- God, thank you so much for this moment.
Thank you for bringing us all here safely.
We are so grateful for this path
that you continue to put us on,
and the gifts that you continue to allow us to use.
And we're so grateful for these moments, amen.
- [All] Amen! (group cheers)
- Ain't ready for this, they ain't ready for this.
They ain't ready for this.
- When I was little and I would perform,
and it was just my mom and my dad,
like rolling my heavy keyboard.
And sometimes my dad would be at work,
and my mom was pregnant with my sister.
And she would be rolling that huge piano, it was a Motif.
- Exactly. - She'd be rolling that thing.
- [Kenny] The biggest one they made.
- And the amp, and taking it out of the back of the car,
just so I could do my gig.
And now we're in freaking Wembley Stadium.
- [Kenny] Now you're in Wembley Stadium, yeah.
It's called sacrifice.
- That's right. - Called sacrifices.
- [H.E.R.] Woo.
Let's see.
- [Kenny] It's a new year.
(crowd cheers)
- It's really crazy to think like we started from, you know-
- Me doing the- - Just you
being the production. - Being the production.
- Exactly, like going- - I'm the sound guy.
- The sound guy, the roadie,
the guitar tech, you know, everything.
- Yeah. - Can you believe now, like...
- You have a full. - There's a full production,
and all of these road cases,
and they all say H.E.R. on them.
- [Kenny] Yeah, that's, yeah.
- [H.E.R.] Everybody is like super on point,
and it's crazy to think-
- The part people don't see. - Yeah.
- That whole team. - Exactly.
- That's actually your sound. - It takes a village.
- Yeah. - You know,
it just started with us, humble beginnings,
and now we reached new levels, it's crazy now.
(gentle guitar music)
So I remember waking up and hearing Lenny Kravitz
and Prince on the TV while you're cooking breakfast.
But that to me was like, I don't know,
it was like a really pivotal moment in my life, right?
I think I might have been like nine years old, you know?
And I would hear that on the TV.
- Okay, so this is a box of her things
I haven't broke out in a long time.
This is her first poetry book she wrote
when she's like six years old.
"Nine year old Gabby Wilson
"plays piano, drums, bass and lead guitar.
"She has a rich, soulful voice
"of a singer three times or age."
The jacket she wore on "The Today Show" when she was 10.
After "The Today Show" she vowed
to never where it again. (laughs)
So maybe that'll go
in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame one day.
So this is Georgia Street, Downtown Vallejo.
The city of Vallejo used to have what they called
the Wednesday Night Celebration.
This was the first place she performed with us.
This whole area would be just crowded with people.
And she'd hop on stage here with us and do two songs.
It got to be to where people were more interested
in coming to see Gabby than our band.
And so this is a special place for me and her.
It's one thing to kinda listen to records,
you know, listen to CDs or whatever, headphones,
but to actually watch Prince on stage,
or Lenny Kravitz on stage, or The Isley Brothers on stage,
or watch Led Zeppelin or Hendrix light his guitar on fire.
I was like, that's probably gonna inspire her
to really wanna play guitar. - Yeah.
- Especially 'cause Jimi is somebody that looks like us.
You know what I mean? - Exactly, and it did.
Watching those videos, right, is one thing.
And learning the licks is one thing.
But I think the thing that you've always taught me
to focus on was my sound and the tone,
the ways that you taught me, like,
all right, if you have this pedal,
if you do this and you put it on the bridge pickup,
then it's a little brighter.
If you put it up, it's a little darker, you know?
If you play the tele, it's a lot darker.
But then the Strat, it cuts through more.
And I remember all of those lessons.
- Wow, I didn't really think you would get it, wow.
- Yeah, and we would literally study like Prince,
and his sound, and you were like,
"It's not necessarily about what you're playing,
"but it's how you're playing it."
And now I look back on all my videos.
And I'm like, wow, if it wasn't for those moments.
- [Kenny] Of understanding tone.
- Exactly, understanding the tone, just like vocals.
- Playing melodically, too. - Exactly.
- You understanding how important melody is in guitar solos.
- Yeah.
- Rather than playing a bunch of notes.
- We were listening to Prince,
Lenny Kravitz and all the greats.
- And Ozzy too sometimes. - But also Ozzy.
- Yeah, right.
- Like, there were so many different genres of music.
But I think, like you said,
the one thing that everybody had in common was the feeling.
It wasn't necessarily for me about what genre I fit in,
but how I could incorporate all the things
that I've learned from all these guitar players
into my own kind of style.
