Rush's Alex Lifeson on Nashville charity work, his Gibson guitar and reuniting with Geddy Lee

How did Canada's foremost rock guitarist become intertwined with Nashville philanthropy?

Two answers: Gibson guitars and Nashville Predators hockey.

Alex Lifeson — the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician known best as one-third of prog-rock power trio Rush — teamed with Gibson this week to gift roughly $40,000 to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital and Room in the Inn. The donation comes via Gibson Gives, a nonprofit wing of the Nashville-based axe-making brand.

To commemorate the donation, Lifeson visited downtown Nashville showroom the Gibson Garage earlier this week.

"We call this Music City, and the opportunity to help refuel the music soul through doing good things beyond just the obvious — which is music — I think it's important for all of us," said JC Curleigh, Gibson president and CEO . "If we can provide a little relief in tough times, why wouldn't we take that step?"

Read on for highlights from an interview with Lifeson about how the donation came to be, his lifelong love for guitar shopping and what it meant to reunite on stage with Geddy Lee earlier this year.

On his donation

Lifeson donated royalties from his signature Les Paul Standard, an affordable model released via Gibson subsidiary Epiphone.

He reached out to a friend in Nashville, Predators equipment manager Pete Rogers, for advice on where to donate. Lifeson and Rogers became buddies when the Predators trekked to his native Toronto for games against "the crappy Maple Leafs," he said with a smile.

Lifeson's royalty donation remains on-going with continued sales of the guitar, according Gibson.

"I never thought I would have a Gibson, let alone my own model at Gibson," Lifeson told The Tennessean. "I thought, 'Why don't I just recycle that royalty within the community where it's coming from?' Rather than taking it home and doing whatever with it."

He added, "My mom taught me to be considerate of other people, and it feels good. Maybe that's a little selfish. But anybody [who] can help — should. This world is a crazy. crazy place. Now is the time where people have to step up and rule from their heart a little more."

On guitar shopping

Visiting the Garage — a one-of-a-kind play yard for six-string faithful where polished Gibson guitars float above the showroom floor on a rotating rack — takes Lifeson back to his formative years inside Toronto shop Long & McQuade, where he often played until a salesman showed him the door.

"I'd sit on an amp for an hour and play until I got kicked out," Lifeson said. "I'd go back the next Saturday, sit on that amp and get kicked out by the same salesman after an hour."

Now, he gives young players a chance to learn a few chords ("Tom Sawyer," anyone? Or maybe "Fly By Night") without draining a bank account.

At $899, Gibson developed and priced Lifeson's signature Epiphone with beginners in mind, he said.

"We developed a Gibson model based off all the things in a guitar that I was going to use," Lifeson said, adding: "The Epiphone was the next generation of that concept, in a more financially-approachable beginner's level."

He added, "The workmanship on it, the craftmanship is excellent. ... It was almost an impossible project, to come up with an instrument that was priced at an entry level with that kind of quality on it."

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On reunion with Geddy Lee

After 40 years of shaping prog-rock, Rush left the stage indefinitely in 2015. Five years later, inventive drummer Neil Peart died of complications from brain cancer.

Lifeson still plays — he shows his "freedom to explore" with new indie rock band Envy of None — but he and Rush bandmate Geddy Lee didn't reunite on stage for seven years after wrapping the band's final tour.

That changed earlier this summer when the pair joined Primus on stage with "South Park" co-creator at Matt Stone at a gig celebrating the show's 25th anniversary. The crew teamed up for a rendition of Rush classic "Closer To The Heart," bringing tears to onlookers at home and in the room.

"It was bittersweet, in a way," Lifeson said, adding: "In rehearsals we kept looking at each other, smiling like 'Remember the good 'ole days?' The gig itself was great. We were a little bit nervous and that's odd because I have to admit I don't remember ever being nervous on stage."

He continued, "I know there were a lot of tears in the audience. It was very moving for us. ... I didn't realize, you know. We sort-of get on with our lives. The impact that Rush has had on our fans is substantial. To know that it's there seven years later it's still there is heart-warming."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Rush's Alex Lifeson gives back to Nashville charities: Interview