Slag Callahan: A special treat at SummerFest
Slag Callahan practices on a guitar he designed for his own specific needs and Royal City guitar maker Luke Stoll made. The top is made of figured walnut, the bottom of mahogany and the binding of flamed maple.
ROYAL CITY - Most people who know Slag Callahan think of him as a man who manages a hay production and sales operation known as Agri-Pac.
But there is another side to Callahan. He is a world-class guitarist. And he will play on the Royal City SummerFest stage for the first time this Saturday.
If you have not heard Callahan play, you do not want to miss this show from noon-2 p.m. If you're a fan of the guitar, it will blow you away.
“This will be my first time playing for Royal City (in general). I'm excited about it,” Callahan said.
Callahan plays with a partner, Gavin Rose, who resides in Moses Lake. He is an accomplished musician from San Diego who follows wherever Callahan leads.
“He's got a keen sense of musicianship,” Callahan said.
Callahan's show is a serious mix of genres played in the Callahan style. It may be something from the most current pop chart. It may be something from the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Jimmy Hendrix or Dave Mathews.
Callahan and Rose are doing about 20-25 shows a year. Most of them are at wineries and places where guitar music adds to the ambiance. There is no singing.
“It's niche music,” Callahan said. “It's music that people hear in the background while sipping wine and having a conversation.”
That does not necessarily mean quiet music, however. Callahan can be as rocking as Ted Nugent or as soulful as B.B. King
You know Callahan is serious about the guitar the minute you walk into this house. He has built a brand new studio which is about the size of a house, and it includes a production room which will be used to put out CDs.
In addition Callahan has about 30 guitars hanging around the walls of the studio and other parts of the house. And he has other musical equipment throughout the place.
“My parents know I'd like to be a musician,” Callahan said. “They even encourage it. They bring people here and have me play for them. Sometimes dad brings people to the office and has me play for them there.”
Callahan was about eight years old the first time he touched a guitar, but he did not take it seriously.
“It had a string missing and was out of tune,” he said.
At 14, Callahan got serious. He started trading knowledge with friends. At 17 he started private lessons.
Callahan was so serious about his music at 18 that he did not study it at Central Washington University. He took philosophy instead. The only guitar offered was classical.
“I wanted to rock out,” he said.
And he did, with like-minded college students. They formed Rogue Productions and organized events at which all them played as members of different bands.
Callahan was a guitarist for one band and a drummer for another on the same night. It was with the drums that he started his music career in fifth grade at Royal City.
Callahan still has a studio in Ellensburg. It includes a grand piano. He will maintain that studio, where he teaches guitar lessons, and he will move some of the equipment, including the grand, to the new studio.
Callahan still takes lessons today. They are master level lessons offered over Skype. However, these lessons are mostly a sharing of ideas. Most of the masters with whom Callahan deals consider him one of the family.
“They give me an idea and, within seconds, I'm playing it back at them,” he said.
If you want an idea of Callahan's own sound, consider that he enjoys the sound of Slash, the technique of Randy Rhodes, the phrasing of Slash and the tone of Angus Young.
As for duration of numbers, that will depend on how Callahan and Rose are feeling when they arrive at the stage on Saturday.
“It could be three minutes. It could be 15-20 minutes,” Callahan said. “We don't even know what our first number will be until we start mixing and tuning up.”
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