“It was a half-hearted effort. I knew he would clock it”: Foo Fighters' Chris Shiflett once tried (and failed) to trick Joe Bonamassa into believing he had bought a genuine '59 Les Paul Burst

Foo Fighters’ Chris Shiflett’s new EP, Starry Nights & Campfire Lights, features his own rendition of Thin Lizzy’s Cowboy Song and Hanoi Rocks’ Don’t You Ever Leave Me.

Shiflett used a couple of different electric guitars to capture the tone he had in mind, including a Gibson Murphy Lab ‘59 Les Paul reissue that he tried to trick Joe Bonamassa into believing was a real ‘59 Les Paul ‘Burst.

“It was a half-hearted effort. I had no illusion there, I knew he would clock it, of course,” says Shiflett in a new Total Guitar interview about the joke he attempted live on his Shred With Shifty podcast.

“Pretty much all the rhythm tracks were done on a Telecaster, and there’s some acoustic stuff. That was the meat of it. I did one pass of the solo, all the way through, on my Tele, and then at the halfway point I overdubbed a Les Paul on top, because I was copying what Scott Gorham did on the original.

Joe Bonamassa Talks Les Paul Bursts, Dumbles, and the Blues | Shred with Shifty – YouTube

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“I felt like it needed that little extra something. On my last run of solo shows, I brought a Les Paul, Tele and Strat. Between those three I could cover all the sounds I needed to. The Les Paul was brand new, I just got it a few months ago from Chicago Music Exchange. It’s a Murphy Lab pretend 1959.”

In a MusicRadar interview, Shiflett had spoken at length about his Murphy Lab. “It’s kind of a little bit of a darker burst – it’s not the real pink ones. It’s kind of dark, and it’s really light. It’s seven, or a little over seven pounds. So it’s just light as a feather, and that thing just, wow. It sounds incredible and plays amazing.

While the Les Paul is far from the quintessential country guitar, Shiflett insisted that choosing something that’s a bit unconventional for a genre can pay off.

Chris Shiflett – “Cowboy Song” (Official Audio) – YouTube

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“I love it. Love it for country. I went to go see Hank [Williams] Jr. a few months ago, or maybe six months ago or something, when he played in LA and [he was] playing an SG a lot of the time and [had] real crunchy tones. It was kind of inspiring in terms of guitar choices, amps, overdrives and all that stuff.”

For more Chris Shiftlett, plus a rundown of the greatest guitar cover versions of all time, pick up issue 386 of Total Guitar at Magazines Direct.