If Mark Knopfler were an American Indian...

His name would be "Talks With Guitar."

Think of the rollicking debut in Sultans of Swing, the nautical swagger of Down to the Waterline, the gunslinger confidence of Money for Nothing, and the iridescent finger picking under the apocalyptic lyric of Brothers in Arms, where every verse in the song is as haunting as this one:

Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon's riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it's written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms

Knopfler is a poet with a guitar, number 27 on Rolling Stones’ list of the 100 best guitarists of all time, but I’d put him in the top 10, giving Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and B.B. King a serious run for their money. The Rolling Stone list is suspect, anyway, in that Joan Jett made the cut (at number 87) but Chet Atkins for some reason did not.

If the four Knopfler tunes I’ve already cited don’t make a sufficient case for his greatness, think about Tunnel of Love. That song starts with all the bravado of a carnival barker, and becomes something even better when a whispered imperative (“rock away, rock away”) and a virtuoso bridge between verses pave the way for as poignant an evocation of longing and nostalgia as you’ll ever hear:

Girl, it looks so pretty to me
Like it always did;
Like the Spanish city to me
When we were kids

Knopfler could be talking about Toledo, or Barcelona, or someplace else; and you as the listener get to choose, because he doesn’t insult your intelligence with paint-by-numbers lines like, for example, “Hold me…like you did by the lake on Naboo, so long ago.”

That verse, “from the man who can make you cry by varying finger pressure on a guitar string,” shows how musical chops merge seamlessly with songwriting talent to create what becomes a homage to the nostalgia that fueled Van Morrison’s Brown-Eyed Girl.

What I like most about Knopfler’s evocative writing and playing is that he pays as much attention to silence as he does to sound. He can improvise in ways that would astonish even the Grateful Dead in their prime, and play triplets and riffs enough to impress the likes of Eric Clapton and Chet Atkins, but if music is “the space between the notes,” Knopfler is the guitarist to admire most. Moreover, he’s no child prodigy. Knopfler got his first guitar at age 15.

Let me close this with words of musical wisdom from the man himself.

Q. What constitutes "old music"?

A. from Knopfler: If you think going back means Led Zeppelin, have another think! You have to start with American music in the '20s. It would help if you knew about Irish and Celtic music as well. American music is essentially a nuclear fusion of blues and country. That's what the whole thing's about. Nothing else matters.

Knopfler on how to succeed in music without really trying (and this from a man whose most famous band was named for the state of his finances at its formation):

Be concerned with the soul quotient of your music, the sheer joy of being in the heart of something. And don't be concerned about the marketplace. The music business is something that's completely and utterly separate from music. Don't think about singles. Just do what the hell you really want to do. Learn to hear music, so whatever is going on, you find a way to help it. Finding Parts is a musical musician's speciality: Parts are what make great records - not producers. It's not a question of what you know. It all comes down to this: What are you prepared to give of yourself?

Rock on, Mr. Talks With Guitar. I'll be listening, and I've got lots of company.

UPDATE: Thanks, Julie.