MARC Ford is the former guitarist with the rock band, the Black Crowes. A solo artist in his own right, Ford plays the Summer Tyne Festival in Gateshead on July 19. He speaks to Matt Westcott about his latest album Holy Ghost which is out now on Naim Records.

For more details on the festival visit www.sagegateshead.com/tour-dates/summertyne-americana-festival-2014.

Matt: What does Americana mean to you and how do you think it translates on this side of the Atlantic?

Marc: To me it means American. I guess American folk to be more specific. You know, music by folks for folks?

Matt: The title Holy Ghost will be provocative to some, what were your thoughts when it came to choosing the title?

Marc: The Holy Ghost saved me from a life I couldn’t really understand and that I didn’t really like. During the time I was writing these songs I got to know the Holy Spirit pretty well. Ghost sounds cooler than spirit.

Matt: You say Holy Ghost is “hopeful in a dark way”. What do you mean by this?

Marc: There is heartache in the process of writing some of those songs. We all have the heartaches, and at some point we have to choose, is there hope or not? I choose yes.

Matt: Was recording the album somewhat of a cathartic process for you?

Marc: Yes but, I have sat with these songs for a while so most of it was in the revelation and the writing. The recording of songs is always cathartic. They have grown up and are out on their own finally.

Matt: Did you learn anything about yourself during that time?

Marc: Yes - that I can be a dick like anyone else. I can make mistakes. I can ask for forgiveness and I can be forgiven.

Matt: You speak of the need to recharge, personally and professionally, and it is now some time since, but how do you look back on your time with the Black Crowes and how your association ended?

Marc: We made great music. As a young man, I got to the top of my dreams, to play stadiums and be in top bands and make a living out of it. And that is what I have done 25 years.

But I realised, looking at my future, that it wasn’t what I was looking for. It didn’t hold all the promises. I was in and out of rehab. All they did was tell me I was an addict and I had a disease and I had better get with it. It never gave me the answers I was looking for.

Matt: How does the Marc Ford of the 90s and the Marc Ford of today compare and which are you happier being?

Marc: I’m good with right now. I get to make the music I’ve always wanted to make, but didn’t know it, I get to see the world and play that music for people who enjoy it, with my own son Elijah – a really talented singer and performer in his own right – does it get better than that?

Matt: You say you want to change people’s opinion of yourself, to not consider you just as “a guitar hero”. Why is this and do you think you have achieved this with Holy Ghost?

Marc: I love to play the guitar and I can get around it pretty good. And I’m many more things than that. I know people seem to need them but, labels are limiting. This new album came about because my journey compelled me to write songs about this journey and others, not for the sake of the guitar solos. The total opposite in fact. Sometimes, the best guitarists in the world are the ones who know when not to overplay.