tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041773632315554592024-03-15T18:09:33.530-07:00Musings Of A Muleskinner--Deke Dickerson's BlogDeke Dickerson's blog--a glimpse into the unique life of America's Roots Music Renaissance Man. Articles on road experiences, rare guitars, music, and life.Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-81259390969151092452018-11-04T23:58:00.002-08:002018-11-11T10:02:53.984-08:00THE STRANGE STORY OF #15654 and #15694<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>WHERE IS CLIFF GALLUP'S MISSING GRETSCH DUO JET? (UPDATED)</b></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WXLOF9Um-t4/W99JRbdYY7I/AAAAAAAAAiA/496A3KefZJsUfkl1hNolLyejdX6Zdf7-wCLcBGAs/s1600/GeneVincentCliffGallupCapitolPromoPic1956.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1132" data-original-width="1600" height="452" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WXLOF9Um-t4/W99JRbdYY7I/AAAAAAAAAiA/496A3KefZJsUfkl1hNolLyejdX6Zdf7-wCLcBGAs/s640/GeneVincentCliffGallupCapitolPromoPic1956.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Original 1956 Capitol Promo photo courtesy Yvonnick Guitton</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>PART ONE:</b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’ll never forget the record
that changed my life forever. I was a
kid learning how to play some iconic rock guitar licks my schoolmates were all
playing, but in my mind, there was something missing with the current music all
my friends liked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One day I found this
reissue album by an artist I had read about—Gene Vincent and the Blue
Caps. It was a reissue album of Gene’s
1956 recordings called “The Bop That Just Won’t Stop.” Everything about the album cover screamed
COOL. I couldn’t wait to get home and
play the record.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I put the album on, and from
that moment, my world was different.
Everything that I thought was cool up to that point had to be
redefined. Everything that I thought was
rock and roll seemed different. And
whoever was playing that lead guitar—well, holy smokes, whoever that guy was
just completely warped my mind. That guy
was a friggin’ genius. This guy was the greatest
guitar player I had ever heard!</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: small;">Gene Vincent with Cliff Gallup, guitar: "Race With The Devil"</span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That guy, of course, was Gene
Vincent’s first guitarist, ‘Gallupin’ Cliff Gallup. Gallup was a virtuoso player who obviously
listened to a lot of jazz players and country music and adapted it all into the
newly invented framework of rock and roll music. He was fantastic. For a kid like me, Cliff Gallup was a goddamn
revelation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As the legend goes, when Gene
Vincent arrived in Nashville in May 1956 to cut “Be-Bop-A-Lula,” he brought along
his band from Virginia. Normal
circumstances dictated that a singer use Nashville session musicians when
recording, and Capitol Records producer Ken Nelson had called in the A-team
musicians for that purpose. When Gene
Vincent and the Blue Caps started playing, and Gallup started peeling off hot guitar
licks, Nelson sent the session musicians home and made the unusual decision to
let Gene record with his own band.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Below: Gene Vincent with Cliff Gallup, guitar: "Be Bop A Lula"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Be-Bop-A-Lula” became a huge
hit, and launched Vincent’s career. Gene
Vincent would record a dozen albums and hundreds of songs in his career. Cliff Gallup, on the other hand, recorded just
35 songs at three sessions with Vincent in May, June, and October, 1956, before
leaving the band and disappearing like a wisp of smoke in the night. His tenure in the band was so short, most of
us thought that he was the guy with the blonde hair playing a Fender Esquire guitar with
Gene Vincent in the movie “The Girl Can’t Help It.” Turns out the blonde guy was brief
replacement Russell Willaford, a great guitarist whom I would cross paths with
later, but who never actually recorded with Gene Vincent. As more records and photos came out, a
tantalizing few photos of Cliff Gallup emerged—an older man, definitely older
than the rest of the group—sitting down as he played, playing a Gretsch Duo Jet
guitar with a Bigsby vibrato. So THAT’S the
guitar that was on those records, I thought.
What a great sound he had.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Cliff Gallup, far left--feeling the Bop.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Cliff’s playing was so
exciting, so groundbreaking and original, he warped the brains of whoever heard
him play. From Brian Setzer and Jeff
Beck (who would later record a Cliff Gallup tribute album) down to every
rockabilly kid you ever saw slinging a guitar, every single one of us held
Cliff Gallup in the highest esteem. He
was the bar to which none of us could ever quite ascend as high. Every rockabilly kid in the world, including
myself, can play you our ‘versions’ of those Cliff Gallup solos, but none of us
can rip those licks off as quickly, as nimbly, and with as much swing. Cliff Gallup was a guitar god to all of us
Rockabilly types, no mere mortal.
Surely, he must have come down from Mount Olympus to shower us with his
musical greatness, before ascending back into the heavens!</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Below: Several examples of Cliff Gallup's guitar magic, 1956:</b></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Clifton E. Gallup’s world, as
it is so often in real life, was much different. Back in 1956, Cliff was 5-10 years older than
the rest of the band members, and didn’t cotton to their juvenile delinquent
behavior on the road. He missed his
young daughter at home. More
importantly, he got sucked into this rock and roll thing, but it just wasn’t
his bag. Cliff was really into country
and pop standards, like his idols Chet Atkins and Les Paul. He also really loved gospel music. He quit the band almost immediately after
“Be-Bop-A-Lula” became a hit, and was talked into coming back and doing one
more recording session a few months later.
That was it—after October 1956 Cliff was done with the road.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-74BTmBPvJfI/W99MQIqs0SI/AAAAAAAAAiY/b-3gpgPeI5k8CUTjGAOETPkVeLQIe9ToQCLcBGAs/s1600/CliffRecording%2Bcopy.jpg.540x540_q85_autocrop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="540" height="471" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-74BTmBPvJfI/W99MQIqs0SI/AAAAAAAAAiY/b-3gpgPeI5k8CUTjGAOETPkVeLQIe9ToQCLcBGAs/s640/CliffRecording%2Bcopy.jpg.540x540_q85_autocrop.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Above: Cliff Gallup, seated on the left, in the studio, 1956. "Jumpin'" Jack Neal holds the upright bass, Capitol Records producer Ken Nelson, standing, Gene Vincent with acoustic guitar, seated on right.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Cliff worked as a maintenance
supervisor for the local Chesapeake Municipal School district, and played
guitar for local groups the rest of his life (he died in 1988 at the age of
58). He released only one other recording,
an album with a group called the ‘Four C’s’ in the mid-1960s. Rockabilly fans expecting to hear the Gallup
of yore are often sadly disappointed to hear this rare album. Gallup’s playing is sublime, and musical—but
very mellow, easy listening, and laid back.
The rage and fire of the Blue Caps 1956 recordings was gone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">("Jezebelle" from the Four C's album "Straight Down The Middle")</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hObQGz65BGU/W9-h9iwiyJI/AAAAAAAAApY/lMtZFqZC3ggVOdX0_mjuISiTY1A2dEkLQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B5.49.39%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="766" height="402" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hObQGz65BGU/W9-h9iwiyJI/AAAAAAAAApY/lMtZFqZC3ggVOdX0_mjuISiTY1A2dEkLQCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B5.49.39%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ad from 1968 for Cliff Gallup and the Four C's "go go show."</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">(For Cliff Gallup
completists, I should also mention that before joining Gene Vincent’s band,
both Gallup and Dickie Harrell played with a local Portsmouth, Virginia group
called The Phelps Brothers, and recorded several records with them circa
1954-1955. These recordings can be heard
on a CD called “Two Decades Of Country Music” by Willie Phelps and the Phelps
Brothers on Cattle Records, an obscure European reissue label. I can't seem to find any of these tracks on YouTube.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There was one short teaser of
an interview done with Gallup in Guitar Player Magazine in December 1983, by writer Dan
Forte. The sum total of Cliff Gallup
interviews was done in one 20-minute phone call. There were important details revealed, such
as his flatpick-with-two-fingerpicks right hand method, the fact that he built his own tape echo units after hearing the recording studio's built-in tape echo, an odd reveal that he owned a Gibson Everly Brothers model acoustic "with gut strings on it" for recording (!?), and his dim memory that thought
he used Grady Martin’s Standel amplifier on the recordings, but that he wasn't sure (not corroborated by
the one photo from a Vincent session that shows a Fender Tweed Pro behind him,
though he could have used a Standel on the final session in October). The interview was maddeningly brief, and left
many details unanswered. Cliff Gallup
died in 1988, and his obituary in the local paper didn’t even mention his time spent
playing on hit records with Gene Vincent, at his widow’s request.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--t6Af6T30_o/W99PNLJ6OBI/AAAAAAAAAi0/k8LGdmtOeNkaF251O4sgwQl5ESpUa1UYACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B11.57.20%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="922" data-original-width="1074" height="342" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--t6Af6T30_o/W99PNLJ6OBI/AAAAAAAAAi0/k8LGdmtOeNkaF251O4sgwQl5ESpUa1UYACLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B11.57.20%2BAM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Guitar Player Magazine article by Dan Forte, 1984</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes, when greatness is
followed by a disappearing act and a puff of smoke, it should be left that
way. That’s the way Cliff wanted
it. On the other hand, since the first
rule of show business is to ‘leave them wanting more,’ any act of greatness is
going to leave a lot of people, well, wanting more. I am one of those people. I have been obsessed with Cliff Gallup since
I was 14 years old, and now that I’m (cough!) considerably older than that, I
still want to know more about Cliff Gallup.
I have never stopped wondering about this man. His short flash of brilliance followed by his
reclusive disappearing act has always been one of the great Rock and Roll
mysteries, with so many unanswered questions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My own professional career in
music has allowed me to play with several alumni of Gene Vincent’s Blue
Caps. I’ve played with the great drummer
Dickie Harrell at local gigs in Norfolk, Virginia. I got to play one gig back in the early 1990s
with Johnny Meeks, the superb and underrated guitarist of the second epoch of
Vincent recordings. I got to play with
‘Clapper Boy’ Bubba Facenda and bassist Bobby Jones at a Blue Caps tribute in
Las Vegas. I even got to do a one-off
gig at the Richmond Folk Festival in Virginia with the elusive Russell
Willaford, the blond-haired guitarist pictured on the second album cover, seen
with the band in “The Girl Can’t Help It” movie. When I took a photo with Willaford, I brought
along a Blue Cap and asked him to put it on for the photo. He didn’t want to, but my desperate reaction
of “PLLLEEEEEEEASE” scared him a little bit, I think, and realizing he was
dealing with a true believer, he obliged the role of ‘Blue Cap’ for one
photo. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: small;">The author playing in Norfolk, Virginia, with guest Dickie Harrell of the Blue Caps on drums.</span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: small;">The author (left) playing with Gene Vincent's second guitarist Johnny Meeks at the Palomino Club in North Hollywood, CA, 1992. Also pictured: Lloyd Martin, bass; Dave Stuckey, rhythm guitar.</span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>There was one nagging detail about the Cliff Gallup story that always haunted me (and many others)—what
happened to that iconic black Gretsch Duo Jet guitar that Cliff played on those
Vincent recordings? </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The official story
that was told for decades was that he traded the Duo Jet for a double-cutaway Gretsch
Country Gentleman model guitar that suited his Chet Atkins tastes more than the
Duo Jet had, and he used that Country Gent for the rest of his life. Frustratingly, no other clues were ever offered,
only that Cliff’s Duo Jet was long gone.
A mass-produced model, it was assumed that the Duo Jet had simply gone
into the abyss, never to be rediscovered.
It could be out there, anywhere.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QcO1X2So3EU/W99XrUMqB4I/AAAAAAAAAjI/Ie6l_vb2PvMhAekA3J_rWjwxCNOS32QUACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B12.33.23%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="486" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QcO1X2So3EU/W99XrUMqB4I/AAAAAAAAAjI/Ie6l_vb2PvMhAekA3J_rWjwxCNOS32QUACLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B12.33.23%2BPM.png" width="385" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cliff Gallup in later years with his Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar</span></td></tr>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If there’s one thing that I
have learned through the years, it’s that very few people have the desire to
achieve results through complete immersion and unhealthy obsession. And yet, in my experience, the ones who obsess
over the small details, who toss things over in their mind over and over and
over until some new fragment of information reveals itself—these are the people
who make things happen. These are the
people who get results. They are the
nerd version of the Olympic gold medalists, who train every day for years, waiting
for the moment that all their training pays off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Few people care about history
or historical artifacts, and most people think such obsessives are just weirdos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That might be true, but when such obsession
is used to cure disease (the eradication of diseases such as smallpox and polio
were due to complete obsession by medical researchers), the results are
applauded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When a guitar nut obsesses
over some small detail of musical history, especially music history of the last 60
years, no one really cares, and most people think you’re just pitiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(“GET A LIFE!”)</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was thrilled a couple years
ago when it was revealed that the current Gretsch company planned a ‘Cliff
Gallup Signature Model’ reissue Duo Jet guitar, and even more thrilled when I
discovered that Gretsch’s indefatigable Joe Carducci was doing research and
trying to locate Cliff’s original Duo Jet, the one that had disappeared.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Joe went to Virginia and
spent time with Cliff’s daughter Bonnie, and that’s when there was a genuine
‘Eureka’ moment for Cliff obsessives like myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Buried in a box at her home were unseen
photos, and most amazing of all—the original Loan Document for Cliff’s Duo Jet,
complete with serial number!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">It was as if King Tut’s tomb
had been opened. Now we KNEW—Cliff’s
original Duo Jet had been sold November 8<sup>th</sup>, 1954. The serial number—yes, now we knew the serial
number—was #15654. I thought to myself,
this is fantastic. Now there’s a chance,
albeit small, that Cliff’s Duo Jet will turn up. At least, now we KNEW the serial number. His guitar was out there somewhere.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NeerWBwB0MI/W99YntTIP5I/AAAAAAAAAjQ/nBRft-BjZBosMHojUsAiYqlM-AItzGNkgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B12.37.33%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="1078" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NeerWBwB0MI/W99YntTIP5I/AAAAAAAAAjQ/nBRft-BjZBosMHojUsAiYqlM-AItzGNkgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B12.37.33%2BPM.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The loan document dated November 8, 1954 for Cliff Gallup's Duo Jet (courtesy Joe Carducci/Gretsch Guitars and Cliff's daughter Bonnie Creef).</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There were confusing details
that came to light after Joe Carducci’s excavation into the vaults. There was a photo of Cliff holding a Duo Jet
with “CLIFF GALLUP” proudly inlaid in the fretboard—but those photos showed a Duo
Jet with a larger truss rod cover seen on Duo Jets made a year or two later
than 1954.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">There has been confusion as to whether or not Cliff had his 1954 Duo Jet re-necked, or if he got a second guitar. Dickie Harrell and Lowell Fayna remember a guitar being stolen from Cliff, but not specifics. However, the fact that the guitar with the later neck has both a fixed-handle Bigsby and what appears to be the 1954-era pickguard lends weight to the idea that his original guitar was re-necked, as many of them were due to defective necks. This is some cloudy water to wade through, because in Cliff's folder of saved receipts and financial documents, there was no record of a second Duo Jet guitar. The only things we have to go by are long-ago memories and a few photos. None of the details known or the photos prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RWOnrui-by0/W99ZB9FiP7I/AAAAAAAAAjY/P-Qk2rzTIXsSX1TypjSZ-pS6TITMUCV1QCLcBGAs/s1600/35407474_2080186535578279_3737235431490584576_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="430" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RWOnrui-by0/W99ZB9FiP7I/AAAAAAAAAjY/P-Qk2rzTIXsSX1TypjSZ-pS6TITMUCV1QCLcBGAs/s640/35407474_2080186535578279_3737235431490584576_n.jpg" width="509" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cliff with Duo Jet featuring inlaid fretboard. Note: larger truss rod cover indicating later manufacture (photo courtesy Joe Carducci/Gretsch Guitars and Cliff's daughter Bonnie Creef).</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The aforementioned Lowell
Fayna was a good friend of Cliff’s, and promised to be a solid lead in
the search for Cliff’s Duo Jet, because Virginia locals said that Cliff had
sold Lowell his Duo Jet when he bought the Country Gentleman. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">At the time Gretsch was researching their Cliff Gallup signature model, Joe
Carducci was having difficulty reaching Lowell Fayna, who had moved from
Virginia to the Nashville area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A month
had passed and he was having trouble reaching him by phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I heard about this through the grapevine and
asked if he would mind if I tried calling Lowell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joe gave me his number.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Knowing how country people
feel about outsiders, I thought about it for a minute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I called up Dickie Harrell in Virginia:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Hey Dickie, do you know
Lowell Fayna?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Dickie: “Sure I do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Will you call him and tell
him I’m a friend of yours and I’ll be calling him in 30 minutes?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Dickie: “Sure, no problem.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Thirty minutes later, Lowell
answered the phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trembling with excitement,
I asked if he still owned the Gretsch Duo Jet that Cliff Gallup had sold him
back in the early 1960s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story he
told was a sad one—he had gone through a divorce fifteen years earlier, and had
stashed the guitar with his son for safekeeping during the contentious divorce
proceedings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">One day Lowell came home and
there was a drum set in the middle of the living room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Lowell asked where that came from, his
son replied that he had traded the guitar for it at the Sam Ash store in
Nashville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lowell was furious, and told
me he hadn’t spoken to his son since that all went down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Cliff’s Duo Jet, or possibly, his second Duo Jet—the one with the larger truss rod cover and
slightly later features—was gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Oh,
trust me, I tried tracking it down through the Sam Ash system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My old friend Nick Kane, who used to play
guitar for the Mavericks, worked at the Sam Ash location in Nashville where the
guitar was traded in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, it
wasn’t in the computer system, and he said that if the trade-in on the Duo Jet
existed anywhere, it was in a stack of paper records stuffed into Sam Ash’s tax
receipts on Long Island.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The mystery remained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Cliff Gallup himself, his Duo Jet guitar
was an elusive puff of smoke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least
we knew the serial number of his original Duo Jet--#15654, written on the Loan
Document at the time of sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a
rock on which I held my belief—knowing the serial number, I thought—meant that
some day we will know “THIS IS CLIFF’S GUITAR.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(In the world of storytelling, the previous sentence is a little
writer’s technique called foreshadowing.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I thought to myself, the only
thing that is going to turn up Cliff’s Duo Jet is an unhealthy case of complete
obsession bordering on madness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
thought there might be one or two others with the same thoughts, but I also
knew that as days turned to months and months turned to years, even the most
obsessive guitar detective would lose interest, get distracted, or give up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s where I figured I had an edge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would just keep searching for #15654 until
I found that guitar, even if it took me thirty years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As my two ex-wives have both told me—I’m
stubborn like that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">One interesting thing about
Gretsch guitars, and especially Duo Jets from those early years (Duo Jets were
introduced in 1953 and were a pretty low-selling item in their catalog compared
to the popular Chet Atkins model hollowbodies, especially after George Harrison
of the Beatles began playing a Gretsch Country Gentleman) is that they are not
particularly well documented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of the
factory shipping records and internal serial number information burned in a
factory fire in 1973.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much of the
information about these models on the Internet is wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve seen 1953 Duo Jets listed as 1955 Duo
Jets and vice versa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The necks on many
of the early guitars were defective and occasionally you’ll see early guitars
with later necks on them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Duo Jets with
DeArmond pickups became an object of obsession for some rockabilly guitarists,
so many of the 1953-1957 Duo Jets have been modified in recent years to
resemble Cliff Gallup’s personal guitar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One other detail not to be overlooked is that like automobiles, guitar
manufacturers would often market their new year’s model in the late months of
the preceding year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given that
consideration, Cliff’s guitar is technically a 1955 model according to Gretsch
catalog literature, even though it was made in the fall of 1954.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With all these variables, looking for one
specific Duo Jet on the grass roots level was very much like searching for a
needle in a haystack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Whenever one of these
instruments would show up on eBay, or online gear websites like Reverb.com,
gBase.com or Craigslist, I would email and ask the serial number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did this obsessively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I also consulted with Ed Ball,
who is a similarly obsessive guy. Ed
wrote a book about Gretsch serial numbers, and knows more about the actual chronological
operations of the Brooklyn-based Gretsch guitar factory than just about anybody
on the planet. What I learned from
talking to Ed during my initial search was that the guitars with features
exactly like Cliff’s were only made in one batch of guitars from 1954 and
marketed as ‘1955 models.’ This batch
included a hand-inlaid block "T-Roof" GRETSCH inlay on the headstock, a small “bullet”
truss rod cover, block inlays on the fretboard including a large block inlay on
the first fret, and a celluloid material, teardrop-shaped pickguard with the
‘Gretsch’ logo located in the middle of the pickguard along the bottom. These celluloid pickguards were unstable and
most disintegrated, and are rare to find intact today.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p>Below: Edward Ball's Manual of Gretsch Guitars of the 1950s.</o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Oq71JhkX_Z4/W99alpOPemI/AAAAAAAAAjk/AxZPy43hRHsERHFw3NbdMmej6kMlGCL8QCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B12.45.50%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="668" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Oq71JhkX_Z4/W99alpOPemI/AAAAAAAAAjk/AxZPy43hRHsERHFw3NbdMmej6kMlGCL8QCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B12.45.50%2BPM.png" width="492" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">These differed from the
earliest Duo Jets, made in 1953. These earliest Jets had a script “Gretsch” logo
inlaid on the headstock, and a small wedge-shaped white celluloid pickguard. These earliest Jets also had metal volume and tone knobs with no arrows on them. </span><span style="font-size: large;">These early Duo Jets had block inlays on the fretboard, but lacked an inlay on the first fret. </span><span style="font-size: large;">The late 1953 and earliest 1954 manufacture Duo Jets (sold as 1954 models) had the block "T-Roof" GRETSCH logo
on the headstock and the small white pickguard. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5DqjpvHvHjU/W9_jCIsxNqI/AAAAAAAAAtk/q8CokoeuBYMv_7PQNseqJWzi409tFSOyACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B10.18.25%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="550" height="242" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5DqjpvHvHjU/W9_jCIsxNqI/AAAAAAAAAtk/q8CokoeuBYMv_7PQNseqJWzi409tFSOyACLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B10.18.25%2BPM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ztUMxwhGqpk/W99bKAzYSBI/AAAAAAAAAjs/LiURp61Gfys493SWg4rL6OPspVa8eA45ACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B12.48.22%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="350" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ztUMxwhGqpk/W99bKAzYSBI/AAAAAAAAAjs/LiURp61Gfys493SWg4rL6OPspVa8eA45ACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B12.48.22%2BPM.png" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Above: One of the first Gretsch Duo Jets, manufactured in 1953, with script headstock logo, small white "wedge" pickguard, and no block inlay position marker on the first fret.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Skipping ahead a year past the Cliff Gallup guitar: The slightly later Jets made
in 1955 and 1956 (and marketed by Gretsch as 1956 and 1957 models) had the
block “GRETSCH” logo on the headstock, but the truss rod cover was enlarged and
was bigger and longer than the earlier “bullet” truss rod cover. The pickguards were now made of Lucite
instead of celluloid, and featured the ‘Gretsch’ logo in a different location, down
at the bottom of the pickguard instead of in the middle.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CYLvDCqHhF4/W991S6-Ae3I/AAAAAAAAAj4/0UU4jFVcWdk7DTe0KFcQETiXbw4LHHhsQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B2.39.42%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="428" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CYLvDCqHhF4/W991S6-Ae3I/AAAAAAAAAj4/0UU4jFVcWdk7DTe0KFcQETiXbw4LHHhsQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B2.39.42%2BPM.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Above: 1956-era Gretsch Duo Jet--larger truss rod cover, newer lucite pickguard with "Gretsch" at the tail end of the guard. This model features the later "hump-block" shaped inlays, most of the 55-56 era Duo Jets had rectangular block inlays like the earlier models.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">Another detail about these
Duo Jets made from 1953 to 1956 was that they came stock from the
factory with a “G” fixed (non-vibrato) tailpiece and a Melita adjustable bridge. A Bigsby vibrato could be custom ordered, but added considerable cost. The
retail price of a Gretsch Duo Jet in 1954 was $230. Adding a Bigsby vibrato tacked on another
$50, or an additional 20% to the price of the guitar, so it was a rare and
costly addition during the time that these guitars were made.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f-PjzGg1EIQ/W992N59BGlI/AAAAAAAAAkA/bHuPY3xQHQUWWZXRF9di9vwMQCmb3XakACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B2.43.45%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1140" data-original-width="1600" height="454" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f-PjzGg1EIQ/W992N59BGlI/AAAAAAAAAkA/bHuPY3xQHQUWWZXRF9di9vwMQCmb3XakACLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B2.43.45%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">A stock Duo Jet made in 1954 showing the standard Melita bridge and non-vibrato "G" tailpiece.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">These details are usually
where the casual reader gets lost. Why
are you so boring, old man? However, the
devil is in these details. Let's keep plowing this field.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<b>Below: three shots of Lowman Pauling, ace guitarist for the Five Royales, with another super "rare bird:" an early Duo Jet with original fixed handle Bigsby. Unlike Cliff Gallup's guitar, Pauling's Jet seems to be an early '54 example: block "T Roof" Gretsch logo, white wedge-shaped pickguard, no fretboard inlay on the 17th fret. Interestingly, the bridge on Pauling's guitar appears to have a Bigsby intonated bridge saddle on top of a rosewood base. </b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WIKv72WaHR0/W9_behyjrFI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/FKVULYe4WW8Vgp_9FO6NIHWxS3QQsr0mQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B9.53.13%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="744" data-original-width="750" height="634" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WIKv72WaHR0/W9_behyjrFI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/FKVULYe4WW8Vgp_9FO6NIHWxS3QQsr0mQCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B9.53.13%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n2IO5xuTZ_8/W9_bemdMYmI/AAAAAAAAAtI/1r_g3PBMfzE1t0m_SqQ4TjnA2QPtE2mVQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B9.54.14%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="744" data-original-width="936" height="508" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n2IO5xuTZ_8/W9_bemdMYmI/AAAAAAAAAtI/1r_g3PBMfzE1t0m_SqQ4TjnA2QPtE2mVQCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B9.54.14%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XI45b4KCktU/W9_bei4f8kI/AAAAAAAAAtM/W3Mws0FaT18Cr_nZJQBUBtalPRrEkeNWwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B9.55.19%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="744" data-original-width="936" height="508" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XI45b4KCktU/W9_bei4f8kI/AAAAAAAAAtM/W3Mws0FaT18Cr_nZJQBUBtalPRrEkeNWwCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B9.55.19%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">According to Ed Ball, there
was a factory “batch” of guitars made in 1954 that span the serial numbers
#15575 through #15699.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Potentiometer
codes can be dated and the pot codes put this batch of guitars manufacture date
between March and October 1954.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of those
125 guitars, Ed documented 34 Gretsch guitar models in that batch—Burl Ives
flat-top acoustic guitars, Tenor (4-string) Jets, Silver Jets, and Duo Jets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">What all that means is that
out of the batch of 125 guitars that Cliff Gallup’s guitar came from, a rough educated
guess would be that <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>50 to 75 of them
were Duo Jet models.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of those 50 to 75
guitars, how many of those had a fixed handle Bigsby B-3 vibrato, added by the
factory in the 1950s?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Certainly, almost all the Duo
Jets you see today with a fixed-handle Bigsby vibrato on it have had the Bigsby
vibrato added in the last 25 or 30 years by a rockabilly fan trying to make
their guitar look like Cliff’s (see photo below for a typical example).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a
factory Bigsby installation on a ’54 Duo Jet?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That would be really, really uncommon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now, we were getting somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KiNYx7Zll5k/W9933NTIM2I/AAAAAAAAAkM/tvJPND2I4lw_DPX6fgFX1ipRy-cl7A8FgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B2.50.45%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="1600" height="236" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KiNYx7Zll5k/W9933NTIM2I/AAAAAAAAAkM/tvJPND2I4lw_DPX6fgFX1ipRy-cl7A8FgCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B2.50.45%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Above: A typical non-factory Vibrato installation. This is a 1953-1954 era guitar with a later 1960's-era Bigsby vibrato with swing-away handle, and 1960's era Bigsby aluminum bridge. This is what you typically see done by a rockabilly fan trying to emulate Cliff Gallup's guitar. Upon removal of the Bigsby vibrato, one will see two sets of holes drilled in the guitar--one set of holes for the original tailpiece, and one set of holes for the Bigsby vibrato that was added later.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I kept my eye out for serial
number #15654. Every Gretsch Duo Jet guitar
that came up for sale, I asked. This
went on for a couple of years. Gretsch came
out with their Signature Model, but Cliff Gallup’s original guitar never
materialized.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-361Q4V8dBLc/W998FOWzs5I/AAAAAAAAAkY/I_Bm934XSTwUu65WoxCnWWBSwjjUvexpwCLcBGAs/s1600/cliff-feature-hero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1269" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-361Q4V8dBLc/W998FOWzs5I/AAAAAAAAAkY/I_Bm934XSTwUu65WoxCnWWBSwjjUvexpwCLcBGAs/s1600/cliff-feature-hero.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Gretsch's new "Cliff Gallup Model" reissue guitar.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>PART TWO:</b></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">On a recent trip to
Nashville, I had a few hours to kill, and took it upon myself to drive down
Nashville’s own ‘Guitar Row,’ the stretch of 8<sup>th</sup> Avenue that houses
three of this country’s great vintage guitar stores: Carter Vintage, Rumble
Seat Music, and Gruhn’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">When I stopped at Rumble Seat
Music, I got to play Chet Atkins’ personal “Dark Eyes” black Gretsch 6120
guitar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The instrument had been put
there on consignment and they were getting ready to list it for sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I was in the shop, I noticed a 1953 or
1954 Gretsch Duo Jet with a small white wedge-shaped pickguard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pulled it off the wall and was about to ask
the guy what the serial number was, when I remembered an important detail about
these guitars that I must have known at one time, but had forgotten.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Gretsch serial numbers are
stamped onto a paper label, and that label is inserted into the internal cavity
of the guitar by the volume and tone pots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That cavity is covered by a plastic cover that requires three screws to remove.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">What caught my eye and jogged
my memory about these guitars, was that Duo Jets of this era had a very small,
hand-scratched serial number on the bottom of that cavity plate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was done at the factory so that the
dealer or seller didn’t need to take off the three screws and remove the
plastic plate to get into the cavity where the “official” Gretsch label with
serial number was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plate serial
numbers were tiny and hard to read, but if I squinted my eyes I could see that
the serial number of this guitar for sale at Rumble Seat Music was in the
#12000 range, which would make it a guitar made in 1953.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">After I left Rumble Seat
Music, I drove down the street to Gruhn’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was tired and was waiting for a call back from someone who I planned
on interviewing for a book on Merle Travis that I’m writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of me didn’t feel like going to Gruhn’s
after hitting the other stores, but at that moment I literally had nothing else
to do but kill a little time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Once inside the building at Gruhn's,
another vintage Gretsch Duo Jet hanging on the wall caught my eye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This one had a fixed-handle Bigsby vibrato
and aluminum Bigsby bridge on it just like Cliff’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought to myself, that’s probably some
local rockabilly player’s guitar, and he fixed it up to look like Cliff’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0ehRdVfYDIU/W99_l1L6-_I/AAAAAAAAAks/d-uFt2cEa_c7N_bL5J8LEkk4Kav1cDNoACLcBGAs/s1600/CliffGuitaratGruhns.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0ehRdVfYDIU/W99_l1L6-_I/AAAAAAAAAks/d-uFt2cEa_c7N_bL5J8LEkk4Kav1cDNoACLcBGAs/s640/CliffGuitaratGruhns.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Above: The guitar spotted at Gruhn's in Nashville.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">
I took it off the wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a nice
one, very light, and it played like a dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That was a rarity in itself—I have found that vintage Gretsches vary
wildly in quality and construction and playability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some are great and virtually play themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some are awful, you feel like you’re fighting
with the guitar the whole time you’re playing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was one of the really good ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">This is a story for another
day, but guitar dealer Steve Soest once approached Duke Kramer, who was a former
Gretsch employee that later in life sold Gretsch parts at Vintage Guitar
shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soest asked Kramer: “Why are
vintage Gretsch guitars so inconsistent?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some are great, and some are really bad.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kramer's response (keep in mind this was an 80-year
old man dispatching this wisdom): “On the days we had good drugs, we made
really good guitars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the days we had
bad drugs, we made TERRIBLE guitars!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This Duo Jet I was holding was definitely made on one of the days they
had good drugs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Remembering the scratched
serial number on the back of the cavity plate, I remembered Cliff’s original Loan
Documents listed the serial number of his guitar as #15654.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I held this guitar in my hand at Gruhn’s and
looked at the small, scratched serial number on back of the cavity plate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u9N244lidaU/W9-AjqqOCUI/AAAAAAAAAlc/IIvEiqpBS4AJki2aVrNyk5HoHlaKwVfugCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2260.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u9N244lidaU/W9-AjqqOCUI/AAAAAAAAAlc/IIvEiqpBS4AJki2aVrNyk5HoHlaKwVfugCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_2260.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">“1….5…..6,” I read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My feet started tingling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wait a minute, what was that fourth
number?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fifth digit was definitely
“4.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this moment I started
trembling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was I holding Cliff Gallup’s
guitar, on the wall for sale at Gruhn’s in Nashville?<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I twisted the guitar to get more
