November 12, 2021 • 33 mins
The guitar god recalls sessions for his latest album, 'Blessings and Miracles,' which features appearances by Kirk Hammett, Chick Corea, Diane Warren, Chris Stapleton, G-Eazy and more. He also opens up about making music with his children, how he gets in "The Zone" for a solo, and how he's been staying balanced during COVID.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the
Studio on iHeart Radio. My name is Jordan Runtog, but
enough about me. It's difficult not to get hyperbolic when
discussing my guest today. He first exploded onto the world
stage with a star making set at a little gig
called Woodstock in nineteen nine. In the half century since,
he's redefined the electric guitar with a mix of virtuosity
(00:24):
and spirituality. Songs like Evil Ways, Oi, Come of a Soul,
Sacrifice and Europa melded Latin melodies, jazz sensibilities and rock
soul in the way that no one had before, and
for my money, no one has since. Has A collective
career got a boost at the turn of the millennium
was Supernatural and Shaman, back to back albums that pairt
(00:45):
him with a diverse blend of contemporary artists. Now he's
back with a new album that's equally packed with friends.
On Blessings and Miracles, he joins forces with icons like
Steve Winwood, Kirk Hammond, and Metallica jazz great Chick corea
legendary songwriter Diane Warren, as well as fresh faces like
Ali Brook, g Easy and Chris Stapleton. Among the many
(01:08):
standout tracks is Move, the album's lead single, which season
pair with Rob Thomas for the first time on record
since the ubiquitous and immortal smash Smooth. I'm so happy
to welcome the great Carlos Santana. I hope you enjoy
our conversation. Oh my goodness, I have so many things
I want to talk to you about, but first off,
(01:28):
I gotta kick off with Blessings and Miracles. I am
such a huge fan. It is such an amazing album.
Philip was such a cool, diverse group of artists. I
mean from G Eazy to Chris Stapleton to your old
friend Rob Thomas. I just wanted to start. How did
this begin for you? It began? Uh, let's see, probably
(01:48):
when I did forty nine songs in ten days, Rick Ruben,
and they were all African songs, and a lot of
them we did. They went on the album called Africa
Speaks with Weaka. But then some of them they went
a limbo and I grabbed three of those, which is
like America for Sale, uh, Peace, Power and Mother Yes,
(02:11):
and I put him in here. So but we morphed them.
You know, we like everything like a tree that keeps expanding,
you know. I submitted a request to God, the Sweet Baby, Jesus,
the universe, whatever you want to call it, but call it,
you know. And so it's a bit of request. I said.
You know, when we did Africa Speaks, I knew there
(02:32):
was not a single within ten thousand miles, you know,
but it was okay. And so I said, well, now
I want to do something different. I wanted something more
like what we did supernatural. So I asked, I requested
in the office I think tank within people who worked
with me, give me the names of those sisters and
brothers who have their fings finger and the polls they
(02:54):
can get in the radio. And they said, oh, they
mentioned you know some here. They're about twelve of the
one of them was Chris Stapleton. And I said, oh,
and they go, but he plays you know, country music.
I says, it's okay, you know, I can learn how
to play country music. Uh. So, I says, why don't
we call his manager and ask him if he would
be so gritious to ask Chris if he would have
(03:16):
eyes to write a song for us or with us,
you know, And that's how we started. You can put
it all this in a package. That divine intelligence was
orchestrating all of this to happen. Now, the artists I
have yet to meet in person or shakings in person,
because we're living in this era now of you know,
(03:37):
when I started, it was records and then there was
like eight tracks and casseettes and see these that and
now we zoom, you know, and we stream. And so
because of zoom and streaming, where we're able to be
in London or Kawai or Los Angeles or Sandra Fel
and do it all and you close your eyes and
we're you're right there anyway with them, you know when
(04:00):
you play. That wasn't tough for you not to have
to have that in person, you know, feeding off each
other's energy. That wasn't an issue. No, No, because I
was born with a really highly developed intense imagination, so
I can imagine them right next to me. I just
closed my eyes and I did. I hear the music,
and I know where where to play and where you
(04:22):
know how much how much passion, intensity and fire to
put on each note. There was a interview you gave
recently where you were saying, you're talking about how all
of your playing, and all of your solo starts with
your breath, and you're breathing. I wanted to ask you
more about that because that that's so fascinating to me. Yes,
(04:44):
you know, I think if there was, I don't know
if they do this already at juillior school or any
school of music. The first lesson should be how to
breathe correctly? You know, how how to be conscious of
your next breath, because that's where you find your identity,
your your uniqueness, your authenticity, and your fingerprints. You know
(05:07):
it sound wise, h A lot of people sound like
a lot of people. Very few people sound like themselves,
you know, and that's because they don't know how to
breathe correctly? How did you discover this? Who did you have?
Somebody in part this to you or just from years
of doing it? My father and my mother taught me
how to uh feel it, how do how to how
(05:33):
to own it, how to be present and lucid and
in the first note in this moment in time, you know,
I would I would say you know first as God
always that you know as well. My my mother and father,
My father and mother, they were supreme instrumental and teaching
me how to have conviction and charisma and deep awareness
(05:56):
of confidence. Speaking of music being a family affair, I
know you have some family on this record. You have
your your partner Cindy, and your children Stell and Salvador
both on it as well. Uh. It must be so
fulfilling to have that kind of bond with with your children.
I mean, how did they wind up on on this record? Again?
(06:17):
Devine intelligence, you know, sets up this. I heard his
song kind of floating up in the ether, you know,
and I said, oh, this is the second time I
heard that kind of sort of I'm gonna share Salmon
and see if I see who that is, you know,
so I should Salmon in my son's face appears and
I go, whoa, whoa, and I go, so I call, hey, Salvador,
(06:37):
I said, you know, I found out that this is
your song. I can't stop playing it for the last
two days. I wonder if it's okay, if I can
put my guitar in the rest of the band in
there and put it on my album. And then I swear,
I hear the silence allomside, I hear your kidding. I'm
(07:02):
not kidding, man, Please you know again, Okay, you know,
that's that we talked about it. You know the same
thing with my daughter. You know, she's she sent me
this song. Uh, and and I couldn't stop playing it.
