ANAHEIM, Calif. — When not talking politics on the radio or on Fox News, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is passionate about music. Viewers of his weekly Fox News show Huckabee know that he likes to pick up a bass guitar and jam with artists from Willie Nelson to Lynyrd Skynyrd and Hank Williams Jr. We met up with him at the recent National Association of Music Merchants convention to talk about the tech in his life.

Recently switched PC to Mac

Huckabee says he likes the simplicity of Macs, and Apple's customer service. "If there is a problem, you can actually get somebody to speak to you, in English, who doesn't treat you like an idiot. The concept of service behind it is very helpful to me."

Records radio commentaries on his MacBook

"My MacBook is my studio. It's incredible what I can do with it." He records three Monday-Friday commentaries for the Cumulus Media Networks in his home studio using GarageBand software. But when traveling, he could be in "a hotel room or an airport lounge where I can find a quiet spot. I travel with a microphone and computer, and that's all I have to have."

A huge difference from his early radio days

"I started radio when I was 14, and those were the days with reel-to-reel tape. If you had to make an edit, it was razor blade splicing. The electronics and technology has transformed the ability to communicate. It's a lot of fun to do stuff now that would have taken a room full of equipment, hundreds of thousands of dollars and a lot of manpower."

His gear

The Apple trio (MacBook, iPhone and iPad), an Electro-Voice microphone, plus:

JamHub, which bills itself as a "silent rehearsal studio." The $299 pod lets up to seven musicians plug in, play and listen along on headphones. "It really works if you're having a group of people over" and don't want to worry about disturbing the neighbors.

Westone in-ear monitors. For his Fox News TV show, he ditched the device the network supplied for communicating with the show's director. "The Westone has incredible fidelity. I actually hear with clarity. It's not like you have headphones; it's like the voices are in the middle of your head."


Huckabee uses a lot of travel apps, including Airport Life, GateGuru and FlightAware. Among his go-to music apps, SoundHound lets you "hum a song, and it can figure out what it is. It's pretty incredible."

Tab Pro HD lets you call up a song, and shows how to play it. "You can download the song on the iPad and play it. If the recording is in (the key of) A, but what you download is in (in the key of) G, you can transpose it electronically. It's a very helpful tool."

3,500 songs on his iPhone

Artists include the Allman Brothers, Alicia Keys, Aretha Franklin, Aerosmith, Amy Grant, Albert King and Alice Cooper.

In this bonus from Mike Huckabee's Talking Your tech interview, the Fox News talks about his massive bass collection.

Bass collection

He owns more than 70 bass guitars. He won't travel with an instrument, for fear of the airline losing it. "I've heard too many horror stories. I'd rather just rent one when I land."

Why the bass?

"I started on guitar at age 11, but in less than a year, I figured out that if I played guitar, there was a lot of competition, but there was a real shortage of bass players, so I switched. I loved the sound and power of the bass, and the foundation it laid."

Favorite bass players

Noel Redding (Jimi Hendrix Experience) and Mel Schacher (Grand Funk Railroad). "They were in three-piece bands when the bass had to carry a lot more of the music to make it work." His other hero: Motown legend James Jamerson. "Listen to those amazing licks he created. We're still listening to them 50 years later, and we're still blown away. He did it without any electronic tricks, just pure raw skill."

In this bonus from his Talking Your Tech interview, Fox News' Mike Huckabee jams the blues with USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham at the NAMM convention in Los Angeles.

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