A never-before-heard interview with the late Jeff Beck is featured in the latest Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, where he opens up about the important role guitar played in his life.
“The only friends I had were pretty low-life,” Beck says of his childhood, in the unearthed audio from an interview with the mag’s Kory Grow. “They were one step away from jail, most of them. The guitar saved me from that.”
In the interview, Beck, who passed away Tuesday from bacterial meningitis, also discussed how it may have been a good thing that he “never made the big time.” “When you look around and see who has made it huge, it’s a really rotten place to be when you think about it,” he says. “Maybe I’m blessed with not having had that.”
In addition to the interview, the podcast features tributes to Beck by such fellow guitar legends as The Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell, Living Colour’s Vernon Reid and Joe Satriani.
You can listen to the podcast here.
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