It just sounded like I've been to Europe since nineteen
seventy and it's sounded like I was in Switzerland or
somewhere in Europe six o'clock in the morning, walking the streets,
and it's just so hunting. So again, I said, sweet,
(07:26):
I can't stop playing your song. Over and over. I
looked it, and I want to know if it's all
right for me to put my guitar in it and
put it on my album again, deep deep silence, and
then I here, are you kidding? I'm like, no, I'm
not kidding. I wouldn't kids like that. So you know
(07:49):
that's how it happened. Uh. There's defund intelligence who orchestrates
for all of this components, including uh personal family, to
present themselves in such a way that it's like a
divine buffet and just have fun gorging you so we
delight delightfulness. That must be so cool just to be
(08:12):
able to as a parent, to have the music of
your child be able to move you in that way.
I mean, I'm not a parent, and I've never written
a song in my life, but I just imagine that
was gosbe such a fulfilling thing to know that that
that lives on. You've passed that on, You've given that
that gift to them, and they're paying it back to you,
and now you're all paying it back to all of us,
all of us fans listening. Yes, we decided a long
(08:35):
time ago by recognition that for us, it's not a job,
a gift, or a profession. It's a way of life,
you know, from my father took his father's father, you know,
the same thing with my son, you know, So we
honor that it's a way of life to kind of
like a someone who sells faucets, but the water is
(08:59):
the same. People are thirsty, yeah, just you know, every
album is different, fast fast facets, you know. But but
what's got to be pure. It's gotta be good for you,
fresh and pure. And that's how I see music like
pretty much like Bruce Lee said, become water. Where is
(09:24):
the best thing that that someone who hears a song
of yours can say to you, to to to thank you.
What what's the best way, What's what's something that somebody
can say to you that makes it all worthwhile. What
what you know, their their gratitude, their appreciation. Is there
one response that you're looking for when you play a
song for someone, when people say your music touched me
(09:45):
in the place I've never even touched before. I was
contemplating with intensity to commit suicide, and the melody of
your ropo or some ampatit took me into a place
outside my mystery, and I was able to I was
able to smile and cry at the same time. And
(10:05):
I knew that I was meaningful and magnificent, and I
was worthy of my own grace and my own life.
And I can, and I too can participate in life
as a triumph, victory glory, not as a victim. So
they stopped, they stopped thinking like victims. It's really what
(10:26):
it is, you know. So the music music pulls people
out out of there a mental arrangement that you're not
happy and as you're miserable. That's the best thing that
people ever said to me, that music. And I hear
a lot, you know, especially nowadays, there's a lot of
people commuting suit with commutings with specially youngsters, you know,
So this music, especially this song with Ali Brook. If
(10:49):
you listened to the lyrics, that's exactly what about This
is a poster song for anti anti suicide. You know,
if you get to the other side of the suicide,
you will see that you are in our change and
you can create uh, miracles and blessings at a whole
lot of level beyond your mind's comprehension. What is it
(11:23):
about music that makes it such an effective medium for
transmitting energy, positivity, and strength and emotion. Sound residence, vibration
assaults all your senses and transmogrifies molecular structure. It gives
you chills, your hair stands up, tears start coming out,
(11:45):
and you start dancing and you don't even know why,
you know, and so music is kind of like the
left and right hand of God, sculpturing you to remember
who you really really are, not what indoctrination or world
programmation is, but actually being liberated from all that and
(12:09):
for you to remember and claim you are light, spirit,
and soul, those elements that are in you, and you
are indestructible and immutable. You know, that's why music is
so powerful, because it reminds you I was making a
joke about Beethoven, you know, get out of your way,
(12:37):
let God do it through you. You know that, you
know that's that's reutely what it is. But you know,
like what you know, there's something about the inner voice
when with Claria tells you or invites you, uh to
stop investing emotionally on stupid stuff that is very limited,
(12:57):
you know, and and uh accept your totality, your absoluteness
and in shine and sore. Yeah, that's been a lot
hard for a lot of people to do in the
last eighteen months, just with everything going on in the world.
(13:19):
How have you been able to sort of stay ground
and keep an equilibrium throughout the last year and a half. Well,
it's like passing through a movie theater and not going
in it and not watching that movie pretty much. It's incredible.
You know, it's my choice. I mean, you can turn
(13:40):
off the TV and only watch basketball and only watch
you know, excellence, brilliance. You know, read books that remind
you of you know, uh, divine modum op a random
code of conduct, you know, and so you know, there's
there's very trying to true test that the things that
(14:01):
you can do to not invest emotionally and stupid stuff
is gonna hurt you and delay you'r date with date
with divine destiny every day. You know, I read that
you've been reading Joseph Murphy, the New Thought Minister has
written positive thinking books like Positive Mental Attitude. Who else
(14:25):
have you been reading lately? In uh? In Lockdown, it's
always Course of Miracles, the Auranta. You know. I take
certain things, certain passages from the Bible that are not
laced with Godzilla. You know, if there's Godzilla, then you
can keep that, you know, my Goddess light, love, compassion
(14:46):
and anything that anything that's promoting selling fear, that's Godzilla.
And I don't I don't, you know, I respected, but
I leave it alone because it's not it's not for me. Uh. Well,
I love when Jesus says, uh, God made you in
its own image. Uh. And so if you make the effort,
(15:11):
you know, I love this. Someone said that if you
takes one step, God takes nine to meet you in
the middle. I like that. I like that a lot.
I've never heard that. That's that's what's happening. If people
would only knew that, they wouldn't suicide as much, they
wouldn't yield to hurtful things, you know. Uh, And so
(15:36):
that's what I'm here, man, I'm here to promote blessings
and miracles from the point of elevating people to recognize
the value of their own gift, which is uh, light
and love and the blessings and miracles are within all
of us. Yeah, exactly. No, I that that title really
(16:00):
resonated with me. I wanted to ask you more about
how you landed on that, because it does it that
that sense really abused the record what you just said.
