Gilbert lets his guitar do the singing

Paul Gilbert has revealed details of an instrumental solo album in which he says he uses his guitar to replicate the voices of his favourite singers.

The Mr Big axeman releases Stone Pushing Uphill Man on Monday, August 11, via Shrapnel Records.

He says: “I decided to bring my guitar to the forefront and let it sing. To do this, I used the inspiration of my favourite singers. Paul McCartney, Steven Tyler, Elton John, James Brown, Sting, KD Lang and more.

“These voices are always in my head. With my guitar I could finally reach their high notes. The challenge was to match their emotion and expression. This was my goal as a guitarist.

Stone Pushing Uphill Man is the first big step to truly find my voice on the guitar. I wanted the inspiration of my favourite singers for such a big challenge, so I chose a lot of cover songs. I think listeners will be surprised at what I’ve been able to do with the guitar.”

Stone Pushing Uphill Man tracklist

  1. Working For The Weekend 2. Back In The Saddle 3. I Got The Feelin’ 4. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 5. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road 6. Shock Absorber 7. Purple Without All The Red 8. Murder By Numbers 9. My Girl 10. Wash Me Clean 11. Stone Pushing Uphill Man

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.