Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler recently spoke with Guitarist in a new conversation about his retirement plans.
The musician said that his guitar skills worsened since the pandemic started, but he has written more songs during this process. He stated:
“The musician part [of me] is much reduced, I think, but the writer part is as strong as ever. If a song wants to be born, then I try to let it happen, but I think the playing has deteriorated a little bit… I’d [find I’d] be ready to sit down and look at a song on the computer, but I wouldn’t be playing enough.”
Knopfler Wants To Spend More Time With His Instrument
But he thinks he can get better with practice:
“But that’s just something that seems to have happened recently, and I should really take steps to spend more time behind the instrument, to just get playing. It’s not that I’ve forgotten how to play it – I’m just rusty.”
The Rocker Has A New Album
Knopfler gets ready to release his new album, ‘One Deep River,’ this spring on April 12. The guitarist and Guy Fletcher produced the album at British Grove Studios in London. He already shared one of the tracks called ‘Ahead of the Game.’ He said the following about the album in an email newsletter:
“Crossing the Tyne is always on your mind. It’s what you were doing when you were leaving as a youngster and that feeling is always the same every time you do it. You’re heading out, or you’re coming back, and it just connects with your childhood. The power of it doesn’t go away.”
Later in February, Mark released the second song, ‘Watch Me Gone‘ and, more recently, the third track, ‘Two Pairs of Hands.’ Lately, he also got famous guitarists like David Gilmour, Tony Iommi, Brian May, and Slash to record a cover of his 1983 song ‘Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero.’