I mean, it really sort of kind of shines a
light on all of us to remind us that, you know,
we are divine and that we are able to have
control over our own happiness in our own you know,
on a day to day basis. But I do want
(16:22):
to ask you more about where that that those words
came from for you. Thank you for saying that. I
say as much as possible that heaven and happiness are
not at destination or a condition. It's a conscious choice daily,
you know. So you and the old thing people used
(16:43):
to say, everybody wants to go to heaven, nobody wants
to die, you know, at least say that, and we say,
now I am mora alized than ever and I'm in
heaven and I'm hired in an instruments. But how about that? Yeah,
when you're when you're playing, when you're when you're making
(17:03):
your music, and when you're sharing your gifts, what do
you need to do anything special to get to that space?
Is there are there any kind of practices that you do?
Are there any kind of almost hesitate to call them superstitions,
But is there something that you need to do to
get yourself to that mental space to be able to play?
Or is is is it really just something that you
can key in and out of. You're asking all the
(17:25):
supreme questions. Everyone has a ritual. Every single human being
has a ritual. Whether you're a housewife taking the kids
to a soccer practice, or the pope or you know,
or the basketball players. Everybody has a ritual. And so
I was telling people, you know, why people need a
ritual because it is a way to meet up WiFi,
(17:46):
hook up to absoluteness and to titity, you know. And
what you're asking about when you take a solo, and
then after the solo, like what I did was silent pati.
My headphones were like this, and you know they ended
happened to my forehead in the background because I was
moving around, but I didn't stop, and so I had
(18:08):
because I was more conscious of not having the headphones
fall off of me. I wasn't thinking about the song,
and my fingers just did it, you know. So when
I was when the song was fading out, everybody in
the everybody in a studio with their mouth was opening.
They were going, damn, did you hear what you did? Man?
(18:30):
And I'm like, what was it? Good? You know, because
to enter the state of grace, you cannot remember it
after you do it. If you do, probably not that good. Yeah.
So so we invite people to learn like you learn scales,
records and theory, and learn how to get in it,
(18:51):
how to get into that state of grace. Uh they
as they say nowadays, in an organic way. Never Dad,
oh Man, you hear it again and again on this album.
So many incredible tracks. I mean, I I loved your
(19:13):
work with Kirk Hammond on America for Sale. That's that's
such an amazing song. I heard this story. I don't
know if this is true. Did he bring Greeny? Did
he bring Pretty Green's guitar? Yeah? You know, Greeny Greeny,
and you know, we go back to seventy when Peter
Green used to come over and hang out with us,
you know, and he let me touch it, you know
once in a while and he let me excuse you,
(19:34):
expression you let me smell it and touch it, you know.
And I knew that that guitar was like Merlin's uh
what do you call it? Caliber? Yeah, Sally exactly. You know, Yeah,
he brought it, let me let me play it again,
and uh, you know, I miss Peter Green so much
(19:55):
and Michael Bloomfield so much, and of course the one
where we all got it from just be the King,
you know, he said, uh, he's the one that created
the template, you know, bb King and Auber King and
Freddie King, you know old kings, you know. Uh So, anyway,
(20:15):
being with Kirk and we were having fun because I
said this to air Clapton one time when we did
a Supernatural. I said, hey man, we're just gonna you're
gonna have a conversation, all right, We're not gonna do
We're not gonna do dueling banjo's. And he started cracking
apt douling banjos because I've never heard that before. Because
you're right, We're not gonna do doling banjo fain. We're
(20:37):
gonna have a conversation, you know. So it's the same
thing with Kirk. And Kirk came out smoking man. He
came out like a gun slander man. I was like,
oh ship, you know. So I had to square myself up,
you know, uh and keep up with his youngster, you know,
because the stuff that he was putting put putting down
was very vibrant, very very uh, you know, very fiery.
(20:59):
So we had a ball, you know, and especially you
know Mark. Um. I said, well, listen, we're we're gonna
call this other artist. I won't tell you who because
I don't want to get any problem. But he couldn't
do it, or he didn't want to do it or whatever.
So I said, um, Kurt, do you know anybody who
can sing this song? Because the one that we called
he for some reason, he's not calling back. And he goes, yeah,
(21:21):
I got just the right guy. And he's a it's
a good friend of mine. So with Marcus, a get up,
and you know, I wanted something like because I love
Metall like an ac DC, you know, I like that
kind of energy, and let's separate you know, uh, you
know I want that kind of yeah, you know that
kind of you know. And and so so after Marcus
(21:45):
to get us sing the first layer, you know, like
America for sales, So I go, hey, man, can you
sing it higher and more? Like mean like he goes, oh, yeah,
no problem, you know. And so when I hear it,
I go like, man, we you know, I am so
great that we found the singer who could do the
two dimensional, the three dimensional thing and four dimensional thing
(22:05):
um act with actives, you know, and believable because his
his stuff is believable. Believable. You know. That's a bad.
So we're not we're talking about doing another album, all
three of us, you know, but we're about doing an
album with Eric Clapton Derrek Trucks in the Mexican about
UFOs and Western music kind of like Good Bad and
(22:28):
the Ugly No No No singles, just instrumentals. I told
us to Eric, and he says, I mean I want
to do that, you know. So so we want to
enter a place where his Aero Clapton Derrick Trucks in
Santiana doing soundtrack soundtrack for spaghetti movies and UFOs. How
(22:51):
have you started on that yet that sounds incredible. So
you know I gotta no, I gotta submit the moths
to them, you know, I just want to you know,
I don't want tell anybody what to do or anything,
but you know, you you you submit certain places, certain
ponds that we can spawn. How do you do that
when you're when you're um setting a mood for somebody
(23:12):
for what you want? I mean, do you do? You
send them words, you send them images, you send them
other sounds or or some combination they're in. I send
them a mood basically like an eight bar mood. You know,
you look, you loop apart from something that you love.
You know, there's a lot of groups that I love,
for Miles Davids or The Doors, you know, or Eddie Candricks,
(23:35):
you know, from Marken Gay. You don't take the whole song.
You just say certain eight bars and you say, okay,
jump on top of this and make it north southeast
and west and this eight bars. Man, you know, like
what I meant to say this earlier, I loved what
(24:02):
you did with Wider Shade of Pale. Compotally reinvented that song.