light and a better look at the serial number on the cavity plate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-unpA38YffBw/W9-AjnFRPMI/AAAAAAAAAlk/XAqMZBC2tPcn2UeKf1_O47b85smAd-rxwCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-unpA38YffBw/W9-AjnFRPMI/AAAAAAAAAlk/XAqMZBC2tPcn2UeKf1_O47b85smAd-rxwCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_2258.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-elBAFbkuX4o/W9-AkOjQ-pI/AAAAAAAAAlk/pATl2x3nbi4isiobpD8l62CfkD6mdP_dACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2261.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-elBAFbkuX4o/W9-AkOjQ-pI/AAAAAAAAAlk/pATl2x3nbi4isiobpD8l62CfkD6mdP_dACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2261.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">“1….5….6…looks like a
9….4.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The serial number was
#15694.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked the guy working there if
I could take the plate off to see the serial number on the internal label, and
when we did that, the label confirmed that serial number: #15694.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MOOS0oVcaaY/W9-AQazkWkI/AAAAAAAAAlE/HxhPuXfDJo0YNS-Hh5SX2tR4DxiKI-Z9ACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2192.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MOOS0oVcaaY/W9-AQazkWkI/AAAAAAAAAlE/HxhPuXfDJo0YNS-Hh5SX2tR4DxiKI-Z9ACEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_2192.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Everything else on the guitar
conformed to the specs of Cliff Gallup’s original Duo Jet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Block logo inlay on the headstock,
check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Small “bullet” truss rod cover,
check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pickguard was missing, which
would indicate it was originally one of the celluloid pickguards with the logo
in the middle that famously disintegrated over time. The guitar had DeArmond Dynasonic
pickups and an aluminum Bigsby compensated bridge with shiny Bigsby aluminum bridge base, and a fixed-handle early patent
number Bigsby B-3 vibrato unit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
these things were features that were on Cliff’s guitar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this guitar had four of the five same
digits in the serial number as Cliff’s guitar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The guy working there told me
that the guitar was on consignment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
said I was curious about the history, and would he mind calling the consigner
to find out when and where he had acquired the guitar?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He called the owner of the instrument, who said that the instrument had come to him exactly as it was in the store
(with Bigsby vibrato and aluminum Bigsby bridge), and that he had got it in a batch of
guitars in a trade in Pennsylvania approximately 30 years earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also said he wanted to sell it, and without
even asking, the price came down considerably.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I didn’t know what to think at this point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I left the store and
looked on the internet again at the original Loan Document for Cliff’s guitar
posted by Joe Carducci on the Gretsch Pages guitar forum website.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I read the original Loan
Document, dated November 8<sup>th</sup>, 1954, and looked at the serial number
again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HoMwKzRiznA/W9-AF7sqf1I/AAAAAAAAAk8/ktGFZAddb58lTot5TxCshp9uQLCCBgHxwCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2172.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HoMwKzRiznA/W9-AF7sqf1I/AAAAAAAAAk8/ktGFZAddb58lTot5TxCshp9uQLCCBgHxwCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_2172.PNG" width="360" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">“1…..5….6….wait a minute,
what is that fourth digit?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the past I had always read
this document serial number as #15654.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But looking at it again, it was weird.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The odd cursive handwriting was difficult to make out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It looked like whoever wrote the document
wrote either a 6, or a 9, and eventually a 5 as the fourth digit of the serial
number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last digit of the serial
number was 4.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KoW_CfSOxuY/W9-C9BANyII/AAAAAAAAAlw/mJn35QfPhVoqUSjGW096-ErbQUYYQzCmgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B3.38.05%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="578" height="547" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KoW_CfSOxuY/W9-C9BANyII/AAAAAAAAAlw/mJn35QfPhVoqUSjGW096-ErbQUYYQzCmgCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B3.38.05%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">You’ve got to be kidding me,
I thought to myself.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">What if the person
in the music store selling the guitar to Cliff Gallup on November 8, 1954, had
the same problem that I did reading the small serial number scratched into the
plastic on the cavity plate?</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">What if
they had struggled with the fourth digit before eventually deciding it was a 5?</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Had they been staring at the same nearly
illegible scratched serial number that I was?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The handwriting on the Loan
Document was crazy, like the handwriting of a person educated in a different
era, the era of quill fountain pens and oil lamps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I struggled over the impotence of the fourth
digit in the handwritten serial number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yes, I would say it was probably a 5, but if you looked at it enough,
there was definitely some kind of hesitation on the Loan Document on that
fourth digit as they wrote it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It was a head scratcher.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vu7Qt9ZVmMk/W9-DZG101eI/AAAAAAAAAl4/2qnl7H1X9vEUHYEBmu6atpFTC8zfEkXGACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B3.39.53%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="1600" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vu7Qt9ZVmMk/W9-DZG101eI/AAAAAAAAAl4/2qnl7H1X9vEUHYEBmu6atpFTC8zfEkXGACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B3.39.53%2BPM.png" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I called Joe Carducci at
Gretsch on the phone, and when I asked him to look at the fourth digit on the Loan
Document, and told him what I was looking at in the store, he cackled with
laughter.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">He agreed, that fourth digit
was strangled, a real oddity.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">He sent me
an unpublished photo that he had held back of Cliff holding the Duo Jet with
his name in the fretboard, however that photo only proved to me that Cliff must
have had two Duo Jets.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">That photo was of
a later guitar, I had no doubt in my mind.</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">So was I looking at Cliff’s original Duo Jet in the store?</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">The one he had used to record “Be-Bop-A-Lula”
and “Race With The Devil?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I never figured that the
identification of Cliff Gallup’s sacred missing Gretsch Duo Jet would boil down
to the pseudoscience of Graphology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
mind reeled to think about some old-timer salesman at a music store in Norfolk,
Virginia that couldn’t be bothered to take off the cavity plate on the back of
a guitar to verify the serial number printed on the internal label of a guitar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was maddening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I went back inside Gruhn’s
and the salesman told me that the price had come down some more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The seller was motivated, as they say in the
business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were certain questions
about the guitar that were not going to be answered that day inside the store,
so I bought the thing and brought it home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was as cheap as any 1950s Duo Jet I had ever seen for sale, and if it
wasn’t Cliff’s guitar, it was literally just like Cliff’s guitar, from the same
batch made in 1954, with ALL the same features, if nothing else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
real selling point, however, was that it played like a dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d played enough original Duo Jets to know
that a nice-playing example was such a rarity that I better snap it up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;">Below: The guitar found recently at Gruhn's, serial #15694:</span></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Igsv6F2A-uo/W9-EPXAhKxI/AAAAAAAAAmc/wfBirwV42dQLjLKv8qGelVcGMhjwFX9ZACLcBGAs/s1600/143385.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Igsv6F2A-uo/W9-EPXAhKxI/AAAAAAAAAmc/wfBirwV42dQLjLKv8qGelVcGMhjwFX9ZACLcBGAs/s640/143385.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I got the guitar home, I
dissected it and had more conversations with Ed Ball about the mystery of the
serial number scratched on the back cavity plate and the strangeness of the
handwritten serial number on the Bill of Sale. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ed concluded that there were
many features of this guitar that placed its manufacture to October 1954, a
month before Cliff bought his guitar in Virginia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pot codes on this guitar were 'IRC 6151498
1M 439,' which run through the "pot code dating project" online put these as 1 meg pots made by
the IRC company in the 39<sup>th</sup> week of 1954, so somewhere between September
27<sup>th</sup> and Oct 3 of that year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sLWsXaH7PS4/W9-E1id3-HI/AAAAAAAAAm8/TmeDYTVPxOUsQKT4Re6oOsKOmArfqL7yQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2247.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1136" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sLWsXaH7PS4/W9-E1id3-HI/AAAAAAAAAm8/TmeDYTVPxOUsQKT4Re6oOsKOmArfqL7yQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_2247.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">That date matched up with other instruments from that same batch of
guitars that Ed had seen and documented (including Billy Zoom’s famous Silver Jet that he played with the punk band ‘X,’ which bears the serial number
of #15697).</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">The October 1954 manufacture
date was</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">consistent with the sale date
of Cliff’s guitar, November 8, 1954.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The label was stamped with
the Model number 6128, which was the model for the Duo Jet, but then had ‘-V’
added in pen after the 6128.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I assumed
that probably meant it was a factory Bigsby vibrato installation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I removed the Bigsby vibrato from the
body, I was pleased to see that indeed, this was a a “factory Bigsby.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were no other holes present from a
stock Gretsch tailpiece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It came this way from the factory. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Wow, I thought. This conspiracy theory I had working in my mind became very real at that moment.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t1EutUFtM4M/W9-FL1v0DBI/AAAAAAAAAnU/itO02FjGM70whPwpe_rfGwaKlcQlUUTvwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t1EutUFtM4M/W9-FL1v0DBI/AAAAAAAAAnU/itO02FjGM70whPwpe_rfGwaKlcQlUUTvwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_2250.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Above: Removal of the Bigsby proved that this was a factory, custom-ordered Bigsby vibrato--there are no other holes present where a stock "G" non-vibrato tailpiece was mounted previously. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Of all the “made in 1954, model
year 1955” Gretsch Duo Jets on the planet, this was the important question.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">How many of these instruments
had a FACTORY Bigsby installation, and how many had Bigsbys added later, to
make these Duo Jets resemble Cliff Gallup’s guitar?</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">The only answer is an educated guess, which
is that a very, very small number of 1954 Duo Jets had factory Bigsby
installations.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Of the 50 to 75 Duo Jets
made in the same batch, an educated guess (based on the number of guitars that
have shown up with stock “G” non-vibrato tailpieces and the Duo Jets known to
have added Bigsby vibratos much later in an attempt to look like Cliff Gallup’s
guitar) would have to be a small handful of Bigsby-equipped Duo Jet guitars
that came from the factory.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">The factory
Bigsby was an expensive option that had to be custom ordered.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Ed Ball’s
statement sums it up: “Rarer than hen’s teeth would be an understatement.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This led to another question
about the original Loan Document.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
was nothing on the original Loan Document about an upcharge for the Bigsby
Vibrato.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was nothing written on
the Loan Document to indicate that it was anything except a stock Duo Jet
guitar that was sold to Cliff Gallup on November 8.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is important to note that
the only surviving paperwork on Cliff’s original guitar is a Loan Document,
meant to secure payments on the guitar through a local bank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not a ‘Bill of Sale,’ it is not an
invoice, and it is not a receipt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Loan Document served only to document whatever it was that the bank was loaning
the money for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Details such as “custom
ordered with a Bigsby vibrato” would not be indicated on a Loan Document.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">However, this much is
known—the Bigsby vibrato had a retail price of $50 when it was introduced in
the 1950s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That figure is found on many
price lists as well as Bigsby’s own literature from that era.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GiQ5rRxV3ps/W9-PT4I8OII/AAAAAAAAAoM/LIdRzBGJt7wCkHeFa6dnqHquW7RZcKmrQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="898" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GiQ5rRxV3ps/W9-PT4I8OII/AAAAAAAAAoM/LIdRzBGJt7wCkHeFa6dnqHquW7RZcKmrQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2333.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Original Bigsby vibrato price in 1953: $50.00</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Gretsch Duo Jet retailed
at $230 in the 1954 Gretsch price list, and at least one advertisement from a
store in Ohio in August, 1954, indicates that Duo Jets were on sale for
$224.50.</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p> </div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8lWojTEdLzA/W9-PcFSI7RI/AAAAAAAAAn8/nUUCrwjVS8UYObTtd9YAQVe8yn0Wago-QCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2328.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1084" data-original-width="1600" height="432" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8lWojTEdLzA/W9-PcFSI7RI/AAAAAAAAAn8/nUUCrwjVS8UYObTtd9YAQVe8yn0Wago-QCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_2328.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;">Ad from August, 1954, showing Duo Jets on sale for $224.50:</span></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZtL2ns-mOeU/W9-F7fVXQjI/AAAAAAAAAnc/GGga2WPRXvU8YJiHRtMn27sNwWfVbCxygCLcBGAs/s1600/GretschDuoJetAdAug1954OhioSmall.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="967" data-original-width="1060" height="582" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZtL2ns-mOeU/W9-F7fVXQjI/AAAAAAAAAnc/GGga2WPRXvU8YJiHRtMn27sNwWfVbCxygCLcBGAs/s640/GretschDuoJetAdAug1954OhioSmall.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The price of Cliff’s Duo Jet
as indicated on the Loan Document is $274.50.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NeerWBwB0MI/W99YntTIP5I/AAAAAAAAAjU/2oDWcddOKTgKjTmJtH5VUV1wOjKpalFegCEwYBhgL/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B12.37.33%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="1078" height="478" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NeerWBwB0MI/W99YntTIP5I/AAAAAAAAAjU/2oDWcddOKTgKjTmJtH5VUV1wOjKpalFegCEwYBhgL/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B12.37.33%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g0WDJKzaNm0/W9-bxhludAI/AAAAAAAAApM/jd-NioZ9F4cxsykMlos7MNlAhV_sybnKwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B5.23.53%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="1122" height="362" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g0WDJKzaNm0/W9-bxhludAI/AAAAAAAAApM/jd-NioZ9F4cxsykMlos7MNlAhV_sybnKwCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B5.23.53%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I got very excited when I realized that the $274.50 sale
price indicated might have represented the guitar retail as $224.50 and the Bigsby vibrato as
$50, for a total of $274.50. </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Keep in mind that a Gibson ‘Goldtop’ Les Paul
guitar sold for $247 retail in the mid-1950s, and a Fender Stratocaster (with
the vibrato option) of the same era sold for $249.50.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">SPOILER #1 (UPDATE):</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">After I first published this article, it was brought to my attention that the stock price of a 1954 Duo Jet was $230, and that in a rare catalog insert (one I had never seen!) from November, 1954--the hard case was listed at $44.50.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">$230 plus $44.50 equals $274.50. As much as I wanted the guitar I just found to match the loan document for Cliff's guitar, I had to concede--it was much more likely that the total sale price of the guitar was for the guitar and CASE, rather than the guitar and Bigsby Vibrato.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3vIT6NDZ12E/W-hpv0uwxfI/AAAAAAAAAuI/JXkm6106BlYmsvIgLfK5lp-9Vw5N6N-qACLcBGAs/s1600/%252754%2BJet%2Binsert%2BHR*%2Bcopy.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3vIT6NDZ12E/W-hpv0uwxfI/AAAAAAAAAuI/JXkm6106BlYmsvIgLfK5lp-9Vw5N6N-qACLcBGAs/s1600/%252754%2BJet%2Binsert%2BHR*%2Bcopy.jpeg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The original part of my belief that this guitar might be Cliff's relied on that theory that his guitar had come from the factory with a Bigsby vibrato, which would be a rare thing, indeed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I pored over all the known photos of Cliff playing the guitar. It sure seemed as though his guitar must have come with the Bigsby from the factory. Even the photos of his earlier Western band The Virginians showed the Bigsby on the guitar, or so I initially thought: </span><br />
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4S5fao6PtDs/W9-RKWByIsI/AAAAAAAAAoY/0UX-yvS2d4ki5XsSWmnlk4n-ZJQaT0LKQCLcBGAs/s1600/cliff-gallup-western-swing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="1500" height="395" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4S5fao6PtDs/W9-RKWByIsI/AAAAAAAAAoY/0UX-yvS2d4ki5XsSWmnlk4n-ZJQaT0LKQCLcBGAs/s640/cliff-gallup-western-swing.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Then, someone even more eagle-eyed than myself on the Gretsch guitar forum pointed out that this one incredibly blurry photograph seemed to show Cliff playing a stock Duo Jet with the non-vibrato "G" tailpiece. Even though the photo was blurry as hell, I had to agree. There were seeds of doubt.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--3W4zexixl4/W-hrRaIKwWI/AAAAAAAAAuY/6PySBhGz9RET6D0idhpXun6iCaqt772EwCLcBGAs/s1600/cliff-gallup-swing-band.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="1500" height="482" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--3W4zexixl4/W-hrRaIKwWI/AAAAAAAAAuY/6PySBhGz9RET6D0idhpXun6iCaqt772EwCLcBGAs/s640/cliff-gallup-swing-band.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The jury is still out, but I have to agree--looks like a "G" tailpiece, not a Bigsby. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bYP8QTMF-qE/W-hrlt2c9fI/AAAAAAAAAuk/TrIPd9-AQ4Mx1ymgA0Y_7kQTA3k8RN2owCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B8.34.29%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="296" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bYP8QTMF-qE/W-hrlt2c9fI/AAAAAAAAAuk/TrIPd9-AQ4Mx1ymgA0Y_7kQTA3k8RN2owCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B8.34.29%2BPM.png" width="528" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's another set of facts that make guys like myself and Ed Ball start scratching their heads: In the November, 1955 Gretsch catalog, the Bigsby vibrato is not listed as an add-on option for the Duo Jet. The Chet Atkins model solidbody guitar Model #6121 and Chet Atkins model hollowbody guitar Model #6120 are listed in the catalog coming <b>automatically</b> with Bigsby vibratos installed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Gretsch was a company where custom orders were definitely possible through their dealers. The fact that the Duo Jet serial #15694 found in Nashville is stamped "Model 6128-V" with no other holes in the guitar's butt end show that it was certainly possible, if the customer wanted it, to custom order a Duo Jet with an added Bigsby Vibrato. However, if it wasn't listed as an option in the catalogs or price lists, a Duo Jet with a factory Bigsby starts to look like a true rarity--s</span><span style="font-size: large;">omething only a couple people would have ordered.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j7AfmZkVCJM/W9-PS_OG1wI/AAAAAAAAAoA/VVbge9Rd0HAdwQX31wAlfdDYRwgh5ZUygCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1167" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j7AfmZkVCJM/W9-PS_OG1wI/AAAAAAAAAoA/VVbge9Rd0HAdwQX31wAlfdDYRwgh5ZUygCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_2330.jpg" width="466" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rbtiGN8SgvQ/W9-PS1QD95I/AAAAAAAAAoE/I-DA-C6YC_cE_sg2x9U-qja6279QMI8qQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2329.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rbtiGN8SgvQ/W9-PS1QD95I/AAAAAAAAAoE/I-DA-C6YC_cE_sg2x9U-qja6279QMI8qQCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_2329.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Above: The 1955 catalog shows the Gretsch Chet Atkins model coming automatically with Bigsby vibratos added--and a price $130 higher than a stock Duo Jet. Of course, you got "Western Motifs" and gold plating, plus Chet Atkins' signature on the pickguard!</span><br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tvfrep6gre4/W9-PTaL8iDI/AAAAAAAAAoI/AE7eCtOaWxAUBjV4SZw1KX5JyMmao2VzACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1142" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tvfrep6gre4/W9-PTaL8iDI/AAAAAAAAAoI/AE7eCtOaWxAUBjV4SZw1KX5JyMmao2VzACEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_2332.jpg" width="456" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zZStDU34BHE/W9-PSxWVd4I/AAAAAAAAAoQ/qh1lKHyFxI0NzJwSke9F_c2CSXPokuRpQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2331.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1261" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zZStDU34BHE/W9-PSxWVd4I/AAAAAAAAAoQ/qh1lKHyFxI0NzJwSke9F_c2CSXPokuRpQCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_2331.jpg" width="504" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Above: The 1955 catalog shows the "Jet" series, including the Duo Jet, Silver Jet, Round-Up and Jet Firebird--but the Bigsby vibrato is NOT shown to be a standard option for these guitars. Any factory Bigsby installation on a Duo Jet, then, would mean the guitar had to be specially custom ordered that way. Subsequently, any option like this not offered in the catalog would be incredibly rare in implementation--probably just a few at most.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />This is where it starts to
get REALLY interesting, if these guitar geek details haven’t put you to sleep
yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D6-rI_R6TzQ/W9-0LDLkKDI/AAAAAAAAApw/NWAPWBI7lusXzdHNy3PByQRXt2-AHwbugCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2254.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D6-rI_R6TzQ/W9-0LDLkKDI/AAAAAAAAApw/NWAPWBI7lusXzdHNy3PByQRXt2-AHwbugCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_2254.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Photos of Cliff Gallup’s Duo
Jet show his guitar equipped with not only a fixed-handle Bigsby B-3 vibrato,
it also shows that his guitar was equipped with a Bigsby aluminum bridge, with
a shiny aluminum base.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Many of us are familiar with
the aluminum bridges and aluminum bridge bases that used to come with your
Bigsby vibrato.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the one you've seen and are probably familiar with is the standard-issue, aluminum bridge assembly that
has pretty much been the same since around 1955 or 1956.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;">Here's the version most of us have seen:</span></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B4m7OVNczDU/W9-XBJ5xH9I/AAAAAAAAAos/PrHUgXoV5z4fnctc8Q4f5XfL14b5ujVzQCLcBGAs/s1600/big-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="400" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B4m7OVNczDU/W9-XBJ5xH9I/AAAAAAAAAos/PrHUgXoV5z4fnctc8Q4f5XfL14b5ujVzQCLcBGAs/s400/big-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1yjBZga3KFk/W9-XBLV16qI/AAAAAAAAAow/hsLndNY1ikQhKTLCZ_M3wDkPYF8eE71RwCLcBGAs/s1600/big-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="400" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1yjBZga3KFk/W9-XBLV16qI/AAAAAAAAAow/hsLndNY1ikQhKTLCZ_M3wDkPYF8eE71RwCLcBGAs/s640/big-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PG1hxRd4or0/W9_CjITB5PI/AAAAAAAAAp8/8R5L1b2GedYrwUrSYoP44Wfb6xAd2oP5wCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2342.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="1600" height="284" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PG1hxRd4or0/W9_CjITB5PI/AAAAAAAAAp8/8R5L1b2GedYrwUrSYoP44Wfb6xAd2oP5wCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_2342.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;">The "standard" Bigsby aluminum bridge made since around 1955 or 1956 has a base with the studs permanently mounted in them, and a compensated bridge saddle with an angled "rocker" bottom on the outer edges. </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">However, the bridge and
bridge base assembly that we are all familiar with (pictured above) is actually the second
version of the Bigsby bridge and bridge base. 99.9% of the Bigsby aluminum bridge bases seen on guitars vintage and new are like the one pictured above, the second version.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The first design of the
Bigsby bridge and bridge base assembly is incredibly rare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite the fact that the design was
innovative and it worked well, there were not very many of these bridges
made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The few examples that I have seen
have all been from around 1953 and 1954.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The first version of the
aluminum bridge base used <b>upside down oval head bolts</b> threaded into the bridge saddle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The upside down bolt heads then went into a <b>cast
hole with an aligning slot</b> in the base.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The bridge saddle was flat on the bottom, and the height adjustment
wheels connected solidly with the bridge saddle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bridge rocked on the oval head of the
upside down bolts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a good system,
but for some reason Paul Bigsby abandoned this style of bridge almost
immediately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today these type of Bigsby
bridge assemblies are insanely rare, with only a handful of examples known to
exist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kdbwUcIh0pQ/W9_CxVW6LFI/AAAAAAAAAqA/1Pu3ii_5gA4Yv7fcIL5PwuhDbEjoJHovACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2340.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kdbwUcIh0pQ/W9_CxVW6LFI/AAAAAAAAAqA/1Pu3ii_5gA4Yv7fcIL5PwuhDbEjoJHovACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_2340.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Early 1953-1954 Bigsby Aluminum Bridge assembly with upside-down oval head bolts used as the "rocking" part of the bridge, as found on serial #15694.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pVneGWedpUg/W9_DL217kUI/AAAAAAAAAqM/ClVLQNsQFWwrM8m6b__CvJw1wBvVqGMrgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2339.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pVneGWedpUg/W9_DL217kUI/AAAAAAAAAqM/ClVLQNsQFWwrM8m6b__CvJw1wBvVqGMrgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_2339.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">How does this relate to
identifying Cliff Gallup’s Duo Jet?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
can see from the photos that Cliff’s Duo Jet had a shiny aluminum Bigsby bridge
assembly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I found #15694, it also
had the early style shiny aluminum bridge assembly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the vibrato and bridge were flipped
over, all were stamped “G” on the bottom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ed Ball and myself are still not sure if the “G” stands for Gretsch, or
Gibson, or both, or neither.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But since
the bottom of the vibrato, the bottom of the vibrato handle, the bottom of the
bridge base and the bottom of the compensated bridge saddle are all stamped
“G,” it can be safely assumed that this early ’53-’54 era aluminum bridge
assembly was installed with the factory Bigsby vibrato.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many of the other Jets made in 1954 with
Bigsby vibratos also had the shiny aluminum Bigsby bridge and bridge base?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7dImoiMr0lE/W9_DZcwfPcI/AAAAAAAAAqY/Y8b7zDxKXF0jF_5Hqoe3co6KKJDyUpORgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2338.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7dImoiMr0lE/W9_DZcwfPcI/AAAAAAAAAqY/Y8b7zDxKXF0jF_5Hqoe3co6KKJDyUpORgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_2338.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zurll0bdXtA/W9_DZdDvFnI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/03LV1haupaA6n6lsgZIBG7T6GXvHLj3jgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2337.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="1600" height="292" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zurll0bdXtA/W9_DZdDvFnI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/03LV1haupaA6n6lsgZIBG7T6GXvHLj3jgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_2337.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QOiBNjW62tk/W9_DZYU4HJI/AAAAAAAAAqU/QubiGXp1zzQYtRSqEoqmUGPrfVPHFp8QgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2336.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QOiBNjW62tk/W9_DZYU4HJI/AAAAAAAAAqU/QubiGXp1zzQYtRSqEoqmUGPrfVPHFp8QgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_2336.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YXbduI0LxXY/W9_DtUNgsrI/AAAAAAAAAqs/wcLjc4rawtMCm93Lg1rmeAOXQvbuoGb-gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2335.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YXbduI0LxXY/W9_DtUNgsrI/AAAAAAAAAqs/wcLjc4rawtMCm93Lg1rmeAOXQvbuoGb-gCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_2335.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Ed Ball, who has seen more of
these than anyone else, replied: “I’ve never seen another factory Bigsby
installation on one of these that had the aluminum bridge and bridge base, from
the factory.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Keep in mind we’re talking
early Gretsch and early Bigsby here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
solidbody Duo Jet had only been introduced in 1953, by 1958 the guitars had a
lot more uniformity and a lot less hand-made aspects that varied from guitar to
guitar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Almost concurrently, Bigsby
had made the first Bigsby vibrato in 1952, and began marketing them
commercially after his patent was approved in 1953.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The early, "fixed handle" versions are
rare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By 1956, when Bigsby came out with
the first swivel handle version of the vibrato, there was a lot more uniformity
and less variation between units.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The crux of these paragraphs
is to state that in 1954, when Cliff Gallup’s Gretsch Duo Jet was made, there
were not hundreds or thousands of examples of these guitars, as many
mass-produced guitars were after Elvis and the Beatles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1954, these guitars, as well as the Bigsby
vibrato unit, were hand-made in small quantities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By distilling down the number of Duo Jets
made in 1954 with the same features as Cliff’s, then distilling that number
down to the ones out of that small number that had factory Bigsby vibratos,
then distilling that even smaller number down to the ones with Bigsby vibratos
and early upside-down oval head bolt aluminum bridges and shiny aluminum bridge
bases on them—well, at this point we are talking about an impossibly small
number of guitars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not a huge
stretch of the imagination to say that only one guitar had all those features.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">When you take that fact, in
conjunction with the fact that the guitar recently found in Nashville shared
four out of the five digits of the serial number, and a financing document with
dodgy handwriting on the fourth digit of the serial number, that’s when things
really start to get really squirrely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">SPOILER #2 (UPDATE):</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">As much as I would love to think that Cliff's guitar had a factory Bigsby, I now think that it probably didn't, which means that the guitar I just found in Nashville was definitely not Cliff's missing guitar.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">There are not very many
photos of Cliff Gallup with his Duo Jet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are only three professional studio shots of Cliff with his Duo Jet,
and another six photos taken at gigs, or in the studio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Nine</span> photos of Cliff with the Duo Jet, total.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> (Keep in mind Joe Carducci has one unpublished photo he's saving that shows the second Duo Jet) </span>That’s not very many photos for a major label
recording artist who played on hit records, and it doesn’t leave us much for
photographic detective work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Here is every known photo of Cliff Gallup with his Gretsch Duo Jet (save for the one mentioned above that Joe Carducci has in his possession):</span></div>
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Below: Cliff (with guitar), Wee Willie Williams, rhythm guitarist for the early Blue Caps (bottom, with cap), with Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio:<br />
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Below: Cliff with Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps, sans guitar:<br />
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<b>Below: Cliff with his second, later Duo Jet. The telltale clue is the larger size truss rod cover, a sure sign of a 1955-1957 manufacture date. There is also a discrepancy with the length of the fretboard and the last fret--Cliff's original Duo Jet only has a "half's fret" worth of overhang; this second Duo Jet shows a "full fret's" worth of overhang. The unpublished photo Joe Carducci has shows this guitar in full--there are not really any other surprises to see in this photo. </b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am pretty sure that the guitar I found in Nashville is not Cliff's guitar. And yet--there’s the “17<sup>th</sup>
fret anomaly.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Glenn Damato is a hardcore collector and good friend
based on the East Coast. He kindly made high resolution 1200 dpi scans of two
original 1956 Capitol Records 8X10 glossies that he owns of Gene Vincent and
the Blue Caps featuring Cliff Gallup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The details revealed in these scans are amazing, especially the one below:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UjdTPywNlt0/W9-mml3WjtI/AAAAAAAAApk/uQG4Y4qf9KghnM8HxQP-rMQqSQmAXKVIwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B6.10.04%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1492" data-original-width="1134" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UjdTPywNlt0/W9-mml3WjtI/AAAAAAAAApk/uQG4Y4qf9KghnM8HxQP-rMQqSQmAXKVIwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-04%2Bat%2B6.10.04%2BPM.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I began staring at the
photos, trying to find some unusual detail that would help identify Cliff’s
guitar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, the part of the
guitar that would help the most to see in high definition was the headstock
inlay, and neither photo showed the headstock inlay clearly enough to be
helpful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I blew up the photo as large
as my computer would let me, and finally one thing caught my eye—a slight
anomaly in the fretboard on the 17<sup>th</sup> fret.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where all the other inlays were rectangular,
the 17<sup>th</sup> fret inlay appeared to be slightly trapezoidal along the
bottom edge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As these were hand cut and
hand inlaid, it wouldn’t be unusual for slight anomalies to be present in some
of the inlays from guitar to guitar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After I saw the anomaly in
the 17<sup>th</sup> fret inlay in the blown up photo, I looked at the guitar I
had recently found in Nashville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
on the 17<sup>th</sup> fret was the same anomaly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The inlay was rectangular on the top, with a
trapezoidal angle on the bottom edge of the inlay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zHRWNw0horQ/W9_OvRsQ4fI/AAAAAAAAAs0/jdswR-iW4AExtsy453XvpMdJaPFg-p2OwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_14374298679A-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="833" data-original-width="1600" height="332" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zHRWNw0horQ/W9_OvRsQ4fI/AAAAAAAAAs0/jdswR-iW4AExtsy453XvpMdJaPFg-p2OwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_14374298679A-1.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">17th fret "anomaly" found on both Cliff's guitar in vintage photo and serial #15694 found recently in Nashville.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I understand those who read
this and think that this is all just wishful thinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I admit that I’m a Cliff Gallup fan, and that
in itself should probably disqualify me from the title of “impartial
researcher.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no doubt that I
would love for this to be true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
understand those who doubt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is not a clean, tidy
story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a messy way to arrive at
this conclusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It involves belief in
human error and a mathematical distillation of odds to arrive at this
conclusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I do think that the
rarity of this particular guitar, made during this time frame, against the fact
that four of the five digits of the serial number are the same as the serial
number we believed to be Cliff’s make this a hell of a coincidence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also know that an old guy working in a
music store might not be extra diligent when filling out serial numbers on some
guitar loan paperwork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There's definitely a chance that #15694 MIGHT be Cliff Gallup’s original
Gretsch Duo Jet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Someday, Gretsch serial
number #15654 is going to turn up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
that guitar turns out to be a Duo Jet with a Bigsby vibrato on it, or evidence
of once having a Bigsby vibrato on it, at that point we can all say THAT is
Cliff’s guitar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll have no problem
with that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But I still think there's a small chance that when Gretsch
Serial #15654 turns up, it’s going to be something weird--a Burl Ives Model
acoustic, a Tenor Jet, a Round-Up, a Silver Jet, or a Duo Jet with no signs of ever
having a Bigsby installed on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’ll
be something wrong that won’t fit the narrative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If that happens, heads will
snap to the left, like Wile E. Coyote in an old Roadrunner cartoon, and those same doubters
will remember this odd story about the wayward Gretsch Serial #15694 with all the
