Imposter syndrome is an ailment that impacts the large majority of artists – including what we all consider the cream of the crop.
Carl Carlton – real name, Karl Buskohl – is renowned as one of Europe’s great slide guitarists, and a first-call sideman who helped drive the careers of Robert Palmer and Eric Burdon to dizzying heights.
“I always had imposter syndrome. When I played with Manfred Mann or something, I always thought, ‘Any minute, they’re going to find out I’m no good,’” Carlton says in the latest issue of Guitarist.
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Coming from a “little farm in the middle of nowhere” in Northern Germany, Carlton always felt like he wasn’t set up for success.
“I’m not from London or some hip city. I’m nothing. And they will find out.’ But during the recording of Drive [his fourteenth and final solo album], Robert really helped me out without realizing.”
Palmer and his team went to Metropolis Studios in London to finish a song called Stella, “which was like a calypso groove by [Grenadian-born, Trinidadian calypso vocalist and songwriter] Mighty Sparrow,” and the guitarist simply “couldn’t get it together.
“And I was so nervous because my friend [session guitarist and member of the Pretenders] Robbie McIntosh – who played with us live – was in the control room.”
To make matters worse, the record company had also suggested Eric Clapton as a guest, and the prospect of playing alongside him sent Carlton into a spiral of self-doubt.
“I got really nervous. I just couldn’t get this song together, and I got really angry,” he admits. “So Robert came in, with his martini and his cigarette, and he said, ‘Carl, what’s the matter? Can I make you a drink? A Bloody Mary? A glass of champagne?’”
He continues, “And I’m like, ‘No! I can’t get this shit to work, and Robbie’s sat there and Clapton’s coming any minute!’ And he’d never seen me like that. He said, ‘Please, Carl, take all the time you want. I don’t want Robbie. I don’t want Clapton. I want you.’ And that triggered off the imposter syndrome big-time. I was like: ‘That’s a fucking lie!’”
Thankfully, in the midst of his breakdown, someone’s girlfriend stepped in. “She said, ‘Carl, what’s the matter?’ And I told her. And she said, ‘No, Robert is always talking to everyone about your playing and your feel.
“And he wants you – nobody else.’ So I found out that it was true: Robert meant it when he said he liked my playing, and he was confident that I would make the song work. So that helped me out a lot. That was a big step for me.”
For more from Carlton, plus new features about Dolly Parton and Rory Gallagher, pick up issue 542 of Guitarist from Magazines Direct.
