Howdy! I'm Wayne "Animal" Turner, guitarist, and welcome to Guitar Tracks From the Heart Of Texas!!
Hello there; I'm Wayne Turner, and I'd love to join your musical family online by offering my guitar services. I was the touring and studio guitarist for country superstar Hank Williams, Jr. from 1979 until 2005 (I started recording with him on his "High Notes" album, circa 1982 - all of his album credit info is readily available online at sites such as Allmusic, Wikipedia, etc., just so you'll know that I'm legit :-)
I'm currently based out of Houston, TX, and have been since I left the road in 2005. I've been actively performing around the Houston area with a number of artists since moving here and I have a recording setup in my home that I believe will satisfy any project requirements you may have for me....
For the sake of expedience and clarity, I'd ask that this account be limited strictly to musical service requests as opposed to personal messaging. There is a Facebook page available to accommodate any and all personal contact; this ensures that I can recognize and respond to the guitar-related content only in a timely and efficient manner.
I have also increased my service rate slightly, but in the spirit of fairness, any and all requests made before August 23, 2024 will still be honored at the rate that was published during that period.
Thank you so much for your attention, and now.... LET'S GET BUSY!!!
I'd love to hear about your project. Click the 'Contact' button above to get in touch.
1 Reviews
Endorse WayneT3This is Wayne "The Animal" Turner from the Bama Band and Hank Williams Jr. fame. He is a phenomenal talent light years beyond country / boogie / funk from that page of his book. The first time I saw Wayne play in Houston was with "Uncle Mojo" which included Brandon Loftin and the late Dan Workman. Later with Vince Converse and Ricky Jackson. Although a Goliath in the country genre, Wayne can shred with the best. He's polished, professional and one of the nicest guys I've met in the biz.
Interview with WayneT3
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I played guitar on the ABC Monday Night Football theme song on TV... just awesome!!
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: My solo project (99% original, maybe 1 or 2 covers, but mainly just me.)
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: I'm not aware that I know anyone on here yet - I'd love to meet some of them, though, and maybe even collaborate on something.....
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Digital - much more portable and convenient to set up and store in a small area, and besides: there's not much you can't do digitally that you can do analog (if you're an audio savant, you MIGHT be able to tell the difference, but I seriously doubt it!)
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: That they're going to get the absolute best that I can bring to their project...and that I will respect their ideas.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: Just touching the guitar...creating something from a small seed...bringing somebody else's idea to light - the pure joy of playing; it's just such a gift that I'm always grateful for and in amazement of...
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: "What do you think of the song?" or "what do you think it needs?" I tell them to wait until we've put all the parts in the song first, and then tell me what THEY think about it...if they're happy, then I'm definitely happy that I helped them.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That we just hear the songs and magically crank out the parts instantly; sometimes the parts do kind of write themselves, but mostly we have to try a few things first to see what fits the song without sticking out too much.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: Just what is the feel (or style) they're going for, or are there any hit songs that are in the same style that they want...
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Make sure you have a good idea about what you want your song to sound like (hear it in your head first), then work with the musicians on it - chances are, they'll already have a pretty good idea what it is that you wanted. The song will pretty much tell them what it needs.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: Hmmm... a Tele, a Les Paul, a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp, a Martin D-28 and a cooler full of iced-down beverages.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: Straight out of high school into a motor home and on the road!! Been doing this professionally for 41 years (been playing since I was nine!!!)
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Chameleon!! I've done so many different styles in my life (but my 27-year stint with Hank Williams, JR. had me playing a lot of outlaw, edgy, southern-flavored material (loved it!!)
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I think Eric Clapton - just so soulful and simple
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Don't play every single note you know when it's time to solo!!! PLEASE!! Play the guitar part almost like a vocal line - let the guitar sing the solo, not produce a note avalanche....just because you know where all the notes are doesn't mean you HAVE to use them all...!!
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Mostly demo tunes and lately, a lot of instrumental tracks; lot of Texas "red-dirt" style material, a lot of live performances here in the Houston area
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Listening to others' ideas and working with them
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: A deep respect for the music, the joy of creating a specific feeling, and a successful conclusion to someone's hard work..
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: Unless the customer is specific about what they want to start with, I listen to the rough song first and get a feel for it (I let the song tell me what it needs) and provide my interpretation - always open to suggestion and/or changes.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: · Macbook Pro (SSD, 8GB RAM, Core i5 2.53GHz) · HP Pavillion p6754y PC (1TB HD, 8GB RAM, Windows 10, 3.00GHz AMD Athlon Quad Core CPU) · FOCUSRITE Saffire Pro 40 interface · Apogee Duet firewire interface (Mac) · Logic Pro X 10.2.4 (Mac) DAW · PRESONUS Studio One 3 Artist (PC) · Positive Grid BIAS amplifier modeling software · Addictive Drums 2 · 1965 FENDER Blackface Bassman amp · RED BEAR MK120 tube head (Russian Marshall-style amp) · Audio Technica AT4047 condenser · a closet full of guitars!!!
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Tim Pierce, Brent Mason, Tommy Emmanuel, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Steve Lukather
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I provide electric and acoustic guitar tracks, chart the songs (if necessary) and help with arrangements if asked
I was the Guitarist & Engineer in this production
- Electric GuitarAverage price - $100 per song
- Acoustic GuitarAverage price - $100 per song
Please send a sample or full-length version of the song(s) for reference and/or discussion; the number of takes (or versions) of my guitar tracks will be decided upon consultation.
- DELL Precision T7610 Workstation (dual Intel Xeon CPUs / 64GB RAM / 6TB storage space)
- Presonus STUDIO ONE & Harrison Mixbus 32c DAWs
- SSL 2 & Audient EVO 8 interfaces
- a closet FULL of guitars!!