right Cliff Gallup features.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I first bought the guitar in Nashville, I was 90% sure that I had somehow stumbled upon Cliff Gallup's original Gretsch Duo Jet. I still think there's a slight chance, but I think there's a lot of "if's, buts and maybes," too much doubt. There's enough doubt to lead me to re-evaluate my position and say that it probably is NOT Cliff's original guitar.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">However, what's pretty amazing about this journey of discovery was finding out just how rare that batch of 1954 Duo Jet's were, and how much rarer that batch was with added Bigsby vibratos on them. Even if the one I found isn't Cliff's, it's pretty amazing to me that it's from the same batch with all the same features, and best of all--it plays and sounds amazing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I hope that the search for Serial #15654 continues, and I hope that it turns up. We won't really know the answer until that happens, so keep your eyes open!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Deke Dickerson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Northridge, CA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">November, 2018<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8kBfzCV4dCI/W9_tlBgBUAI/AAAAAAAAAtw/qGSjXz4usCkC24opRry_ZdZyF4QbE_pygCLcBGAs/s1600/60173415_129330272352.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="1305" height="248" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8kBfzCV4dCI/W9_tlBgBUAI/AAAAAAAAAtw/qGSjXz4usCkC24opRry_ZdZyF4QbE_pygCLcBGAs/s640/60173415_129330272352.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Special thanks to Ed Ball,
Joe Carducci, Glenn Damato, Mark Lee Allen, Dickie Harrell, Lowell Fayna, Darrel Higham, Chris
Scruggs and others who have helped me in this research.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-42307598864109424522013-04-30T15:27:00.002-07:002013-04-30T17:22:14.249-07:00Why I am not a Punk Rocker<span style="font-size: large;">I like punk rock. But I'm not a punk rocker. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Growing up being a guitar player and being into music, there were really only two types of people you could hang out with: heavy metal dudes and punk rockers. They were the only two groups where the guitar players mattered (back in those days, it was synthesizers and keytars if you wanted to be "popular."). </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Popular music, 1986:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/x4jFlSaDnow?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The metal guys were better musicians, and actually studied theory and harmony and stuff. They were usually very serious when it came to music, and didn't have a sense of humor. I remember the local metal guys being really mad when <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFl7Cq2fvqI">'This Is Spinal Tap'</a> came out, because in their words "It MADE FUN of Rock and Roll!" </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Punk rockers, on the other hand, were guys who really couldn't play but wanted to be in bands anyway, to get some modicum of "glory" and of course to get girls. They didn't take anything seriously, for the most part, but there was a lot of posturing and pseudo-political ranting. I didn't fit in with either group, but wound up hanging out with both just by virtue of the fact that I played guitar. I was literally the only guy in Columbia, Missouri who was into rockabilly guitar, so I had to find my friends where I could.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I wanted to be cool, but I just didn't have it in me. Myself and my buddy Mace (who wound up being the bass player in my first band, The Untamed Youth, and who is now my step-brother) used to go see punk rock shows all the time. We were nerds, total losers, and the punk rock shows were where the disaffected youth showed up to bond with other outcasts. The only problem was that Mace and I were such losers that even the outcasts didn't want us.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We saw such bands as The Circle Jerks, D.O.A., The Descendents, Fear, Flipper, Husker Du, JFA (Jodie Foster's Army), MDC (Millions of Dead Cops), Toxic Reasons, TSOL, and a bunch of local bands like Three Legged Dog, Bloody Mess and the Scabs, Lurking Fear, First Bank of Christ, etc. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The bands that I really liked, though, were the most uncool--The Ramones and The Dickies.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Mace and I went to see The Ramones and the Dickies on a double bill at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis in 1986. At the time, both bands were considered total has-beens. The Ramones could still fill the place, but everybody talked about how they were "over" and how their last few albums had sucked. The Dickies were a band from L.A. that had several albums out in the late 1970s, but by 1986 they were not considered a viable band anymore. It didn't matter to me. I loved both the Dickies and the Ramones from the minute that I saw them. Both bands were loud, fast, and STOOPID! No political posturing, just basic rock and roll with lyrics that bordered on the moronic.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Mace and I were so inspired by seeing the Ramones that we made our own movie in high school, that we submitted as our humanities project. Our teacher, Linda Harlan, gave us an "A" not because it was good, but because we had been so ballsy in taking over the entire school to make our silly movie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Below: Behold the horror of my 1986 senior year Humanities project, "ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL." </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Po5123CGov8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, that's our actual high school principal, Dr. Wayne Walker. I still marvel at how we got him to say our stupid lines and have Mace give him the Nazi arm salute. The "Rock and Roll God" was played by our good friend and bad influence Joe Bargmann, who was several years our senior and a wise-cracking smart ass journalism student at the University. Joe got us into more fun and more trouble than we ever would have on our own. Joe loved the Ramones as much as we did. Joe was the Untamed Youth's "secret weapon" for several years until he moved away. The drummer was our good friend "Rabid" Rick Carter, who played in my earliest rockabilly band, The Rockin' Tailfins. "Rabid" Rick had an Elvis museum in his mobile home that included a Red Hot candy (in a picture frame) that he had plucked from in between the seat cushions on one of Elvis' Cadillacs at a museum in Memphis. He swore it had been Elvis' Red Hot.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Note: In the movie, I'm playing my 1967 Gibson ES-335 guitar. You literally could not get LESS punk rock than a Gibson ES-335. I played the same guitar in high school jazz band and our teacher used to ridicule me by calling me "Conway" (as in Conway Twitty) to make fun of my choice of guitar. My punk rock "fashion" statement consisted of a pair of old jeans I had ripped up doing chores in my parents back yard. Mace, of course, wins first place fashion prize with his bi-level haircut and earring--ha ha ha! </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The funny thing I remember about all the punk rock shows back in the 1980s was how caveman primal everybody acted. This was before you could google "How to be punk rock" or "Who is cool right now" on your Iphone, so the only way to learn was to hang out and observe, and when the time was right, ask questions. All these outcast high school and college kids would get together in some garage or basement or small club, and just hang out, waiting for someone to do something, or something cool to happen. It was very much like 'Lord of the Flies,' in that there was always some guy who wanted to be the leader, and some guy who wanted to fight him to be the leader. All the girls were so immature it was usually thug-like fighting behavior among the males that impressed them. Even though the punk rock scene was supposed to be about progressive views when it came to racism, it was still pure troglodyte when it came to male-female relations. You were always afraid to talk too much because somebody a few years older than you would always cut you down and make you feel stupid. There were a lot of kids who were into punk music because it was "alternative" and not in the mainstream, but they were really hippies with nowhere else to go. This made for an interesting mix of really aggressive kids who either did speedy drugs or needed Ritalin along with a bunch of stoned hippie punk kids who could barely move. In the corner of the room, leaning against the wall, there stood Mace and myself, completely ostracized from the rest of the ostracized kids. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It may sound like I didn't like the punk rock scene, and I guess that's probably true. I didn't care too much for the "scene," but I dug the music. The music was fast, loud, and dangerous, three things that were desperately needed after all the peaceful, mellow, BORING music of the 1970s. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">How I remember the 1970s:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For that reason, punk rock was very important. It was a musical version of sweeping out the cobwebs and starting over again with a clean house. I have since learned to appreciate a lot of music from the 1970s, and I don't really mind hippies that much, they're generally cool people. But at that time, man, we NEEDED punk rock music to get rid of all that peaceful easy mellow patchouli bearded naked incense hippie stuff that had been piling up for the last ten years. So in that sense, yes, I really liked punk rock and what it stood for. But I just wasn't a punk rocker, no matter how hard I tried.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The defining moment of my non-punk-rockness occurred the night that Black Flag came to town.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Black Flag was one of the most legendary and most influential "hardcore" punk rock bands from California. The band formed in 1979 and went through several lead singers before finally finding Henry Rollins as lead vocalist in 1981, and he remained the band's lead singer until they broke up in 1986. Black Flag were one of the most popular, if not the most popular, hardcore punk band of the 1980s. When they came to town, it was a very, very big deal. They were scheduled to play the Blue Note and there were fears of rioting and the show getting shut down. It was scary and dangerous and exciting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lead singer Henry Rollins was a muscular, sinewy young dude with an angry look on his face all the time. Even when he smiled he looked pissed off. Some people hated Henry Rollins, some people loved him. Because he was so beautifully sculpted and yet so angry, girls went crazy for the guy, which probably made the dudes hate him even more. He started out with a skinhead look, but by 1986 the whole band was wearing long hair. I thought the long hair look was weak. It was as if the hippies had won! What did I know. Even at 17 years old I was balding, I wasn't going to be able to join the hair-rock club even if I wanted to.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I always wanted to hate Henry Rollins, but I quite enjoy his writing, especially the must-read book "Get In The Van--On The Road With Black Flag." In fact, one quote from the book has always stuck with me, for I had a similar epiphany in my own life. Describing the way he felt before he joined the band, when Black Flag came through Rollins' home town of Washington, D.C:</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">"They (Black Flag) stayed at Ian's house after the show and left the next morning. I remember watching their van pull away up the street and wanting to be in it. It was amazing to me how they pulled in, played, hung out with the locals and then took off on the next adventure. I had to hurry up and get to work.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">"As I walked down the hill toward a long night at the workplace, I started getting depressed. Black Flag was a bunch of guys who were out there winging it and trying to do something with their lives. They had no fixed income and they lived like dogs, but they were living life with a lot more guts than I was by a long shot. I had a steady income and an apartment and money in the bank. But I also had a job where I got yelled at when things didn't go right. I had to be there all the time. I saw the same streets and the same people every day. My job took over a lot of my waking hours.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">"After I had hung out with the Flag guys, I saw that there was a lot more out there to be seen and done and I didn't think I was ever going to do any of it. That night at work, everything in my life felt meaningless. I knew that somehow I was blowing it. I had a low level panic attack. I got a glimpse of something that made it impossible to bullshit myself. I wished it didn't open my eyes so much and make me see so clearly.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">"I saw my life stretching out in front of me. Same town, same people, same everything. It felt as if I was getting tied down and beaten by life. They had guts. The way they were living went against all the things I had been taught to believe were right. If I had listened to my father, I would have joined the Navy, served and gone into the straight world without a whimper. I'm not putting that down. But it's not the life for everyone."</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">--Henry Rollins, "Get In The Van--On The Road With Black Flag"</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I had many similar experiences going to see bands play at the Blue Note club. I was 17 and working a crappy day job (Henry Rollins worked at Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream, I worked at Mizzou Bar-B-Q--same difference), and I would go to see bands who drove up in their vans, rocked the locals, bedded down a few of our local girls, and partied like it was 1999. The next day their van would pull away and they would be off to have more fun and make more music. I was in high school and working my job, and all I could think about was pulling away in that van with a band of my own.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mace and I went to see Black Flag play at the Blue Note. Thanks to magic of the internet and obsessed fans, I can tell you exactly what date that was: Tuesday, May 6, 1986. Thanks to the <a href="http://www.dementlieu.com/users/obik/arc/blackflag/1986.html">Dementlieu Punk Archive</a> for that!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Richard King and Phil Costello, the owners of the Blue Note, were some adventurous and open-minded dudes. Thinking back now, there's no way I would host punk rock shows at a venue I owned. They were real supporters of the arts, and had everything there from jazz and blues and alternative rock to punk rock and rap. King and Costello had one thing on their side: the original Blue Note on the Business Loop was a real shithole. There wasn't much that could be done to destroy the place. They prepared for the punk rock onslaught by completely emptying the room of chairs and tables and anything else that could be thrown. This made it seem dangerous just upon walking in the door--holy crap! They took out all the chairs and tables! What do you think might HAPPEN tonight? This was exciting!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mace and I stood against the back wall of the club, our normal place to hang out and observe. The opening band was playing (I forget their name) and the dance floor was deserted. Everybody was waiting for the main attraction--Black Flag!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Henry Rollins walked in during the opening band's set, preening, posing, looking around the room with a big scowl on his face. He stood in the middle of the room, on the empty dance floor, looking disaffected, blank. He removed all his clothes, got butt naked, and then put on his signature gym shorts and tennis shoes, getting ready for the Black Flag show. Mace and I looked at each other and thought one thing about this very public display--"Man, I wish my dick was that big so I could do that!" Looking back at it now, that was a pretty genius way to display your wares to the local ladies. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Black Flag started playing, and this is EXACTLY how I remember that show. This is how everything looked and felt and smelled and tasted. It makes perfect sense, because this video was shot a few weeks before I saw them at the Blue Note:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">During this time period, I was really trying to feel out what I should do with my life. I was really into rockabilly, surf, 1960s garage, and other music genres from bygone eras. I felt like the odd man out in the world. There was nobody in Columbia, Missouri that shared my enthusiasm for Jerry Lee Lewis alternate takes and the nuances of the original Chuck Berry and Link Wray guitar styles. I was trying to decide if I should quit being the weirdo "Retro" kid and get into something that was now and new and happening and current. I seriously considered becoming a punk rocker.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was 17, just about to graduate High School and turn 18 and enter into the next phase of my life. I thought to myself, maybe I should get a punk band together, something that straddles the Ramones and Black Flag and all this stuff with some poppy hooks and catchy melodies....maybe that would be successful? Maybe I should hop on a bandwagon for once, it occurred to me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Black Flag show was intense, hot, and loud. I really got caught up in the excitement. Henry Rollins was like a panther on stage, you never knew if he was going to sing or beat the crap out of someone. The mosh pit was insane, about 80 aggressive dudes slam dancing in a giant circle to the music of Black Flag.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">For the completely uninitiated (Mom?) who are reading this who don't know what I'm talking about, punk rock dancing started out with innocent little stupid dances like the "pogo" (jumping up and down) into a brutal form of dancing known as "slam dancing." Slam dancing wasn't really dancing, it was just running around in a pit getting out all your agressions on other guys that couldn't get laid. It wasn't really fighting, and there was a code of ethics (you were supposed to help up anybody that fell down), but it sure looked like a bunch of dudes fighting to the untrained eye.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Slam dancing was done in something called "The Mosh Pit" ("Moshing" was another term for slam dancing). The Mosh Pit was where you did NOT want to be at a punk rock show, because if you were just trying to watch the band, you'd get hit by some dude's elbow or fist as they ran around like wild hyenas in the pit. I saw many fragile little females get knocked off their feet by aggro punk rock slam dancers, an uncomfortable memory to this day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There was an entire episode of "Quincy, M.E." devoted to how old, normal people couldn't understand why these punk rockers would do this to themselves:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Really, though, slam dancing was just a way for young suburban males to take out their aggression in a somewhat approved manner. Since fighting, stealing, murdering, and other ways were frowned upon by parents and authorities, at least a punk rock show offered the opportunity to get in the Mosh Pit and have sweaty, aggressive, latently homo-erotic contact with a bunch of like-minded high energy dudes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I watched Black Flag and I thought to myself--screw it, I'm getting in the pit. I had always been too chicken to join in. I thought, I'm going whole hog or none! My way has always been to jump into the deep end and see if you drown. Maybe this punk rock thing was for me. I needed to know.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I got in the Mosh Pit and tried to emulate what the other guys were doing. I went around and around in the pit for about 3 minutes and then--WHAM!--some guy hit me upside the head. I was stunned for a second and then I realized that when I got hit in the back of the head, one of my contact lenses had fallen out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There I was, Henry Rollins screaming like a maniac, the band raging at top volume behind him, and 80 sweaty punk rock guys swarming in a circle around me, most of them wearing combat boots. I was looking down with my one good eye for the better part of 15 seconds looking for my lost contact lens.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">15 seconds in a Mosh Pit is approximately 30 years in normal human time. I frantically looked for my contact lens, thinking about how pissed off my parents were going to be when I told them. It occurred to me, how am I gonna drive home, I don't have my glasses! Finally, I realized what a foolish move it was to try and find a tiny contact lens on the floor of a Black Flag mosh pit in a dark club. I broke free of the pit and went back over to where Mace was standing. He laughed at me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I can't remember if I stayed around for the end of the show, but I do remember driving home. I had to hold one hand over my eye where the contact lens had fallen out so that I could see to drive. The whole time, I was thinking to myself, well, I guess I'm not a punk rocker! I tried. I really did.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Every now and then some young kid will talk about punk bands and I'll throw in, "Yeah, I saw Black Flag in 1986." They are always impressed that I witnessed them with my own eyes. I leave out the part about losing a contact lens in the Mosh Pit.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I decided then and there that I was not a punk rocker. I had to abandon any thoughts of going in the punk direction, and turn my energies back to what I liked--old stuff. Maybe I could't ever sell a million records, but dammit, I was going to be the best "Retro" rocker that I could be. I was going to learn everything about it and play as well as I possibly could and meet as many of my heroes as humanly possible. It was somewhat akin to realizing that I was never going to be a rich farmer with a fertile field and giant mechanized modern farm equipment. Instead, by choosing roots-rock music as my career, it was like taking an old broken down mule and wandering into an unplowed rocky desert field where a garden couldn't be grown. I didn't care, I just got to work with my old mule and I plowed the shit out of that impossibly rocky field. Here I am, 27 years later, and I've pretty much accomplished everything I set out to do. I saw a lot of farmers with fancy equipment go out of business during that time, and I'm still here.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Besides, it was 1986, punk rock was considered over and done with commercially. The tour that I saw Black Flag play was their last tour, and they broke up a few months later. Punk rock was probably a terrible career option, and I made the right decision. I mean, there's no way that my concept of Ramones mixed with Black Flag with poppy hooks and catchy melodies would ever work. That was a stupid idea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="vk_ans vk_bk" style="margin-bottom: 5px;">zeit·geist</span> </span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">/ˈtsītˌgīst/</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Noun</span></div>
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<tr><td style="padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The footnote to this story: Recently I was asked to back up Marky Ramone of the Ramones at the Viva Las Vegas festival. Even though I am old and fat and wear a cowboy hat, I jumped at the chance. Jumping the timeline from the 1986 high school version of "Rock and Roll High School" to this year's performance with with Marky, really, very little has changed. I still love the music. But I'll never be a punk rocker.</span><br />
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<br />Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-48143962258789806872013-04-22T21:22:00.000-07:002013-04-23T10:07:15.739-07:00More than you ever wanted to know about the Gene Vincent song "B-I-Bickey-Bi-Bo-Bo-Go"When I was in tenth grade, I was really feeling my oats about who I was and what my place was in this world. Mostly, that entailed being a jerk to any authority figures in my life, including my parents, teachers, school authorities, etc. This is natural behavior for the male species in that awkward time of their life when they have tons of testosterone flowing through their bodies, but no money, no car, and no girl. Such was the predicament I was in back in 1984, when I was a sophomore at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, Missouri. I had squat, except for a lot of testosterone and a love of 1950s American Rock and Roll music.<br />
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How I perceived myself:<br />
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How I actually was:<br />
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My English teacher at the time was a very nice guy, but a real square cat. He seemed ancient to me but in retrospect he was probably thirty or thirty-five at the most. Balding, button-down shirt, sans-a-belt slacks, comfortable shoes--he represented everything in life that I despised. I lived in a world where turned up collars, sharkskin jackets, gabardine slacks, two-tone shoes, and bright colors designed to offend the sensibilities were the ideal. I always was a weird kid. I just thought that 1956 looked a lot cooler, and I guess I still do.<br />
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One day the aforementioned English teacher asked us all to write a paper about a song that meant something to us. He said it could be any song, as long as it meant something. In my rebellious world, I thought that the rock music that had been popular since the late 1960s hippie movement was the worst thing that had ever happened in the history of the world. In my mind, before Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play, everything had been cool, fun, unpretentious, and exciting. After the Beatles, the Doors, Bob Dylan, and all the Fleetwood Mac-era pretenders followed suit, all I could see was a bunch of pretentious, self-important rock star "artistes" who were really serious about their "lyrics," and who were always talking about peace and love and a bunch of other subjects that had nothing to do with me getting laid. I had no use for this so-called "important" rock music.<br />
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In a grand act of rebellion, I wrote my English paper about a Gene Vincent song, cut in 1956 and released in April, 1957, entitled "B-I-Bickey-Bi-Bo-Bo-Go." It was a nonsense song. The lyrics meant nothing. My English paper reflected the fact that I thought it was important to have some music that was about fun and nothing else. I pleaded that not all music had to be "important" and needed dissection of the lyrics like some mopey art school student. I wish I had kept the paper, because as I remember, it was quite well-written. I made my case as well as a 15-year old free thinker iconoclast could.<br />
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Below: my original 45rpm copy of "B-I-Bickey-Bi, Bo-Bo-Go." I found it at a radio station in Jefferson City, Missouri.<br />
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Hear the song: "B-I-Bickey-Bi-Bo-Bo-Go" by Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps. This song rocks!<br />
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The teacher took my finished paper and gave it a quick read. He could have given me an F, but to his credit, he just rolled his eyes back in his head and said, "I'm sorry, this assignment has to be about a song that MEANS SOMETHING!" He handed the paper back and gave me instructions to start over.<br />
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I went home and wound up writing my paper about the Blasters song <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q-izDANZ5M">"Border Radio," </a>written by Dave Alvin. I guess that song had enough meaningful lyrical content in it to barely squeak by, and I remember getting a B+. As fate would have it, eventually I wound up knowing and becoming friends with Dave and Phil Alvin, and the rest of the Blasters.<br />
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Years went by, and music became my career. Although my music tastes expanded and I learned to love many different and varied types of music, rockabilly music and 1950s rock and roll stayed close to my heart. I've been lucky enough to meet and play music with most of my musical heroes. The legacy of Gene Vincent's music remained important to me. Although Gene Vincent died in 1971, I have been able to play with Dickie Harrell, Johnny Meeks and Russell Willaford of Gene Vincent's Blue Caps band, and I have spent time with other Blue Caps, including Tommy "Bubba" Facenda, Paul Peek, Jerry Merritt, and Bobby Jones.<br />
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Below: Gene Vincent (laying on the stage), Paul Peek on guitar, Dickie Harrell on drums, 1956.<br />
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Below: The author shows his respect to Gene Vincent's legendary drummer Dickie Harrell:<br />
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After moving to Los Angeles in 1991, I wound up meeting many of the key players in the Gene Vincent legacy. I interviewed 96-year old Ken Nelson, the A&R man who signed Gene Vincent to Capitol Records in 1956. I bought records from Cliffie Stone, another important man in the history of Capitol Records, who also published a great number of songs through his Central Songs Publishing Company (which, as it turns out, was secretly owned by Capitol Records' Ken Nelson). I knew Ronny Weiser of Rollin' Rock Records, who had recorded Gene Vincent singing acapella right before he died. I worked with Billy Zoom of the punk band X, who had backed up Gene Vincent at several gigs in his final, declining years. Gene Vincent was also buried just outside of Los Angeles, at Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Newhall, and visiting Gene's grave was a necessary stop of any visiting Rock and Roll fan.<br />
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Below: The author and Capitol A&R man/producer Ken Nelson.<br />
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Below: The author and Capitol A&R man/Central Songs publisher (not to mention a great entertainer and bass player in his own right) Cliffie Stone:<br />
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Below: Gene Vincent's grave, Eternal Valley Memorial Park, Newhall, CA<br />
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Among all the music people that I met after moving to Los Angeles, one of the fringe guys on the Hollywood music scene was a jazz drummer named Roy Harte, who owned a drum store on Santa Monica Boulevard called Roy Harte's Drum City.<br />
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Below: Roy Harte's Drum City, in the 1990s. This is how I always remember it looking.<br />
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Roy Harte's Drum City was on a seedy stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard populated by transvestite gay hustlers, who walked the Boulevard night and day in a zombie-like trance, waiting for their next fifty dollar trick. Drum City was a store that had obviously seen better days. It had a large gravel parking lot (see photo above), and the whole place had the general odor of decay. Roy Harte held court inside his store, where he had watched Hollywood go from glamorous heyday to a dirty, dangerous place where only homeless runaways and German tourists dared to walk the streets.<br />
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I loved Roy Harte. He was a genuine jazz drumming <a href="http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2011/10/roy-harte-and-drum-city-drummers-are.html">legend</a>, and I liked him because he had played on several Tennessee Ernie Ford and Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant sessions (his quote stuck with me: "Those hillbilly cats could play ANYTHING, man!") I went into Roy Harte's Drum City half a dozen times, always in search of some rare vintage drum part that I couldn't find any place else. Somewhere, Roy always had what I needed, in a bucket or a coffee can or a tray full of miscellaneous junk. When I tried to pay him, Roy always said "DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT! BRING ME A BEER NEXT TIME!" I brought him a few Bud 'Tall Boys,' but wondered how the hell he paid the rent all those years if all he took in were cans of beer.<br />
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Below: Roy Harte, in his prime.<br />
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Roy Harte played a tiny, tiny part in Gene Vincent history. When Capitol Records held a contest to find a new drumming sensation to record a drum-themed album, Dickie Harrell of Gene Vincent's Blue Caps won the contest, and the recording contract along with it (despite the fact that he had already been a Capitol Recording Artist with Vincent). Roy Harte played alongside Harrell on the album, and the album's colorful cover was taken inside Roy Harte's Drum City.<br />
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Below: Photo from the back of the "Drums and More Drums" album. The author may have the only copy autographed by both Dickie Harrell and Roy Harte. Note Roy's awesome signature: "WE BOTH KNOW THAT WHEN IT TRIES TO SWING, WE LET IT! --ROY HARTE"<br />
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The last time I went to Roy Harte's Drum City, I was once again in search of an impossibly rare part for one of my vintage drum kits. When I got out of my car in the gravel parking lot, my eyes focused on what was beneath my feet. At first, I didn't know what it was I was seeing, I just knew it was different than the gravel I was used to. Then it dawned on me what I was seeing, and it gave me a sickening sensation in the pit of my stomach. On top of the gravel throughout the entire parking lot were broken bits of 78rpm phonograph records. Thousands, no--make that tens of thousands--of records had been smashed up and used to create a new layer of asphalt.<br />
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I rushed inside and asked Roy what the deal was with all the records smashed up in the parking lot. His reply was to tell me that he was going to be leaving the building and going out of business, and he had a room upstairs filled to the brim with "worthless" (his words) 78's. I asked if they were for sale, and he replied they were--25 cents a pop. I walked upstairs to a room that smelled of mold. It was dark, dingy and in complete chaos. There were records on shelves on the wall, in piles on the floor, and everywhere else you looked. I settled down and got to work.<br />
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A good record hound knows that chances are, if there are a thousand records in a pile, there has to be one good one in there. I started looking through the rubble, hoping for that one prized needle-in-a-haystack disc. Most of it was not stuff I was interested in--78's of classical music, and lots of copies of jazz releases on Nocturne Records, a label that Roy Harte had co-founded in the 1950s. I kept digging.<br />
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After about three hours of digging, eventually I found a small stack of acetates--one of a kind records cut directly on a lathe, usually for demo purposes. Acetates are fun finds for a record collector, because when you find an acetate it's usually the only copy of whatever it is in existence. <br />
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One of the acetates was on a Central Songs demonstration label. Central Songs was Cliffie Stone's publishing company, secretly owned by Capitol Records' Ken Nelson, who published a lot of the songs recorded by Capitol artists. The label only said "B-I-Bickey-Bi-Bo-Bo-Boo" in crude cursive handwritten letters. I thought to myself, that's weird, because the Gene Vincent song of a similar title ended wth "Go," not "Boo." I bought the acetate for 25 cents and took it home, not knowing what it was I'd found.<br />
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Playing the acetate at home, I was pleased to find that it was indeed a crude original demo for the Gene Vincent song. Instead of a wild and frantic rockabilly number, the original version was more of a hillbilly song, performed by one guy with a guitar. The title was indeed "B-I-Bickey-Bi-Bo-Bo-Boo," which seemed just plain strange after hearing Gene Vincent sing it differently for so many years.<br />
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I contacted some of my record collecting friends and asked them what they thought of this acetate. Eventually I was put in touch with David Dennard, who was compiling rare Gene Vincent material for a disc of unreleased live and studio performances, "The Lost Dallas Sessions," for his Dragon Street label. David had unearthed some mindblowing stuff and was doing a lot of research on the years that Gene Vincent had based himself in Dallas, 1957-1958.<br />
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David was also putting together a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Dallas-Sessions-1957-58-Gene-Vincent/dp/B000007NGU">compilation</a> of original versions and demos of Gene Vincent songs, and he lost his mind when I told him the story of finding the "B-I-Bickey-Bi-Bo-Bo-Boo" acetate at Roy Harte's Drum City.<br />
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I had heard of songwriter Jack Rhodes before, but until David told me the story, I was unaware that quite a few of Gene Vincent's songs (and a bunch of other great rockabilly songs) had originated in Texas under what can only be described as bizarre, primitive circumstances. <br />
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Jack Rhodes lived in the small East Texas town of Mineola, about 90 miles east of Dallas. There was nothing particularly interesting about the town except for Jack Rhodes himself and his hillbilly musician buddies. As with so many entrepreneurs in those days, Jack Rhodes decided to get into the music business utilizing not much more than mere bluster and brash self-confidence.<br />
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Below: a vintage postcard for Jack Rhodes' Trail 80 Motel.<br />
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Rhodes managed the "Trail 80 Motor Courts," a small motel, restaurant, and gas station complex just off the highway in Mineola. From the manager's office, Rhodes set up a primitive recording studio with one microphone and a Magnecord tape recorder. Although it seems unlikely in today's world, in the wild and wooly era of post-war country music, a guy like Jack Rhodes had as much chance as anybody else, as long as he shook hands and hustled songs and wrote letters and greased palms. It was a different era, to be sure.<br />
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Good songs began to flow out of Jack Rhodes little motel studio. After scoring minor hits with Jim Reeves and a monster smash with "A Satisfied Mind" for Porter Wagoner (also recorded by Jean Sheperd for Capitol), a flock of amateur songwriters and performers began making their way to Mineola to become a part of Rhodes' hillbilly empire. Dick Reynolds, Don Carter, Jimmy Johnson, Derrell Felts, Johnny Dollar and more hopefuls all became part of Rhodes' operation.<br />
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Jack Rhodes became involved with Ken Nelson at Capitol Records and Cliffie Stone at Central Songs publishing, and for a time in the mid-to-late 1950s, Central Songs had the first right of refusal on any songs that Jack Rhodes came up with. Although Jack Rhodes and his buddies were country-western fans to their core, when Elvis Presley started selling millions of records with his wild Southern blend of rockabilly music, Jack Rhodes and his songwriting stable took a stab at the new music.<br />
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Jimmy Johnson, a country singer who recorded a great slice of hillbilly bop with Jack Rhodes' band in 1952 for Columbia Records ("I've Lived A Lot In My Time"/"Eternity") got the rockabilly bug first, recording a killer two-sided primitive bopper on Starday Records in 1956, "Woman Love"/"All Dressed Up." The Starday record sold poorly, but "Woman Love" caught the attention of Ken Nelson and Cliffie Stone, who decided it would be a good candidate for a Capitol Rock and Roll release. (Author's note: the forgotten flip side "All Dressed Up" has become a rockabilly standard in recent times, and it has become a staple of this author's live performances)<br />
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Gene Vincent (real name: Vincent Eugene Craddock) won a singing contest in his hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia, and subsequently demoed a song he had written called "Be-Bop-A-Lulu" for local country DJ "Sherriff Tex" Davis (real name: Wilfred Douchette). Davis took an acetate dub of the song and sent it to a better-connected DJ from Atlanta, Georgia named Bill Lowery. Lowery sent in Vincent's crude dub of "Be-Bop-A-Lulu" to Ken Nelson at Capitol Records. Nelson thought the song was okay, but heard Elvis Presley-type potential in Vincent's voice. Nelson thought Jack Rhodes' "Woman Love" was the song with potential, and he wanted Vincent to record it. Arrangements were made to meet in Nashville at Owen Bradley's studio two weeks later.<br />
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Despite the fact that Vincent was an amateur singer with only a few local appearances to his name, "Sheriff Tex" Davis promoted Vincent as the next big thing over the phone to Ken Nelson. It was a prudent move, as Capitol Records was desperately seeking a Rock and Roll singer to sign to their label. Elvis Presley was breaking all sales records in the industry, and Capitol Records was a label whose roster was filled with hillbilly and pop artists. Being in the right place at the right time put small time players such as Jack Rhodes, Bill Lowery and "Sheriff Tex" Davis into a feeding frenzy, throwing stuff at the wall, hoping it would stick.<br />
