Get the latest gossip

Mark Knopfler on the Most Patient and Wistful Music of His Career


“I didn’t know what I was doing. At least I was there.”

But he’s been in its shadow since Dire Straits debuted their self-titled album of lyrical portraits in 1978 — he was their sole songwriter and de facto leader until their breakup in the early ’90s — cementing it further with 1985’s epochal Brothers in Arms and a steady collection of solo outings in the subsequent decades. “I’m always thinking about another crowd, another arena, another place, another time,” he tells me, “and another reality.” This type of geographical osmosis is at the core of Knopfler’s work, which has reverence for the past as much as the future. I have run with the moneyI have a-hid like a thief.” Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, impressed by Knopfler’s unique guitar sound on Dire Straits’ debut album, recruited him to play on the Gaucho track “Time Out of Mind.” The opening and mid-song solos are all him.

Get the Android app

Or read this on VULTURE

Read more on:

Photo of Mark Knopfler

Mark Knopfler

Related news:

News photo

Mark Knopfler Gathers Every Guitar God for New Animated Video

News photo

Mark Knopfler Roped 60 Guitar Heroes For ‘Going Home’ Charity Single, Including Bruce Springsteen, Slash, Pete Townshend

News photo

Mark Knopfler Unites With Over 60 Guitar Gods for ‘We Are The World’-Style Charity Single