressors. I’m pretty sure Page knew exactly how to get what he wanted, because John Bonham was set up at the bottom of the stairwell, heavily mic’d up and compressed. They couldn’t use any live amps on guitar or bass, for bleed reasons.
How did your approach to the guitar solos or rhythm parts change compared to your earlier work?
This may sound strange, or maybe even pompous, but I don’t think about any of it on anything I’ve done once the vibe of the tune is fleshed out. I just let go and follow where the sound takes me, in the moment. For me, that’s the magic of it all…letting your environment and spirit and the song guide you. Of course, once you’ve captured it, we all go back and fine-tune. Maybe. The beauty is if you get it in one take. That’s “hitting the note!”
How do you separate your creative brain as an artist from your analytical brain as a mixing and mastering engineer?
Engineering is physics. After doing it long enough, it’s like muscle memory. Your instincts take over. You become an outside observer, no longer the artist, the engineer, or the mastering engineer. You’re just “the guy doing the job.”
If you could work with any band on a new song, who would it be and why?
Again, this may sound a bit strange or even pompous, but I’ve been known to put well-respected bands together, or join them, with major star musicians since 1974. I guess I was blessed to be given the opportunity to even know and get to work with my heroes. I’m working on another one of these “super” groups now. Out of respect to the musicians on this project, some I know, two others I’m looking forward to meeting. Mentioning names? It’s not time yet.
What else can we expect from you in 2026, going into 2027?
New music, re-releasing my entire body of work since 1969 over time (and please say a prayer for me), and this new band (super group). It’s time for it. The audience has spoken on where and what music they’re gravitating to. And I see the business, in my opinion, needs a new band — like the major acts still touring, or the tribute bands that are killing it, but more importantly, with new, great songs! There are too many clichés for this. I’m following my instincts, which have served me well in my 57-year career. Let’s see if they still work