PATRICIA VONNE: Hi. I’m Patricia Vonne.

PATRICK OGLE: And we’re here to talk about?

PATRICIA VONNE: Instruments, amplifiers.

PATRICK OGLE: That sort of thing.

PATRICIA VONNE: Marshall amplifier with a ’63 Rickenbacker, they go very well together, and a ’52 Southern Jumbo Gibson guitar.

PATRICK OGLE: Is that the sunburst one you got on the cover?

PATRICIA VONNE: Yeah. That’s the star of the show, but we find that that’s really what makes our sound, and we’ve always used -- it’s always been ours to begin with, but when you get caught having to play another style of guitar or a, you know, a Fender with the Rickenbacker, it’s fire and water, so those really aren’t very important to the sound or the music.

PATRICK OGLE: Which Rickenbacker is it.

PATRICIA VONNE: It’s a ’63 Rickenbacker.

PATRICK OGLE: Okay, so you have the whole really good years.

PATRICIA VONNE: Well, vintage is always a good way to go. It just sounds richer, at least with my acoustic. I play the acoustic Gibson.

PATRICK OGLE: What year is the Southern Jumbo?

PATRICIA VONNE: Fifty-two.

PATRICK OGLE: Fifty-two.

PATRICIA VONNE: Yeah. We’re proud owners, so. And then we have a bass player, Scott Garber. He’s amazing and he has a vintage Gibson bass, and Dony Wynn on drums; he played with Robert Palmer for 20 years.

PATRICK OGLE: Oh really?

PATRICIA VONNE: He is a stickler about having his own drum kit.

PATRICK OGLE: Did you -- Have you changed anything over the years? Is there anything you used to use and then you just said now I can’t use this anymore?

PATRICIA VONNE: Just a tuner that wasn’t really working very well. [LAUGHING]

PATRICK OGLE: Well, that happens though. Did you use a foot pedal tuner?

PATRICIA VONNE: Yeah, we do but now they have the kind that you just snap on the guitar. It’s incredible.

PATRICK OGLE: Yeah.

PATRICIA VONNE: So, we’ll have to divert our attention to that one.

PATRICK OGLE: Well yeah, but the Boss and the Fender foot pedal ones are kind of indestructible too.

PATRICIA VONNE: Yeah, but they do way a lot better, but since we tour oversea, you know, you carry the stuff over there.

PATRICK OGLE: Everything. Now, when you’re playing oversea, I noticed that your tour schedule was coming up. It’s all Europe.

PATRICIA VONNE: It is, and well it gives us the opportunity to know what it’s like on tour. It’s virtually impossible to stay on an interstate tour on your own penny in America, you barely get out of Texas without going broke, and to be able to do night after night in a short increment of time to travel. If I go, we’re going to Paris which should be only a four-hour drive from where we’re going to be and we get to be in Belgium and Germany and so, but here it’s like eight hours just to get to Amarillo [LAUGHING].

The opportunity came when I played with Tito and Tarantula overseas. It was an eight-week tour in Europe and it was phenomenal, and I got to see the gear that they used, and they had guitar techs and everything, and it was my first touring experience. What a way to go. We had a tour bus and we were treated like royalty, and then I found out that’s the way they treat musicians over there like, you know, the way they should be treated. Their meals are made after them, paid for, they’re set up in hotels at night, if not at the venue somewhere that’s a walk away. Very convenient.

PATRICK OGLE: They pay you like they’re supposed to.

PATRICIA VONNE: Yeah! You’re guaranteed a fee so you at least know you’re going to get paid something, so that’s how you know you’re going to make some money and square down some anchor dates, build a tour around those anchor dates, and see how long you can stay out there.

PATRICK OGLE: And then you have any idea of any possibility of playing some tour in the United States at all versus in Europe?

PATRICIA VONNE: You never know. I mean when Chris Isaak came to Texas, we opened for him here and Raul Malo comes. You know, we try to make it, you know, a group thing so you’re not by yourself out there. But outside, we’ve played in California and New York. That’s where I started my band, in New York. But you never know. I mean maybe Tom Petty will come around and have ourselves open for him. [LAUGHING]

PATRICK OGLE: If he’s seen your Rickenbacker it’s like, “Hey, kindred spirits.”

PATRICIA VONNE: Yeah.

PATRICK OGLE: When you allowed to play or like when you go to Europe, you’re not going to bring any of your personal stuff. They never said to bring your amps and all that. You bring?

PATRICIA VONNE: We brought an amplifier. We got a Marshall that was just like ours.

PATRICK OGLE: With your pre-position, you leave it over there?

PATRICIA VONNE: Yeah. We should do. We have a safe place. But then again, we have musicians that play with us over there, and so we get the drummer there, the bass player there, and they stash our stuff.

PATRICK OGLE: Okay. So you have a different band when you’re playing?

PATRICIA VONNE: Yeah. We do. It’s mainly myself, the acoustic player, and my husband who plays the Rickenbacker.

PATRICK OGLE: Mmm hmm.

PATRICIA VONNE: So, those two instruments are integral to the sound and so are we. [LAUGHING]

PATRICK OGLE: You just throw in a bass player and you drive over and [INDISCERNIBLE]

PATRICIA VONNE: Oh --

PATRICK OGLE: Oh, yeah I’m kidding.

PATRICIA VONNE: But these guys are so well rehearsed before we even get off the plane, and they’re more apt to want to learn new songs, throw them in the evening of the show, and that’s a mutual. Usually we have to rehearse heavily just to get in a few songs but they’re like, “No. We already know them. Let’s play them. Let’s play more songs.”