You can’t keep an iconic rocker down. Brian Setzer’s The Devil Always Collects is his first album in more than two years. Featuring the Grammy winner’s trademark rockabilly fire, it’s a smokin’ set of tunes with a few surprises.

Guitar in-hand, the considerate, contemplative singer/songwriter/Gretsch aficionado spoke with Vintage Guitar about the album and his Rockabilly Riot! tour, occasionally launching into riffs and crooning lines.

The Devil Always Collects is your first release since 2021’s Gotta Have the Rumble, and you haven’t toured in four years. Explain the timing.
Now I’ve got two records to play, don’t I (laughs)? It was the whole Covid thing. That and I’ve got tinnitus. The doc said, “You can’t be standing in front of a loud guitar amp.” Luckily, it coincided. I would’ve beat myself up, just sitting around. In 40 years, I’ve never not worked! It really didn’t take much of a bite out of me, so now I can go out and play two new albums, and throw in a little solo guitar. I’ve got four or five songs I’d like to play by myself.

Tinnitus never goes away, but is your condition better now?
It’s a very strange thing. You’re right, it never goes away, but I think your brain gets used to it. You can just deal with it better. It’s like living with an ailment. People do it, and they’re fine. I just had to take some time off, and I got used to it a little better, and I’m ready to go.

How do you decide what your next project is going to be, whether it’s a solo album, a Brian Setzer Orchestra project, or a Stray Cats project?
I think it dictates to me what it should be. I’ll get an idea for a song, and it always starts with a guitar riff. Once I get two or three, it gets exciting. You know you’ve got something. Usually by then, it tells me, “What should this be? Does this lend itself to a big-band chart? Is it more of a Stray Cats-sounding thing?” With all the little guitar riffs I had collected, it turned into a Brian album. That works. The music tells me what to do.

Because it’s you, you don’t feel like you could force it into one of those boxes and make it into one of those projects? Is it obvious what it needs to be?
Yeah. There are certain songs I could definitely write a big-band chart to. There are some rockabilly songs I’ve written where I go, “That would sound great with a big band behind it.” But at the end of the day, when you’ve got it all written, it’s pretty obvious what it’s supposed to be.

Do you consider yourself a prolific songwriter? Do you go into a project and say, “I’ve got to whittle this down somehow”?
Writing songs is a gift. It’s like turning on a faucet. Once I get going, I’ve got to finish it. I’ll be up all night because I’ve got a song in my head. I rarely write one or two songs and say, “Okay, I’ll record these…” I usually get a focus of the whole album; I want it to be this. Once I turn on the faucet, it doesn’t stop until all of the sudden I’ve said everything I’ve wanted to say.

Were most of the songs newly written since Gotta Have the Rumble?
It’s all new. There might have been a riff or two laying around, but it’s pretty much a brand-new record. For instance, on “What’ll It Be Baby Doll?” I had come up with this great riff (plays) I thought was so neat! It’s little pieces of magic like that you capture that inspire a song. Maybe I wrote that at 1 o’clock in the morning and put it on a tape recorder somewhere, but it was inspiring enough and got me to write an entire song around it. I fingerpick it, so it’s got a unique sound that lends itself to the Gretsch and my style of playing.

For you, creativity is like a feeling – a “eureka” moment. You know when you’ve got it.
That’s exactly right. It’s the best drug in the world (laughs). You can’t believe it. That’s what keeps you coming back for it. You catch a little piece of magic. Sometimes I’ve got to check, “Did someone else write that?” It’s obvious to me that it’s a piece of music and I can’t believe it hasn’t been written already.

An example of that would be “Rock Boys Rock.” With the main riff, I wrote that and went, “Oh God, that’s good!” I wrote it on the guitar; (plays riff) I go, “That’s catchy. What would it sound like if I sang over it?” All of the sudden you’ve got a little piece of magic. It keeps me coming back.

You do musical twists and turns on your records. On Gotta Have the Rumble, you played banjo on “Rockabilly Banjo,” and on The Devil Always Collects, several songs include female backing vocals, including your wife, Julie Setzer, and Jennifer Goforth. Is that on purpose?
I’m glad you noticed that! Here’s how that works. I’ll get four or five songs deep and go, “Okay, I don’t want to rewrite the first song. What would be a nice thing to hear right now?” That’s when that happens. “I’m going to play a little banjo. But I’m not Earl Scruggs, so I’m going to play rockabilly banjo.” Or, the idea came up on this record to write a song about a girl that’s got a lot of soul. All of the sudden those Little Richard and James Brown tribute things start to happen, you get excited, and the song (“She’s Got a Lotta… Soul!”) comes out.

It’s a conscious choice to do different things?
That’s exactly right. There are a lot of ways you can jump. My base is rockabilly, but off of that you can jump anywhere – country, swing, jazz. That’s more of a natural thing. It just happens.

Talk more about the album opener “Rock Boys Rock.”

I’d written the song on the ’59 6120, but wasn’t getting the sound. It wasn’t as hot as the song. I’d used the ’57 Duo-Jet in the past, but when I turned it up, we thought, “This thing’s a monster!” I had a big smile when I heard that solo back. It’s got fingerpicking and single-string stuff. You don’t hear guitar players do both together that often; a piece of advice I give is, “You’ve got to go past what you think you can do.” You’ll always be wondering, “Could I have gotten a better sound?” Turn it up too loud. Use another amp. You’ve got to exhaust all avenues. Sometimes you’ll go back to the first idea, but you’ll always be kicking yourself: “I wonder if I’d just used that guitar or just turned it up a little louder?”

