Man Against Guitar: Redd Volkaert

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THE TELECASTER HAS a reputation as an unforgiving guitar. Step onstage with one around your neck, and if you're not careful, it'll hang you.

True Tele masters don't hide behind a rack of effects. They run fast, clean and out front. "You can't just kind of fluff and play on the thing. You have to get after it and chase it and stay on it," says Redd Volkaert.

He should know. One of the best Tele pickers alive, he got famous playing with Merle Haggard, but Volkaert's been taming twangy Fenders since he was a boy growing up outside Vancouver.

"As a kid, I didn't know shit from wild honey, probably still don't. I didn't know what made me like the thing or the sound," he says. "Later on, I guess, I kinda figured out that you have to wrestle with a Telecaster, it seems like, a lot more than any other guitar to get something out of it. But when you do get something out of it, it's worth it."

Thursday at the Birchmere, he's joining forces with former Asleep at the Wheel steel and Dobro player Cindy Cashdollar to swap licks and generally make life difficult for each other. If you're lucky, they'll be joined on a couple of numbers by headliner Bill Kirchen, himself a Tele titan.

Lately Volkaert has become known as a favorite of Brad Paisley. On the country chart-topper's upcoming instrumental album, Redd'll drop some fire on "Clusterpluck." Volkaert's also supporting his own upcoming disc, "Reddhead." The official release isn't until mid September, but, ever in the lead, he should have some copies at the show.

» Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria; Thu., 7:30 p.m., $25; 800-551-7328.

Written by Express contributor Glenn Dixon

Photo by Brio Photography