“I don’t classify myself as a rock ’n’ roll or rockabilly player… I was trying tobe as all-around as I could be”: Billy Bremner on his greatest sessions with Pretenders, Nick Lowe and countless others – and the story behind Rockpile

Billy Bremner of Rockpile takes a solo on his Hamer doublecut in this black-and-white live shot from 1980.

Be it backing up Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe or Chrissie Hynde as a member of the gone-way-too-soon Rockpile (which featured Edmunds and Lowe) or peeling off nifty solo records, Scottish guitarist Billy Bremner has merged the worlds of good-time rock ’n’ roll and rockabilly for more than 50 years.

One look at his discography, which includes records like Lowe’s Jesus of Cool (1978) and Labour of Lust (1979), Edmunds’ Repeat When Necessary (1979) and the Pretenders’ Learning to Crawl (1984), shows his versatility. And that’s probably one reason he detests being boxed into the rockabilly category.