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Gene Vincent and "Be-Bop-A-Lula," as it was subsequently retitled, would stick. The song went to the top five on the national charts and became a well-known rock and roll standard still remembered today. It was such a huge hit for Capitol Records that the label kept releasing singles and albums on Vincent until 1963, even though his sales declined sharply after his very first release until his last. Gene Vincent was a rock and roll legend, and even had his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (paid for by Capitol Records), but he would forever chase the high tide of "Be-Bop-A-Lula."<br />
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Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps, "Be Bop A Lula" (from the movie "The Girl Can't Help It," 1956:<br />
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Jack Rhodes' "Woman Love" rode the coattails of "Be-Bop-A-Lula" as the B-side of the single. It attracted little attention from DJ's or the buying public, but did gather significant attention when a rumor began (possibly started by a publicist) that Vincent had sang the line "huggin' and a kissin'" as "fuckin' and a kissin'." The copious amounts of slapback tape echo on the recording make it hard to hear exactly what he was singing, but it does sound 'dirty' even if that wasn't Vincent's intent. A story has persisted for years that Vincent was fined $10,000 in absentia for public obscenity in a court case over the song, but there is no record of such a court case ever actually taking place, so the story was probably fabricated.<br />
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"Woman Love" by Gene Vincent can be heard here:<br />
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Jack Rhodes and his group of East Texas troubadours continued to pitch songs to Capitol Records and Central Songs. Rhodes' stable of artists also demoed other songs for Gene Vincent--"Five Days, Five Days" was demoed by Jimmy Johnson, "Red Blue Jeans And A Ponytail" was demoed by Freddy Franks, "Git It" was written by Bob Kelly and demoed by an unknown R&B vocal group--and Don Carter wrote and demoed a novelty song called "B-I-Bickey-Bi-Bo-Bo-Boo." <br />
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The acetate I found buried in the stacks at Roy Harte's Drum City turned out to be an original Don Carter acetate of "B-I-Bickey-Bi-Bo-Bo-Boo." I sent the acetate to David Denard and the track wound up being used on his compilation of Vincent original songs and demos. All of the above-mentioned songs and more can be found on the excellent compilation of Jack Rhodes-recorded Texas rockabilly called <a href="http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/6769826/a/gene+vincent+cut+our+songs%3A+primitive+texan+rockabilly+%26+honky+tonk.htm">"Gene Vincent Cut Our Songs"</a> on ACE Records (also released on vinyl by Norton Records under the title<a href="http://nortonrecords.gostorego.com/vinyl/norton-wax/norton-lps/shake-it-up-and-move.html"> "Shake It Up And Move"</a>). (After the ACE release, I sold the acetate on eBay, which is why I don't have a label scan here. I hated to sell it but I got over six hundred dollars for my 25-cent investment--such is the obsession of Gene Vincent fans)<br />
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Below: Don Carter, author and crooner of "B-I-Bickey-Bi-Bo-Bo-Boo."<br />
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The acetate I found probably wasn't the only copy made, as it undoubtedly was originally recorded on tape and a few acetates cut for reference purposes. I'm guessing the copy that I found was the file copy sent to Central Songs for publishing purposes. (Interestingly enough, I researched the publishing information on BMI's website (BMI is one of several songwriter and publisher organization that collects royalty payments) and the song is still registered as "B-I-Bickey-Bi-Bo-Bo-Boo," despite the fact that Gene Vincent had changed the name of the song when it was cut in 1956) The copy of the acetate that I found, though, was the one that survived the decades, and the one that was used on the reissue "Gene Vincent Cut Our Songs." <br />
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As a music historian, I felt proud of that fact that I had discovered a lost relic of Gene Vincent history. From a personal standpoint, I had to chuckle that I had done so much research and effort and learned so much about a song that my 10th grade English teacher told me didn't mean enough to write a paper about. I don't know why I always do things the hard way, but in ornery defiance, I had used a lifetime of experiences, research, and knowledge to prove to that English teacher that he was wrong--the song really did mean something.<br />
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After many years, I recently learned something new about the song, myself. After hearing Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps perform "B-I-Bickey-Bi-Bo-Bo-Go" a thousand times, after discovering Don Carter's original songwriting acetate demo of the song, after thinking I knew everything I could know about this silly novelty rockabilly number, I discovered where it all came from. It turns out that Don Carter had taken his inspiration from a higher source, the rockabilly trio known as Moe, Larry, and Curly--The Three Stooges. I guess my English teacher was right after all.<br />
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Below: The Three Stooges, "Swingin' The Alphabet"--from the 1938 short film "Violent Is The Word For Curly."<br />
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<br />Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-41015697395721830122012-04-20T14:19:00.003-07:002012-04-20T18:51:14.986-07:00Bigsby Files and a new book in the works...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Sorry folks, it's been quite a while since I posted anything here on the Muleskinner blog. I've been busier than ever!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I haven't been resting on my laurels, though. I created a new blog about Bigsby guitars that took a lot of my brain space away for a spell. Check it out at <a href="http://www.bigsbyfiles.blogspot.com/">www.bigsbyfiles.blogspot.com</a></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Also, I have a book deal with Voyageur Press for an upcoming book of Guitarcheology called "The Strat Under The Bed." I've been surgically attached to my laptop trying to compile the best guitar stories for a really fun book on the art of digging up old guitars. I can't post those stories here, because they're paying me to write a book, but look for it soon at a local bookstore--Voyageur gets their stuff everywhere.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">More fun Muleskinner musings when I get the time....</span>Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-67292314071158737942011-12-07T12:00:00.001-08:002013-06-27T11:42:07.780-07:00Runes of The San Fernando Valley<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">RUNE STONES, STRIP MALLS, AND OUR MOMENT IN TIME<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’m fascinated by the history of civilizations, and the signs and symbols they leave behind. Just turn on the History Channel and watch endless hours of programming deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics, Norse runes, Paleolithic cave paintings, and other mysterious forms of communication that humans left as proof of their existence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With all the attention given such ancient artifacts, given a sense of perspective one can’t help but realize that these amazing glimpses into previous epochs were no big deal to the people who lived in those times. Cave paintings? Undoubtedly the graffiti of some bored everyman stuck in a cave during a cold spell. Rune stones? The ones that have surfaced tell of general events of the day, the scratched-stone equivalent of a local newspaper. Egyptian artifacts? The Egyptians meant for their dead to stay buried, not looted by thieves and dissected by scientists. The point is, none of these people thought that they were leaving something behind that would be intensely studied by future generations, keen on unlocking the secrets of their society.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With that in mind, I began wondering to myself about the present. We as Americans have been raised at birth to think of ourselves as the center of the universe, but other than a few marble monuments and presidents carved into the side of a mountain, what symbols and signs would we leave for future generations to decipher who we were?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The answer, I came to realize, is that in the last two hundred years or so, most of what we’ve left behind are things made of paper, plastic, wood, and other mediums that will not survive into the future the same way that rune stones and cave paintings have. For instance, McDonald’s restaurants are undoubtedly the most revealing look into American eating habits of the present day, but would any evidence of McDonald’s survive two thousand years? I suppose if you count the Styrofoam containers they used to put McDonald’s hamburgers in back in the 1980's, you’re probably right. The legacy of the McDonald’s brand, however, is a different story. The buildings, advertising, and products themselves are made of stucco, particle board, paper, cardboard, and other things that wouldn’t survive a couple of bad winters, much less a millennium. I’m guessing a thousand years from now some kid will dig up a Happy Meal toy of the <a href="http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/hamburglar_2.jpg">Hamburglar</a> in his back yard, and it will be sent to a university for study of its meaning (this assumption based on the hopeful premise that McDonald’s will have disappeared from the planet in a thousand years).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now that much of our society and human interaction has gone online and digital, the distinction (and the shelf-life) is even greater. Just try reading some of your old floppy disks from 12 years ago, if you can get your monolithic PC to work at all. Undoubtedly much of the written word in the next hundred years will be lost with one nasty solar flare on the electrical grid, gone in one digital blip.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With all that in mind, I began thinking about my surroundings. What was there in my civilization that signified what my culture was about? What symbols were there that I could recognize as signs of my society?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Laugh if you must, but in the midst of this soul-searching, a journey for my own sense of place in history, I believe I have discovered the runes of the San Fernando Valley.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Fernando_Valley">The San Fernando Valley</a> is the sort of place that baffles city planners and is spoken of with disgust by the East Coast effete. It is the great American suburb run amok, expansion that happened so quickly and turbulently that now we are left with an area that would be America’s fourth largest city, if it were to secede from greater Los Angeles. In the Valley’s great area of population, there is no central gathering place, no downtown, no real sense of self—just a hundred little villages from the earlier part of the Twentieth Century that all grew into each other to form one dazzlingly large single-cell organism, like a fungi of unbridled capitalism and humankind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Across the hill in the greater Los Angeles basin, Hollywood hipsters have the luxury of walking out the front door to find piss-soaked winos in their doorway, or the window broken out in their car, stereo removed. In exchange, they are allowed to live within earshot of the thumping loud dance club down the street. This particular logic might appeal to the displaced East Coaster, but I always felt at home in the middle of Super-suburbia, knowing that if I wanted to go see a show or attend a movie premiere, I just had to drive 15 minutes over the hill. After all the Big City excitement, I could drive back to my quiet little street in the Valley, and if I accidentally forgot to lock my car doors, everything would still be there in the morning. For me, Midwestern transplant that I was, the Valley just made sense, city planners be damned.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The San Fernando Valley was, up until the middle of the last century, a fertile valley for farming and livestock. Huge ranches and orchards took up giant chunks of acreage, with small pockets of civilization popping up around its perimeter (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventura_Boulevard">Ventura Boulevard</a>, for example).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Valley stayed mostly farmland, due to an annoying habit of massively flooding every ten years. Developers waited, drooling uncontrollably, until the city planners devised a solution—to contain the <a href="http://www.lariver.org/">Los Angeles River</a> within a concrete waterslide diverted directly to the Sepulveda Flood Basin in the middle of Valley. The “channelization” project, as implemented by the Federal Army Corps of Engineers, started in 1938 and was finished in 1960.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Once the river had been contained—now a humorous trickle down the middle of a series of cavernous concrete flood channels—the law of supply and demand took over. After World War Two ended, the San Fernando Valley expanded at an incredible rate, bursting from the South end of the Valley to the North, over the years taking over the ranches and Orange groves and putting hundreds of ranch-style homes in their place. Everyone had jobs, everyone had money, and these people needed places to live.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At first glance, it is hard to imagine a place in the United States less suited to societal study than the San Fernando Valley. After all, the Valley is less than a hundred years old, and it’s unremarkable in terms of historical events, architecture, and population makeup. What is there, if anything, that resembles a rune stone, a cave painting, or hieroglyphics? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It took me years to absorb my surroundings in the Valley. The untrained eye would simply dismiss the entirety of the region as generic housing for the masses. In many cases it was, but then I started noticing the symbols. Silly as it may seem, upon closer inspection, these were what I had been looking for—the secret symbols of the San Fernando Valley.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I started seeing them everywhere once I finally noticed them. The most common one was a square or rectangle with branches on each side, framed by a larger square or rectangle. There were variations, dozens and dozens of variations on the same theme.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Once I noticed them, I started photographing them. In the course of two or three years, with a frenzy of real estate “flipping” and remodeling, many of these symbols disappeared, replaced with generic Home Depot windows, made in China by the millions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I realized, as I watched these things disappear, that the San Fernando Valley symbols were never going to make it to another millennium. These symbols were going to be remodeled into oblivion. I thought about how many rune stones had been repurposed into making buildings or stone walls, and how they used to have so many mummies in Egypt that you could actually buy <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummy_paper">ground-up mummies to use as paper pulp, brown dye, and a medicinal supplement</a> (true). The whole trick with a society and their symbols is that when that society was active, these things were commonplace. The symbols gain meaning when the society disappears, and there are only a few examples left of their symbols to study.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I began to search to see if the San Fernando Valley’s symbols had any real meaning. After doing a fair amount of research, I couldn’t find any exact corollaries with the Valley symbols. A complete perusal of <a href="http://symbols.com/">Symbols.com</a> and <a href="http://symboldictionary.com/">SymbolDictionary.com</a> found several close matches, one of which pointed to an ancient chemical symbol for Vitriol, another that revealed an ancient Mariner symbol for a Buddhist temple, and another that indicated the design of an ancient Swedish board game. None of these seemed like the San Fernando Valley homebuilder’s intent.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It’s possible that the design was borrowed from a generic architect’s vision of a Buddhist temple symbol, but in true L.A. fashion the symbols are on houses with an Oriental theme, as well as houses with a Colonial flair, and on houses that look like a 1950’s flying saucer. If there was supposed to be an Asian motif behind the symbol in the first place, these builders apparently didn’t seem to care.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I tend to think that the designs are meant to be Asian, or in that great California way, meant to make you <i>feel an Asian feeling</i>. On the other hand, the only time I've seen something eerily similar was on a trip to England, on a random house outside London.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, if anything, what do they mean? Perhaps they don’t mean anything. It very well could be that the homebuilders of the 1950’s and 1960’s just needed quickie decorative elements on the outside of the houses they were throwing up in slapdash fashion. Maybe, but the amount of variation and creativity displayed in the many designs suggests there is more to it than that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I prefer to think that in some “Mad Men” architect’s office fifty years ago, there was an operative of the Illuminati whose mission it was to impart a campaign of secret symbols throughout the Valley. Several hundred years from now, some author will write a ‘Da Vinci Code’-type novel based on the secret symbols of the San Fernando Valley, finally deciphering what these ubiquitous, yet mysterious, symbols were trying to tell us all along.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 20pt;">After this blog article was first published, my friend Sean Noble offered this explanation, the best one I have heard yet: "I got the following from 'Understanding Formal Analysis' off the J. Paul Getty website concerning the nature of lines: 'Horizontal and vertical lines used in combination communicate stability and solidity. Rectilinear forms with 90-degree angles are structurally stable. This stability suggests permanence and reliability.' So this design gave the San Fernando Valley home owner a sense of strength and stability in an undeveloped, arid, earthquake-ridden wilderness." Brilliant!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the meantime, as I walk these streets (who am I kidding—as I drive these streets), I see them. Hundreds of them, like silent sentinels, guarding their tract houses like ancient lamb’s blood on the door. Whatever they are supposed to mean, these runes of the San Fernando Valley are disappearing with every passing day. I hope to bring attention to them, before they are all gone.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I saw how quickly the symbols of the Valley were disappearing, I decided that in my own small way, I would help to preserve them. When my garage window became so ravaged by time and sun that it needed replacing, I decided to fill it in with something else--a brand new secret symbol of the San Fernando Valley.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vlml03xZeYg/TuDIueVZB0I/AAAAAAAAATw/vBdoAEPVGhE/s1600/DSC00551.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="481" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vlml03xZeYg/TuDIueVZB0I/AAAAAAAAATw/vBdoAEPVGhE/s640/DSC00551.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 26.4px;">What’s in your Valley? What objects do you walk by every day? I hope that wherever you live, you find something that represents a symbol of your society, no matter how unexplainable and potentially silly they may be. Open your eyes and let the possibilities exist.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 26.4px;">Deke Dickerson, Northridge, CA</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 26.4px;">Below: More examples of the mysterious San Fernando Valley symbols. Do you have more to share? Email the author <a href="mailto:eccofonic@earthlink.net">here</a>.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9syJQKxayQ8/TuDGsyDCPUI/AAAAAAAAASw/n4LceolSfTc/s1600/Symbol2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9syJQKxayQ8/TuDGsyDCPUI/AAAAAAAAASw/n4LceolSfTc/s640/Symbol2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_WoD0pG_sKU/TuDGxIq-nJI/AAAAAAAAAS4/IzkBO4gC0T8/s1600/Symbol3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_WoD0pG_sKU/TuDGxIq-nJI/AAAAAAAAAS4/IzkBO4gC0T8/s640/Symbol3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PuZe3sM1gcI/TuDG1IF2sRI/AAAAAAAAATA/14NXHE0H2bc/s1600/Symbol4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PuZe3sM1gcI/TuDG1IF2sRI/AAAAAAAAATA/14NXHE0H2bc/s640/Symbol4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4eVLEbUBdlA/TuDG4M1YpyI/AAAAAAAAATI/abLZuykMQPQ/s1600/Symbol5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4eVLEbUBdlA/TuDG4M1YpyI/AAAAAAAAATI/abLZuykMQPQ/s640/Symbol5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j82x6G-DGOc/TuDG62GI7VI/AAAAAAAAATQ/9SBUFnfMFfE/s1600/Symbol6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j82x6G-DGOc/TuDG62GI7VI/AAAAAAAAATQ/9SBUFnfMFfE/s640/Symbol6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WiZCzl74MJ8/TuDG-0gORgI/AAAAAAAAATY/7qPUXPKGazU/s1600/Symbol7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WiZCzl74MJ8/TuDG-0gORgI/AAAAAAAAATY/7qPUXPKGazU/s640/Symbol7.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u6lvJKLdeAY/TuDHBys54HI/AAAAAAAAATg/uMurI5HbNwM/s1600/Symbol8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u6lvJKLdeAY/TuDHBys54HI/AAAAAAAAATg/uMurI5HbNwM/s640/Symbol8.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<img border="0" height="481" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qxYRp0lLUC0/TuDHSkTyNxI/AAAAAAAAATo/8WIcfA_Rp8U/s640/Symbol9.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9V3CzIxARh8/UcyHPVeyi9I/AAAAAAAAAXw/ZPucKvweZc0/s1600/Runes1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="484" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9V3CzIxARh8/UcyHPVeyi9I/AAAAAAAAAXw/ZPucKvweZc0/s640/Runes1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GzQFwa8TTQc/UcyHPR7IppI/AAAAAAAAAXs/cGwknxJXny8/s1600/Runes2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GzQFwa8TTQc/UcyHPR7IppI/AAAAAAAAAXs/cGwknxJXny8/s640/Runes2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EiB1qMc3FRg/UcyHSdMmfFI/AAAAAAAAAYE/t0xpOODyQD0/s1600/Runes3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EiB1qMc3FRg/UcyHSdMmfFI/AAAAAAAAAYE/t0xpOODyQD0/s640/Runes3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LkeC8Zuw1Z4/UcyHQY9xnrI/AAAAAAAAAX8/qhaYwC27KoE/s1600/Runes4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LkeC8Zuw1Z4/UcyHQY9xnrI/AAAAAAAAAX8/qhaYwC27KoE/s640/Runes4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conspiracy alert--note the railing of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis at the scene of Martin Luther King Jr's assassination!</b></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S1m2eQIXwvA/UcyEV6GfjJI/AAAAAAAAAXc/avhHBUiQeGU/s1200/doc4f7af3a504188839425535.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="500" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S1m2eQIXwvA/UcyEV6GfjJI/AAAAAAAAAXc/avhHBUiQeGU/s640/doc4f7af3a504188839425535.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-23473642955948619562011-10-17T22:54:00.000-07:002011-10-17T22:54:57.929-07:00The Maddox Brothers and Rose, country music royalty<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The Maddox Brothers and Rose, immediately after they migrated from Alabama to California in 1933 (Kenneth, aka "Don Juan" Maddox, on the right, age 11 years in this photo). At this time they joined hundreds of other depression-era families who lived in abandoned drainage pipes in what was called "Pipe City" in Oakland, CA.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">From left to right: Fred, Don, and Cal Maddox, live on stage mid-1950's. Previously unpublished photograph.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QfjRJoKPScE/Tp0SDEl2zrI/AAAAAAAAAQM/jAxxtpVT2VM/s1600/unknown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QfjRJoKPScE/Tp0SDEl2zrI/AAAAAAAAAQM/jAxxtpVT2VM/s1600/unknown.jpg" /></a></div>
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Below: Don Maddox and myself, Medford, Oregon, 2009.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-38VmqSszUZg/Tp0UbnQGwnI/AAAAAAAAAQc/QWnYA-8MDL8/s1600/DekeDonMaddox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-38VmqSszUZg/Tp0UbnQGwnI/AAAAAAAAAQc/QWnYA-8MDL8/s640/DekeDonMaddox.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-52689983109094192222011-10-17T22:41:00.000-07:002011-10-17T22:41:24.377-07:00Did you ever see a "Twin Six" guitar?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-40794013942911855562011-10-17T22:07:00.000-07:002011-10-17T22:07:04.161-07:00From the book "Appalachian Portraits" by Shelby Lynn AdamsYes, these photos are real.<br />
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Don't forget to attend "HILLBILLYFEST" this Saturday night at Joe's in Burbank, CA.<br />
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<br />Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-11423960720458271502011-06-05T11:42:00.000-07:002011-06-05T11:42:29.723-07:00WILLIE DIXON--Blues Songwriter and Bass Player Extraordinaire<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>“I BUNCHED ‘EM”—My favorite authentic bluesman story</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Willie Dixon was the first real bluesman I ever saw live. I was thirteen years old, infatuated with the guitar, and living life as an uncoordinated, gangly teenager in the country outside Columbia, Missouri.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c5_TLVVkqEo/TevIKGrSmtI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/aHEHz-CjIGY/s1600/WilliePoster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c5_TLVVkqEo/TevIKGrSmtI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/aHEHz-CjIGY/s640/WilliePoster.jpg" width="406" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By the time I was thirteen, I was doing my own radio show on public station <a href="http://www.kopn.org/">KOPN</a> in Columbia, where a great man named Bill Wax mentored me on music (don’t be too impressed about having my own show, it was public radio, after all, and I followed “The Puppet Lady,” who was a woman who, indeed, performed puppet shows…on the RADIO). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bill Wax, at the time Music Director for KOPN, was one of many obsessed music freaks (and I mean this as the highest compliment) that I have had the pleasure of knowing in my lifetime. Listening to his own show on KOPN, I vividly remember the first time I ever heard Louis Jordan—on a two-hour special dedicated to Jordan’s music. Thinking about this now, it boggles the mind—who dedicates a two hour timeslot to Louis Jordan in the wilderness days of the early 1980s? The answer: A lunatic like Bill Wax.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bill turned me on to blues music. I had a negative image of blues at the time, because I hated (and still hate) eternal jams of soulless, wanking blues music created by white people. You know, the type of blues music that actually sells millions of albums. I thought that blues music was something that hairy hippies did to torture people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gq8dtiNvMUU/TevLmMXET4I/AAAAAAAAAPU/JIsE5Jaxo5A/s1600/johnpopper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gq8dtiNvMUU/TevLmMXET4I/AAAAAAAAAPU/JIsE5Jaxo5A/s400/johnpopper.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My first guitar teacher was one of those guys, a Carlos Santana-look-alike that grimaced and made faces as he played solo after endless solo, apparently feeling some sort of soulful catharsis that did not provoke the same emotions in me. In fact, his blues soloing made me dream about killing him, so that I would never have to hear his guitar playing ever again. When he told me that I had to quit listening to Buddy Holly if I ever wanted to get any better on the guitar, I promptly quit taking guitar lessons (and I still love Buddy Holly).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bill Wax convinced me, a jaded 13-year old snot-nosed rockabilly kid, that real black blues music was “the shit,” to use his term. He turned me on to lowdown guys like Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Elmore James, as well as uptown guys like Louis Jordan and Bobby “Blue” Bland. I still remember hearing Howlin’ Wolf sing for the first time. It scared the hell out of me, it sounded violent and wicked and like a scream set to music. That was the moment when I knew that Howlin’ Wolf, despite record sales and monetary compensation that would indicate otherwise, was one million times greater than Eric Clapton or his ilk ever could be or would be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I remember being in the KOPN broadcast studio in early 1983, when Bill Wax told me that Willie Dixon was coming to town, and that I needed to figure out a way to go see him play. I didn’t know who Willie Dixon was at the time, but I was given the two-dollar history that day at the studio, and I’ve spent the last thirty years learning about the rest of Willie Dixon’s story.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ajrmfpktx_w/TevMB5y4RBI/AAAAAAAAAPY/wfSZ2G009Zw/s1600/032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ajrmfpktx_w/TevMB5y4RBI/AAAAAAAAAPY/wfSZ2G009Zw/s640/032.jpg" width="572" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Willie Dixon is best known as blues music’s greatest songwriter. His pen is responsible for such classics as “Spoonful,” “Little Red Rooster,” “Hoochie Koochie Man,” “Wang Dang Doodle,” and even Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” (which Willie had to sue to get paid for—in the end Led Zeppelin settled out of court in Willie’s favor).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Willie Dixon was also one of the greatest acoustic slap-bass players of all time. He played bass for all the people that recorded at Chess Studios—not just the blues guys that you would expect, but also rock and roll artists, including the classic recordings of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. His bass playing skills went back to the 1940s and early 1950s when he was a member of the Big Three Trio, and his scary slap-bass solo on “Hard Notch Boogie Beat” is a tour-de-force that modern slap-bass players use as the benchmark of slap bass acrobatics.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Willie also produced records at Chess, something that went unaccredited back in the day. Many of the classic recordings made at Chess sounded the way they did because of Willie’s arranging skills, or his advice on how things should be done. The Chess Brothers paid Willie, but nothing like what he should have been paid for the influence he had on these million-selling records. In the end, Willie Dixon had the last laugh—long after the Chess empire had gone bankrupt, Willie Dixon’s estate bought the former Chess studios at 2120 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and turned the place into a museum run by Willie’s family.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I found out about Willie Dixon coming to town, I begged my dad to take me to the Blue Note to see the show. The legal age to get into the club was twenty-one. There was no way I could go. I begged and begged and cajoled and pleaded. Somehow or another, through Bill Wax and a few other people in town that liked me, my dad talked the owners of the Blue Note (Phil Costello and Richard King) into letting me into the club to see the show, as a sort of “cultural education” project. I remember hearing my dad talking on the phone, promising Costello that he would personally watch me and make sure I didn’t drink.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.thebluenote.com/">The Blue Note</a> is still there, in my hometown, and it is still the premier live music venue in one of the biggest college towns in the Midwest (the University of Missouri has its primary campus in Columbia). Today the Blue Note occupies a huge converted movie theater in downtown Columbia, where a thousand people can come to see national headlining acts. Back in the early 1980s, however, the club occupied a spot in a seedy strip along the Business Loop, in a sweat-and-beer-infused cinderblock room that held 250 people on a really good night.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Blue Note was part of a long established “chittlin’ circuit” that slowly evolved into a “college circuit” as time went by. The circuit roughly went from Chicago to St. Louis to Columbia to Kansas City to Lincoln and/or Omaha, down to Tulsa, Oklahoma City and then Texas. This particular circuit must have started back in the days when the highway system was first evolving, and then it turned into a “follow the money” situation where a lot of live acts played that route because of the lucrative college gigs in each of these towns. When I was first going to shows in the 1980s, it was interesting to see old blues guys obviously playing the same towns on what was their old “chittlin’ circuit,” in the same week that a new upstart band like R.E.M. or The Replacements was playing at the same club.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Most people would qualify the original Blue Note as a ‘dive,’ but to a 13-year old kid with stars in his eyes, it was a magical palace of wonderment. My dad parked his car in the large gravel parking lot, and we went inside and sat at a wobbly table on duct-tape covered vinyl seats. After hearing the “grownups” at the radio station talk about the Blue Note for the better part of a year, I couldn’t believe I was actually inside the place, getting ready to hear live music! By god, I was excited.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The opening act was a local blues act called The Bel-Airs, who, like the Blue Note nightclub, are still around today. Led by two brothers, Dave and Dick Pruitt, the Bel-Airs were white guys, but they weren’t hippie blues wankers. I would eventually see the Bel-Airs hundreds of times, but this was my first time seeing them live in person. They were great, covering vintage blues songs, mixing it up with a few rockabilly classics like Warren Smith’s “Uranium Rock” and even a little soul with Joe Tex’ “Show Me.” I was floored at what I was seeing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When it came time for the main event, I quickly learned a thing or two about legendary bluesmen. First of all, most of them are so burnt at how they were ripped off back in the day, that they play incredibly short sets. To accomplish this and still get paid by the club owner, they bring a band that performs a warm-up set, which in blues parlance is “killing time.” Willie’s band (and I apologize if any of them are reading this) was so completely unmemorable that I have no memory of what they played. All I remember is that I wanted to see Willie Dixon, and they were keeping me from seeing Willie Dixon, and it was way past my usual 8</span></span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">th</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-grade bedtime.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was lucky enough to see many of the great bluesmen (and blues women) at the Blue Note club growing up in Columbia. I saw John Lee Hooker, James Cotton, Pinetop Perkins, Etta James, Koko Taylor, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Buddy Guy, Johnny Copeland, and many more during this era. Most of them followed the same formula—a half-baked “warm-up” set by the backing band, followed by the bluesman doing a short set of classics with one or two songs from the inevitable “new album,” and then a strong-armed, grifter-esque hustle to buy their incredibly overpriced merchandise after the show. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My one personal interaction with John Lee Hooker involved him refusing to sign a poster I’d removed from the wall for the Blue Note gig. He refused because I hadn’t bought anything from his merchandise stall. When I opened my wallet and showed him that this little punk-ass white kid literally had no money in his wallet, John Lee Hooker growled at me like an caged lion, angrily grabbed my poster and ‘wrote’ a slash mark across it, as if he were a pissed-off drug dealer in a hurry to get to his second job as a pimp. If I recall correctly, John Lee Hooker was selling cassette tapes at his show for twenty dollars—TWENTY DOLLARS—in an era where they usually retailed for five. I think my defaced poster (which I still own) and the story I’ve been telling for thirty years was a much better bargain in the long run. I’ll never forget getting the crap scared out of me by John Lee Hooker, that’s for sure!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When Willie Dixon finally took the stage that night, I was floored. I was dumbfounded. Here was the guy who wrote all those songs, the guy who played bass on all those records, a real honest-to-god hall-of-fame legend, ten feet in front of me. He was old! He was black! He was incredibly overweight! He was slapping the upright bass! It was everything that a 13-year old nerdy music-obsessed kid could hope for. When he spoke on the microphone, the whole club got whisper-silent. That was when I understood respect. Willie Dixon commanded and received ultimate respect.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4pG7T8JSFwA/TevM8Mq8y5I/AAAAAAAAAPc/jfrlFCv2QaQ/s1600/012-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="434" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4pG7T8JSFwA/TevM8Mq8y5I/AAAAAAAAAPc/jfrlFCv2QaQ/s640/012-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That night was the first time I went to a nightclub and saw live music. In retrospect, seeing Willie Dixon as an introduction to live music was an incredibly lucky break. From that moment on, I couldn’t get enough. I discovered that even though I was 13 years old, I was six feet tall and the front door guy didn’t check ID’s. After a while, everybody at the Blue Note knew me anyway, and most of the time I was waved in without having to pay. I was incredibly blessed and fortunate to grow up seeing blues, country music, rock and roll, punk rock, soul, jazz, and just about any other form of music you could imagine. I can’t imagine how different my life would have turned out without the musical education afforded me by the Blue Note.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As my own musical career began, Phil Costello and Richard King gave my youthful bands experience when no one else would (kudos must also go to Johnny Hodges, the guy who ran a club in town called “Shattered”). Thirty-some years later, Richard King still owns the Blue Note, and still supports my career, booking me when I come back through Columbia. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I will always be grateful for the support I received during those early days—I’m not sure that many of the other jaded club owners across the country realize that they’re fostering the next generation of musicians when they’re dealing with teenage snot-nosed punks trying to play their clubs with their amateurish young bands.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What’s that, you say? The Willie Dixon story promised at the beginning of this rambling trip down Memory Lane? Yes, let’s wrap up this tale with a Willie Dixon anecdote that still ranks as my favorite bluesman story of all time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dick Pruitt of the Bel-Airs told me this story about Willie decades after the fact. The Bel-Airs were doing a run of shows as the opening act for Willie, and on the same tour after I saw them and Willie play at the Blue Note, they played at a club in Lincoln, Nebraska.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The club in Lincoln had put the Bel-Airs and Willie Dixon and his band in a dive motel. For a blues legend like Willie Dixon, it was an insult, but undoubtedly it was like thousands of other substandard hotel rooms he had stayed in during his long career.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dick remembers that their band hotel room was full of flies. Not just a couple flies buzzing around, but an outright fly infestation. He couldn’t stand hanging out in the room, so he was walking around outside, and decided to pay Willie a visit. Willie let Dick into his room, and they were talking about the tour, and how the shows were going.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dick Pruitt then noticed that Willie’s room was free of the flies that had infested their room several doors down. When asked how come Willie’s room didn’t have the flies buzzing around like theirs did, Willie Dixon had a perfectly reasonable reply:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“I bunched ‘em,” replied Willie, in his trademark, throaty, deep bluesman voice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unsure of what this meant, Dick looked around the room. In the far corner of Willie Dixon’s motel room was a large pile of human crap, covered with flies.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That, to me, will always be what the blues are all about.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Deke Dickerson</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: A newspaper article from the Columbia Daily Tribune following Willie's appearance at the Blue Note, May 2, 1983.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h6TvxM6BA88/TevNqK-l1PI/AAAAAAAAAPg/dOKc_ugi7Ic/s1600/WillieArticleStitched.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h6TvxM6BA88/TevNqK-l1PI/AAAAAAAAAPg/dOKc_ugi7Ic/s1600/WillieArticleStitched.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><!--EndFragment-->Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-67008933544985281022011-05-14T21:47:00.000-07:002011-05-14T21:47:15.241-07:00JOHNNY MEEKS’ FORGOTTEN TRIPLE-NECK GUITAR<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>A GUITAR MYSTERY SOLVED—Gene Vincent’s legendary guitarist Johnny Meeks and his triple-neck solidbody electric guitar</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6kgMjxUhG28/Tc9UXXWIquI/AAAAAAAAAOs/bAy9KBcQLUA/s1600/JohnnyMeekstripleneck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="345" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6kgMjxUhG28/Tc9UXXWIquI/AAAAAAAAAOs/bAy9KBcQLUA/s640/JohnnyMeekstripleneck.