Brad Whitford is Aerosmith's lesser-known guitarist, and he's fine with that … now. In an interview with Classic Rock Revisited Whitford said it used to bother him, but now he's more comfortable with his talents and his role. Often that role involves trying to keep the band on the rails.

"I suppose you could say I am a peacemaker," Whitford says, "as I try to keep things moving forward. Aerosmith has a tendency to stall over silly stuff. I think that is part of my role. I try to smooth out the bumps."

America got a look behind the curtain on '60 Minutes' last month, and Steven Tyler's comment that the band "rides my coattail," made longtime fans uncomfortable, if only because it seems every new drama causes a delay in production of an original album a decade in the making.

"I felt bad for Steven," Whitford says adding that he could see CBS's Lara Logan moving in for that moment. "I was like, 'Steven, how long have you been doing this? You didn’t see this coming? You didn’t see her going for it?'"

"I thought it was just another piece of the Aerosmith puzzle and I think it was good for people to see that part of it."

In addition to laying down guitar riffs on the new Aerosmith album -- which has a '70s sound but "not as much as I would like" -- Whitford just finished touring with the Hendrix Experience. Artists like Buddy Guy, Robert Randolph, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Jonny Lang joined him on three week long tribute to Jimi Hendrix, and artist who had a great influence on Aerosmith, "but it was more in his attitude and his approach."

Aerosmith begins a summer tour on June 16 in Minneapolis, Minn. You can get all the tour and ticketing information here. Also, Ultimate Classic Rock is promoting the band's June 29 show in Albany, N.Y., and advance pre-sale tickets are available now. The band's new album is rumored to be released in July.

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