Steve Howe is known for being one of rock’s great virtuosos on both electric and acoustic guitar, but he has another, much more unexpected skill — he plays the washboard.
It goes back to Howe’s childhood in London, when he was growing up during the skiffle boom of the late 1950s that influenced musicians ranging from the Beatles to Pink Floyd. The British skiffle craze drew heavily from American folk, blues and country music, and washboards were a common part of the sound.
Howe was also listening to plenty of American roots music at home. His parents’ record collection included artists such as Tennessee Ernie Ford and Chet Atkins, and Atkins in particular showed Howe how much rhythmic and percussive detail could be pulled from an acoustic instrument.
So while Howe would eventually become famous for his guitar playing, he also picked up a few other instruments along the way. The washboard was one of them — and it eventually landed him an unlikely studio gig with producer Trevor Horn.
Horn was working with former Sex Pistols Svengali Malcolm McLaren on the 1983 album Duck Rock when he needed someone who could play washboard. As Howe tells it, there weren’t exactly a lot of candidates.
One of my hidden skills is definitely the washboard. I think it’s terrific. I think it’s a brilliant instrument, totally underrated.“
— Steve Howe
“One of my hidden skills is definitely the washboard,“ he tells Guitar Player. “On my own albums I’ve done quite a lot of washboard. I think it’s terrific. I think it’s a brilliant instrument, totally underrated.
“I have a story; one day the phone rang and it was Trevor Horn, and he said to me, ‘I’ve got something going on with a recording here. It’s Malcolm McLaren, and he wants a washboard. Don’t you play washboard?’
“I said, ‘Yes, I’m the best in London,’ and he says, ‘Well, you’re the only one in London. I can’t find anybody who plays it. Come in.’ So I went a few days later and played on some track Trevor was producing.
“I quite like that story.”
It wasn’t just a one-off for Howe, either. He continued to use the washboard on his own recordings, including his 1993 solo album The Grand Scheme of Things.
These days, Howe is focused on getting back to full strength after undergoing surgery earlier this year. Yes is now scheduled to hit the road in early May next year, with plans to perform its 1971 album Fragile and more in the U.K. before heading to Japan. North American dates are also being planned, with details still to come.