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“Why, you’re the first to ever ask me about that damn triple-neck guitar,”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> said the gentle South Carolina accent on the other end of the phone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The voice belonged to Johnny Meeks, a guitar player whose name is instantly recognizable to fans of legendary rockabilly star Gene Vincent. Johnny Meeks was Vincent’s second guitar player--</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">brought to the Blue Caps band in 1957 after their first guitarist, the also-legendary Cliff Gallup, quit due to the rigors of touring. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Cliff Gallup brought a country-jazz sensibility to Vincent’s music, but Johnny Meeks brought a tough rock and roll twang that gave life to such classics as “Lotta Lovin’,” “Dance To The Bop,” “Baby Blue,” and many more. Despite the fact that Johnny Meeks’ tenure with Gene Vincent’s band lasted less than two years, his guitar approach gave Gene Vincent a solid second half of his original career, and Meeks’ trebly tone set the stage for instrumental and surf music that came in the following years.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Below: The 1950's in Technicolor: Johnny Meeks, in the back center, behind Gene Vincent, foreground.</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oAsJBKwRmmI/Tc9Uoo5-rXI/AAAAAAAAAOw/-chosZJlm1g/s1600/GeneVincentJohnnyMeeks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="588" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oAsJBKwRmmI/Tc9Uoo5-rXI/AAAAAAAAAOw/-chosZJlm1g/s640/GeneVincentJohnnyMeeks.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Those who enjoy the science of “Guitar Geekery” know that Johnny was most famous for playing a blonde 1957 Fender Stratocaster (dubbed the “Mary Kaye Strat” by collectors from a publicity picture showing the famous female jazz player holding a similarly appointed Stratocaster). The truth was that Mary Kaye held the guitar in the promotional photograph for five minutes and then went back to playing her D’Angelico archtop. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Johnny Meeks, on the other hand, took his blonde Strat on the road, hitting gymnasiums in Milwaukee and clubs in Dallas and wherever else you can think of, shows sandwiched in between trips to the Capitol Tower in Hollywood for recording sessions. In retrospect, a more accurate name for the blonde Stratocasters made in 1957 and 1958 would be the “Johnny Meeks Strat.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Below: Johnny Meeks (left) and the Blue Caps record at the Capitol Tower, Hollywood. Note entire band is plugged into one amplifier!</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0cIROqORB-E/Tc9VpWyqx0I/AAAAAAAAAO4/t-gj8stJE2E/s1600/GeneVincentJohnnyMeeks2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="516" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0cIROqORB-E/Tc9VpWyqx0I/AAAAAAAAAO4/t-gj8stJE2E/s640/GeneVincentJohnnyMeeks2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">To see these two-dimensional characters come to life, see Johnny Meeks wail on his blonde Strat <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyNbwdONLqw">here</a>, from the 1957 movie "Hot Rod Gang."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">True scholars of Johnny Meeks’ tenure with Gene Vincent also know that he briefly played a Gretsch 6120 before getting the Strat. This Gretsch can be seen on Gene’s Ed Sullivan Show appearance <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n5WLOm1TZc">here</a>. It’s interesting to note that Johnny played on the treble pickup on the Gretsch and got some pretty impressive Fender-like tones out of the 6120. It is fair to say a great deal of the magic came from the man’s hands.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Below, a picture of Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps recording at the Capitol Tower, Hollywood, California. Johnny Meeks is seen on the right playing a Gretsch 6120.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i_eggXEEWYA/Tc9VaRHQgJI/AAAAAAAAAO0/qh2kNdy0Kc4/s1600/GeneVincentandtheBlueCaps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="518" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i_eggXEEWYA/Tc9VaRHQgJI/AAAAAAAAAO0/qh2kNdy0Kc4/s640/GeneVincentandtheBlueCaps.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What piqued this Guitar Geek’s interest, however, were two photos circulating on the Internet showing Johnny Meeks holding a black and white triple-necked electric guitar. No one seemed to know exactly what it was. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Some ventured a guess that it was made by Doc Kauffmann, the California-via-Kansas inventor responsible for the Kauffmann hand vibrato, and the first mass-produced guitars that Leo Fender had a hand in (1940’s “Vibro” and “K&F” guitars were Doc and Leo-produced instruments). Doc Kauffmann also made a series of “Kremo-Kustom” guitars, which looked quite similar to the Johnny Meeks triple-neck guitar. Doc made Kremo-Kustom double-necks and triple-necks, and used a black and white color scheme. My first thought was that Meeks' triple-neck almost certainly had to be a Doc Kauffmann Kremo-Kustom instrument.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Below: A Doc Kauffmann Kremo-Kustom triple-neck guitar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UlapvweAfPs/Tc9WQU46zfI/AAAAAAAAAO8/yAVluSPFy64/s1600/KremoKustomTriple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UlapvweAfPs/Tc9WQU46zfI/AAAAAAAAAO8/yAVluSPFy64/s640/KremoKustomTriple.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Johnny Meeks is still with us. He is not an easy guy to find, but not because of stardom or any ill will towards his fans. The truth is that he lives in a small town in South Carolina, doesn’t have a computer, doesn’t have a cell phone, and he likes it that way. Meeks spent years in Los Angeles hammering away at the clubs, doing stints in various touring bands (Meeks played with The Champs of “Tequila” fame, played in the house band at the Palomino Club, and toured for a while with Merle Haggard). </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">These days he’s back in South Carolina, semi-retired, and doing little gigs here and there to stay busy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Hear Johnny’s cool instrumental “Red Eye” by The Champs <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6XQHu0MEr4">here</a>). </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Below: a photo of Johnny Meeks, right, with The Champs.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--J79F2DjXIQ/Tc9XPJnJHjI/AAAAAAAAAPA/w8C9JRWjuJQ/s1600/champs9a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="304" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--J79F2DjXIQ/Tc9XPJnJHjI/AAAAAAAAAPA/w8C9JRWjuJQ/s640/champs9a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">After getting his phone number from Blue Caps drummer Dickie Harrell, I gave Meeks a call and found him getting ready to go to a show at the local swap meet. I told him how we’d played together a few times nearly twenty years previous, but he had no memory of the shows.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Below: A photo of Johnny Meeks, center, on stage with the Dave & Deke Combo at the Palomino Club, circa 1991-1992. The author is at left.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sJ4R-IqLMOQ/Tc9XrhDC4VI/AAAAAAAAAPE/Admnh4dd4SU/s1600/DekeJohnnyMeeks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="436" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sJ4R-IqLMOQ/Tc9XrhDC4VI/AAAAAAAAAPE/Admnh4dd4SU/s640/DekeJohnnyMeeks.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">When the small talk subsided, I asked him about the triple-neck guitar.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“A boy in Greenville, South Carolina made that guitar. His name was ‘Pee Wee’ Melton, and he could pick, boy he could pick. He made that guitar for himself, and I asked him if he would sell it to me, and he did.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“It was right after that I got hired by Gene </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">(Vincent). </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A lot of people joked that Gene wanted the guitar, not me! That might have been the case, I don’t know, but it was an attention-getting guitar, for sure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“I used the guitar when I first went on the road with Gene. Not long after that, Gene bought the guitar from me, and started using it himself. Not to play, ‘cause Gene couldn’t really play, but he used it as a stage prop, and it got lots of attention.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“I had two stints with Gene, with about a month or two in between after I left the first time. When I came back to play with him again, the guitar was gone. I never did find out from Gene what happened to it. It’s got to be out there somewhere, right? I mean, you don’t just lose a triple-neck guitar!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Below: A poor quality picture pulled from the internet, the only other known photo of Meeks with the tripleneck guitar.</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZDyO2Ls_uOg/Tc9YEaYYZuI/AAAAAAAAAPI/Yp9e01G6TM0/s1600/JohnnyMeeksTriple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="614" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZDyO2Ls_uOg/Tc9YEaYYZuI/AAAAAAAAAPI/Yp9e01G6TM0/s640/JohnnyMeeksTriple.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Meeks recalls that the three necks included a standard 6-string guitar, a 4-string mandolin, and a 12-string that he tuned both to standard 12-string tuning and the “Stratosphere” tuning, where the paired strings were tuned in minor and major thirds, allowing for a “twin guitar” effect.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Not much is known about the maker, ‘Pee Wee’ Melton, but there is a brief bio on the ‘Find-A-Grave’ website. Apparently Melton had a stint in Nashville as a session guitarist, and wrote such songs as “High Tech Redneck.” See Pee Wee’s memorial page <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6732515">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Gene Vincent kept touring, kept playing, and kept making records, until he died of a bleeding ulcer in 1971 at the age of 36. After Johnny Meeks left his band, he never regained the momentum his career had with “Be-Bop-A-Lula” and “Lotta Lovin’.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Johnny Meeks, one of the last men standing from the wild days of the 1950’s, jokes about his 57 years of playing experience: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“Around here, they say well, you played with Gene Vincent, you played with the Champs, you played with Merle Haggard…how come you can’t keep a job?”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nHgz4ChvrHE/Tc9Zksf9IAI/AAAAAAAAAPM/exFZxjfB_hc/s1600/genevincent2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nHgz4ChvrHE/Tc9Zksf9IAI/AAAAAAAAAPM/exFZxjfB_hc/s640/genevincent2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Two faded snapshots, one man’s memory, and a forgotten guitar—these are all that remain of ‘Pee Wee’ Melton’s triple-neck instrument. The mystery may be solved for the time being, but the guitar is still out there somewhere. Only if the winding rivers known as Fate and Lady Luck intertwine will we ever know more.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Written by Deke Dickerson</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment-->Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-7116188497591809542011-05-11T23:53:00.000-07:002011-05-13T13:20:52.072-07:00LEFTY FRIZZELL--"He Died From Heartbreak"<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<h1><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">LEFTY FRIZZELL—Liner notes to the Bear Family CD "STEPPIN' OUT"</span></span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JHu32pcoBe0/TcuGG3gTXBI/AAAAAAAAAOI/KsumK2Yvyx4/s1600/LeftyFrizzell3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JHu32pcoBe0/TcuGG3gTXBI/AAAAAAAAAOI/KsumK2Yvyx4/s640/LeftyFrizzell3.jpg" width="427" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lefty Frizzell was the greatest honky-tonk singer of all time—if you ask the most educated and highly opinionated fans of country music, that is. Blessed with a voice that came naturally to him—a voice that held so much soul and carried such infinite layers of emotional expression, that grown men were oft-moved to tears—Lefty was also cursed with bad habits and a downward career path that left him dead in 1975 at the tragically young age of 47.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This compilation of tracks, part of the ‘Gonna Shake This Shack’ series, seeks to compile all the up-tempo numbers—hillbilly boogie, rockabilly, borderline rock and roll and hard late 1950s country—for a package that will undoubtedly appeal to crowd of rockabilly fans and those seeking to have a lone Lefty Frizzell disc in their collection.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Let it be known, however, that a disc that contains only the uptempo Lefty Frizzell numbers is much like a painting that uses only two of the primary colors. Lefty’s incredible depth of emotion lent itself best to plaintive ballads and waltzes, and although the uptempo numbers are also great, if you really want to experience the full breadth of Lefty’s talent this author urges you to seek out the most essential of Bear Family box sets, ‘Life’s Like Poetry.’ (BCD 15550)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">William Orville ‘Lefty’ Frizzell was born March 31, 1928 in the oil and farm town of Corsicana, Texas, about 50 miles southeast of Dallas. As a young child, his family moved to El Dorado, Arkansas, where they remained until Lefty was a teenager. Although the family would always call him ‘Sonny,’ since he was the first boy in the family, the nickname ‘Lefty’ was acquired during a school fight with another boy. The nickname—which came because Lefty led with his left hand in the fight—stuck with him throughout his life, even though Lefty played his guitar right-handed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A3EbrxW1rt8/TcuGVKGOURI/AAAAAAAAAOM/eYkROqQpAr0/s1600/leftyfrizzell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A3EbrxW1rt8/TcuGVKGOURI/AAAAAAAAAOM/eYkROqQpAr0/s640/leftyfrizzell.jpg" width="514" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As a child, Lefty loved music and began playing guitar at a young age, even securing a spot on a children’s radio show on the local station KELD at the age of 12. When the Frizzell family moved back to Texas, Lefty won a talent contest in Dallas, which bolstered the youngster to continue in music, which he did, alternating between working in the Texas oilfields and performing at honky-tonks on the weekends.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In 1945, Lefty wed Alice Harper, when both of them were 16 years old and too young to get married without parental permission. Soon afterward their first child, Lois, was born, and in 1946 Lefty and his new family moved to New Mexico in search of a better life, first to Capitan and then to Roswell, a then-booming Army town close to the West Texas border.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lefty pursued singing and writing songs in Roswell, while Alice worked at a downtown café. A local musician had a Wilcox-Gay disc recorder, and Lefty begged to get some of his songs recorded on the primitive device, such was his desire to become a professional singer. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Times were tough and the family nearly starved to death, circumstances made worse by Lefty’s tendency to get in trouble with the law. Eight days after the legendary Roswell ‘U.F.O.’ crash happened in Roswell in July 1947, Lefty was arrested and served six months in the Roswell jail for what he called </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“fightin’ and carryin’ on”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> in a later interview. In reality, the charges were statutory rape, a married 19-year old man caught with a 14-year old girl. The time Lefty spent in jail just about killed him, wondering if Alice would take their new baby Lois and leave.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Whether ‘U.F.O.’ crashes or captured alien beings played into the equation, Lefty wrote the first of many future hit songs in the Roswell jail in September 1947, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I Love You A Thousand Ways</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. The song was a plaintive apology to his wife Alice for his misdeeds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Upon release in early 1948, Lefty and family moved back to Texas, where eventually he would set up a residency at the Ace of Clubs in Big Spring, a club gig that would last more than a year. Lefty’s original songs were popular with the local crowds, and on many occasions people recommended that Lefty should try making records.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eventually Lefty heard about a talent scout in Dallas by the name of Jim Beck, and he set out on the 300-mile trip from Big Spring to Dallas in April 1950, to audition for Beck, the pleasure of which cost Lefty and his band one hundred of their hard-earned dollars.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dallas, Texas in the late 1940’s was quickly establishing itself as a country music hub. There was a large ‘Opry’-type show there, the ‘Big ‘D’ Jamboree,’ which drew thousands each week to the Sportatorium in downtown Dallas. The show was broadcast on the radio to most of the southern United States. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jim Beck was a magnet for talent in the area, where he not only ran the only real professional recording studio in Dallas at the time, but also through his work as a talent scout and A&R man for such labels as Columbia, King, Bullet, and Imperial.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Columbia Records in particular drew a lot of talent from the Dallas area, signing hillbilly acts like Frankie Miller and Charlie Adams, and rockabilly acts like Sid King and the Five Strings, among others. Included in that talent pool, and the greatest discovery for Beck and Columbia Records, was a fresh-faced kid named Lefty Frizzell.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OAxqLxsVXQk/TcuGhjgWV9I/AAAAAAAAAOQ/m_7TS3Y9sIs/s1600/lc390c8ntebele3t.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="510" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OAxqLxsVXQk/TcuGhjgWV9I/AAAAAAAAAOQ/m_7TS3Y9sIs/s640/lc390c8ntebele3t.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While Beck was mildly interested in Frizzell’s ballads, it wasn’t until Lefty sang him a new song he had been working on, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If You’ve Got The Money (I’ve Got The Time)</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> that Beck’s ears really perked up. There are many versions of the story, and fifty years later it is hard to separate the wheat from the chaff in deciphering these many accounts, but what counts is that by July 1950 Lefty was recording his first session at Jim Beck’s studio as a newly signed Columbia Recording artist.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This compilation begins with a track that makes buying this CD essential—an unreleased track from 1950 that didn’t make it on the original Bear Family box set due to licensing problems at the time. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Steppin’ Out</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is a wonderful slice of honky tonk—co-written by Hank Williams and Jimmy Fields—that is heard on compact disc for the first time here—a rare 45 reissue of the song was released in the 1980s, but is finally here on CD for the Lefty fanatics.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lefty’s first few sessions in 1950 and 1951 resulted in several of the biggest hits of his career—</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If You’ve Got The Money (I’ve Got The Time), I Love You A Thousand Ways, My Baby’s Just Like Money, I Want To Be With You Always, Always Late (With Your Kisses)</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mom And Dad’s Waltz, </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don’t Stay Away (Till Love Grows Cold)</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. These early successes would be the biggest hits Lefty would ever have (save for the #1 hit </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Saginaw, Michigan</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> in 1964), and although he would have charted records sporadically even into the 1970s, these songs would be forever known as his greatest hits.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">From these early sessions, with their primal musical backing (featuring the mysterious Madge Sutee, a piano-pounding female in the Del Wood tradition), we have included here the up-tempo numbers </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Shine, Shave, Shower (It’s Saturday), When Payday Comes Around, You Want Everything But Me</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Give Me More, More (Of Your Kisses), If You Can Spare The Time (I Won’t Miss The Money), I Won’t Be Good For Nothin’, </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’m An Old, Old Man (Tryin’ To Live While I Can)</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. None of these were big hits, but all of these are excellent examples of 1950s Texas honky-tonk. To modern ears the barrelhouse piano and loose arrangements may make the Jim Beck recordings of this era sound quite primitive and dated, but this is exactly the way bands of this era sounded in the dusty Texas icehouses and taverns.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lefty’s first flush of success brought large sums of money, even after Jim Beck’s </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“songwriting”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> cut and Jim Bulleit’s </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“publishing”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> cut (sadly, this was a defining theme in Lefty’s career—he trusted the people around him, all of whom cut themselves in to large chunks of his money, usually for some easy money up front as an advance). Lefty, like Hank Williams and Elvis Presley, was another poor country boy with no training on how to deal with success and the money that came with it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-We9RADsZ-M0/TcuGqpv8tvI/AAAAAAAAAOU/221vtC9h-ic/s1600/LeftyFrizzell1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-We9RADsZ-M0/TcuGqpv8tvI/AAAAAAAAAOU/221vtC9h-ic/s640/LeftyFrizzell1.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These early years brought Cadillacs, fancy Western Suits, a tour bus, an airplane, and all the accoutrements of hillbilly flash that a hot young star could want. Soon Lefty had a flashy new Gibson SJ-200 guitar, the top of the line instrument that the Gibson company made. To add icing to the cake, not long after buying the guitar he took it to Paul Bigsby in California to have a new custom neck put on, and a custom pick guard with Lefty’s name inlaid on it. This guitar would be the iconic representation of Lefty’s image for many years to come, and though he sometimes toured with other guitars, Lefty kept the guitar until the day he died. After Lefty died, it was displayed in the Country Music Hall Of Fame for decades (the instrument was finally sold last year, and the buyer was none other than Merle Haggard).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In 1951 Lefty was invited to be a cast member of the WSM ‘Grand Old Opry’ in Nashville, where he shared a dressing room and co-star billing with another bright light of the era—Hank Williams. Though the two had jived between each other about who was the bigger star, there was more a friendly rivalry than anything else. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the liner notes that Charles Wolfe wrote for the ‘Life’s Like Poetry’ box set, Disc Jockey Hugh Cherry remembered a conversation between Lefty and Hank that took place in 1951 at Eddie Dubois’ Key Club in Printers Alley in Nashville: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“We </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Hugh and Hank) </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">were sitting there and Lefty came in by himself, a little greased, and sat down with us. Hank decided to feign displeasure with Lefty, and he started out by saying, ‘Here boy, why don’t you just stay down in Texas, this is my territory up here.’ This was about the time that Lefty had all the chart songs, and Lefty got that big smile on his face, and said, ‘Hank, the whole damn country is the back yard of both of us; can’t you realize there’s enough room for all of us?’ Hank kind of smiled and said, ‘Well, I was just kidding. Actually, it’s good to have a little competition. Makes me realize I got to work harder than ever. And boy, you’re the best competition I ever had.’ That pleased Frizzell very much, because there really was a great admiration which existed between the two.”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fXfEu6HUqzE/TcuG0jz_UxI/AAAAAAAAAOY/4gasI5p4XZ0/s1600/LeftyFrizzell2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fXfEu6HUqzE/TcuG0jz_UxI/AAAAAAAAAOY/4gasI5p4XZ0/s640/LeftyFrizzell2.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lefty’s tenure on the Opry was short-lived. Most people in the business of Country Music know that Opry membership is a double-edged sword—while the exposure and popularity of the show is unparalleled, the money that the Opry pays its performers is often a mere fraction of what a ‘hot’ artist can make on a Saturday night. As a result, Lefty’s manager of the time (Jack Starnes, one half of Starday Records in Texas) began booking Lefty on a hectic string of performances all across the United States, forfeiting Opry membership. In retrospect, it may have been a prudent financial decision at the time, but ultimately hurt Lefty’s popularity in the long run.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It didn’t take long—barely a year or two—before the flush of success and fame and money became too much for Lefty to handle. He was always a drinker, but now the temptations of roaring all night were often too strong to resist. In the same way that people today love to tell George ‘No-Show’ Jones stories, in the early 1950s ‘Lefty Frizzell stories’ were a commonplace discussion amongst country music fans. It was a reputation, albeit well deserved, that Lefty would carry until his death.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A common practice in the early days of country music involved a star hiring a ‘front man,’ or another singer and M.C. who would warm up the audience before the star came out. Lefty was no exception, but Lefty’s front men were expected not only to warm up the audience, but also to handle the often too-drunk-to-perform and belligerent ‘star’ backstage. Freddie Hart, who later became a big star in his own right, began his career as one of Lefty’s front men. Hart has nothing but positive things to say about his former boss, and credits Lefty with discovering him and getting him his first recording contract—but tells of many nights where he would have to perform the entire show to a crowd of disappointed and angry patrons, with Lefty backstage unable to perform.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The years 1951 through 1955 were turbulent ones for Lefty. The management relationship with Jack Starnes soured, resulting in a lawsuit against Lefty, settled out of court, that took away most of the royalties of the earlier recordings, as well as his excellent touring band. Lefty soon found management and musicians through J.D. Miller in Crowley, Louisiana, including the excellent front man Lou Millet, but the relationship was again short-lived. By 1953 Lefty and his family had relocated to California, where Lefty found a new manager—Steve Stebbins— and joined the cast of the ‘Town Hall Party’ television show.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The biggest problem amongst all this turmoil in Lefty’s life through these years was the lack of hits. The new sensation that had four songs in the top ten in 1951 barely dented the charts in the mid-1950s. Many great performances were released during this time, but none of them had the chart magic to click with the buying public. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You Can Count On Me</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Run ‘Em Off</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, from 1953, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mama</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, from 1954, are found on this collection, superb tunes but ignored at the time of their release.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If one had to mark a place in Lefty’s career that delineated the early years from the later years, it would have to be the year 1956 and the change of recording from Dallas to Nashville. Lefty had continued to record in Dallas at Jim Beck’s studio, mostly at the behest of Columbia A&R man Don Law. What few people know today is that Law was preparing to make Dallas the center of Columbia’s country music recording, and Decca Records’ Paul Cohen was about to do the same, decisions that would have placed Dallas as the “Country Music Capital of the world,” instead of Nashville.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What transpired is a little-known event but one that shook the landscape of country music recording—Jim Beck died in May 1956 after cleaning his tape recorders with carbon tetrachloride, an effective but deadly solution that requires adequate ventilation and short exposure times. Beck ignored these dangers and inhaled too much of the cleaning solution and died a week later, taking with him the future of country music recording in Dallas, Texas.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JPAikepE5pw/TcuHaJkmH_I/AAAAAAAAAOc/aKcKzSlKhKs/s1600/LeftyFrizzell+%2528Small%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JPAikepE5pw/TcuHaJkmH_I/AAAAAAAAAOc/aKcKzSlKhKs/s640/LeftyFrizzell+%2528Small%2529.jpg" width="544" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With Jim Beck out of the picture, Lefty began recording in Nashville at Owen Bradley’s recording studio just a few weeks after Beck’s death. What that meant in the big picture was a radical change in the sound of Lefty’s records, not only with a different, more ‘polished’ recording fidelity, but also with a completely different set of musicians. The end result, taken as a whole in Lefty’s oeuvre, is an obvious difference in the sound of the earlier Dallas recordings and the post-1956 Nashville recordings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Just Can’t Live That Fast Anymore</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, recorded at the first session in Nashville, was one of Lefty’s best up-tempo records of the 1950s. This first session featured three of Hank Williams’ former band members—Sammy Pruett on guitar, Don Helms on steel guitar, and Jerry Rivers on fiddle—but if there was attempt to unite Lefty with Hank’s band on his return to Nashville, it was short-lived. Over the next fifteen years, Lefty would record mostly with the Nashville ‘A-Team’ session musicians, specifically with Grady Martin on lead guitar acting as de facto arranger and producer on most of his sessions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lefty was just too country to ever really record rock and roll or rockabilly, but like most of his contemporaries, Lefty saw Elvis Presley taking away a lot of the country music revenue, and Lefty flirted with the ‘Big Beat’ like nearly every other country artist of the day. While he would probably write off these records as novelties, and certainly not his best work, the fact remains that many of the tunes Lefty recorded from 1956-1959 have become favorites among the rockabilly cult.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cuts included on this CD such as </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">From An Angel To A Devil, No One To Talk To (But The Blues), Time Out For The Blues, My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It, Cigarettes and Coffee Blues</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You’re Humbugging Me</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> exhibit all the qualities of great rockabilly, and with the band featuring Grady Martin on lead guitar, Bob Moore or Roy ‘Junior’ Huskey on bass, and Buddy Harman on drums, these records have the sound and feel of other records recorded at Bradley’s studio from around the same time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s2qSJeZFmHo/TcuH7HfATWI/AAAAAAAAAOk/5A4qixu8n60/s1600/LeftyBuddyLeon.JPEG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="508" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s2qSJeZFmHo/TcuH7HfATWI/AAAAAAAAAOk/5A4qixu8n60/s640/LeftyBuddyLeon.JPEG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A California session in March 1957 found Lefty recording with the ‘Town Hall Party’ band (featuring Joe Maphis on guitar), singing a duet with Johnny Bond on </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sick, Sober, And Sorry</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, also included here. There were a pair of California sessions and a Nashville session in 1958 that had Lefty reprising his earlier hits with a more polished late-1950s sound (all for an updated ‘Greatest Hits’-type package released as ‘The One And Only Lefty Frizzell’). The versions of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If You’ve Got The Money (I’ve Got The Time)</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Always Late (With Your Kisses)</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> found here date from these sessions, by no means Lefty’s finest hour but an interesting mix of 1950s pop-rock and country-western.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Around this same time in the mid-to-late-1950s, Lefty joined many of his contemporaries in the country music world by recording radio shows for the popular Armed Forces program ‘Country Music Time,’ broadcast by recorded transcriptions to soldiers across the USA and the world. These radio shows are a fascinating glimpse into what country music shows sounded like at that time, because the vast majority of these ‘Country Music Time’ transcriptions were recorded live in the studio with the singer and his or her touring band.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Lefty Frizzell transcriptions feature great performances that are often quite different from his recordings (for instance, Lefty’s live version of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cigarettes And Coffee Blues</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> heard here is much truer to Marty Robbins’ original demo version that Marty pitched to Lefty than the rockabilly-powered version released as a Columbia single), as well as instrumentals and performances by guest artists (Freddie Hart is included on several of these transcriptions, and here we have included Lefty’s brother David singing the popular Carl Mann hit </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mona Lisa</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">). From these transcriptions we have also included </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Desert Blues, Somebody’s Pushin’, Sunday Down In Tennessee</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You Win Again</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The last five tracks on this compilation date from the late 1950s and early 1960s and are more stone country than anything else, but they have that certain something that we feel will appeal to fans of the ‘Gonna Shake This Shack’ series. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Farther Than My Eyes Can See</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is a great Freddie Hart composition, cut at the same session in July 1959 as </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My Blues Will Pass</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, both featuring the unmistakable sound of Grady Martin on guitar. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So What! Let It Rain</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> dates from 1960, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Heaven’s Plan</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> dates from 1961, both being the closest Lefty ever came to a pop-rock crossover sound. The latest track on the CD is </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">She’s Gone, Gone, Gone</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> from 1965, a song which surprisingly has become a breakout hit in the last few years among the rockabilly and retro country crowd.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Although Lefty would make hundreds more recordings from 1960 until his death in 1975, the thirty-five tracks found on this CD best represent the hillbilly boogie and rockabilly side of Lefty Frizzell.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lefty would ultimately have two of his biggest hits in 1959—</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Long Black Veil</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—and 1964—</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Saginaw, Michigan</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, the latter being the biggest chart hit of his career. There was another front man and duet partner—Abe Mulkey—who would continue to perform with Lefty until his death. There would be thousands more shows, more short stops on the long way down, and a few more flirtations with the country music charts, before Lefty finally gave up the ghost and died July 19, 1975. He was only 47 years old, but in photos taken before his death, he looks like an elderly man, aged beyond his years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lefty’s singing style has left a longer-lasting impression than any of his 1950s contemporaries, mostly through the influence of Merle Haggard, who has admittedly taken the Frizzell slurred-syllable singing style as a cornerstone of his entire career, influencing more modern stars such as Randy Travis in the process.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In an interview with the author for a recent box set, Merle Haggard had this to say about Lefty’s death: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Lefty got his feelings hurt, and the thieves robbed him of his inspiration, and they robbed him of his money, too…and they took his songs. He should have been able to say, ‘I’m Lefty Frizzell.’ He was only 47 years old, he should have been sittin’ in that place Eddy Arnold had. But, because he was a poor boy, a little boy from Texas without any representation, man, they took him to the cleaners. Everybody did.”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Merle continues: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Lefty was a bright guy, but he was a very forgiving nature, very pleasant person, and I think he held it all inside. And I think it bothered him so much, that he had that stroke. He became very weak, in the last days, I talked to a lot of people around him. And he just kind of slowed down, and cuddled up and died, from heartbreak. Alice, his wife wasn’t satisfied with him, the music world had turned their back on him, he got beat out of all the money, he had outgrown the glory, and he didn’t have no reason to be alive…he knew that he had peaked out. And I think when you reach that point in your life, where you know that you’re not going to do anything else that will be worth a damn, I think you sort of start to shut down. Somethin’ will get you…and he was a blood clot waitin’ to happen, you know.”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-COtXEeFQDWc/TcuHqeKVtjI/AAAAAAAAAOg/_HaZmPaiJto/s1600/A1QHP0ZNo3L._SL600_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-COtXEeFQDWc/TcuHqeKVtjI/AAAAAAAAAOg/_HaZmPaiJto/s640/A1QHP0ZNo3L._SL600_.jpg" width="508" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This collection seeks to squarely focus on the good times, the honky-tonk high-water mark—Lefty Frizzell’s glory period of the 1950s and early 1960s. The boots still had a fine sheen to them, and the clothes were crisp and newly tailored. Enjoy the styling of the finest singer country music has ever known—a man from Corsicana, Texas, by the name of Lefty Frizzell.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Deke Dickerson<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thanks to Merle Haggard<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><!--EndFragment-->Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-13428823549134229392011-05-11T23:33:00.000-07:002011-05-13T13:20:52.025-07:00FARON YOUNG--Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">FARON YOUNG --liner notes to the Bear Family CD “GONNA SHAKE THIS SHACK TONIGHT”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h9ZJvVHwH7o/TcuBcPIYd-I/AAAAAAAAANs/UciesHQNa8Y/s1600/tumblr_l6dksoI75Q1qaay9eo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h9ZJvVHwH7o/TcuBcPIYd-I/AAAAAAAAANs/UciesHQNa8Y/s640/tumblr_l6dksoI75Q1qaay9eo1_500.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> When Country Music Hall of Fame singer Faron Young was asked about the rockabilly and rock & roll sides he cut in the 1950s, his answer was simple: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“I was not cut out to sing that kind of music,”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> he told David Booth, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“but when you drop $400,000 a year, you’ll try anything you can. I’d have tried to paint myself black! When I hear any of that stuff today, I turn fourteen flips in the air, I hate it!”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> What makes such a statement ironic is that while the teenage-themed pop-a-billy sides he waxed in the late 1950s were forced upon him and bear the authenticity of such, the fact remains that Faron Young’s hillbilly boogie songs of the early and mid 1950s were as influential to the new crop of rockabillies as anything else, with their braggadocio lyrical content and aggressive boogie-woogie guitar-based sound.