Adrian Legg Lets Fingers Do Most of the Talking

He’s been named acoustic guitarist of the decade by England’s Guitarist magazine and in 1992 and 1993 received acoustic album of the year honors by the readers of Guitar Player magazine. Yet, in conversation, Adrian Legg sounds much more like a social philosopher and freedom fighter than a groundbreaking finger-style guitarist.

In a recent phone interview from a motel in San Juan Capistrano--where he was staying in advance of two concerts tonight at the city’s regional library--the polite, soft-spoken, 47-year-old Englishman talked candidly about numerous issues. Among them, the stifling effects of pop culture on individual creativity, the dangers of purity and the “sellout” by his former label, Relativity Records.

“You can labor away in obscurity for a long time, so to have your peers recognize you is tremendously encouraging,” said Legg regarding the professional accolades he’s received. “It’s kind of funny, though, because then you think, ‘Gosh, everybody’s looking now’--which is what you wanted in the first place, but when it’s actually happening, it can be a little unnerving.”

For some guitarists, an incredible moment of inspiration--such as seeing Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton for the first time--can provide the catalyst for finding their own creative paths. But Legg recalls a quieter moment of revelation and self-determination.

“I remember as a kid sitting in the bathtub one night, and my mind just went, ‘Eureka!’ ” he said. “At that moment, I knew I could probably play guitar. I think it was one of those little things that had built up inside [of] me. Since I had grown up in a musical family, it took me a long time to realize that not all people are naturally musical.”

Typically, Legg’s initial splash into the music world created barely a ripple. In the late 1970s, bored with playing in country and Irish music bands, Legg ventured into the guitar-making industry. His hands-on tinkering with the guitar’s guts prompted him to write a book on building and modifying the instrument, “Customizing Your Electric Guitar” (1981), which received critical praise.

It wasn’t until 1990, with the release of his debut album, “Guitars and Other Cathedrals,” that his technical mastery and emotionally based songwriting were introduced to the public at large. He has done four more albums for Relativity Records, toured regularly and held court on a variety of topics for the National Public Radio program “All Things Considered.”

Currently without a record deal, Legg says he has one promising prospect in the works and that his departure from the New York-based Relativity was a natural parting.

“They’ve moved away from the guitar and gone over to rap, and, being a subsidiary now of Sony Music, they’ve kind of left the music business and joined the Japanese corporate machinery,” he said. “Rap is what sells, and that’s what they want to do--I understand that. I’m just sorry that my last record, [1994’s ‘High Strung Tall Tales’], didn’t get the attention from the label that it deserved.”

That album’s high point is the sweeping “High Strung Suite,” an extended piece played with “Nashville tuning,” which raises the pitch of a standard acoustic by an octave. Augmented with explosive bass lines, the selection is a masterpiece of broad dynamics, wide frequency response and emotional depth. But it wasn’t an easy piece of studio work, Legg said.

“It was very difficult to record because it demanded a certain level of technical perfection that’s not necessarily needed on stage, so I had to keep searching for a balance there,” he explained. “I think in the end, we managed to keep its spirit intact, and I’m very pleased with how it turned out on record.”

Using an unusual technique that has the left hand doing “hammer-ons and pulls” on the guitar’s neck while the fingernails of the right hand pluck the strings, Legg also employs various tuning and de-tuning methods. But just the mention of emphasizing technique over emotion sets Legg off on a rant that would make Dennis Miller proud.

“Technique is only the means to an end, and that end is some kind of worthwhile communication,” he stressed. “The whole point is wanting something that I’ve experienced to happen in somebody else through my music. It’s very emotional and personal, like a one-to-one communication . . . only it has to reach a lot of people. Capturing a moment in a live context is the be-all, end-all experience for me.

“Guitarists today seem to be very technically trained and overly conscious of the whole career aspect of what they’re doing, and that’s very destructive,” added Legg, who learned his trade in a church choir and has roots in Cajun, folk and rock music. “It’s just a part of mass culture that’s becoming increasingly more irritating. Music-making used to be a natural function--a wonderful, socially shared experience. Now we buy it in little packages, throw it in a machine and enjoy mind-numbing Muzak at our nearby mall.”

Today there’s a growing legion of trendy sounds that have produced practically interchangeable, like-minded bands in the hard-core punk, speed metal and grunge genres. Is the contemporary scene just reflecting philistine tastes, or is there an underlying danger?

“Purity has always been a negative force, whether it’s [in] music, religion or anything else,” Legg said. “Hitler is a famous example of the destructive side of purity, and the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia is probably its most recent horror. Purity in music means taking out the rougher edges and homogenizing the sound. But it’s exactly the imperfections that create its character. I think purity at its worst is a disaster.”

Despite such serious, deep-seated opinions, in concert Legg is known for his lively bantering and storytelling between songs. Some of his tall tales are as integral to his show as his dexterous fretwork .

“Humor is tremendously important, particularly to balance the sad things in our lives,” he said. “I don’t think you can really know one without experiencing the other, can you? And to listen to me just play guitar all night [‘I play guitar because I can’t sing!’ he confessed] can get quite boring, so I do try to liven things up a bit with some chatter, and perhaps stimulate a little dialogue.”

* Adrian Legg plays tonight in the courtyard of the San Juan Capistrano Regional Library, 31495 El Camino Real. 7 and 9 p.m, $3-$5. (714) 248-7469.