I mean, you and Steve Win, what I mean, see
Win was one of my favorite vocalists ever. I love
what you did with that track. It's was such It's
one of my favorite tracks on the album. It sounds
so great. Thank you for saying that, you know it's
it's really impressive to me that that I requested him. Uh, specifically,
(24:24):
I said, Stevie, I hear you singing why do shade
of Pale and Daniel Oregon? But when I want us
to do it like African Cuban and Puerto Rican wahita
really sexy, sexy, sexy, but do do do do sex?
(24:47):
You know what? I And he was like, first he
wouldn't look at me, just kept looking at Gary Clark.
We were on stage hide Part front of ninety thousand
people with Eric and you wouldn't look at me. And
finally when he did here, he was like, Carlos, I
hear it. Are here exactly what you're saying. Yes, So
we call our brother and I are Michael World and
and you helpe is make the bed. You know. Uh,
(25:11):
that's a very sexy sexy song and making them really
happy is amazing. I mean it totally reinvented it. It's
like here and for the first time, it's so great Oh,
I love what you did with that. I mean, so
many amazing tracks on the album. I mean to you.
I guess here's a broader, uh metaphysical question. Uh, do
(25:34):
you find yourself making better music with people that you
have a personal connection with or does that not really
have anything to do with it? Can you just you
can you bond bond musically even though you've never met
them before, and it's just something that happens chemically in
that in the moment when you have your instruments. You know,
this this very important question because I am not wrestling
with that, but I'm crystallizing it. There's a lot of
(25:58):
knowing now that I'm entering without leaving the body, the
fifth dimension and the way I pursue everything. Then so
then I'm aware that we are really are we really are,
we really are all one. However, I'm still having a
difficulty sharing music with someone who's deepest spool and self absorbed, egotistical,
(26:23):
and there's no room in the room for both of
us or in this planet. So people like that, I
can't I can't share because I can tell you know,
if somebody, uh, if somebody is um not not feeling
absoluteness he's just feeling me me me me me. It
was like music. So see though music eagle me me
(26:48):
me me me. I can't play with them, you know
what I'm saying. Any anything like that, then I respect it,
but I will not be in the room with that
kind of frequency. Oh, I mean that makes a lot
of sense to me. What was it like being back
with with Rob Thomas? I know you have a relationship
that goes back quite a while. Is that like, you know,
(27:10):
the old expression, just like riding the bike again? How
that feel? We're writing something. I don't know if it's
a bike. Uh, but it's fun, you know. He uh,
I got a call I was telling you listen, I'm supernatural.
Smooth was the last song. I'm blessing in miracles. Move
(27:34):
was the last song that was submitted. Again, you know,
it just came out of the ether and Rob Thomas, hey,
you know, American authors and I were writing the song
together and and we pretty much completed and we won't
know if you want to play guitar on it, I go, oh,
I'm very grateful and honored. Thanks for keeping being in mind.
(27:56):
Send it, let me check it out. So sure enough,
here comes that seventh wave again, you know, and we
both get to right. I love the metaphor of being
a surface that rights the way past the beach, all
the way to the lobby, all the way to the
parking lot, you know, and it feels like we did
it again, or something did it again through us. Oh. Absolutely,
(28:20):
I mean it's such an incredible track. Are you guys
close outside of the studio. Do you guys talk a
lot when uh, you know, when you're not working on
music together. Yes, we we do, uh, Madissol and my
wife send it. They're very close, and and and so
Rob and I we constantly, um, you know it just
exchange uh exchange ideas, ideals, and you know, we have
(28:45):
fun uh discovering the things that uh uplifted and motivations
and inspiring sis. Do you feel that being curious is
a is a crucial part of being a musician. I
feel like there's so much emphasis somewhere to put your
hands on the instrument, and I feel like being curious
isn't something that's that's discussed enough. Yes. What you what
(29:08):
you call curious? I call it thirsty for adventure. Yeah,
thirst thirst thirst per adventure to dive into the unknown
and unpredictability. With enthusiasm that keeps you young. Really really
enthusiasm that word people should teach in schools, music, music schools,
(29:30):
you know, or any school, any school, university, or institution.
Without enthusiasm, you're just sucking up there, like my teacher
used to say, you know, usually by space and sucking
their man. So enthusiasm is something that we need, not
only a church, but in the streets. Enthusiasm. Thank you.
(29:52):
That's a that's a beautiful sentiment. I know this. This
last year and a half, actually coming up on two
years now, has been a really transformative time for a
lot of people. Uh has it taught you anything new
about yourself? The last year and a half of kind
of being more? Still, I suppose it taught me that
(30:14):
with discipline again in devotion, I can acquire balance, equilibrium,
and confidence to a whole other level, will be beyond
being seventy four years. So I don't have to walk
like I'm seventy four years, So I don't have to
think like I'm seventy four you so, and so what
(30:34):
I learned is that I have within me light, spirit, soul.
It is very very uh I abrant with divinity and
I'm able to do the impossible. Uh, what's the impossible?
You know? Jesus apparently, Lord Jesus um created alchemy, like
(30:59):
from out to wine, you know, the greatest alchemy, and
one of the most impossible things to do is to
go from fear to joy, from miserable mystery to victory,
you know. And so that's that's what I learned when
when people were an incubation. I learned to master my
thoughts to work for me, not for me to work
(31:21):
for them. I got a lot, I've gotten a lot
closer to my subconscious than my predictable monkey don't key,
Uh monkey and donkey they're they're really very predictable and
pathetic pretty pretty much, you know, because they they always
(31:43):
get in trouble because they insist on, uh going towards
a misery ditch and thinking like a victim. And I
find that boring, you know. I want the saving year
old child that is still uh accessing, retaining purity and innocence.
(32:08):
Thank you so much. I think we're at a place
where we want to just say that I'm very very
grateful for you, you taking the time to invite me
to be in your show, and we do invite people
to how do they say, Maybe the heavens open up
and the angels blessed each and everyone with the deep
awareness of your own life. There it is the deep
(32:31):
awareness of your own life. There, it is thank you,
thank you so much, Sirrier inspiration to us all. It
has been such a joy and honor speaking. Thank you
very much, bless you. We hope you enjoyed this episode
of Inside the Studio, a production of I Heart Radio.
