Ed Stephenson: The Triangle’s Guitar Virtuoso

(Boom Magazine) November 2015 by Rhiannon Bell

The Triangle’s growth as an economic center is well known, but its cultural growth and development of the Arts is equally as impressive. A testament to this baby boomer guitarist Ed Stephenson, Raleigh’s own world-class Nuevo Flamenco and classical guitar virtuoso, whose TV and radio appearances and competition awards establish him as one of the most talented guitarists in North America. A Toronto native now residing in Raleigh, Ed jokingly calls himself a blue-collar musician made in Canada but manufactured in the USA. Ed plays a variety of styles, including solo classical pieces and newly commissioned compositions with the North Carolina Guitar Quartet, and Nuevo Flamenco with his group, The Paco Band, which performs an infectious westernized variety of traditional Flamenco.

Ed recently sat down with good friend Kitty Kinnin, host of the afternoon show and Hangover Café on 96.1FM, to talk about the release of his most recent CD, Rosamaria, and what brought him to this point in his musical career. Ed is a do-it-yourselfer, has a small vegetable garden, and cares for two feral cats. Needless to say, he is quite the “eccentric artist,” as Kitty put it during the interview. Their friendly banter shed light on many of Ed’s quirky eccentricities, from his “germ-consciousness,” his “odd Canadian humor,” and his desire to be the first musician to play extraterrestrially. He eats almost exclusively organic, locally grown food, because he considers staying healthy a way of prolonging his career in music and doing what he loves most, playing guitar.

Ed is a hockey fanatic and drank from the Stanley Cup when the Hurricanes won the finals in 2006. “Practicing guitar has always been fun for me,” he said, “as long as there’s a hockey game on in the background!” Ed stays active by participating in a weekly hockey league in Cary with retired semi-pro and pro players; but with his current performance schedule, he sometimes has to skip the weekly games. Whenever he can, Ed also attends Hurricanes hockey games at the PNC arena, his favorite place to hang out in Raleigh. But while he loves Raleigh and has made it his second home, his favorite pastime is visiting his sister and her three daughters in the cottage country north of Toronto.

Perhaps the most interesting story Ed told was of his journey, driven by his passion for music, that lead him from his hometown of Toronto all the way to North Carolina. Ed was raised in a Ukrainian-Italian neighborhood of Toronto until his father passed away when he was nine. His mother moved with Ed and his sister to a suburb of Toronto, where she remarried the man who bought him his first guitar.

“My mother had these albums,” Ed said, “vinyl of course. I remember listening to Doc Watson, so it’s fitting I would eventually end up in North Carolina. We listened to Sabicas and Carlos Montoya, some of the most famous Flamenco players. I also loved listening to guitar players of all different styles—Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucía, blues by Roy Buchanan, and jazz by Lenny Breau. I played any instrument I could get my hands on.”

Ed’s guitar teacher in Canada told him that to become a great guitarist, he should study with Aaron Shearer at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Ed auditioned and moved to the U.S. when he was 18. When Shearer moved to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts a few years later, Ed followed.

As a young guitar student, Ed began listening to classical and Flamenco guitarists as inspiration and practicing up to eight hours per day. “When I first heard the Friday Night in San Francisco album (by John McLaughlin, Paco De Lucia, and Al Di Meola), I was in shock,” Ed said. “I was with some guitarist friends, and we didn’t think it was humanly possible to play that way. But as years went by and I studied seriously, it started to realize that there was a possibility I could eventually play something like that.”

One of Kitty’s signature questions when interviewing musicians for her podcast Sound Palate asks the musician to pair one of their songs with a drink.

Ed paired a piece he wrote called Roberto, named after his stepfather who bought him his first guitar, with Chivas Regal scotch (his stepdad’s favorite) on the rocks “in a dirty glass,” he joked. He explained that because he is known to bartenders around the Triangle for his fruity drink orders, he toughens them up by asking for them “in a dirty glass,” referencing a Flintstones episode.

Kitty also asked Ed, “If you could play with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be?” Ed answered quickly that he would play with Paco de Lucia, his flamenco guitar hero, but then added, “I would feel so inadequate that I would just freeze!” He noted that, instead,  he would like to play with Jeff Beck: “He doesn’t do my stuff, so I’d feel like I had something to offer.”

Ed’s group, The Paco Band, is named after flamenco guitarist and composer Paco de Lucia. At their concerts, audience members can experience a solo classical guitar piece, authentic flamenco dancing, contemporary vocals, a Zeppelin cover, and even some shredding on the electric guitar.

“The direction of the group really depends on who is in the band,” Ed said. “We have Cat Albanese, who does vocals, so we’ve incorporated vocals. We have Ryan Johnson, who spent a lot of his life playing heavy metal and shredding on the electric guitar, so we throw some of that in, too. We play a Malagueña, which is a tradition Flamenco piece, but at the beginning and end, we have Ryan shredding on the electric guitar.” The Paco Band also performs often with Flamenco dancer Sarah Shelton, who studied traditional dance in Spain, adding another layer of entertainment to the band’s performances.

With expertise in a wide variety of performance groups and a multitude of styles, Ed reflected that his career has transformed from a performer to an art in itself. “What I do has turned into an exact reflection of what I am. I never really viewed myself as an artist. I just loved playing guitar, but I’m now writing my own music and creating our style of westernized Flamenco, which I hope will inspire people to discover a love of guitar, Flamenco, and Spain.”

Ed Stephenson and the Paco Band are celebrating the release of their newest album Rosamaria, an Alanna Records production available on all distribution media. The celebration will be on November 8th from 6pm to 9pm at C. Grace Jazz Club on Glenwood South. The event is open to the public and free of charge. “We are lucky to have so many supporters who have helped in the production of the album,” Ed said, “including Sasha Birger, Michael Tiemann at Manifold Recording, Ian Schreier, and Ray Williams as a creative consultant.”

To learn more about Ed visit his website, www.edwardstephenson.com, and see more photos, listen to his music, and find upcoming shows. B!