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Songs like </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’m Gonna Live Some Before I Die</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If You Ain’t Lovin (You Ain’t Livin’) </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">preached a lifestyle that was immediately adapted by the first wave of rock and rollers as their own. Almost as importantly, Faron Young lived the kind of life he sang about, a life that would define “rock star behavior”—women, pills, booze, and lewdness of the highest order—which would become a mainstay of the four-letter word called Rock.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This disc encapsulates but a brief time in Faron Young’s long career, but is a perfect one to show how influential Faron was to the new music known as the Big Beat, and is the perfect compilation for those who prefer the uptempo hillbilly, rockabilly and rock & roll side of Faron Young.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Faron and Patsy, in the good times.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8Wk3sSskp-w/TcuBrKqHeGI/AAAAAAAAANw/2jkoSZ1iAXQ/s1600/PCwFYoung55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8Wk3sSskp-w/TcuBrKqHeGI/AAAAAAAAANw/2jkoSZ1iAXQ/s640/PCwFYoung55.jpg" width="564" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For a better examination of Faron’s ten years on Capitol Records, check out the excellent Bear Family box set (BCD 15493) </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Faron Young—The Early Years 1952-1962</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, which takes you all the way from his early Hank Williams sound-alike recordings, to his lush countrypolitan hits of the early 1960s, and everything in between. Faron also kept recording for Mercury well into the 1970s, recording such notable hits as </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wine Me Up</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It’s Four in the Morning.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One thing that can be said of Faron’s 30-plus-year recording career is that he always kept up with current trends in music—which goes a long way to explain the recordings on this compilation, which spans nearly every trend in country music from the early 50s until the early 60s.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Faron was born on February 25, 1932 in Shreveport, Louisiana, a town that would weigh heavily on the ascent of his musical career. While he seems to have been raised in a typical depression-era household, he also appears to have been a typical middle-class American child of the post-war boom in every other way. He not only completed high school, but also attended college until the show business bug bit him. Country music seemed unimportant to his early life, preferring the pop music of the day such as Patti Page to the rough and rowdy hillbilly music that would eventually become his bread and butter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> What got Faron Young into music was his lifelong need for attention. He began entering amateur contests at a young age, singing pop songs and picking coins off the stage for pay, but appears to have been steered into the country music world when a man offered him five dollars to sing </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jambalaya</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, instead of the twenty-five cents he was used to receiving for a typical pop request.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rV7TriI-ZHs/TcuCMcb79tI/AAAAAAAAAN0/ZP1Xewt0ePs/s1600/faron51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rV7TriI-ZHs/TcuCMcb79tI/AAAAAAAAAN0/ZP1Xewt0ePs/s400/faron51.jpg" width="340" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Faron’s quick rise to fame in the country music world can be explained quite simply—he was a good looking young man in the right place (Shreveport, home to the Louisiana Hayride) at the right time (the peak of Hank Williams popularity), with an unquenchable thirst to </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">be somebody</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. As a detective might characterize it, Faron had means, motive and opportunity—of which he took full advantage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> As legend has it, Faron had a small bit of experience playing the clubs around Shreveport, but had great aspirations even from the start. His first break came when he auditioned songs for local star Webb Pierce. Rather than buying the compositions, Pierce instead liked Faron’s singing voice and began paying Faron to warm up his shows and sing for him when he got too drunk or tired (This is a time-honored tradition in the country music world. The position is called “front man” and is as ubiquitous in the country music world as a rapper’s “posse” is in the realm of hip-hop).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Faron stayed with Pierce for about a year as his front man, long enough for Pierce to get him on the Louisiana Hayride show, and to get Faron his first recording contract, with the tiny Pacemaker-Gotham label of Philadelphia (the same label that Pierce’s initial releases were on).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The first release with Faron’s own vocals was oddly credited to Tillman Franks, who played bass for Pierce and Faron. We’ve included both sides here, both great examples of primitive hillbilly boogie, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hi-Tone Poppa</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hot Rod Shotgun Boogie No. 2</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, which were originally released at Gotham 412.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Faron’s three releases on the Pacemaker-Gotham label didn’t sell at all outside of the local area, but again luck seemed to be on Faron’s side. Capitol Records A&R man Ken Nelson (a legendary figure responsible for signing the Louvin Brothers, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Gene Vincent and others to the label) heard a live broadcast by Pierce and Faron as he was driving to Dallas. Knowing that Pierce was signed to Decca, but sensing that the young singer might be available, Nelson turned his car around and drove back to Shreveport, where he offered Faron a Capitol recording contract on the spot. Faron Young would record with Capitol for the next ten years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Faron liked to say that he had a hit with his first record on Capitol, but the truth is that it took three singles before he had his first bona fide hit, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Goin’ Steady</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9QfdP-vQEMs/TcuCZqe4cCI/AAAAAAAAAN4/hs_XTMrEDvM/s1600/450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9QfdP-vQEMs/TcuCZqe4cCI/AAAAAAAAAN4/hs_XTMrEDvM/s400/450.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Goin’ Steady</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> was much plagarism at it was creation. Recorded just months before Hank Williams died, and hitting its peak on the charts as the nation mourned his passing, the record could have been an unreleased Hank performance, such was Faron’s vocal imitation. As Faron himself admitted, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Everybody’s an imitator when they start, and believe me I had no style at all when I started.”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The Hank Williams parallel was based on real-life experience, too. Faron holds the dubious distinction of introducing Hank to Billie Jean Jones, on a trip to the Grand Ol’ Opry in the summer of 1952 (where Faron was invited to join the cast as a semi-regular guest). Billie Jean came to Nashville as Faron’s date and wound up marrying Hank Williams. Billie Jean would marry Johnny Horton after Hank’s death and became known in the country music world as “The Black Widow” after Horton’s tragic death in 1960. Asked if he had any bitter feelings about losing Billie Jean to Hank, Faron would </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">state “I sure am glad ol’ Hank took her away from me because she’d have cost me a damn million dollars by now.”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Goin’ Steady</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> was breaking on the charts just as Faron got inducted into the Army, in November of 1952. He went from making $500 a night to making $87.50 a month, however, although it seemed like a career killer at first, eventually Faron discovered it was another great opportunity for him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> With his status as a well-known singer, Faron was given the cushiest life a “soldier” could get. With a fan who was a Third Army General, Faron was allowed to continue appearing on the Opry, he was able to play small clubs near his Army base (in Fort McPherson, Georgia), he could still record new sessions for Capitol, and perhaps best of all, he was given the special assignment of recording transcriptions that were sent out to 2000 radio stations a week. It was great publicity he couldn’t buy as a civilian, but as a soldier he was getting more exposure than ever. Then, as now, a singing soldier dressed in fatigues was a powerful image and the country music fans ate it up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Timed almost perfectly with his release from the Army, Faron’s next big hit was the one to define the rest of his 1950s style—</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If You Ain’t Lovin’ (You Ain’t Livin’).</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Written by Bakersfield songsmith (and fellow Capitol recording artist) Tommy Collins, the mixture of hillbilly boogie musical backing, lyrics about honky-tonk wild living, and Faron’s plaintive vocals were a magical mixture.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Faron would continue this trend with a series of fantastic sides, all of which are included here—</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young, I’ve Got Five Dollars (And It’s Saturday Night), It’s A Great Life If You Don’t Weaken (And Who Wants To Be Strong)</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’m Gonna Live Some Before I Die</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, all of which were nearly identical in lyrical content and musical performance. Faron was clearly mining a winning formula, with fantastic results.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3tTBINIRXJ0/TcuCk61wDJI/AAAAAAAAAN8/PrvZn5-Arm4/s1600/Faron+Young+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3tTBINIRXJ0/TcuCk61wDJI/AAAAAAAAAN8/PrvZn5-Arm4/s640/Faron+Young+%25281%2529.jpg" width="508" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The strongest criticism that may be leveled of Faron Young’s musical career is that he was willing to do anything, follow any direction, to be successful in the music business. When hillbilly boogie was the fashion, he cut great records like the ones mentioned above. When pop music appeared to be the new trend, he made horrific records like </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Shrine Of St. Cecilia</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, which thankfully bombed or we wouldn’t speak of Faron in such glowing terms today!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> All of which goes a long way to explain why Faron was dragged kicking and screaming into the world of rock & roll. Ken Nelson, the A&R man for Capitol who had signed Faron, showed Faron how well singers like Elvis Presley and Capitol’s new star Gene Vincent were selling in comparison to the country roster. Faron’s fortunes had been dwindling since rock & roll had reared its head, and in his words, he would rather sing rock & roll than be poor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Faron’s rockabilly sides, most notably </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Honey Stop!</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> And </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I Can’t Dance</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, are records that while enjoyable, are easily dismissed. The instrumental backing on these and his other forays into rockabilly and rock & roll are simply superb—the Nashville A-Team at their rocking best. However, Faron’s vocals sound exactly like what they are—a country singer being forced to step into Presley territory and not liking it one bit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> At least these sides can still be enjoyed for their musicianship and great sound quality (courtesy of producer Owen Bradley). They are certainly not </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">bad</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, especially compared with some of the real honest-to-goodness clunkers that Faron cut through the years, but you can just tell the man’s heart was not in it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> By the late 1950s, Faron seemed to be back on track. Perhaps rekindled by the chart success of Ray Price, Faron began recording hard honky-tonk numbers like </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alone With You</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That’s the Way I Feel</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Such records kept an almost rockabilly-esque delivery, but which featured a return to the twin fiddles and steel guitar sound. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Much of the excellent material Faron recorded around this time came from the members of his road band, which included future superstars Roger Miller on drums and Johnny Paycheck (then known as Donny Young) on bass.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Faron also brought along a host of new and inexperienced “front men,” many of whom would later become stars. From the Wilburn Brothers to Jimmy & Johnny to Gordon Terry and others, Faron had a knack for picking out young, super talents, and many of these afore-mentioned stars got their first break touring as Faron’s front men. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Another one of Faron’s unknown discoveries was a young Texas songwriter by the name of Willie Nelson. Willie was another knockabout who spent time touring with Faron, Ray Price, and others, all the while composing songs that he would pitch to those who would listen, and toiling in near obscurity as a writer for Pamper Music in Nashville.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Faron was most certainly listening when he heard a new Willie composition from a Pamper Music demo, entitled </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hello Walls</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. His firm belief in the song (even as the studio musicians poked fun at it during the recording session, and as Willie tried to sell the song outright to Faron for a few hundred dollars) paid off when </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hello Walls</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> became the biggest hit, and defining song of his career.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> One part Ray Price shuffle, one part classic Willie introspection, and one part pop music, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hello Walls</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> could be considered the definitive example of where Nashville was headed in the early 1960s. Lush orchestration and smooth backing vocals took the place of steel guitars and twin fiddles. The rural edges were sanded off and smoothed down for mass consumption. Faron was there, and ready to cash in on it, and again he milked this new style for all it was worth, recording several other Willie Nelson compositions in an attempt to cash in on a follow-up. He even re-recorded his first hit </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Goin’ Steady</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> with the new uptown country style, included here.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jLNNgt8JOjg/TcuCzoGHJdI/AAAAAAAAAOA/-Bs0Wzal82Q/s1600/faron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jLNNgt8JOjg/TcuCzoGHJdI/AAAAAAAAAOA/-Bs0Wzal82Q/s640/faron.jpg" width="578" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> As it happened, Faron would not have another massive hit until </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wine Me Up</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> charted in the late 1960s. He switched to the Mercury label in 1962 and spent most of the 60s searching for a new direction, before eventually returning to the honky-tonk style that he had started with years before.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Faron Young is most certainly one of the great singers of Country Music. His place in the Hall of Fame cements that fact. He left behind a vast library of unforgettable music, however in the end, it cannot be said that Faron was an innovator. His desire to be on top of the charts made him a follower, not a leader, but this does not diminish the power of the impactful discography he left us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aKQFaCjj8bs/TcuC9VpEFiI/AAAAAAAAAOE/rhz7Uo5P8fk/s1600/Faron-Young.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aKQFaCjj8bs/TcuC9VpEFiI/AAAAAAAAAOE/rhz7Uo5P8fk/s400/Faron-Young.jpg" width="311" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Unfortunately, Faron’s need to be in the spotlight ultimately led to his demise. When he was no longer drawing the crowds, when the phone stopped ringing, and when the records quit charting, Faron made the decision to take his own life, on December 10, 1996. It was a very sad end to one of the greats of Country Music.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Deke Dickerson, with thanks to Colin Escott</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment-->Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-79667787793916254592011-05-08T22:47:00.000-07:002011-05-08T22:47:52.271-07:00JOHNNY HORTON--Honky Tonk Man of Mystery<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>The strange and wonderful story of Johnny Horton, the "Honky Tonk Man."</b> (From the Bear Family CD, 'Johnny Horton--Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight.')<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xdfemv0fQ0I/TcdyruyjLvI/AAAAAAAAAM0/6FL7pxbbGjs/s1600/6466_image_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xdfemv0fQ0I/TcdyruyjLvI/AAAAAAAAAM0/6FL7pxbbGjs/s1600/6466_image_6.jpg" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Johnny Horton remains as beloved today as he was during his heyday of the late 1950s. Almost 50 years after his death, Horton’s brand of down-home honky-tonk storytelling has become a familiar thread in America’s musical quilt.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The bizarre aspect of Johnny Horton’s fame and longevity is just how different his rise to fame was compared to other country music legends of that era, or even the stars of today. It is safe to say that Johnny Horton is the only country music legend who was born in Los Angeles, never touched alcohol, was completely bald and wore an ill-fitting hairpiece, and had a strange obsession with spiritualism and dying violently. Moreover, Johnny Horton had spent ten years clawing and scratching, making dozens of records in as many different styles, before he finally hit upon the style that made him so remembered today. As quickly as he became famous, a cruel twist of fate took him in a violent car wreck, just as his career finally reached the grand successes he had dreamed of for so long.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Despite Horton’s unusual personal story, what we’re left with fifty years later is the voice—a voice so calm and reassuring, it’s hard to connect the Johnny Horton we know with the troubled Johnny Horton who walked the earth. One thing cannot be denied, however, the voice of Johnny Horton appealed to millions of people, and continues to appeal decades after his death. This compilation puts together a playlist of some of Johnny’s best uptempo hillbilly, honky-tonk and rockabilly music. It is not a greatest hits compilation, if you’re looking for </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Battle Of New Orleans</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> there are many collections of Horton’s biggest chart records readily available. If you’re looking for some of the best hillbilly boogie and proto-rockabilly Johnny Horton material of the 1950s, prepare to ‘Shake This Shack Tonight.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7VMI_LHQQ74/Tcd2ECk_o9I/AAAAAAAAANE/yhYbc0o9HwE/s1600/Johnny_Horton_12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7VMI_LHQQ74/Tcd2ECk_o9I/AAAAAAAAANE/yhYbc0o9HwE/s640/Johnny_Horton_12.jpg" width="474" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">John LeGale Horton was born on April 30, 1925 in East Los Angeles, California, to parents John Sr. (aka </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">‘Lolly’</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">) and Ella Horton. The Hortons life was typical of many Depression-era families in the West. The family followed work—any kind of work—anywhere they could find it. Johnny Horton’s first ten years were spent ricocheting from California to Texas, with John Sr. working as a laborer on various fruit picking and public works projects wherever he could find a job. About the only place that the Hortons stayed put for more than a year at a time was Tyler, Texas, and Johnny would later claim Tyler as his hometown, even though he had only spent a few formative years there as a child.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Johnny’s young adult life was spent on various endeavors with his brother Frank. The pair worked in the mailroom at Selznick movie studios in Los Angeles, and moved to Seattle to study geology at a university. The latter only lasted a short time, and after picking fruit in California, Johnny went to Alaska for a season’s work in construction. Upon his return from Alaska, Johnny entered a talent show at the Reo Palm Isle in Longview, Texas, and won an ashtray on a pedestal for his performance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This last somewhat dubious achievement is apparently what set young Johnny Horton on the path to be a professional singer. Members of his family were surprised at his choice, most of his closest friends and family didn’t even know he sang. What Horton did possess was a character trait found in most successful musicians—an overwhelming desire to avoid a regular day job.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">When Horton landed back in Southern California, he bought himself some Western clothes and began entering talent contests on a regular basis. It was at one of these talent shows that Horton caught the attention of Fabor Robinson, a local character who would eventually be responsible for a dozen record labels and many hit records. At this point in 1950, however, Robinson was just getting into the business and was looking for aspiring singers to record for the Cormac label, a tiny garage label financed by Corydon Blodgett and Les McWain (the ‘Cor’ and the ‘Mac’ in Cormac).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lcogEnG39EQ/Tcd34_ZAv2I/AAAAAAAAANU/ThX1I-YZISQ/s1600/fCZZrcebJ81dr-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lcogEnG39EQ/Tcd34_ZAv2I/AAAAAAAAANU/ThX1I-YZISQ/s640/fCZZrcebJ81dr-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Los Angeles area singer and television host <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Masters">Sammy Masters</a> remembers driving Johnny Horton to the small studio in Santa Ana in the Orange County region of Southern California, where they each cut their debut record on the same day. The conditions couldn’t have been more primitive, with just a couple microphones set up for the singer and band to record live to a mono tape recorder. Both men had their careers launched that day, but both Sammy Masters Cormac disc and Johnny Horton’s debut disappeared without a trace after the first stack of 78s sold off the stage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Cormac label folded as soon as it started, and Fabor Robinson obtained the rights to Horton’s masters with the express purpose of re-releasing them on his newly formed Abbott label, a labeled formed with the bankrolling of drug store owner Sid Abbott, and distributed by Bill McCall’s 4-Star empire in Pasadena.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Throughout 1951 and 1952 Horton recorded 16 sides for Abbott, which were originally released as singles that must have flopped dramatically, based on their rarity today. The recordings themselves would wind up being released several different times after Horton’s hits started coming, overdubbed at least twice by different labels to ‘dress up’ the primitive recordings. Some of the overdubbed versions are dreadful, yet some of them are more enjoyable than the earlier undubbed versions. On this compilation, we have included the original undubbed versions of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Shadows Of The Old Bayou, On The Banks Of The Beautiful Nile</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Smokey Joe’s Barbecue</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, and the overdubbed versions of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Talk, Gobbler, Talk, It’s A Long Rocky Road,</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In My Home In Shelby County</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">. In addition, we’ve included the excellent unreleased cover of Tennessee Ernie Ford’s </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Shotgun Boogie</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> from this Abbott period.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Horton’s last four sides for Abbott in 1952 were duets with an obscure singer on the Abbott roster named William ‘Hill-Billy’ Barton. Barton was best known as a songwriter, and in fact wrote the hit song </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A Dear John Letter</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, which he sold to Bakersfield stalwarts Fuzzy Owen and Louis Talley before it became a monster hit for Ferlin Husky and Jean Shepard. The two sides we’ve included here, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Bawlin’ Baby</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Rhythm In My Baby’s Walk</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, are excellent examples of the type of proto-rockabilly that would come to typify the Johnny Horton honky-tonk sound over the next few years. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Fabor Robinson worked out a deal to get Horton on the ‘Louisiana Hayride,’ and the newly married Horton moved to Shreveport, where he began appearing on the weekly show in the summer of 1952. Robinson also secured Horton his first major recording contract, with the new country & western branch of Mercury Records based in Nashville.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Johnny Horton, live on stage at the Louisiana Hayride.</span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z8QC4MY-sdU/Tcd4Xdzn0WI/AAAAAAAAANY/1J_wx7iCX-o/s1600/JohnnyHorton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z8QC4MY-sdU/Tcd4Xdzn0WI/AAAAAAAAANY/1J_wx7iCX-o/s640/JohnnyHorton.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Horton recorded a passel of discs for Mercury over the next three years, some of which were extraordinary, and some of which were downright abysmal. Thankfully we’ve spared you the histrionics of such dogs as </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A Child’s Side Of Life</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> on this collection and concentrated on such solid hillbilly boppers as the excellent </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">First Train Headin’ South</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, a truly fine record never fully given its due.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Horton found his first taste of success on the ‘Louisiana Hayride,’ and his star ascended on the weekly radio broadcast despite the fact that his Mercury Records sold poorly. In retrospect, it is hard to ascertain why such excellent records as </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Train With A Rhumba Beat, Tennessee Jive, The Devil Made A Masterpiece, You You You, Broken Hearted Gypsy, Move Down The Line, No True Love, Ridin’ The Sunshine Special, Hey Sweet Thing, S.S. Lureline, Two Red Lips And Warm Red Wine, Ha Ha and Moonface, Big Wheels Rollin’</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">You Don’t Move Me Baby Anymore</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> didn’t become hits, but we’ve included them all here in an attempt to rectify this injustice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">One possible explanation for Johnny’s lack of success for Mercury is the lack of an individual style on any of the recordings. Though the above-mentioned Mercury titles are appreciated by fans today, the fact is that musically they were all over the map, and the duds we’ve left off this compilation were even more so.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The three years that Horton spent traveling the South and making records for Mercury were spent under Fabor Robinson’s tight management, with little financial reward and no hits to show for it. The strain ended Horton’s first marriage, but Johnny Horton pulled a hat trick for bald men everywhere when he snagged Hank Williams’ bombshell widow Billie Jean shortly after Hank’s death at the end of 1952. By September 1953 Johnny and Billie Jean were married and Horton had ended his relationship with Fabor Robinson. Horton continued his label relationship with Mercury until the contract ran out in 1955, with some fine records under his belt, but no hits to show for it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: A later picture sleeve from Billie Jean Horton's ill-fated recording career.</span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_y0bbqMGgQU/Tcd1xnBibdI/AAAAAAAAANA/QDbS4glS9CE/s1600/3066786680_9a6d79518a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_y0bbqMGgQU/Tcd1xnBibdI/AAAAAAAAANA/QDbS4glS9CE/s640/3066786680_9a6d79518a.jpg" width="628" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This juncture might have been the end of Johnny Horton’s singing career. No one would fault Horton for quitting at this point, he had certainly given show business a fair try, and the chances that a bald thirty-year old never-was could hit the big time were slim to none. Thankfully Horton found the strength to ask local Shreveport impresario Tillman Franks to manage him, knocking on Franks’ door one evening out of the blue. Horton had no where else to turn at this point—Tillman replied that he didn’t really care for the way that Johnny sang, and Horton replied he would sing any way that Tillman wanted. It was the start of Johnny Horton’s second act, and a fruitful relationship between Franks and Horton that would last until both crashed in the car that ended Horton’s life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Johnny, center, with manager Tillman Franks on bass and Tommy Tomlinson on guitar.</span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mvAERwBhimo/Tcd2W_qdjpI/AAAAAAAAANI/qbaPh20W4cE/s1600/Johnny+Horton2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="392" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mvAERwBhimo/Tcd2W_qdjpI/AAAAAAAAANI/qbaPh20W4cE/s640/Johnny+Horton2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The details of how Johnny Horton began recording for Columbia Records are ridiculous, but they make for a great show business story. Tillman Franks managed to get a bottom-of-the-barrel deal with Columbia Records in Nashville by giving up half of the publishing on each session to Gene Autry’s publishing company Golden West, and half the publishing to Webb Pierce’s and Jim Denny’s Cedarwood publishing firm. Both parties had taken publishing on Horton in exchange for recommending him to the label. If that injustice weren’t enough, the royalty rate promised to Horton was so low that he probably would have made more money as a mechanic. Still, it was a recording contract, and the records would be made at the strictly big-time Owen Bradley Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Johnny Horton’s only other alternative was a day job, so he took the offer, as inglorious as it was.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Johnny and Tillman had two Aces up their sleeve before they arrived at the studio in Nashville to record their first session. The first Ace was a song called </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Honky Tonk Man</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, written by a hopeful named Howard Hausey aka ‘Howard Crockett,’ who pitched the song to Johnny backstage at the ‘Louisiana Hayride.’ Johnny and Tillman loved the song and knew it had hit potential, and in fact it was the first song that they recorded for Columbia.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The second Ace that Johnny and Tillman brought to the studio was a musician who would give their sparse trio a hit sound. By studying session sheets it can be revealed that Elvis Presley was recording his first RCA session in Nashville on January 11, 1956. Presley recorded until 7 pm that evening, at which point Tillman Franks brought Elvis’ bass player <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Black">Bill Black</a> over to Owen Bradley’s studio for a session beginning at 8 pm, where Black’s slap bass prowess can be heard on </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Honky Tonk Man</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> and the others recorded that evening. Tillman and Johnny knew Bill Black from Elvis’ many appearances at the Hayride, and it seems that they had made a deal to spirit Bill Black away for the evening to help out Johnny’s first Columbia session.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">As with all moments of greatness, what transpired in the studio that day was a combination of many things that equaled a sum greater than its individual parts. Tillman and Johnny had the drive and the hunger, Johnny had the voice, Howard Hausey had supplied the song, Bill Black’s slapping bass added an element of sound that Tillman could not, and the glue that held it all together was the highly-stylized and steady lead guitar of session man (and de facto producer) Grady Martin.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Grady Martin was Nashville’s top session guitarist for decades. While there were undoubtedly other guitarists that could out-flash Grady, or venture off into jazz or blues, the fact was that Grady Martin could listen to a singer demo a song and come up with the individual licks that would turn that song into a hit. Other guitarists in Nashville could come close, but none had that hit-making ability that Grady innately possessed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Grady Martin, holding his 1952 Bigsby doubleneck guitar, as heard on the Johnny Horton recordings. The amp is a Magnatone, in case you're wondering.</span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TRUs1NF6WcM/Tcd6JvFq9NI/AAAAAAAAANc/hzC5abbHjNs/s1600/BigsbyGradyMartin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TRUs1NF6WcM/Tcd6JvFq9NI/AAAAAAAAANc/hzC5abbHjNs/s640/BigsbyGradyMartin.jpg" width="508" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">It’s hard to imagine Johnny Horton’s magical Columbia records like </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Honky Tonk Man, I’m Coming Home, One Woman Man</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> or any of the others without that signature guitar sound Grady Martin supplied. Almost immediately, Grady realized that Johnny Horton’s voice and a lead guitar treatment with a heavy emphasis on the bass strings was a winning combination. No noodling or needless improvisation was required—musically, Grady and Johnny Horton gelled like beans and cornbread, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lydLUrEIR_I">Honky Tonk Man</a></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> became the smash hit that Johnny and Tillman had been praying for. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Honky Tonk Man</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> started a string of songs over the next two years that have stood the test of time for country and rockabilly fans. Johnny Horton’s style on songs like </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Take Me Like I Am, She Knows Why, You’re My Baby</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I’ll Do It Everytime</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, all included here, is as unique and distinctive as his friend Johnny Cash’s was. Johnny Horton’s style wasn’t rock and roll, but it was darn close at times, with songs like </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> featuring Grady Martin playing lead guitar lines that sounded like rock and roll to country ears. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Johnny Horton’s honky-tonk streamlined productions in 1956 and 1957 left a body of work forever worshipped by rockabilly and country fans, but the reality was that by 1958 Horton was broke again, and the well ran dry for his latest string of hitless Columbia singles. For some quick cash, Horton cut an album for the fledgling SESAC publishing and recording firm in Nashville with his road band, including Tommy Tomlinson on guitar (a fine guitarist in his own right, he was forced to play rhythm guitar on the Columbia sides and learn Grady Martin’s leads for Johnny’s personal appearances). We have included </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Seven Come Eleven</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Out In New Mexico</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> from the SESAC recordings on this disc.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Johnny and Billie Jean had a way of going through money even before it was made, and the lean times after the initial flush of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Honky Tonk Man</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> found Johnny, Billie Jean and Tillman engaging in a number of petty scams and cons to stay above water. Such hijinks as selling tickets to a fake benefit for crippled children and gambling rent money on overnight pinball marathons were almost everyday occurrences during this time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kKaIz26m6BM/Tcd2xWoQMJI/AAAAAAAAANM/epXKBclqwUY/s1600/johnny-horton-1-high.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kKaIz26m6BM/Tcd2xWoQMJI/AAAAAAAAANM/epXKBclqwUY/s640/johnny-horton-1-high.jpg" width="630" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Honky Tonk Man</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> formula had been a hit-making sound, but by 1958 the newest trend was for folk music, and songs with historical subjects and lyrical content. It might be difficult for rockabillies to stomach the thought, but The Kingston Trio’s </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Tom Dooley</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> was one of the most popular songs in America in the late 1950s. Johnny was still cutting fun honky-tonk, like </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Mister Moonlight</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> from 1958 included here, but the hit streak appeared to be at a standstill until Tillman and Johnny found another goldmine by mining the folk music boom.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">It is still somewhat of a mystery how Johnny and Tillman struck on their next hit formula, but they came up with a song called </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">When It’s Springtime In Alaska, It’s Forty Below</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, which proved popular at shows and pointed the direction of the folk trend for them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">When It’s Springtime</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> proved to be an even bigger hit than </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Honky Tonk Man</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, and in vaunted show business tradition, Johnny and Tillman set out to milk the historical song formula for all it was worth. When Porter Wagoner’s steel guitarist Don Warden pitched a song that he owned publishing on to Johnny and Tillman backstage somewhere on tour, Johnny was mildly interested and Tillman was unimpressed. The song was an obscure number by an even more obscure folk singer from Arkansas named Jimmy Driftwood—</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Battle Of New Orleans</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Not long after Warden pitched the song, Tillman heard the song on a late night radio show and then dreamt about Johnny recording it. Johnny became passionate about the song, and brought Jimmy Driftwood to appear on the ‘Louisiana Hayride’ and spend a weekend rewriting the lyrics to fit within the realm of a radio-friendly pop song.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The result was Johnny Horton’s signature song, and his biggest career hit. The drum introduction and stomping tempo was Grady Martin’s idea, and undoubtedly contributed to the songs crossover appeal to the singalong </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Tom Dooley</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> crowd. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Battle Of New Orleans</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> was an outright smash, finishing 1959 as the year’s second most popular song, propelling Johnny Horton to household name status.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cDg1Dju6Uhs/Tcd3cyBVrfI/AAAAAAAAANQ/l74wbEFS43c/s1600/739343070424_459829.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cDg1Dju6Uhs/Tcd3cyBVrfI/AAAAAAAAANQ/l74wbEFS43c/s640/739343070424_459829.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The record buying public couldn’t get enough Johnny Horton history-themed discs after </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">New Orleans</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">. More hits followed throughout 1959 and 1960, including </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">North To Alaska, Johnny Reb</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Sink The Bismarck</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">. These memorable songs were padded on albums with such stinkers as </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Young Abe Lincoln</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">O’Leary’s Cow</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">. None of these historical songs are included on this compilation, but it’s important to know that the biggest successes of Johnny Horton’s career came with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsRK3DNoa_Q">these</a> historical ‘folk’ numbers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GKRInzM_els/Tcd1EY436nI/AAAAAAAAAM8/ZkekZvjWX5k/s1600/JhonnyHortonProgrm3C476F.