For more episodes of Inside the Studio or other fantastic shows,
(32:54):
check out the I heart Radio app. Apple Podcast four
over you listen your favorite podcast
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the
Studio on iHeart Radio. My name is Jordan Runtog, but
enough about me. It's difficult not to get hyperbolic when
discussing my guest today. He first exploded onto the world
stage with a star making set at a little gig
called Woodstock in nineteen nine. In the half century since,
he's redefined the electric guitar with a mix of virtuosity
(00:24):
and spirituality. Songs like Evil Ways, Oi, Come of a Soul,
Sacrifice and Europa melded Latin melodies, jazz sensibilities and rock
soul in the way that no one had before, and
for my money, no one has since. Has A collective
career got a boost at the turn of the millennium
was Supernatural and Shaman, back to back albums that pairt
(00:45):
him with a diverse blend of contemporary artists. Now he's
back with a new album that's equally packed with friends.
On Blessings and Miracles, he joins forces with icons like
Steve Winwood, Kirk Hammond, and Metallica jazz great Chick corea
legendary songwriter Diane Warren, as well as fresh faces like
Ali Brook, g Easy and Chris Stapleton. Among the many
(01:08):
standout tracks is Move, the album's lead single, which season
pair with Rob Thomas for the first time on record
since the ubiquitous and immortal smash Smooth. I'm so happy
to welcome the great Carlos Santana. I hope you enjoy
our conversation. Oh my goodness, I have so many things
I want to talk to you about, but first off,
(01:28):
I gotta kick off with Blessings and Miracles. I am
such a huge fan. It is such an amazing album.
Philip was such a cool, diverse group of artists. I
mean from G Eazy to Chris Stapleton to your old
friend Rob Thomas. I just wanted to start. How did
this begin for you? It began? Uh, let's see, probably
(01:48):
when I did forty nine songs in ten days, Rick Ruben,
and they were all African songs, and a lot of
them we did. They went on the album called Africa
Speaks with Weaka. But then some of them they went
a limbo and I grabbed three of those, which is
like America for Sale, uh, Peace, Power and Mother Yes,
(02:11):
and I put him in here. So but we morphed them.
You know, we like everything like a tree that keeps expanding,
you know. I submitted a request to God, the Sweet Baby, Jesus,
the universe, whatever you want to call it, but call it,
you know. And so it's a bit of request. I said.
You know, when we did Africa Speaks, I knew there
(02:32):
was not a single within ten thousand miles, you know,
but it was okay. And so I said, well, now
I want to do something different. I wanted something more
like what we did supernatural. So I asked, I requested
in the office I think tank within people who worked
with me, give me the names of those sisters and
brothers who have their fings finger and the polls they
(02:54):
can get in the radio. And they said, oh, they
mentioned you know some here. They're about twelve of the
one of them was Chris Stapleton. And I said, oh,
and they go, but he plays you know, country music.
I says, it's okay, you know, I can learn how
to play country music. Uh. So, I says, why don't
we call his manager and ask him if he would
be so gritious to ask Chris if he would have
(03:16):
eyes to write a song for us or with us,
you know, And that's how we started. You can put
it all this in a package. That divine intelligence was
orchestrating all of this to happen. Now, the artists I
have yet to meet in person or shakings in person,
because we're living in this era now of you know,
(03:37):
when I started, it was records and then there was
like eight tracks and casseettes and see these that and
now we zoom, you know, and we stream. And so
because of zoom and streaming, where we're able to be
in London or Kawai or Los Angeles or Sandra Fel
and do it all and you close your eyes and
we're you're right there anyway with them, you know when
(04:00):
you play. That wasn't tough for you not to have
to have that in person, you know, feeding off each
other's energy. That wasn't an issue. No, No, because I
was born with a really highly developed intense imagination, so
I can imagine them right next to me. I just
closed my eyes and I did. I hear the music,
and I know where where to play and where you
(04:22):
know how much how much passion, intensity and fire to
put on each note. There was a interview you gave
recently where you were saying, you're talking about how all
of your playing, and all of your solo starts with
your breath, and you're breathing. I wanted to ask you
more about that because that that's so fascinating to me. Yes,
(04:44):
you know, I think if there was, I don't know
if they do this already at juillior school or any
school of music. The first lesson should be how to
breathe correctly? You know, how how to be conscious of
your next breath, because that's where you find your identity,
your your uniqueness, your authenticity, and your fingerprints. You know
(05:07):
it sound wise, h A lot of people sound like
a lot of people. Very few people sound like themselves,
you know, and that's because they don't know how to
breathe correctly? How did you discover this? Who did you have?
Somebody in part this to you or just from years
of doing it? My father and my mother taught me
how to uh feel it, how do how to how
(05:33):
to own it, how to be present and lucid and
in the first note in this moment in time, you know,
I would I would say you know first as God
always that you know as well. My my mother and father,
My father and mother, they were supreme instrumental and teaching
me how to have conviction and charisma and deep awareness
(05:56):
of confidence. Speaking of music being a family affair, I
know you have some family on this record. You have
your your partner Cindy, and your children Stell and Salvador
both on it as well. Uh. It must be so
fulfilling to have that kind of bond with with your children.
I mean, how did they wind up on on this record? Again?
(06:17):
Devine intelligence, you know, sets up this. I heard his
song kind of floating up in the ether, you know,
and I said, oh, this is the second time I
heard that kind of sort of I'm gonna share Salmon
and see if I see who that is, you know,
so I should Salmon in my son's face appears and
I go, whoa, whoa, and I go, so I call, hey, Salvador,
(06:37):
I said, you know, I found out that this is
your song. I can't stop playing it for the last
two days. I wonder if it's okay, if I can
put my guitar in the rest of the band in
there and put it on my album. And then I swear,
I hear the silence allomside, I hear your kidding. I'm
(07:02):
not kidding, man, Please you know again, Okay, you know,
that's that we talked about it. You know the same
thing with my daughter. You know, she's she sent me
this song. Uh, and and I couldn't stop playing it.
