Photo by Blaine Schultz
Denny Rauen in shop
Denny Rauen
Denny Rauen’s guitar compositions mirror his workshop. The expansive open tunings sound simple yet closer listening reveals harmonic depth and complexity. The front room of his Riverwest shop is bathed in sunlight; step inside and it yields to a labyrinth of work benches, spray booths and photography stations. Utilizing both sides of his brain, Rauen is enviably one of the rare birds who can both work on an instrument and play it.
As a master luthier, Rauen knows the importance of taking his time when working on or building stringed instruments. So, it would follow that he would be just as patient in his debut album. The album, 6/8 Time, features his acoustic fingerstyle playing, described as “inspired by his first 68 laps around the sun.” Here’s hoping for a quicker follow up.
Rauen grew up in the Chicago suburbs. One of 10 children, he would get permission to play guitars hanging on the wall in neighborhood music stores. He began tinkering with and taking apart guitars, and by the mid ‘70s he was working as production manager and designer for Dean Guitars and SD Curlee. Keith Richards, Buddy Guy, Leo Kottke, ZZ Top and Bill Camplin have trusted Rauen to work on their guitars. He also restored Roger Glover’s bass—the one you hear on Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.”
Rauen took time from his bench for a conversation about nearly everything except his yearly gig playing bagpipes.
Musical Connections
His first repair was a Kay acoustic (that got knocked off the wall at home) and then upgraded to a Gibson LGO model. Sometime around seventh grade, when his brother decapitated the Kay, Denny took a crack at his first luthier project.
Rauen would learn of Chicago’s history as manufacturer of musical instruments. While at Dean Guitars he was informed Kluson, makers of top-quality string tuners, was going out of business. He acquired their old stock to finish Dean instruments that were being built.
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Rauen’s first performance was marred by stage fright when his trio played a school function. His early influences included Mason Willims, Jose Feliciano, Paul Simon and Glen Campbell—serious fingerpickers. Even Andres Segovia. “It was word of mouth and watching people play” he says of his early days gaining experience.
“I feel like I connect with people like Maybelle Carter, Elizabeth Cotton, Leo Kottke or Michael Hedges—where the music feels like it comes right out of the inside … somewhere. That’s what it feels like for me,” Rauen said. He’s not a trained musician and never had guitar lessons. But sitting next to some of the best players on the planet have been his lessons. He learned from listening to them.
The CD cover image of a pole vaulter is actually Rauen in high school; he chuckled when I asked if 6’8” was the bar’s height. Around this time, he’d catch the ear of the older kid in the neighborhood. Berry Oakley allowed Rauen to watch his band practice. Oakley would go on to become a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band and an influence on Rauen, who would return the favor decades later.
Rauen and Chicago bassist Greg Rzab recorded the Allman’s “Little Martha” for 6/8 Time. “It’s a real duet with the bass (Oakley’s instrument) as a lead part to honor the tune properly. A lot of people don’t know that Berry played on the original recording and was taken off the mix as the song was changed. It was fun to put him back in with a couple of neighborhood kids.”
Ready or Not
Photo courtesy Denny Rauen
Denny and Josh Rauen in 1993
Denny and Josh Rauen in 1993
The oldest song on the album, “Little Creek,” a co-write with Rauen’s son Josh, dates back to the 1993 Milwaukee compilation Ready or Not. “Josh had been in the fingerstyle program, he liked performing and we’d do duets. I wrote it as a piece for him to do intricate timing.” The ominous “Silo Echoes,” “Soloed” and “Skipping Stones” are more recent pieces written during the Covid era.
His writing process? Rauen writes down notes for specific tunings to keep track and return to it later. “I don’t write or think in terms of chords, I think in terms of melodies, bass parts and rhythm to go in between. It’s organic.” But he admits to using his phone to grab an idea before it escapes.
One of the things in working with all the legendary players Rauen has learned is “they are just honest with themselves. They don’t care what else is going on. I was just trying to be honest—this is how I feel. Then when I get the tune down, I try to refine it. It’s probably the same process as many people.”
Recorded with Steve Hamilton, Rauen decided it was finally time to make his album. “I waited way too long,” he laughs. “I didn’t want to do my own fingerstyle record until I had enough time to make it right. I was a single parent with two kids, the business—all of a sudden time slips away—I’m 68, I better do it. I think Covid probably helped put the brakes on.”
Rauen also sees it as a legacy project for his kids and grandkids. They could hear the stories of all the famous artists he worked with, but this would be Rauen’s personal artistic statement. The song “6/8 Time Rendezvous” was written with his grandkids in Florida during the pandemic. “Soloed” was inspired by films Rauen made while participating Black Lives Matter bike rides.
Once the release show is in the rearview mirror, Rauen said he plans to play more shows, maybe adding vocals and incorporating fingerstyle with other instruments. “Every note matters.”
Denny Rauen CD release 6/8 Time with Peter Mac, The Flood and Keep'n Open Mind, Saturday, Jan. 27, Linneman’s Riverwest Inn.
