After traveling around the world checking out musical performance and playing guitar for 40 years, I thought I had seen it all. You can only imagine the pleasure and delight I felt when I happened to catch the youthful and exuberant Zane Carney at the Baked Potato jazz club in Los Angeles last year. Zane Carney is the future of electric guitar.
Most renown for his stellar work with John Mayer, Avril LaVigne, and U2’s “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark,” just in time for the holiday season Zane has released a gorgeous version of “Silent Night.” It is brooding yet reverent, and lusciously textured recalling all of the flavors of the late Jeff Buckley while still showcasing Zane’s unique guitar wizardry. Zane told me, “I grew up going to midnight mass every year with my mother, brother (Reeve) and sister (Paris), and I always connected with the very end of the service where we’d sing a candlelit version of Silent Night as a congregation. As a lifelong jazz guy, I thought it would be special to take a shot at improvising my favorite Christmas song and I’m really excited about it sharing it with people since my debut full length album won’t be finished until next year.”
Here’s the clip:
And here’s my personal favorite video of Zane’s - his rendition of “Cry Me A River:”
In 2010 with his brother Reeve, Zane formed the band “CARNEY” and was revered by many in the music industry before its members parted to pursue solo careers. During the past three years, Zane has gone from a six month sold out residency at Hotel Cafe to headlining the Troubadour and El Rey Theatre to performing his music across Europe, Australia, Japan, Korea as well as the USA. Next year Zane is releasing his new full-length solo album showcasing his rapidly maturing songwriting, vocals and virtuoso guitar playing.
You can see Zane live with Jonny Lang as he opens for him as well as plays in his band November 27th through December 10th on the West Coast.
Please visit Spotify or Apple Music to check out Zane’s previous recordings Confluence and Amalgam and his Instagram page @zanecarney for more concert dates.