It just sounded like I've been to Europe since nineteen
seventy and it's sounded like I was in Switzerland or
somewhere in Europe six o'clock in the morning, walking the streets,
and it's just so hunting. So again, I said, sweet,
(07:26):
I can't stop playing your song. Over and over. I
looked it, and I want to know if it's all
right for me to put my guitar in it and
put it on my album again, deep deep silence, and
then I here, are you kidding? I'm like, no, I'm
not kidding. I wouldn't kids like that. So you know
(07:49):
that's how it happened. Uh. There's defund intelligence who orchestrates
for all of this components, including uh personal family, to
present themselves in such a way that it's like a
divine buffet and just have fun gorging you so we
delight delightfulness. That must be so cool just to be
(08:12):
able to as a parent, to have the music of
your child be able to move you in that way.
I mean, I'm not a parent, and I've never written
a song in my life, but I just imagine that
was gosbe such a fulfilling thing to know that that
that lives on. You've passed that on, You've given that
that gift to them, and they're paying it back to you,
and now you're all paying it back to all of us,
all of us fans listening. Yes, we decided a long
(08:35):
time ago by recognition that for us, it's not a job,
a gift, or a profession. It's a way of life,
you know, from my father took his father's father, you know,
the same thing with my son, you know, So we
honor that it's a way of life to kind of
like a someone who sells faucets, but the water is
(08:59):
the same. People are thirsty, yeah, just you know, every
album is different, fast fast facets, you know. But but
what's got to be pure. It's gotta be good for you,
fresh and pure. And that's how I see music like
pretty much like Bruce Lee said, become water. Where is
(09:24):
the best thing that that someone who hears a song
of yours can say to you, to to to thank you.
What what's the best way, What's what's something that somebody
can say to you that makes it all worthwhile. What
what you know, their their gratitude, their appreciation. Is there
one response that you're looking for when you play a
song for someone, when people say your music touched me
(09:45):
in the place I've never even touched before. I was
contemplating with intensity to commit suicide, and the melody of
your ropo or some ampatit took me into a place
outside my mystery, and I was able to I was
able to smile and cry at the same time. And
(10:05):
I knew that I was meaningful and magnificent, and I
was worthy of my own grace and my own life.
And I can, and I too can participate in life
as a triumph, victory glory, not as a victim. So
they stopped, they stopped thinking like victims. It's really what
(10:26):
it is, you know. So the music music pulls people
out out of there a mental arrangement that you're not
happy and as you're miserable. That's the best thing that
people ever said to me, that music. And I hear
a lot, you know, especially nowadays, there's a lot of
people commuting suit with commutings with specially youngsters, you know,
So this music, especially this song with Ali Brook. If
(10:49):
you listened to the lyrics, that's exactly what about This
is a poster song for anti anti suicide. You know,
if you get to the other side of the suicide,
you will see that you are in our change and
you can create uh, miracles and blessings at a whole
lot of level beyond your mind's comprehension. What is it
(11:23):
about music that makes it such an effective medium for
transmitting energy, positivity, and strength and emotion. Sound residence, vibration
assaults all your senses and transmogrifies molecular structure. It gives
you chills, your hair stands up, tears start coming out,
(11:45):
and you start dancing and you don't even know why,
you know, and so music is kind of like the
left and right hand of God, sculpturing you to remember
who you really really are, not what indoctrination or world
programmation is, but actually being liberated from all that and
(12:09):
for you to remember and claim you are light, spirit,
and soul, those elements that are in you, and you
are indestructible and immutable. You know, that's why music is
so powerful, because it reminds you I was making a
joke about Beethoven, you know, get out of your way,
(12:37):
let God do it through you. You know that, you
know that's that's reutely what it is. But you know,
like what you know, there's something about the inner voice
when with Claria tells you or invites you, uh to
stop investing emotionally on stupid stuff that is very limited,
(12:57):
you know, and and uh accept your totality, your absoluteness
and in shine and sore. Yeah, that's been a lot
hard for a lot of people to do in the
last eighteen months, just with everything going on in the world.
(13:19):
How have you been able to sort of stay ground
and keep an equilibrium throughout the last year and a half. Well,
it's like passing through a movie theater and not going
in it and not watching that movie pretty much. It's incredible.
You know, it's my choice. I mean, you can turn
(13:40):
off the TV and only watch basketball and only watch
you know, excellence, brilliance. You know, read books that remind
you of you know, uh, divine modum op a random
code of conduct, you know, and so you know, there's
there's very trying to true test that the things that
(14:01):
you can do to not invest emotionally and stupid stuff
is gonna hurt you and delay you'r date with date
with divine destiny every day. You know, I read that
you've been reading Joseph Murphy, the New Thought Minister has
written positive thinking books like Positive Mental Attitude. Who else
(14:25):
have you been reading lately? In uh? In Lockdown, it's
always Course of Miracles, the Auranta. You know. I take
certain things, certain passages from the Bible that are not
laced with Godzilla. You know, if there's Godzilla, then you
can keep that, you know, my Goddess light, love, compassion
(14:46):
and anything that anything that's promoting selling fear, that's Godzilla.
And I don't I don't, you know, I respected, but
I leave it alone because it's not it's not for me. Uh. Well,
I love when Jesus says, uh, God made you in
its own image. Uh. And so if you make the effort,
(15:11):
you know, I love this. Someone said that if you
takes one step, God takes nine to meet you in
the middle. I like that. I like that a lot.
I've never heard that. That's that's what's happening. If people
would only knew that, they wouldn't suicide as much, they
wouldn't yield to hurtful things, you know. Uh, And so
(15:36):
that's what I'm here, man, I'm here to promote blessings
and miracles from the point of elevating people to recognize
the value of their own gift, which is uh, light
and love and the blessings and miracles are within all
of us. Yeah, exactly. No, I that that title really
(16:00):
resonated with me. I wanted to ask you more about
how you landed on that, because it does it that
that sense really abused the record what you just said.
I mean, it really sort of kind of shines a
light on all of us to remind us that, you know,
we are divine and that we are able to have
control over our own happiness in our own you know,
on a day to day basis. But I do want
(16:22):
to ask you more about where that that those words
came from for you. Thank you for saying that. I
say as much as possible that heaven and happiness are
not at destination or a condition. It's a conscious choice daily,
you know. So you and the old thing people used
(16:43):
to say, everybody wants to go to heaven, nobody wants
to die, you know, at least say that, and we say,
now I am mora alized than ever and I'm in
heaven and I'm hired in an instruments. But how about that? Yeah,
when you're when you're playing, when you're when you're making
(17:03):
your music, and when you're sharing your gifts, what do
you need to do anything special to get to that space?
