You can drive out nature with a pitchfork, but it always comes roaring back again. If there's one thing you can say about mankind, there's nothing kind about man. All the good in the world, you can put inside a thimble and still have room for you and me. The devil builds a chapel, like the thistles that are growing round the trunk of a tree. There's no milk at the bottom of the pail.

TOM WAITS: (Singing) The higher that the monkey can climb, the more he shows his tail. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, 'MISERY IS THE RIVER OF THE WORLD') Let's start with a song from 'Blood Money.' This is 'Misery Is The River Of The World.' Waits wrote those songs with his wife, Kathleen Brennan.

This month, on the 20th anniversary of their release, those albums are being reissued on vinyl with new, formerly unreleased live versions of some songs. When Terry spoke with him in 2002, he'd just released two lyrical concept albums, 'Blood Money' and 'Alice,' which are now considered some of his finest work. We're going to listen back to two of our interviews with Tom Waits. His songs have been used on the soundtracks of several films, and he's acted in the movies 'Down By Law,' 'Short Cuts,' Francis Ford Coppola's 'Dracula,' 'The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs' and 'The Old Man & The Gun.' He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. The darkness of his lyrics is accentuated by the rumble and rasp of his voice, a voice that sounded old even when he was young. The people he usually sings about are loners, losers, hobos, outlaws and drunks. There's always been an element of mystery surrounding his life. The New York Times once described him as the poet of outcasts. Tom Waits is one of the true eccentrics of pop music. I'm David Bianculli, professor of television studies at Rowan University in New Jersey, in for Terry Gross. All are tone-developed and tested in Anderson guitars for Anderson guitars.This is FRESH AIR. All pickups are built and wound in house using only the finest materials-some exclusive to Anderson alone.Vintage tremolo bridge is now exclusive made to Anderson’s meticulous specifications and assembled in-house with specially-selected components for superior function, tone and feel.All finishes are as breathable and as resonant (or more so) than the best of the best of the legendary nitro cellous lacquer finishes-without the intrinsic drying problems of lacquer. Paint is meticulously applied-a proprietary ultraviolet light process that always yields an ultra-thin and breathable finish so the instrument’s resonance is never impaired but always imparted.This superior bolt–on neck joint also grants greater comfort and easier access to the upper frets-so very nice to play. A–Wedgie neck joint is vastly superior, sonically as well as structurally. Each body and neck are specifically made for one another and then precisely “fit” together.Big woody tone is truly maximized as string vibration is more easily conducted directly to the wood-so rich. Stainless steel frets, originally exclusive to Anderson, that play like warm butter, smooth and more effortless than any other fret material.

Necks carved to your specifications and then allowed to acclimate to the environment in their new form for a month.

Just a few of the Anderson Advantages include…

That’s one of the keys: no frills or trendy gismos before tone and flawless function.

What differentiates your instruments from others in the field? As we have said for the last 30 years (and that’s a long time-longer than Leo Fender was at Fender), “We are a small American Company dedicated to creating the world’s finest feeling, playing and sounding electric guitar-period!” Also, we love it when our guitars look good- and they certainly do that-but, without sacrificing any playability or sonic depth.

Hi business expanded, and he continued manufacturing guitar parts and “doing a lot of OEM small manufacturer stuff.” Eventually, frustration niggled over seeing his high quality parts paired with lesser quality pieces or assembled with subpar building skills… ” the parts you worked so hard on turn into a mediocre guitar.” Tom’s team began assembling instruments themselves and by 1990 were completely focused on selling guitars instead of parts. He left when new investors moved a good portion of the manufacturing overseas, and he started making pickups in his garage.

How did you get started building instruments? Following several years of daytime music shop repair work and nighttime gigging, Tom Anderson joined up with the Schechter team to build guitars in 1977.

Tom anderson guitars