Photography by Michael Woodall

Steve Hunter has 1,556 friends. At least, that was the most recent count on his MySpace page, where he actively blogs to promote his two new solo albums, Hymns for Guitar and Short Stories, and this summer’s European tour with legendary musician Lou Reed.
Not bad for a guitarist who just turned 60 and whose most famous work took place in the B.I. era (before iPod).
Since producing his first album in 1971 with a band called Detroit Featuring Mitch Ryder, his career highlights include working on Peter Gabriel’s first solo album, featuring “Solsbury Hill”; four Alice Cooper albums; Lou Reed’s Berlin album; writing and playing several songs for artists such as Tracy Chapman, Bette Midler and David Lee Roth; touring around the world; and producing his own solo albums.
And despite battling severe glaucoma and recently settling into marriage for the first time, the new Scottsdale resident says he’s more motivated than ever to keep making music.

Did you ever think you’d still be a touring musician at 60?
No, actually, I didn’t. I probably felt the same way all musicians did back in the ’70s, which was that we’d be done by the time we were 30.

How has the music industry changed since the ’70s?
There’s been enormous change. It’s all technology-driven now.
At one point we saw a big change from vinyl to CDs, and we all thought that that would be the big one, not knowing the iPod would come along.

You market your music pretty well through your MySpace page. Do you make it a point to keep up with technology?
I don’t see any other way of doing it. The industry is in turmoil. Not everyone knows how to make money making music anymore, because it’s all about downloading, and it’s almost an abstract thing…. And touring is getting more difficult because of energy and the gas problem… it’s getting so much more expensive.