Is there are there any kind of practices that you do?
Are there any kind of almost hesitate to call them superstitions,
But is there something that you need to do to
get yourself to that mental space to be able to play?
Or is is is it really just something that you
can key in and out of. You're asking all the
(17:25):
supreme questions. Everyone has a ritual. Every single human being
has a ritual. Whether you're a housewife taking the kids
to a soccer practice, or the pope or you know,
or the basketball players. Everybody has a ritual. And so
I was telling people, you know, why people need a
ritual because it is a way to meet up WiFi,
(17:46):
hook up to absoluteness and to titity, you know. And
what you're asking about when you take a solo, and
then after the solo, like what I did was silent pati.
My headphones were like this, and you know they ended
happened to my forehead in the background because I was
moving around, but I didn't stop, and so I had
(18:08):
because I was more conscious of not having the headphones
fall off of me. I wasn't thinking about the song,
and my fingers just did it, you know. So when
I was when the song was fading out, everybody in
the everybody in a studio with their mouth was opening.
They were going, damn, did you hear what you did? Man?
(18:30):
And I'm like, what was it? Good? You know, because
to enter the state of grace, you cannot remember it
after you do it. If you do, probably not that good. Yeah.
So so we invite people to learn like you learn scales,
records and theory, and learn how to get in it,
(18:51):
how to get into that state of grace. Uh they
as they say nowadays, in an organic way. Never Dad,
oh Man, you hear it again and again on this album.
So many incredible tracks. I mean, I I loved your
(19:13):
work with Kirk Hammond on America for Sale. That's that's
such an amazing song. I heard this story. I don't
know if this is true. Did he bring Greeny? Did
he bring Pretty Green's guitar? Yeah? You know, Greeny Greeny,
and you know, we go back to seventy when Peter
Green used to come over and hang out with us,
you know, and he let me touch it, you know
once in a while and he let me excuse you,
(19:34):
expression you let me smell it and touch it, you know.
And I knew that that guitar was like Merlin's uh
what do you call it? Caliber? Yeah, Sally exactly. You know, Yeah,
he brought it, let me let me play it again,
and uh, you know, I miss Peter Green so much
(19:55):
and Michael Bloomfield so much, and of course the one
where we all got it from just be the King,
you know, he said, uh, he's the one that created
the template, you know, bb King and Auber King and
Freddie King, you know old kings, you know. Uh So, anyway,
(20:15):
being with Kirk and we were having fun because I
said this to air Clapton one time when we did
a Supernatural. I said, hey man, we're just gonna you're
gonna have a conversation, all right, We're not gonna do
We're not gonna do dueling banjo's. And he started cracking
apt douling banjos because I've never heard that before. Because
you're right, We're not gonna do doling banjo fain. We're
(20:37):
gonna have a conversation, you know. So it's the same
thing with Kirk. And Kirk came out smoking man. He
came out like a gun slander man. I was like,
oh ship, you know. So I had to square myself up,
you know, uh and keep up with his youngster, you know,
because the stuff that he was putting put putting down
was very vibrant, very very uh, you know, very fiery.
(20:59):
So we had a ball, you know, and especially you
know Mark. Um. I said, well, listen, we're we're gonna
call this other artist. I won't tell you who because
I don't want to get any problem. But he couldn't
do it, or he didn't want to do it or whatever.
So I said, um, Kurt, do you know anybody who
can sing this song? Because the one that we called
he for some reason, he's not calling back. And he goes, yeah,
(21:21):
I got just the right guy. And he's a it's
a good friend of mine. So with Marcus, a get up,
and you know, I wanted something like because I love
Metall like an ac DC, you know, I like that
kind of energy, and let's separate you know, uh, you
know I want that kind of yeah, you know that
kind of you know. And and so so after Marcus
(21:45):
to get us sing the first layer, you know, like
America for sales, So I go, hey, man, can you
sing it higher and more? Like mean like he goes, oh, yeah,
no problem, you know. And so when I hear it,
I go like, man, we you know, I am so
great that we found the singer who could do the
two dimensional, the three dimensional thing and four dimensional thing
(22:05):
um act with actives, you know, and believable because his
his stuff is believable. Believable. You know. That's a bad.
So we're not we're talking about doing another album, all
three of us, you know, but we're about doing an
album with Eric Clapton Derrek Trucks in the Mexican about
UFOs and Western music kind of like Good Bad and
(22:28):
the Ugly No No No singles, just instrumentals. I told
us to Eric, and he says, I mean I want
to do that, you know. So so we want to
enter a place where his Aero Clapton Derrick Trucks in
Santiana doing soundtrack soundtrack for spaghetti movies and UFOs. How
(22:51):
have you started on that yet that sounds incredible. So
you know I gotta no, I gotta submit the moths
to them, you know, I just want to you know,
I don't want tell anybody what to do or anything,
but you know, you you you submit certain places, certain
ponds that we can spawn. How do you do that
when you're when you're um setting a mood for somebody
(23:12):
for what you want? I mean, do you do? You
send them words, you send them images, you send them
other sounds or or some combination they're in. I send
them a mood basically like an eight bar mood. You know,
you look, you loop apart from something that you love.
You know, there's a lot of groups that I love,
for Miles Davids or The Doors, you know, or Eddie Candricks,
(23:35):
you know, from Marken Gay. You don't take the whole song.
You just say certain eight bars and you say, okay,
jump on top of this and make it north southeast
and west and this eight bars. Man, you know, like
what I meant to say this earlier, I loved what
(24:02):
you did with Wider Shade of Pale. Compotally reinvented that song.