I believe that there's only two genres in music,
good and bad. - Good and bad.
- Exactly, exactly. - Exactly.
Two styles of music.
(gentle guitar music)
- So we have the Blue Marlin here.
It's pretty cool, right?
- Yes, it's way cool, yeah, I don't even know what to say.
- The thing about this guitar that I absolutely love,
I mean, it's crazy that I have another one.
Like even having the first guitar was like so unbelievable.
I couldn't even like, comprehend that I have my own guitar.
But this one I think is a lot more special
because I don't know, it's the color.
I mean, of course, the specs are amazing.
But there's something about this time
I feel like it finally hit me, like, I have my own guitar.
Like, it's official.
Like, this is me.
(gentle guitar music)
So this electric blue,
not only is blue like one of my favorite colors.
But you know, I think about being a little girl.
And other than music, we were always fishing.
It's like that was our thing.
It was peaceful, and it was kind of our time away.
And I think that's why I wanted to call it a blue marlin.
And how it's like the ocean, you know?
It flows and yeah, it's electric.
There's something really electric about this blue.
And of course, the iridescence of it was so necessary,
in continuation of my first Strat, but it's a special one.
- Everybody in the south fishes.
There's a lot of little ponds
and little streams you can fish in.
And you know, that's what kids do in the south.
You know, ride motorcycles, go fishing.
That was a way for me to bond with my daughters.
Always felt like fishing was a good way for us
to kinda get away from all of the the noise,
and whatever's going on and just sit out on a lake,
maybe catch something, maybe not.
But it wasn't important, catching,
it was important was the bonding.
(gentle guitar music)
- [H.E.R.] Okay, but I have a surprise for you though.
- [Kenny] What's that?
- Look at the back.
- No way.
- You're gonna make me cry.
- Gonna make me cry, oh wow, wow.
- Had to put, come on. - Thank you.
- We got the Kenny Special Edition Blue Marlin.
- Thank you honey. - You're welcome.
- [Kenny] Thank you so much, man, I had no idea.
You guys caught me to completely off guard.
(both laugh)
(gentle music)
- We have such a connection with Strats.
Do you remember my first Strat?
- I remember. - My Fender.
It was a black and white one.
This is a guitar that my dad gave me.
And I learned how to play this song.
He taught me how to play.
And I'm gonna play it right here.
- [Kenny] I think a lot of kids starting out playing guitar
don't understand that you don't have to to say,
oh, well, I'm only gonna play R&B.
- Yeah, exactly.
- I'm only gonna play country.
- Yeah.
- You know, I'm only gonna play rock.
I think one thing about you
is you didn't mind learning all styles.
- Yeah. - 'Cause music is music.
And you would would learn those songs,
and I'd be like, wow, she gets it.
And that's why you're here.
- Yes.
(gentle guitar music)
You don't have to be boxed in
to one category if you play guitar.
- [H.E.R.] Yeah, and I think it's really cool
because I hope I've contributed to this in some way,
you know, that it's cool to be in a band again.
- [Kenny] Exactly.
- It's cool to play an instrument, you know?
It's cool to pick up an instrument and be melodic,
or come up with a really dope chord progression,
you know, alongside songwriting.
Or I'm seeing a lot of women playing guitar and killing it.
And I absolutely love to see that.
You know, I think we need more women who are producing,
more women on the drums,
more women on the bass, more women on the guitar.
And I think we're now shedding light on those women.
And I hope that I continue to inspire.
(gentle guitar music)
It's crazy to think how I am doing stadiums now.
Like, it's insane that I could even say that.
Like, I never thought that I would be in a stadium.
I hoped for it, but I don't think I imagined
being like in a stadium, like 50,000 people,
80,000 people every night, like a world tour.
- [Kenny] Yes, and then that's what
a guitar can take you to do.
Yeah, guitars are stadium instruments, so.
- They really are. - And you represented well.
- From, from Vallejo, Downtown Vallejo.
- [Kenny] That's right.
- You know, just playing in the grass
on the stage there, during the the festivals,
to now being at the stadiums.
- Stadiums, yeah, iconic, full circle.
(gentle guitar music) (crowd cheers)
- Woo!
(funky guitar music)
- Yeah! - Thank you!
Woo, I popped a string on that one.
- That was awesome.
(funky guitar music)
♪ Well, here I sit with my little girl ♪
♪ Playing on her Blue Marlin guitar ♪
♪ Yeah, I'm sitting, playing on my little girl's guitar ♪
♪ I never woulda thought she would be such a star ♪
(funky guitar music)
(both laugh)