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GKRInzM_els/Tcd1EY436nI/AAAAAAAAAM8/ZkekZvjWX5k/s640/JhonnyHortonProgrm3C476F.jpg" width="438" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Throughout Johnny Horton’s career, he harbored a fascination with spiritualism and the supernatural, and in particular he began having premonitions that a drunk driver would kill him in a violent car accident. Johnny Horton and his close fishing pal Johnny Cash shared this belief in the great unknown, and there are legendary stories of the pair hypnotizing each other or trying to reach Hank Williams’ spirit at a séance. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Johnnys Horton and Cash in Arkansas, after fishing, before hypnotizing, wearing two-tone shoes.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1sKD97bA_5o/Tcd_dHpkwvI/AAAAAAAAANo/5Ia0G1OJY8c/s1600/tumblr_l7jbs6baym1qzdulpo1_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1sKD97bA_5o/Tcd_dHpkwvI/AAAAAAAAANo/5Ia0G1OJY8c/s640/tumblr_l7jbs6baym1qzdulpo1_400.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">These comical stories are tempered by the fact that Horton was so sure he would die in a car accident that he began practicing driving his car into a ditch, preparing for the inevitable, hoping to cheat death.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: One of the most bizarre photos in entertainment history. Johnny Horton serenades 116-year old Walter Williams, the last surviving campaigner of the Civil War. His daughter, Willie Mae Bowles is holding the hearing aid.</span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fcA1dVgXbqs/Tcd8NIaoW-I/AAAAAAAAANg/75GvPDjUvgs/s1600/JohnnyHortonConfederate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fcA1dVgXbqs/Tcd8NIaoW-I/AAAAAAAAANg/75GvPDjUvgs/s640/JohnnyHortonConfederate.jpg" width="502" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The eerie legend of Johnny Horton’s death is supported by a number of undeniable facts. Johnny Horton was married to Hank Williams’ widow Billie Jean at the time of his death; both Johnny Horton and Hank Williams would perform the last performances of their careers at the <a href="http://fryr.tripod.com/cfhisthankandjohnny.html">Skyline Club</a> in Austin, Texas. Some of Johnny’s old band members claimed that they and Johnny Horton were driving through Milano, Texas, at the beginning of 1953 when Hank Williams’ death was announced on the radio. Nearly eight years later Horton’s tragic car accident occurred on the same stretch of highway near Milano.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Johnny upset his wife and his relatives with his talk of an early death, spiritualism, and premonitions. Undoubtedly, most of them merely thought he was crazy, or just occupying his brain with morbid thoughts. All of this conjecture would prove moot when the car carrying Johnny, Tillman Franks, and Tommy Tomlinson entered a bridge overpass in the early morning of November 5, 1960. A drunk driver named James E. Davis careened off the sides of the bridge overpass, and sliced apart the car carrying the musicians. James E. Davis escaped with a broken rib, but Tommy Tomlinson lost a leg, Tillman Franks suffered head lacerations, and the great honky-tonk singing star Johnny Horton lay dead on a lonesome stretch of Texas highway.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Johnny Horton's grave, just </span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">outside of Shreveport, Louisiana.</span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MYUGOwZs_iQ/Tcd8kVvlvyI/AAAAAAAAANk/F8zby45wEB0/s1600/Johnny_Horton_grave_in_Haughton%252C_LA_IMG_2639.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MYUGOwZs_iQ/Tcd8kVvlvyI/AAAAAAAAANk/F8zby45wEB0/s640/Johnny_Horton_grave_in_Haughton%252C_LA_IMG_2639.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Ironically, as with Buddy Holly, Patsy Cline, and Jim Reeves, Johnny Horton’s fame and fortune multiplied exponentially after his tragic death. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">North To Alaska</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, which had only been released a short time before the accident, went to the top of the charts, and rushed-to-market Johnny Horton cash-in albums sold like hotcakes. Though he would not be around to enjoy it, Johnny Horton had become what he always wanted—a timeless, beloved, and legendary country star.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">After Horton’s death, the vaults were raided, and unreleased songs would continue to be released for years to come. A stash of home recorded demos turned up, and several of these were overdubbed by the Nashville A-Team and released on album. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Although Johnny Horton’s personal life was filled with huge successes, hard times, and a tragic early death, fifty years later we are left with the voice—that magical voice that has calmed and soothed and entertained millions over the years. Magic like that can’t be manufactured—something that today’s flash in the pan singers should take note of. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Akzp1W9oj2s/Tcd02me-WKI/AAAAAAAAAM4/NHdsx5Fkor8/s1600/johnny_horton-the_spectacular%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Akzp1W9oj2s/Tcd02me-WKI/AAAAAAAAAM4/NHdsx5Fkor8/s640/johnny_horton-the_spectacular%25282%2529.jpg" width="620" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">We hope you have enjoyed this compilation of Johnny Horton’s best hillbilly boogie and proto-rockabilly material. If this is your introduction to the music of Johnny Horton, we would like to recommend the two excellent Johnny Horton box sets on Bear Family (‘The Early Years’ BFX 15289 and ‘The Columbia Years’ BFX 15470), an exhaustive but completely rewarding look at Johnny Horton’s career from start to finish. You can trust this author when he states that one Johnny Horton compilation simply isn’t enough.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Deke Dickerson<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><!--EndFragment-->Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-69677239179388065872011-05-06T12:58:00.000-07:002011-05-06T12:58:37.300-07:00"That's ROGER MILLER--he's CRAZY!"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Liner notes for the collection </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A Man Like Me: The Early Years of Roger Miller</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> on Bear Family Records</span></span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i24HqQCeLlk/TcROgayclpI/AAAAAAAAAMo/6X8_Yrwdei0/s1600/RogerMillerNeumann.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i24HqQCeLlk/TcROgayclpI/AAAAAAAAAMo/6X8_Yrwdei0/s640/RogerMillerNeumann.jpg" width="548" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As a youngster, this author was introduced to country music through his grandmother, who was a real, honest-to-goodness gray-haired granny widow living up in the hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She had one of those big old console stereos, ordered from Sears, and one of her favorite record albums was a compilation of older country hits. I would sit and listen intently for hours, but one song by one artist in particular truly perplexed my fragile young psyche. The song was "You Don't Want My Love (In the Summertime)" and whenever the singer would start scatting the solo, sounding completely incoherent, going into a falsetto punctuated by sounds resembling Donald Duck, I just didn't know what to think.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"That's Roger Miller," my granny explained with a chuckle. "He's CRAZY!"</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">See and hear a live version of "In The Summertime" with awesome scatting <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRuzBp7eIP8">HERE</a>.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Roger Miller was the most unlikely of country music super stars. Although he led the sort of extreme wild-man existence that no grandmother could ever comprehend, he somehow was able to charm the pants off the entire nation with his immense wit and original song style. Miller could have made it on any one of his talents-songwriter, comedian, singer, entertainer, actor-but his hyperactive creativity couldn't be tempered until he had excelled in all of his pursuits. By the mid-1960s Miller was hot as a pistol, with an NBC television special, his own regular TV show, a mantel full of Grammy awards, and a string of huge hits including "Chug-a-Lug," "Dang Me," "Engine Engine #9," and of course his career-defining hit "King of the Road."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It took less than ten years for Miller to come from nowhere and arrive at the top of the hill. As with others who have achieved monumental success, the story of how he got there was an interesting one. Until now, not much attention has been paid to Roger Miller's early recordings. This collection attempts to rectify the situation, gathering together all of his early sides from his very first session in 1957 up to the time he signed with RCA-Victor in 1960.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Though Miller could lay claim to being a Texan, having been born in Fort Worth on January 2, 1936, his father, Jean Miller, died when he was only a year old, and his mother Laudene had to farm her three boys out to Jean's family. Roger went to Erick, Oklahoma, to live with his Uncle Elmer and Aunt Armelia Miller, and today Erick proudly proclaims itself the home of Roger Miller, even hosting a Roger Miller <a href="http://www.rogermillermuseum.com/">museum</a> downtown!</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Miller remembered his upbringing in small-town Oklahoma as "so dull you could watch the colors run." Between working in the fields, walking three miles to school, and feeling lonely and cut off from his mother's love, life was hard for him. Nonetheless, he exhibited a bright mind from an early age, making up songs on his long walk to school. His loneliness and isolation helped fuel his creative drive. "We were dirt poor," he once told an interviewer. "What I'd do is sit around and get warm by crawling inside myself and make up stuff. . . . I was one of those kids that never had much to say and when I did it was wrong. I always wanted attention, always was reaching and grabbing for attention."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Release eventually came in the form of his cousin Melva's husband, Sheb Wooley (yes, the same <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9H_cI_WCnE">Sheb Wooley</a> who later had a huge hit with "Purple People Eater" in 1958 and a string of hits under the pseudonym Ben Colder in the 1960s). Wooley was fifteen years older than Miller and was a powerful mentor to the young miscreant, encouraging him to take up music as a creative outlet. Wooley was the first one in the family to make a dent in the music business, making records for Bullet in 1945 and MGM beginning in 1950. He moved to California in the mid-'50s, and in addition to making records he also worked as an actor in countless low-budget westerns and television shows. It must have seemed terribly exciting to the young Miller, stuck in the Dust Bowl of the Oklahoma prairie.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Side note: Sheb Wooley is also acknowledged as the man who did the "Wilhelm Scream," the iconic dying "Aaaaaggghhh" heard in countless movies. Read about this interesting history of the sound clip <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_scream">HERE</a>)</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Miller spent countless hours listening to the radio, from the Grand Ole Opry to the Light Crust Doughboys, daydreaming about Wooley's exciting life out in California. Soaking up influences from what he heard, he eventually declared Bob Wills and Hank Williams to be his favorite artists. When Wooley came back to Oklahoma to visit, he helped Miller by showing him chords on the guitar, and he bought him his first fiddle. Eventually wanderlust got the best of Miller, and he began traveling as far as he could run away, getting odd jobs during the day and listening to music at the honky-tonks by night. His desire to become part of the professional music world led him to steal a guitar in Texas, which he reckoned was the only way he would ever be able to own one.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After he was caught (or turned himself in, depending on which story you believe), the judge gave him the option of jail or joining the army. Though he was only seventeen at the time, he chose the latter and was immediately shipped off to the conflict in Korea. According to Miller, "My education was Korea, clash of '52." By the time he arrived at Fort McPherson in Atlanta, Georgia, to finish his stint in the army, his talents as a musician had become known and he joined his first band, the Circle A Wranglers, on fiddle. The Circle A Wranglers were an armed services outfit that already had one famous alumnus--Faron Young--who later would be one of Miller's first professional employers.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bolstered by this experience, Miller headed straight for Nashville after his release from the army. The first thing he did when he hit town was to walk right into Chet Atkins's office and announce that he was a songwriter. Atkins handed him his guitar and asked him to play something, at which point Miller became completely overwhelmed that he was in Chet Atkins's office playing Chet Atkins's very guitar. According to Miller, "I was so nervous, people thought I was wavin'!" Although he flubbed the audition, Atkins told him to work on his songs and come back to see him when he had it together.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Undaunted, Miller got a job as a bellhop at the Andrew Jackson Hotel in downtown Nashville. He was so eager to sing his songs to anyone who would listen that he became known as the Singing Bellhop, a tag that would stick with him for years. "It had more dignity than washing dishes," he would say later. The job put him in the thick of the bustling downtown music activity, and indeed his Singing Bellhop shtick served to get him noticed. He caught his first break when Minnie Pearl offered him a job as fiddle player in her touring road band.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After that ended, his next opportunity came when he met George Jones at a late-night session on WSM. Miller played Jones some of his songs, and Jones was sufficiently impressed to recommend him to Don Pierce and Pappy Daily of Starday Records, the label that Jones was recording for at the time. Miller auditioned for Pierce and Daily at the Andrew Jackson Hotel, and they agreed to record him at their studio, Gold Star, in Houston. Miller rode from Nashville to Texas with Jones, and on the way they wrote songs together, including "Tall, Tall Trees," which Jones recorded soon thereafter, and "Happy Child," which was recorded by future sausage magnate Jimmy Dean (it was the first of Miller's compositions to be committed to wax).</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gold Star Studios in Houston (no relation to the Los Angeles-based Gold Star, but rather a Texas independent still in business today as Sugar Hill Studios) was at the time an extremely primitive recording studio situated in a corrugated tin barn. Lined with egg cartons and equipped with the most basic of monaural equipment, it was nonetheless a hit-making institution. George Jones had recorded all of his earliest hits there, including "Why Baby Why" and "Window Up Above." It had also been host to countless rockabilly and country obscurities. Unfortunately, Roger Miller's debut single would fall into the latter category.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Poor Little John" b/w "My Pillow" was released as Mercury-Starday 71212 in fall 1957. "Poor Little John" was a great Cajun-meets-rockabilly uptempo number, and "My Pillow" (sometimes listed only as "Pillow") was a superb country weeper; both were written by Miller. The same session produced "You're Forgetting Me" and "Can't Stop Loving You," two more Miller originals that were released as Starday 356, but copies are so rare that this author didn't believe it existed until recently, when a legitimate one surfaced. Both singles were re-released in the mid-'60s to cash in on Miller's success, but original copies of both are exceedingly rare.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Starday discs went nowhere, and though Miller continued to pen tunes for George Jones and several other Starday artists, he became discouraged with the music business. When his first wife, Barbara, announced that she was pregnant, Miller decided to get a day job to support his new family and moved to Amarillo to join the fire department. While this move today sounds like the plot of a sitcom (Roger Miller as a fireman?), he worked at the fire department during the day and continued playing music in the honky-tonks around Amarillo by night. With predictably comical results, he was soon relieved of his fireman duties around the same time that he was introduced to Ray Price at a local show.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The two kept in contact, and a few months later Miller was hired to replace Van Howard as Price's front man (a relatively thankless job that involved warming up the crowd to begin the show and also singing vocal harmonies with Price) in the Cherokee Cowboys. Miller and his wife moved back to Nashville, where he toured with Price and continued writing songs, including "Invitation to the Blues," which was recorded by both his boss and Rex Allen. Price's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIhywFlD2xY">version</a> became a number-three hit, and Roger Miller suddenly found himself not a struggling songwriter but a successful one. Grand Ole Opry bassist Buddy Killen signed Miller to a songwriting deal with Tree Publishing (still in business today as Sony/ATV publishing). Tree was a veritable gold mine of unknown talent that also employedfuture stars Johnny Paycheck (then known as <a href="http://muleskinner.blogspot.com/2011/04/johnny-paycheck-aka-donny-young-early.html">Donny Young</a>) and Bill Anderson as well as many other future notables. Miller wrote many hits during his tenure at Tree, including "Half a Mind" for Ernest Tubb, "That's the Way I Feel" for Faron Young, and "Home" and "Billy Bayou" for Jim Reeves.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While he was establishing himself as a proven writer of hits, he also earned a well-deserved reputation as a loose cannon, and Buddy Killen was always after him to make a finished song out of the hundreds of brilliant scraps he left in his wake. Bill Anderson recalls, "Ernest Tubb wrote the last verse of 'Half a Mind' because Buddy couldn't get Roger to sit down and finish it. Roger was the most talented, and least disciplined, person that you could imagine. It was his personality. Roger was the closest thing to a genius I think I've ever known." Buddy Killen adds, "The songwriters in Nashville would follow him around and pick up his droppings because everything he said was a potential song. He spoke in songs."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another of Miller's peers, Darrell McCall, said of his old friend, "Roger had what I call a double-barreled brain. He just thought differently than everybody else. If you rode along with him in a car, he'd be thinking of something from the back end forwards, for instance one of my favorite Roger quotes: 'I went to a fight last night and a dance broke out.' He just had a really unique way of looking at the world."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Miller became fast friends with Donny Young, aka Johnny Paycheck, and the two became infamous "roaring" buddies, staying up all night on a combination of uppers and pure nervous energy. Both managed to get signed to Decca as artists around the same time, with Miller contributing vocal harmonies to Paycheck's first single, "On This Mountain Top," recorded in September 1958. Paycheck sang harmonies on Miller's "A Man Like Me" b/w "The Wrong Kind of Girl," recorded three months later and released as Decca 9-30838. Both were excellent songwriting efforts by Miller. "A Man Like Me" stands the test of time as one of the finest honky-tonk records ever made, with superb production by Owen Bradley and his A-team session musicians. The flip was another brilliant weeper. Sadly, though Miller clearly poured his heart and soul into this record, it sank without a trace.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Six months later, on June 30, 1959, Miller again returned to Owen Bradley's studio, where he cut "Sweet Ramona" and "Jason Fleming," which were released as Decca 9-30953. "Sweet Ramona" was an attempt at a country pop hit, whereas <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSyYF9XpXrs">"Jason Fleming"</a> was as close as he ever got to rock and roll. The session logs for "Jason Fleming" say it was recorded between midnight and 2:30 a.m., which echoes the loose, party atmosphere of the record. The Bradley studio was really swinging that night, and session drummer Buddy Harman plays some of the best snare fills of his career on this one. Overall it's a marvelous record, one of the most infectious Miller ever cut, a solid gas from the first note to the last. While it's usually easy to say forty-plus years later that it "should have been a hit," the sad fact is that it's truly hard to figure out why "Jason Fleming" didn't click. It strongly foreshadows the sort of carefree, good-natured songs that Miller would take to the charts just a few years later, but when it was released in late 1959 it didn't make a dent. Miller (just like his buddy Donny Young) was soon dropped as a Decca recording artist.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One reason for this alarming lack of success may have been that although Miller was a well-known songwriter around Nashville, he was still very much an unknown as a performer and didn't tour much under his own name. One story has Miller, Donny Young, and Bill Anderson setting out on their lone solo tour, only to end with Miller having to pawn his new portable record player (purchased so that the trio could listen to their own songs while on the road) for gas money home.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Back in Nashville, Miller had the dubious distinction of being a successful songwriter who had somehow managed to spend all of his royalties and was back to being broke. 1959 and 1960 were lean and somewhat desperate times, and like his buddies Donny Young and Darrell McCall he found himself taking on scab (nonunion) sessions, recording soundalike versions of current hits down at Starday (which had by this point established its own low-rent studio in Nashville) for ten bucks a pop. No doubt Miller needed the money, but those ten-dollar sessions came back to bite him a few years later. At the time a few of the songs were released on a couple of obscure, budget, top-hits-of-the-day discs with anonymous artist billing, but in 1965, after Miller was a real honest-to-goodness star, Starday issued everything they could dig up (save for one unreleased track, included here, "Hot Rod Lincoln") on a cash-in LP called</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wild Child Roger Miller: Madcap Sensation of Country Music</span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Starday SLP 318). No doubt fans of his recordings for RCA and Smash--big-budget, high fidelity, current-sounding discs--were in for a shock when they bought the Starday LP. Made to look like it was his most recent album,</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wild Child</span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">was a collection of some of the most primitively recorded stuff any country star had ever done, and most of it was covers of songs that had been hits years before by other artists! While it was a great relic for collectors, one can only imagine that Miller must have been less than thrilled when it was released.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: The Starday cash-in album of earlier material, released after his breakthrough success.</span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rznj6eQ1wuY/TcRREfdr_oI/AAAAAAAAAMs/q5ATckTHIl4/s1600/RogerMillerLP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rznj6eQ1wuY/TcRREfdr_oI/AAAAAAAAAMs/q5ATckTHIl4/s640/RogerMillerLP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">During the lean years of the late 1950s, Darrell McCall remembers, "If it hadn't been for Ray Price, Faron Young, and George Jones, we'd have all starved to death." One way to stay afloat was to sign on as a sideman with an established act. Faron Young recalled seeing Miller hanging out one day at Tootsie's Orchard Lounge, seemingly depressed. When Young asked him why he was so down, he replied it was because he didn't have a job. Young then asked if he was a drummer. "No, but when do you need one?" was Miller's reply. "Monday," replied Young. "Well," Miller responded, "Monday, I'm a drummer!" Young sent Miller to pick up a set of drums, and he toured as Young's drummer for over a year.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Faron Young also employed Miller's old buddies Donny Young and Darrell McCall, who had both carved a niche in the Nashville scene as excellent harmony singers and utility musicians. Their wild times on the road are legendary. McCall summarizes what it was like to tour with Young and all the boys together in a cramped station wagon: "I remember we crossed over into Mexico, and on the way back, Faron had to tell the border guard 'AMERICAN!' as we drove back over the border. Well, a short time later the same day, Roger and Donny were under a blanket in the back seat, smoking pot, and there was some kind of road construction going on. Faron, thinking it might be a police checkpoint, yelled at the two to stop what they were doing, and in something resembling a scene from a Cheech and Chong movie, Roger came out from underneath the blanket in a huge cloud of smoke, just in time to roll down his window and exclaim 'AMERICAN!' at the flagman just as we passed by."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was during Miller's tenure with Faron Young that he signed his next record deal, with RCA-Victor. His success with songs he wrote for Jim Reeves brought him back to Chet Atkins's office, where he had flubbed his audition many years before. He had a new song that Buddy Killen was hot on, called "You Don't Want My Love." Killen suggested to Atkins that Miller should cut it himself, and in one of the least-corporate moves of his career, Atkins agreed.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Commonly known as "In the Summertime," "You Don't Want My Love" was released when Miller was still touring with Faron Young. Darrell McCall reveals that Young was intensely jealous of others' ambitions and told Miller many times he didn't have what it took to be a star in his own right. When Young played at Carnegie Hall weeks after "You Don't Want My Love" was released, he poked fun of his drummer to the audience and told him to come up and sing his new hit record, thinking he was setting Miller up for failure. "Roger got up there to the microphone and said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, I am the king fool,'" Darrell McCall remembers, "and when he sang 'You Don't Want My Love,' the place just went absolutely nuts for him. That night was the turning point. After that night, there was no doubt--Roger Miller was a star."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fx0OtAeytxU/TcRS2X0_85I/AAAAAAAAAMw/OOpy0oylaYs/s1600/a2d39b4085899e08_large.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="418" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fx0OtAeytxU/TcRS2X0_85I/AAAAAAAAAMw/OOpy0oylaYs/s640/a2d39b4085899e08_large.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Miller went on to have an incredibly successful run in the business. He had dozens of hits, won several Grammy awards, had his own NBC television show, and eventually became a Tony award-winning composer for Broadway plays. After he died in 1992, he was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. That much of the story is well known to Miller's fans. Hopefully this release will shed some much-needed light on the early days and the lean years of one of the most brilliant men in the country music business, Roger Miller.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #a65300; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By Deke Dickerson, with special thanks to Darrell McCall</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></span>Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-61577479378359298932011-04-27T12:11:00.000-07:002011-04-27T12:11:53.783-07:00The (Almost) Death Of Deke Dickerson<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">(NARROWLY ESCAPING) A MOST IGNOBLE DEATH<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w4xqcz2uMo4/TbhnktIsCvI/AAAAAAAAAMI/63nd8UKo57U/s1600/ancient034.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w4xqcz2uMo4/TbhnktIsCvI/AAAAAAAAAMI/63nd8UKo57U/s640/ancient034.jpg" width="425" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I have cheated death on several occasions. Somehow I survived riding with teenage drunk drivers in high school, jealous men bent on revenge killing, and even playing on a cruise ship to Mexico with Kid Rock and 2600 deranged Kid Rock fans. The closest I’ve ever come to the precipice of eternal sleep, however, involved a chocolate chip cookie. Thank god I’m alive to tell this story, otherwise I would have undoubtedly wound up as a third paragraph in ‘News Of The Weird,’ people chuckling about my colorful demise.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wIchC2J618M/Tbhn2dhaCTI/AAAAAAAAAMM/gIfyKwPHIKI/s1600/cookie_chocolate_chip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wIchC2J618M/Tbhn2dhaCTI/AAAAAAAAAMM/gIfyKwPHIKI/s400/cookie_chocolate_chip.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I make my living as a touring musician on the road. One thing that really means a lot to me is how supportive and nice that people can be, often times complete strangers met on rainy roads in the middle of the night. These ‘patrons of the arts’ make up the gap between a very depressing existence and a satisfying life. Whether it is in the form of laundry, free dinner, shelter, vehicle repair, or the like, people help musicians out of the goodness of their hearts. With that in mind, please note that I do not wish to sound ungrateful in the telling of this story, nor do I wish to place the blame on anybody for what happened. The villain and the clown in this story without a hero are both one and the same, and they both camp out, like squatters, inside the empty warehouse between my ears.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This story begins when some very nice fans made ‘care packages’ for the band after a show. These were little gift bags for each member of the group, with crackers, cookies, raisins, bananas, and nuts. We were grateful, fawned over them as you’re supposed to do to show our appreciation. The care packages went into the van, shoved into our own little found cubbyholes for gradual consumption.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Perhaps the most difficult part of being on the road for myself has been living with Type One diabetes. When you’re a diabetic under the best circumstances, it’s difficult to control your blood sugars and eat right. When you’re in a touring band, you find yourself eating at odd times of the day or night, stranded in places where fried corn nuggets pass as a vegetable. Even with the best of intentions and effort, I always find myself fluctuating between periods of really high blood sugars, which make you lethargic and exhausted, and really low blood sugars, which make you shaky and weak.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I wish that the tale of my closest brush with death involved swashbuckling on the high seas, motorcycle stunt jumping, rescuing a baby from a burning building, or the martial arts. It does not. My near-death incident involves a chocolate chip cookie. In my mouth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">My band and I were scheduled to play a record store ‘in-store’ appearance in Atlanta, and it was looking to be a great show. Record store appearances can be a great boost to your following, or they can be depressing reminders of your obscurity (insert <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv5FwzRBc_Y">Spinal Tap</a> reference here). This record store had done their promotion, as had some local friends and fans, so the place was packed in anticipation of our appearance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">As is my preference, I was out in the parking lot getting changed in the van. Many times, people have asked me why I prefer getting changed in the van to other options like a dressing room or a bathroom. The answer is simple—I have left too many pairs of jeans and shoes behind in dressing rooms, because I am a forgetful moron. I have my routine, and it works for me. No need to feel sorry for me—in my van I am a king.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">There I was in the van, stripped down to my boxer shorts. A crowd of people and my band members waited for me to stroll in the front door, looking confident as a cool breeze, ready to rock the house. There was nothing but a dress shirt, a pair of pants and some brand new slick Stacy Adams dress <a href="http://www.stacyadams.com/shop/style/00017.html">shoes</a> between victory and myself. Then, I felt a low blood sugar incident coming on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Diabetics will know exactly what I’m talking about, but for the rest of you, when you feel a low blood sugar crash coming over your body, you know that you have to eat something right then and there to prevent looking like a drooling and shaking object of pity fifteen minutes later. There’s also a chance of passing out, or going into a seizure. It’s serious stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A quick visual check through our bug-splattered windshield told me there was nothing in a one-block radius where I could buy anything to eat. A mental checklist reminded me that somewhere in the van was the ‘care package’ handed to me several days earlier. In that care package was a chocolate chip cookie. A chocolate chip cookie—that would do the trick. That would get me over the hump. I was shaking, but I would be fine.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Rummaging around the floor of the van, I found my care package, where it had been seared by floor-of-van heat in the several thousand miles we had covered since the care packages were handed to us. Anybody who has ever crossed the country in a van knows about floor heat. You do anything to keep your feet off the floor—lie on the bench seats, put your feet up on the dash. A fool who keeps his feet on the hot van floor during a tour winds up with wicked athlete’s foot, and never does it again. The heat is like a griddle, and when I got to my little care package, the bag was hot to the touch. Inside the bag was the chocolate chip cookie. I noticed right away that it didn’t look fresh. In fact, it looked terrible, the way that worms look on the sidewalk after a heavy rain, when they realize they’re dried up and they’re not going to make it to the other side of the sidewalk. Whatever it looked like, that chocolate chip cookie was going to have to get me out of my low blood sugar situation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I unwrapped the Saran Wrap and put the whole cookie in my mouth as I began trying to wrestle on my dress pants. This cookie is dry, I thought. Every bit of previously delicious Toll House moisture had been soaked out of the cookie from the hot drive and the days since it had been made. I kept working on it, trying to soften that sonofabitch up with my saliva. It was hopeless. This cookie was like a chunk of the Saraha Desert in baked goods form, a black hole of anti-matter vacuum-pressed into a deadly edible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Somewhere in between the attempts to soften the damn cookie and chew the thing, I took a breath. Fine particles of cookie dust flew into my windpipe and lungs. Within a space of one second, the effort to get the cookie in my mouth instantly became an effort to get the cookie out of my lungs so that I would not die.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Suddenly, as they say, my life flashed before my eyes. I was dying. I was going to choke on a goddamn chocolate chip cookie outside a record store in Atlanta. My ignoble death was going to be the sole reason I was ever remembered. People would howl with laughter. Even those who loved me would agree: what a way to go! Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead. This was not good.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XdrMLKJHg0s/TbhpIquHPiI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/OYaRy4wkDKo/s1600/bon_scott.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XdrMLKJHg0s/TbhpIquHPiI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/OYaRy4wkDKo/s400/bon_scott.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In those few seconds, I thought of Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Bon Scott--all Rock & Roll legends who choked to death on their own vomit. Even that had a sense of rock and roll flair to it, a departure that mirrored the life of drugged excess those stars led in their brief times. I saw a vision of cool looking rockers hanging out at Jim Morrison’s grave in Paris, then I saw my fated flat slab marker in a budget boneyard, with some fan’s lacquered chocolate chip cookie on my headstone, mocking me in tribute.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tLRbTYse9rI/TbhqOj3ku4I/AAAAAAAAAMY/Q8XGDQ7nXBQ/s1600/DannyAtJimMorrisonsGrave2001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tLRbTYse9rI/TbhqOj3ku4I/AAAAAAAAAMY/Q8XGDQ7nXBQ/s640/DannyAtJimMorrisonsGrave2001.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I thought of Buddy Holly’s plane crash, Otis Redding’s plane crash, Stevie Ray Vaughn’s helicopter crash. Eddie Cochran’s car crash. Johnny Horton’s car crash. All of these places where talent had been snuffed out so suddenly I had visited as pilgrimages on my travels, to honor my musical heroes. I imagined one fat kid thirty years from now reading a footnote about an obscure musician who choked to death on a cookie, and him deciding the two mile trek to his local graveyard not worth the visit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Mama Cass, the celebrated fattie opposite the hottie in the Mamas and Papas, famously choked to death on a ham sandwich. Oh god, I was going to be at the end of the list, right next to goddamn Mama Cass. I was going to be the guitar player who choked to death on a dusty old chocolate chip cookie. This was not good. It was most certainly not cool. It was the exact opposite of cool.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CJnrmHHqluA/TbhpcIll3CI/AAAAAAAAAMU/JB0M63zbMzI/s1600/mama-cass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CJnrmHHqluA/TbhpcIll3CI/AAAAAAAAAMU/JB0M63zbMzI/s640/mama-cass.jpg" width="508" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Chocolate chip cookie dust sealed my lungs like a construction worker blowing insulation into a wall. My pants were halfway on. I was wearing no shirt. God, no, I’m going to be the shirtless fat guy on the stretcher! Hot nurses will stare at me and give each other looks that say </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">good god, that’s disgusting! Is that poo on his chest? No, it’s a chocolate chip! Gross, </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">they would say, correctly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">General Douglas MacArthur once gave a stirring speech to his soldiers, telling them that the human body is weak, but the mind is strong. If the mind decides something is possible, the body will follow, even if the body could not do it before that moment. It is the concept that allows martial arts experts to break concrete with their bare hands, or for ordinary people to do incredible things that defy explanation. It is the Jedi Mind Trick that allows petite mothers to lift cars off of their babies when terrible accidents happen. MacArthur spoke the truth, and these things are real.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Staring out the windshield at the dumpster, some inner force decided that I was not going to be the fat guy with no shirt on that died choking on a chocolate chip cookie. I finished wrestling my pants on, jumped out of the van and wheezed out cookie dust like a coal miner with black lung disease, convulsing my body into whatever shape it needed to expel the Famous Amos from my piehole. A homeless man in the alley saw me and undoubtedly thought to himself, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Man, those hillbillies cannot dance, and have no rhythm</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">. Somehow, I prevailed. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t do anything but cough and hack, but I fought the cookie, and I won, dammit. It was not my time to die.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Five minutes later, given a bottle of water and time to regain my composure, I strolled in the door of the record store to loud applause. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">If they only knew</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, I thought. I put on my guitar and rocked the house.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Deke Dickerson<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">April 2011</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment-->Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-82621339904786262012011-04-03T20:01:00.000-07:002011-05-14T21:06:26.747-07:00JOHNNY PAYCHECK aka DONNY YOUNG: THE EARLY YEARS<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">SHAKIN' THE BLUES</span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4dzab4RP8f4/TZlCbYiWd1I/AAAAAAAAAL4/hnciAl3CfR0/s1600/DonnyYoungphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4dzab4RP8f4/TZlCbYiWd1I/AAAAAAAAAL4/hnciAl3CfR0/s640/DonnyYoungphoto.