I mean, you and Steve Win, what I mean, see
Win was one of my favorite vocalists ever. I love
what you did with that track. It's was such It's
one of my favorite tracks on the album. It sounds
so great. Thank you for saying that, you know it's
it's really impressive to me that that I requested him. Uh, specifically,
(24:24):
I said, Stevie, I hear you singing why do shade
of Pale and Daniel Oregon? But when I want us
to do it like African Cuban and Puerto Rican wahita
really sexy, sexy, sexy, but do do do do sex?
(24:47):
You know what? I And he was like, first he
wouldn't look at me, just kept looking at Gary Clark.
We were on stage hide Part front of ninety thousand
people with Eric and you wouldn't look at me. And
finally when he did here, he was like, Carlos, I
hear it. Are here exactly what you're saying. Yes, So
we call our brother and I are Michael World and
and you helpe is make the bed. You know. Uh,
(25:11):
that's a very sexy sexy song and making them really
happy is amazing. I mean it totally reinvented it. It's
like here and for the first time, it's so great Oh,
I love what you did with that. I mean, so
many amazing tracks on the album. I mean to you.
I guess here's a broader, uh metaphysical question. Uh, do
(25:34):
you find yourself making better music with people that you
have a personal connection with or does that not really
have anything to do with it? Can you just you
can you bond bond musically even though you've never met
them before, and it's just something that happens chemically in
that in the moment when you have your instruments. You know,
this this very important question because I am not wrestling
with that, but I'm crystallizing it. There's a lot of
(25:58):
knowing now that I'm entering without leaving the body, the
fifth dimension and the way I pursue everything. Then so
then I'm aware that we are really are we really are,
we really are all one. However, I'm still having a
difficulty sharing music with someone who's deepest spool and self absorbed, egotistical,
(26:23):
and there's no room in the room for both of
us or in this planet. So people like that, I
can't I can't share because I can tell you know,
if somebody, uh, if somebody is um not not feeling
absoluteness he's just feeling me me me me me. It
was like music. So see though music eagle me me
(26:48):
me me me. I can't play with them, you know
what I'm saying. Any anything like that, then I respect it,
but I will not be in the room with that
kind of frequency. Oh, I mean that makes a lot
of sense to me. What was it like being back
with with Rob Thomas? I know you have a relationship
that goes back quite a while. Is that like, you know,
(27:10):
the old expression, just like riding the bike again? How
that feel? We're writing something. I don't know if it's
a bike. Uh, but it's fun, you know. He uh,
I got a call I was telling you listen, I'm supernatural.
Smooth was the last song. I'm blessing in miracles. Move
(27:34):
was the last song that was submitted. Again, you know,
it just came out of the ether and Rob Thomas, hey,
you know, American authors and I were writing the song
together and and we pretty much completed and we won't
know if you want to play guitar on it, I go, oh,
I'm very grateful and honored. Thanks for keeping being in mind.
(27:56):
Send it, let me check it out. So sure enough,
here comes that seventh wave again, you know, and we
both get to right. I love the metaphor of being
a surface that rights the way past the beach, all
the way to the lobby, all the way to the
parking lot, you know, and it feels like we did
it again, or something did it again through us. Oh. Absolutely,
(28:20):
I mean it's such an incredible track. Are you guys
close outside of the studio. Do you guys talk a
lot when uh, you know, when you're not working on
music together. Yes, we we do, uh, Madissol and my
wife send it. They're very close, and and and so
Rob and I we constantly, um, you know it just
exchange uh exchange ideas, ideals, and you know, we have
(28:45):
fun uh discovering the things that uh uplifted and motivations
and inspiring sis. Do you feel that being curious is
a is a crucial part of being a musician. I
feel like there's so much emphasis somewhere to put your
hands on the instrument, and I feel like being curious
isn't something that's that's discussed enough. Yes. What you what
(29:08):
you call curious? I call it thirsty for adventure. Yeah,
thirst thirst thirst per adventure to dive into the unknown
and unpredictability. With enthusiasm that keeps you young. Really really
enthusiasm that word people should teach in schools, music, music schools,
(29:30):
you know, or any school, any school, university, or institution.
Without enthusiasm, you're just sucking up there, like my teacher
used to say, you know, usually by space and sucking
their man. So enthusiasm is something that we need, not
only a church, but in the streets. Enthusiasm. Thank you.
(29:52):
That's a that's a beautiful sentiment. I know this. This
last year and a half, actually coming up on two
years now, has been a really transformative time for a
lot of people. Uh has it taught you anything new
about yourself? The last year and a half of kind
of being more? Still, I suppose it taught me that
(30:14):
with discipline again in devotion, I can acquire balance, equilibrium,
and confidence to a whole other level, will be beyond
being seventy four years. So I don't have to walk
like I'm seventy four years, So I don't have to
think like I'm seventy four you so, and so what
(30:34):
I learned is that I have within me light, spirit, soul.
It is very very uh I abrant with divinity and
I'm able to do the impossible. Uh, what's the impossible?
You know? Jesus apparently, Lord Jesus um created alchemy, like
(30:59):
from out to wine, you know, the greatest alchemy, and
one of the most impossible things to do is to
go from fear to joy, from miserable mystery to victory,
you know. And so that's that's what I learned when
when people were an incubation. I learned to master my
thoughts to work for me, not for me to work
(31:21):
for them. I got a lot, I've gotten a lot
closer to my subconscious than my predictable monkey don't key,
Uh monkey and donkey they're they're really very predictable and
pathetic pretty pretty much, you know, because they they always
(31:43):
get in trouble because they insist on, uh going towards
a misery ditch and thinking like a victim. And I
find that boring, you know. I want the saving year
old child that is still uh accessing, retaining purity and innocence.
(32:08):
Thank you so much. I think we're at a place
where we want to just say that I'm very very
grateful for you, you taking the time to invite me
to be in your show, and we do invite people
to how do they say, Maybe the heavens open up
and the angels blessed each and everyone with the deep
awareness of your own life. There it is the deep
(32:31):
awareness of your own life. There, it is thank you,
thank you so much, Sirrier inspiration to us all. It
has been such a joy and honor speaking. Thank you
very much, bless you. We hope you enjoyed this episode
of Inside the Studio, a production of I Heart Radio.
For more episodes of Inside the Studio or other fantastic shows,
(32:54):
check out the I heart Radio app. Apple Podcast four
over you listen your favorite podcast
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