“The Devil Always Collects” has a cool up-and-down riff, and the ladies on backing vocals in the chorus.
It’s bitchin’. It’s badass (laughs). I put some crazy harmonies on the solo. With the girls singing, it sounds like a ’60s horror film (laughs).

Do you do a lot of guitar overdubs – doubling, harmonies, or rhythm and leads?
I want to be able to perform it live, so I don’t do many overdubs. You can do too much in the way of overdubs, especially on rockabilly. It works against you sometimes. People always want things to sound fat. I like things to sound thin! By that I mean so you can hear all the instruments. I don’t like a heavy, overdriven guitar – that’s for playing block, three-note rock chords. But, when you’re playing chords with any kind of complexity, they become mud.

The first single, “Girl on the Billboard,” was a #1 hit on the Billboard country chart for Del Reeves in 1965. Why did you cover it?
My friend played it for me. It’s a hoot. I love the original. I thought, “I’ve got to swamp this up a bit.”

How about the ’57 Duo-Jet?
It just blew me away on this record. I mostly used that and put some tremolo on it. I went, “There it is!” It added something different.

The riff has surf feel to it.
The surf feel is in my wheelhouse. I love the sound of those guitars. A lot of rockabilly players like that sound and tone, and it’s not far from my sound. In the ’60s, a lot of people started using it. I decided it sounded groovy in there.

“The Living Dead” has a laid-back, woozy atmosphere.
I needed a minor-key song. It fit the theme of the album, which was going into a darker rockabilly feel.

“What’ll It Be Baby Doll?” has a bouncy ’50s vibe.
I made up a guitar solo that had actual changes, so the boys were a little thrown on that. That’s the 6120 with a little slap-back echo. It’s an example where you don’t want it to be too thick. You want to hear all the instruments.

“Black Leather Jacket” is heavier, modern-sounding rock.
I had the old leather jacket I wear when I’m riding motorcycles hanging there, and I’m thinking, “Man, I’ve had that thing for 30 years. It would be cool to write a song about it. Where it’s been. It’s been all over the world.” I came up with that twin guitar riff, and you can almost hear a Southern-rock band. When I started, it sounded more Western, and when I finished, it sounded more rock. For me, that’s a double-edged sword because the rockabilly crowd is not going to like that song. It’s too hard for them. It’s not “billy” enough. I just do what I do. I liked it. I cranked up the 6120, took off the echo, and the guitar just sang. At the end, I just played. I riffed out. I love that double guitar riff.

I can’t sway to popular opinion or what I think people will like. One of the things about me, for better or worse, is that I’ve always done what I wanted to do. It is what it is. To me, that sound belonged on the record.

“She’s Got a Lotta … Soul!” has R&B horns.
I put the horns on last. I was thinking of “Lucille” and a nod to Little Richard, then I came up with that melody. It’s a catchy little thing and had a good groove. It fit, but was enough of a curveball that it made a difference.

“Play That Fast Thing (One More Time)” is a Rockpile cover.
I love Dave Edmunds. The album just needed that at that point. That’s one where I tried a bunch of guitars a bunch of different ways, and the original clean sound was the best.

What did you end up playing?
I used the 6120 through a little amp – a Deluxe or something. I wanted to get a really clean sound.

“A Dude’ll Do (What a Dude’ll Do)” has clever lyrics and a great rhythm.
I’m glad you picked that one, because I love it. I thought that fingerpicking thing and single-string thing were very original. I’d never heard anybody do that. My friend, Mike Himelstein, sent me lyrics. Elton John once said, “When Bernie Taupin sends me lyrics, it becomes a song.” It’s like that with me and Mike. He sends me lyrics and I’m looking at them and the lyrics turn into musical notes! It happens that quick. I used my ’56 Gretsch White Penguin. What a great tone this thing has!

What’s the inspiration for “Psycho Suzie”?
It’s a dive bar here in Minneapolis. My wife and I go there occasionally. It’s got velvet Elvises and lots of goofy stuff (laughs). We’ve had some experiences there. My wife said, “We should write a song about that place.” She came up with a lot of those lyrics. That’s going to be a fun one live.

“One Particular Chick” has a strong blues feel.
I wrote that on a jazz guitar, then went, “Nah.” It sounded almost like a Bobby Darin track, and I love Bobby Darin. I thought, “No, I still have to be Brian.” I plugged in the Gretsch and left it dirty. I played the jazz chords on the Gretsch with a dirtier tone, and then it sounded like me. Jazz chords on a jazz guitar is too standard for me. I picked up the Gretsch and cranked it to where it usually is and went, “Yeah, there it is. That’s me.”

It’s got that great melody. Mike sent me just the chorus (sings). I just liked the way it rolled off my tongue. As soon as I read it, I started to sing it. It almost sounded like a movie theme from the ’50s.

People are always asking, “What bit of advice would you give people who are trying to create something new, whether it’s write a song or start a band?” My answer is, “Don’t follow the rules. You follow rules all day long. When you play music, that’s the one chance you get to break them.” Why would you want to play in just a strict style? Let it all happen. Let it all come out.

So, the guitars/amp setup was simple – your “usual”?
I used the Duo-Jet, 6120, and White Penguin. Any effect I use – reverb, tremolo – has to come from my ’63 Bassman – that is the tone, with my Roland Space Echo. I just cannot beat that combination.

This article originally appeared in VG’s December 2023 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.