(HighTone) Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Redd Volkaert learned to play guitar from his father, and by age 16 was playing the local bars and clubs. He later moved to Alberta where he spent 8 years playing there, before heading to Los Angeles, where he played clubs, taught guitar and worked on demos sessions. In 1990, he headed to Nashville, where he did session and road dates with artists like Lacy J. Dalton, Clinton Gregory, Ray Price and Dale Watson. Redd landed a regular stint playing in a local Nashville band at Robert's Western World, where he became acquainted with several members of Merle Haggard's band The Strangers, which led to Redd being asked by Merle to join the Strangers in 1997, after Joe Manuel left to go work for Lee Ann Womack. In 2000, Redd and his family moved to Austin where they now reside, and along with playing for Merle, he is a fixture on the Austin scene, both working with other artists and playing his own music.

No Stranger To A Tele is Redd's second solo release, and is a mixture of classics and originals, instrumentals and vocals, where he blends country, western swing, blues and touches of jazz into his work. Joining Redd on this outing are fellow Strangers, drummer Johnny Barber and steel guitarist Norman Hamlett. Floyd Domino is on piano, Billy "F" Donahue on bass with Gary Claxton and Billy Dee on harmony vocals.

The big, burly Redd has a pleasing, deep baritone that great country songs beg for. Redd puts his own stamp on several classic honky tonkers: Wynn Stewart's "Big, Big Love," Bob Will's "End Of The Line," Johnny Bush's "Conscience Turn Your Back," "Back To Back" which was a hit for Jeanne Pruitt, and "Before She Made Me Crawl." Each one is instrumentally and vocally outstanding, and one can't find a single fault anywhere. 

The rest of No Stranger To A Tele is made up of instrumentals, and Redd is such a master on the Tele that no vocals are necessary...his fretwork more than conveys the emotions and messages. The disc opens with the title track, "No Stranger To A Tele," in which Redd cleverly composed a song made up of a string of Roy Nichols' guitar riffs, which not only proves that Redd definitely falls into the Roy Nichols/Don Rich league of players, it also makes for some fun trying to guess which Haggard song each riff is from. "Diminishing Flames" and "Granny Grout" are slightly jazzy, laid back swing numbers, while "Dewpster" swings and twangs bit harder, and Rubberdance is a barn-burning chicken picker. Redd's guitar exquisitely squeezes every drop of heartache, with nary a single word, on the barroom weeper "I Forget You Everyday. "T'Wango" is a powerful, sweeping Texas blues gem, and "3 1/2 Minutes Left" is straight up, no frills roadhouse blues. He has fun with "Chee-z," a surfer rock tune that instantly recalls the Ventures. 

On No Stranger To A Tele, Redd certainly gives that '53 Tele of his quite a workout, and proves why he's a guitar player's player. He's truly a master of the fretboard and as an added bonus, he's also a terrific vocalist. There's an excellent balance of instrumentals and vocals on the disc, and this one will appeal to both fans that appreciate a master guitarist at work, as well as those that love great, traditional hardcore country music.