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Much ado has been made of "the early years" of the artist known as Johnny Paycheck. In recent times several excellent compilations of his Little Darlin' label recordings have been made available, which has been a blessing for collectors and new fans alike.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, everything that has been written about the man born Donald Eugene Lytle seems to suggest that one day in 1964, he emerged perfectly hatched as country superstar Johnny Paycheck. Only a few of the bios mention in passing that he had made a few failed records early on under the guise of Donny Young, and even then only in the shortest words possible, as if this was an unpleasant factoid to be swept under the rug and forgotten.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What these historians seem to forget is that Paycheck (who, despite his numerous pseudonyms, shall be referred to henceforth as Paycheck, even when referencing his earlier self) had spent years making a slew of brilliant honky-tonk, near-rockabilly, and stone country records, some of the best records he would ever make, under that forgotten nom de plume of Donny Young.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The fact that these records did not sell--truthfully, that they could not even be given away--fails to diminish the excitement that they offer when heard with fresh ears some forty-five years down the road. They are great records, great songs, and great productions.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nashville, then as now, only recognizes financial success, and these records were flops, therefore they must have been terrible records, according to the Nashville standard. Nobody bought Cadillacs from these discs, and the name Donny Young draws a blank stare from all but the most astute music historians. However, their failure was more likely due to the uncontrollable, ornery, drugging and drinking nature of the young man who sang them, and to the lack of promotion on the part of the record labels, than to any lack of musical greatness. The greatness was there, fully intact; it would just take a name change, a smart manager, and the advent of Outlaw Country before the Cadillacs would come, and the respect of the country music establishment with them.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Donald Eugene Lytle was born May 31, 1938, in Greenfield, Ohio, an unlikely place for a future country star to hail from, but not entirely out of character. Outside of Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, Ohio was one hick town after another, and country music had always been king. The great radio powerhouse WLW broadcast out of Cincinnati, bringing the sounds of country music to towns like Greenfield, and of course WSM and the Grand Ole Opry were well within broadcast range.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The giant record label King was based out of Cincinnati, releasing hundreds of budget country albums, and the Jimmie Skinner Record Shop, also based out of Cincy, distributed millions of those country discs to rural areas such as Greenfield and every other little town in a thousand-mile radius.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When asked about his early years, Paycheck remembered his mother having Hank Williams 78 RPM records in their house and reckoned that Hank was his biggest influence. His mother gave the lad a guitar at the age of six and began entering him in talent contests in the nearby area when he was nine. By thirteen he was working steadily as a professional singer at Paul Angel's Club 28 in Greenfield.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Not content with local stability, Paycheck began drifting early on, hopping a freight train at the age of fifteen and traveling to all the cities in the tri-state area. Wherever he would land, he would get a job as a singer at a local honky-tonk, and he worked at many of the top country nightclubs in Ohio before making the big decision to join the Navy.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's hard to imagine anyone less suited for the rigors of military life than Johnny Paycheck, and sure enough within a few months he had been court-martialed and put in the brig for fracturing an officer's skull during a brawl. In 1956 he was sentenced to hard time for the offense and began serving it at a military prison in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While in the brig, Paycheck attempted to escape so many times that eventually they reduced his sentence, and long before his release date they let him go out of sheer exasperation. After being freed, Paycheck drifted to Florida, Texas, and then finally decided to give it a go as a professional country music singer in Nashville.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After arriving in Nashville, Paycheck was discovered by Buddy Killen, who gave him a job as a songwriter and demo singer for Tree Publishing (still a huge force in Nashville, but now called Sony/ATV Music Publishing). While it was a professional gig in the music business, it was the sort of job where one barely made enough money to rent a hot attic room at a boardinghouse.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paycheck caught a break, however, when the producer Owen Bradley, who also acted as an A&R man for Decca Records, heard one of his demos and signed him to a recording contract, which must have seemed like a huge break for the struggling young singer. It was, but as it went for Buddy Holly with Decca a few years earlier, simply having releases on the label was no guarantee of success.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Producer Owen Bradley must have believed in the young singer, though, as four singles were released over the next three years, all excellent examples of hard-core honky-tonk and country.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first release was "It's Been a Long, Long Time for Me" b/w "On This Mountain Top," released as Decca 9-30763 in November of 1958. The topside was written by Paycheck, a great bouncy number reminiscent of the hits Faron Young was having at the time. The flip featured Paycheck's "roaring" buddy <a href="http://www.rogermiller.com/">Roger Miller</a> on harmony vocals, and Miller was given a cobilling on the label. The record was superb on all accounts, with an impassioned vocal and the full A-team session-man treatment from Owen Bradley. This statement can be echoed time and time again throughout these notes, but it should have been a hit. It was a great record.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paycheck and Roger Miller were both destined for stardom, but in the studio at that moment in the fall of 1958 they were unknown, two very small fish in a very big pond. It would be years before either one would taste the glory of a hit record. By any standard it was an auspicious debut, but for all intents and purposes, the careers of both men began that night--the start of a long, hard slog for both of them.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The second record, "The Old Man and the River" b/w "Pictures Can't Talk," released as Decca 9-30881 in April of 1959, was yet another two-side artistic success that garnered no sales. Roger Miller's tune on the topside (he was also writing song demos for Tree Music at the same time) was a great Cajun-flavored song with a memorable chorus, and Paycheck's flip was a first-rate weeper that suited his wounded enunciation perfectly.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By this point Paycheck must have been tasting the bitter pill of realization, just as Buddy Holly had a few years earlier: that good product didn't automatically translate into hit records and those elusive Cadillacs.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By the time of the third release, "Shakin' the Blues" b/w "Miracle of Love," Paycheck really hit his stride. This record can only be considered a masterpiece in every respect: songwriting (it was written by none other than Paycheck's boss at this point, George Jones), arrangement, performance, and production. It was a record that had "HIT" written all over it, and yet again it failed to chart.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vdrEk5cRvAs/TZlC_39vatI/AAAAAAAAAL8/yG4yLL5vBz8/s1600/DonnyYoungDECCA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="628" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vdrEk5cRvAs/TZlC_39vatI/AAAAAAAAAL8/yG4yLL5vBz8/s640/DonnyYoungDECCA.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While "Shakin' the Blues" has seen release on numerous rockabilly compilations, the truth is that it was just hard-driving honky-tonk with a beat. The twin fiddles and steel guitar could have made it a Ray Price session, but Paycheck's frantic vocal separates into something else entirely, something entirely his own. The mold for the later Paycheck hits was cast with this record--edgy, unpredictable, and raw--which certainly would make him a good candidate for rockabilly but actually foreshadowed the Outlaw Country movement that would come some years later.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ignored by the public and critics alike, as time went on gradually people became aware of "Shakin' the Blues," and now some forty-five years after its release, many collectors and country music aficionados now consider it one of the best records cut in Nashville during the golden era of the late 1950s "Nashville Sound."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The failure of "Shakin' the Blues" must have soured Decca on the marketability of Donny Young, and he was allowed to record no more sessions at Bradley's studio. One more 45 was released in July of 1961, "I Guess I Had It Coming" b/w "Go Ring the Bells" (Decca 9-31283), which was made up of two leftovers from the earlier sessions. The topside was written by Paycheck and dated from the first session in 1958, featuring Roger Miller on harmony vocals once again, though he was not credited on this release. The flip was a ballad by Don Gibson, who was hot as a pistol at the time, but it didn't seem to help Donny Young one bit. Although both were again great songs with a lot going for them, this release seems to have been an afterthought, with no promotion put behind it whatsoever. Decca dropped Paycheck soon thereafter, and he moved back to Ohio.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Collectors rejoice: One unreleased song from the Decca period, "Story Behind the Photograph," has surfaced and is included here for the first time. Also, it should be noted that several Paycheck discographies list a record credited to Jimmy Dallas, "Hurtin' in My Heart" b/w "My Kind of Love" (Decca 9-31133), as actually being Paycheck singing under a pseudonym. This simply isn't the case. Jimmy Dallas was a fairly established country singer from Kansas City who had been making records since the early 1950s, and this Decca release bears no resemblance to Paycheck's style whatsoever, making its inclusion on several Paycheck discographies all the more baffling.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While licking his wounds back in Ohio, Paycheck had the fortune to hook up with a like-minded young singer named <a href="http://www.darrellmccallcountry.com/">Darrell McCall</a>, who was also an Ohio native with a love for hard-core country music. The pair started singing together and discovered that their vocal harmonies meshed perfectly. Soon Paycheck was plotting his return to Nashville, this time as part of a duo, which he christened the Young Brothers (and, indeed, Darrell McCall would be known as Darrell Young around Nashville for a number of years).</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As McCall recounts, the pair hit Nashville with something less than a splash, with literally pennies between them. The first night in town, they slept underneath the Main Street bridge before getting a room at Mom Upchurch's boardinghouse, which served as a headquarters for broke musicians looking for work. Roger Miller also lived there, and Paycheck relished being reunited with his old buddy. Between Paycheck, McCall, and Miller, they began setting a standard for rowdy behavior that is the benchmark for country musicians to this day.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Darrell McCall blames most of this on their copious use of uppers, a common party favor during the 1960s. To quote McCall, "You had to take uppers back then, just to keep up with the grueling pace. We started out with what they called Ol' Yellers, which weren't too bad for you, as they had vitamins and nutrients inside. Then we got into White Crosses, Black Mollys, Yellowjackets, and Speckled Birds, which were harsher and harsher forms of speed as time went along. By the time we got around to Speckled Birds, things were getting pretty nuts."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">During Paycheck's tenure with Decca Records, he had been hiring himself out as a sideman to help pay the bills. In fact there hadn't been much promotion of Donny Young the solo artist to speak of, save for one aborted tour with Roger Miller and Bill Anderson that had ended with Miller having to pawn his newly purchased portable record player (which he had bought so the trio could listen to their own records while on the road) for gas money home. Paycheck had a reputation as a good bass player and high harmony singer, and he filled that role with Porter Waggoner, Faron Young, Ray Price, and, most notably, George Jones over the next few years.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Darrell McCall remembers that Ray Price had a custom suit made originally for Paycheck, and that due to Paycheck's volatility, both he and Willie Nelson were called on at various times to play bass for Ray Price, simply because they both fit into Paycheck's suit--something that didn't sit too well with McCall due to both Paycheck's and Willie Nelson's extreme body odor!</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Faron Young took Paycheck, Roger Miller, and Darrell McCall out as sidemen at various times during this period. Paycheck's yearlong stint with Young proved to be one of his longest uninterrupted road gigs.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of all of his sideman jobs, it is probably Paycheck's tenure with George Jones that is best remembered. Jones and Paycheck had a long history over a period dating roughly 1959-66: an on-again, off-again relationship that was as stormy as it was productive.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">According to Darrell McCall, Paycheck had a nasty habit of getting drunk and fighting with his employers, and George Jones was no pushover himself. Both men were short in height and short in temper. The explosive relationship between the two was tempered by the fact that both men dearly loved each other and would always forgive and forget, only to repeat the exact same scenario the next time around.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notably, music historians have pointed out that George Jones seemed to absorb Johnny Paycheck's vocal styling during this time frame, a fact Jones has not exactly denied. Many of the inflections, dips to the low registers following by soaring high notes, and other examples of the classic George Jones style seem to have come directly from working with Paycheck during those years. The proof does lie in the chronology of the recordings: Jones's Starday and Mercury output before working with Paycheck demonstrates a completely different mode of singing that is more rooted in the traditional Hank Williams style than anything else. However, once Donny Young (aka Johnny Paycheck) began singing harmonies with Jones, the style so associated with Jones in later years began to take shape. Paycheck, to his credit, only intimated that both men influenced each other during the time they worked together.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Donny Young aka Johnny Paycheck, playing bass and sharing the microphone with George Jones.</span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jRrpXImNJdM/TcRLgHV_UZI/AAAAAAAAAMk/J8iiFiQXayA/s1600/JohnnyPaycheckGeorgeJones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jRrpXImNJdM/TcRLgHV_UZI/AAAAAAAAAMk/J8iiFiQXayA/s640/JohnnyPaycheckGeorgeJones.jpg" width="636" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In fact it was Jones that got Paycheck his next recording contract, with his own label, Mercury Records. Another two excellent singles were issued under the Donny Young name, presumably backed by the Jones boys (who would also back up Paycheck a few years later on his first hit record,</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A-11</span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">).</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"On Second Thought" b/w "One Day a Week" (Mercury 71900) was released in September 1961, only a few months after the last Decca record escaped. It was another great single . . . that yet again failed to chart. Despite Jones's efforts, the name Donny Young seemed doomed to obscurity.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The second Mercury release, "I'd Come Back to Me" b/w "Not Much I Don't" (Mercury 71981, released in June 1962) was a strong foreshadowing of the style that Paycheck would soon be recording for Hilltop and Little Darlin'. Again it made no waves and sank without a trace.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paycheck had now had two major-label contracts without a lick of success. Continuing to work as a sideman paid the bills, but there were often months where there was no work, and the frustration must have been maddening.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One way to keep a finger in the business and earn some money on the side was by cutting scab, or nonunion, sessions for budget labels around Nashville. During the period of 1960-61 Paycheck, along with Darrell McCall and Roger Miller, would make many soundalike scab recordings for Starday. These were covers of the top hits of the day, which were then sold at a budget price to people who often didn't realize they were being duped by singers attempting to re-create the sound of the original hits.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Darrell McCall recalls that these sessions paid ten dollars each. That must have been demeaning, especially to such talented young men, but it was one way to keep food on the table and get experience in the studio as well.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paycheck had several of his songs released on a series of Dixie EPs (Dixie was a Starday imprint) with no artist credit, and at least one track released on a budget Starday album was credited to Donny Young. All the tracks he recorded during this time are included here, some making their debut after having remained in the can for forty years.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While these are by no means the best recordings Paycheck ever cut, they are fascinating examples of low-budget early-1960s country music. Paycheck does attempt to sound like the singers he's covering, but his own personality can't be helped, and they sound more like what an actual Johnny Paycheck live show must have sounded like than anything else. Darrell McCall and Roger Miller (as well as George McCormick) can be heard singing vocal harmonies on these tracks, and Paycheck can in turn be heard singing harmonies for songs credited to both McCall and Miller, recorded at these same scab sessions.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was at the 1962 Nashville Dee-Jay convention that Eddie Crandall, a music hustler associated with Marty Robbins, played a demo tape of songs for the New York-based A&R man Aubrey Mayhew, who worked for Pickwick Records. Although Crandall was attempting to sell the songs on the tape, Mayhew paid Crandall $200 just to know who it was singing on the demos.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Reportedly, Crandall then led Mayhew to the aforementioned Main Street bridge, under which Paycheck was sleeping one off (Mom Upchurch's boardinghouse locked its doors at midnight). Mayhew began managing the singer, at least as well as anyone could manage him, and spent the next couple of years developing him. According to Mayhew, Paycheck was supposed to keep a low profile and write songs, preparing for their big push, but the stipend Mayhew provided actually translated into pouring a lot of money into an endless black hole of parties and pills.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paycheck ventured westward and spent most of 1962 and 1963 in both Southern California and Las Vegas. In Vegas he worked for <a href="http://www.wynnstewart.com/">Wynn Stewart</a>, who ran the house band at the Nashville Nevada Club. Wynn's bass player at the time was none other than <a href="http://merlehaggard.com/">Merle Haggard</a>, and Haggard hit it off with Paycheck right away--another pairing of two rowdy souls schooled in the art of "roaring."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paycheck loved the West Coast and its country music scene and was a big fan of Buck Owens in particular. According to Darrell McCall, Owens had Paycheck to thank for finally getting him played on the radio in Nashville, which had shut him out up to that point due to his outsider status. Paycheck spent many sleepless nights staying up with Ralph Emery at WSM, and he persuaded Emery to play one of Owens's discs, which helped break Owens into the Nashville establishment. Later on, after being christened Johnny Paycheck, he would cover an obscure Buck Owens album track, "A-11," and turn it into his first breakout hit.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Exactly how Paycheck's last release under the name Donny Young came about is unknown. The Todd label was the brainchild of the Decca A&R man Paul Cohen, who had run it as a sideline business since 1957, releasing everything from rockabilly (Jericho Jones) to surf (Bobby Fuller) and all styles in between. Presumably Paycheck still had some contact with Paul Cohen from the Decca days, or perhaps it was a deal brokered by Aubrey Mayhew, but either way it was a great record that never had a chance.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Don't You Get Lonesome" b/w "I'm Glad to Have Her Back Again" was released as Todd 1098 in early 1964. If it were possible, it made even less of a splash than the Decca and Mercury singles, vanishing without a trace, and today it remains the rarest of all the Donny Young releases.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CWelOrf-sUI/TZlFK88LTiI/AAAAAAAAAMA/EeT1nW9BK7Q/s1600/DonnyYoungTODD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="628" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CWelOrf-sUI/TZlFK88LTiI/AAAAAAAAAMA/EeT1nW9BK7Q/s640/DonnyYoungTODD.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Little is known about the Todd record, though both sides are again excellent honky-tonk shuffles. They closely resemble the type of songs that Paycheck would soon become known for on Hilltop and Little Darlin'. Gino King, who played guitar with Little Jimmy Dickens for many years, remembers playing guitar and singing harmony on the Todd disc, but beyond that all session details are unknown.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another collectors' note: Several discographies list a Donny Young single on American-Canadian (AmCan) as being another Paycheck disc. The record features an obviously different singer and is not included here.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Had it not been for Aubrey Mayhew, the man born Donald Lytle might have continued using the Donny Young stage name indefinitely, perhaps making scads more obscure singles and touring as a sideman with a dozen more big-name stars. As it turned out, Mayhew rechristened Donny Young as Johnny Paycheck after an obscure prizefighter, and he even formed a new Pickwick subsidiary, which he named Hilltop, specifically to release Johnny Paycheck records.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The timing was right this time around. With Paycheck's third release on Hilltop, "A-11," Paycheck finally had a chart hit. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; font-size: large;">Check out an amazing vintage television clip of Paycheck singing "A-11" <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nw7jIaRDgA">here.</a></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">During the course of the next few years Paycheck and Mayhew, along with steel guitarist Lloyd Green, would record a slew of highly influential records and set the mold for exactly who and what Johnny Paycheck was supposed to be--dark, brooding, moody, violent--with such milestone recordings as "Pardon Me (I've Got Someone to Kill," "You'll Recover in Time" (about being straightjacketed in a mental ward) and "The Cave" (a song about nuclear destruction), all of which sent influential waves of change throughout the country music community.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The seeds were sown during these years of 1964-69 for what would then be known as Outlaw Country, and no one could fit that bill better than Johnny Paycheck, a man who lived the life he sang about. By the time of his next resurrection in the early 1970s with producer Billy Sherrill, Paycheck was poised for superstardom with such megahits as "She's All I Got" in 1971, and of course his 1977 anthem "Take This Job and Shove It," the song that would forevermore define him.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xh2ssKocbl4/TZlGBh2P8NI/AAAAAAAAAME/jYjaFcEvXPE/s1600/JohnnyPaycheck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xh2ssKocbl4/TZlGBh2P8NI/AAAAAAAAAME/jYjaFcEvXPE/s640/JohnnyPaycheck.jpg" width="632" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was an astounding nineteen years between the day Paycheck first entered a recording studio and his first number-one hit. It's likely that few of the bikers, truckers, and long-haired rebels buying the Paycheck records of the late '70s knew that the gravelly-voiced survivor dated back to a completely different era, when he was a skinny, pompadoured young man with a soaring, high voice, trying to make a name for himself with a name that no one would ever remember: the forgotten alias of Donny Young.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Postscript: Johnny Paycheck died on February 19, 2003, from emphysema and asthma. He is buried in Nashville at Woodlawn Memorial Park in a plot paid for by his old friend George Jones.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; color: #a65300; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bfg5KcRxmh4/Tc9RMirNwvI/AAAAAAAAAOo/QoNQBGa6tjY/s1600/Johnny+Paycheck+Grave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bfg5KcRxmh4/Tc9RMirNwvI/AAAAAAAAAOo/QoNQBGa6tjY/s640/Johnny+Paycheck+Grave.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span>Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-47644355203181603972011-04-03T16:42:00.000-07:002011-05-06T12:24:12.659-07:00THE RECORD WHISPERER<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">JIM COOPRIDER--</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">THE RECORD WHISPERER</span><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SomuVvggths/TZkI7YZh5LI/AAAAAAAAAL0/SsRsACluAmk/s1600/recordwall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SomuVvggths/TZkI7YZh5LI/AAAAAAAAAL0/SsRsACluAmk/s640/recordwall.jpg" width="476" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> If you ever find yourself at the </span><a href="http://www.pasadena.edu/fleamarket/recordswap.cfm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Pasadena Swap Meet</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> looking through records, he’s not hard to spot. Jim Cooprider is always there, carrying his trusty wooden record box, lacquered with rare record labels on the side.<br />
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The first few times I saw Jim Cooprider, I have to confess, I thought he must be completely insane. He wasn’t much for socializing with other collectors, at least while he was scouting for records. In fact he is usually found not auditioning records on a player, but instead doing something odd with them, like holding it up to an inch in front of his face, or holding it up to his ear while thumping it with his fingers. More often than not, he would talk to himself, saying things in a mysterious code that only a precious few could decipher:<br />
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“This is a Camden, New Jersey pressing.”<br />
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“This is the 1933 reissue, not the 1927 original.”<br />
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“Hairline crack…. looks fixable.”<br />
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Such uninvited utterances will scare off the timid. More than once I saw a visiting Japanese collector scouring Northern Soul 45’s back away from Jim as he muttered to himself, fearing that he must be one of those crazy Americans they’ve read about.<br />
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It wasn’t until I met Jim’s daughter Yvonne that I got to know him a little better. Once I got to know him, and understand where he’s coming from, I realized that Jim Cooprider understands records the way that lifelong farmers understand weather and soil conditions, or the way that an experienced surgeon realizes the interplay between all the body’s delicate internal systems. In short, I’ve never met a man who was in tune with the physical, emotional, and spiritual properties of records like Jim Cooprider.<br />
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When I say records, I mean records. A visit to Jim Cooprider’s house will find records of all kinds—33, 45, 78, and undoubtedly </span> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unusual_types_of_gramophone_records"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">16 and 80 rpm oddities</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, piled in every corner of every nook and cranny in the residence. That was how I eventually became friends with Jim Cooprider—for if you let him know that you love records too, you’ve made a friend for life.<br />
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Most of us record collectors, even the nerdiest ones among us, focus on the music contained in the grooves, and the condition of the record—for instance, if the scratches on the record impair the pleasure of listening to the musical performance contained within. Jim Cooprider loves music, don’t doubt that for a second (he is happy to espouse the virtues of 20’s jazz, or 50’s doo-wop, or obscure rockabilly gems), but Jim is the only person I’ve ever met who goes far beyond those simple boundaries.<br />
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Jim has handled so many records in his life that he can immediately tell what kind of pressing it is, and usually what pressing plant produced it, and whether or not the disc can be repaired if broken, warped or scratched. Amateurs such as myself know records to be made of different materials (vinyl for LP’s and 45’s, styrene for budget 45’s, shellac for 78’s), but Jim can reveal things about a record that few would realize or understand.<br />
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In this sense, Jim is the “Record Whisperer,” one of my favorite titles for him. Innately, he understands the physical properties of a record as if it were an external manifestation of one of his own vital organs.<br />
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Early on, I learned that Jim was famous for his offer to un-warp any record for a dollar. Dealers would bring in stacks of valuable records that had edge warps, dish warps, storage warps, and Jim would tell them just by looking at the disc what sort of result he would be able to achieve.<br />
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Later, when I was able to go to his home, I got to view this process firsthand, which was as astonishing as any demonstration I’ve ever witnessed. Jim has a method, perfected over decades, of fixing warped records that involves heating in his home oven to a particular temperature, removing the disc from the oven, placing it on a flat piece of heavy glass, and doing a form of rain dance around the disc, bouncing the floor just enough to make the pliable heated record slowly settle to flattened, un-warped perfection.<br />
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I’ve taken records to Jim that friends of mine deemed unrepairable. It doesn’t matter to Jim if the disc is a golden oldie from the thrift store, or a thousand dollar rockabilly record, if he can fix it, he’ll fix it for a buck.<br />
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One of the other tricks in Jim’s trick bag is his method of fixing broken or cracked records. Generally, if a record is broken in two it can’t be repaired to be unnoticeable, but rare discs can be repaired with a number of different chemical compounds on the edges, to get the record fused back together enough to be playable once again. I remember Jim rattling off a list of the chemicals that he uses to fuse records back together again (Methyl-Ethyl-Ketone, or </span> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butanone"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">MEK</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, was one of them—in fact “MEK” is one of the things Jim will often talk about in front of unsuspecting passers-by), all of which exhibited a certain chemical property relating to the particular chemical compound of the record itself.<br />
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In addition to his wizardly ways of working with records, Jim also likes to disc jockey wherever he is welcome. One of my favorite memories of Jim was seeing him DJ using 78-rpm records exclusively at a local venue featuring swing music. Of course, the selections Jim brought were all completely appropriate for the evening, and seeing them played on a 78 player with the CD jukebox in the background was a delightful juxtaposition of images.<br />
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The man has been collecting records for so long, that he’s able to expound on virtually any subject, so long as it relates to records. Unlike most of the “record snobs” I know, Jim is happy to talk about anything from banjo records to classical collections to rock and roll, all with his particular slant on why a certain release was better, be it the performance, mastering, pressing, or packaging.<br />
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One of the other things I dearly love about Jim is that while he does pay differing amounts for records, and has sold records that are valuable, one thing you’ll never hear Jim Cooprider go on about is a record’s collectible value. For myself, it’s a breath of fresh air, having been bored to tears listening to collectors talk about how much their collection is worth. For Jim, it truly is about the love of records.<br />
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With a house full of records, and decades of collecting behind him, it’s easy to wonder why Jim Cooprider still shows up early at the record swap meet. Does he need any more records? The answer is unequivocally no. It’s obviously an addiction, and an obsession that most of us reading this magazine share. However, none of us compare in sheer exhaustive record collecting extremism the way that Jim Cooprider does as a way of life. I love that about the guy. Sometimes, when I’m feeling too lazy to get up for the PCC Swap Meet, I think to myself—Jim’s out there, I need to get up out of bed. If I ever feel a twitch of reality and start thinking I have enough records, I think about Jim and I realize—you can never, ever have too many records.<br />
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Jim Cooprider is really one of the great American characters that make this country so damn interesting. The next time you see him at the swap meet awkwardly holding records right up to his eye, remember—there’s an Albert Einstein level of genius at work there. There are secrets he knows that you and I will never know.<br />
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As generations go by, there seems to be less and less importance on collecting. I remember growing up in the 1970’s that every block had a group of obsessed collectors—the guy who collected vintage model trains, </span> <a href="http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-antique-glass-insulator-collector-ian-macky/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the guy who collected glass telephone pole insulators</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, and the guy who collected old records. I loved those guys, and their passion, and the level of interest in things that most would find mundane. I wanted to be like them (and I guess I am).<br />
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Things like the mp3 player and the recordable CD have changed all that. Kids today seem unimpressed by a wall of vinyl, showing that their Ipod contains more songs on it than thousands of heavy record albums. Kids today also seem to have an attention span that is so short, they can’t be bothered to play individual records such as 45 or 78 singles—it’s too much trouble.<br />
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As such, we may see these intrinsic American characters like Jim Cooprider eventually disappear from the landscape of America. I, for one, will rue that day. Our world is richer for having them. Jim Cooprider is our “record whisperer,” and we should all thank him for it.<br />
<br />
Deke Dickerson</span> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Below: Jim Cooprider, the Record Whisperer.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WfVgWYQq7qE/TcRKyAqA_II/AAAAAAAAAMg/nfrl3yVCHfA/s1600/Jim+Cooprider+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WfVgWYQq7qE/TcRKyAqA_II/AAAAAAAAAMg/nfrl3yVCHfA/s640/Jim+Cooprider+2.jpg" width="488" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span>Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-49292773556370427432010-12-09T23:46:00.000-08:002010-12-09T23:46:26.487-08:00From Vintage Guitar magazine--<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">TINY MOORE’S 1952 </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">BIGSBY MANDOLIN</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFECi-GG1I/AAAAAAAAAKg/Bxf1aor57Vc/s1600/BigsbyTinyMoore.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFECi-GG1I/AAAAAAAAAKg/Bxf1aor57Vc/s1600/BigsbyTinyMoore.JPG" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This author recently contributed—in the form of research, photography, and detective work—to the newly released <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Story-Paul-Bigsby-Electric-Solidbody/dp/0615243045/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1291928693&sr=8-4">book</a> “The Story of Paul Bigsby—Father Of The Modern Solidbody Electric Guitar” (written by Andy Babiuk, Hal Leonard publishing). The book was a mammoth undertaking, with myself and several members of the secret society known as the ‘Bigsby Brain Trust’ attempting to unravel the mysteries of the Paul Bigsby story.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> When the book finally came out, I received many emails asking why Tiny Moore’s historic Bigsby electric mandolin wasn’t featured more prominently in the book (there is a single postage-stamp sized photo of Tiny from a 1980’s album cover). The answer was simple—we didn’t know where Tiny’s mandolin was!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Before the book was published, I had made some inquiries to try and find out the whereabouts of Tiny’s mandolin, with no success. Of course, after the book came out, several people pointed me in the right direction. The mandolin had been in safekeeping for Tiny’s family in the hands of Skip Maggiora of Skip’s Music in Sacramento, an institution in the California Capitol City. The mandolin is now part of Skip’s personal collection, along with historic instruments used by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys and other Western Swing legends.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Luckily, Skip turned out to be a very accommodating guy, and thanks to him we can now give some well-deserved publicity to both the story of Tiny Moore, the electric mandolin virtuoso, and Tiny Moore’s 1952 Bigsby electric mandolin, one of the most important instruments Paul Bigsby ever made.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Tiny Moore in his heyday. (If any readers know where I can find a good original copy of this photo, I'd appreciate it--all I have is this xerox.)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFG7157zuI/AAAAAAAAAKo/xdSXuJM17zI/s1600/BigsbyTiny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFG7157zuI/AAAAAAAAAKo/xdSXuJM17zI/s1600/BigsbyTiny.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Billie ‘Tiny’ Moore was born in Energy, Texas on May 12, 1920, to a musical family. As a baby, Tiny’s mother gave piano lessons and brought Tiny along in a buggy as she taught. As with many Texas families, nearly everybody in the Moore clan played an instrument, and it wasn’t long before Tiny was taking violin lessons and learning how to play the ‘fiddle.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> As a high schooler, Tiny played fiddle and guitar in a group called ‘The Clod Hoppers.’ When the family moved to Port Arthur, Texas, he played with another group that included future jazz guitar legend <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wyble">Jimmy Wyble</a>, and later with a different group that included future jazz guitar legend <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Ellis">Herb Ellis</a>. Tiny also ventured into Cajun country, across the border to Louisiana, playing with groups like Happy Fats’ Rayne-Bo Ramblers. It was during this time that Billie Moore, due to his large size and stature, would earn the nickname he would carry the rest of his life—‘Tiny.’ For those unfamiliar with country culture, giant guys always got the comical nickname ‘Tiny,’ and for young ‘Tiny’ Moore, it stuck.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Tiny’s story really begins in early 1930’s Texas, where a new hybrid style of music called ‘Western Swing’ was starting to take root. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_swing">Western Swing</a> was essentially jazz music, and big band-style pop music, interpreted by country musicians. One important difference between Western Swing musicians and traditional jazz or country musicians was that the Western Swing players took right away to electrified instruments and loud drummers, a necessity in the loud dancehalls where western swing was popular.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Important electric musicians in those early days included <a href="http://westernswing78.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-bob-dunn-box-set-out-now.html">Bob Dunn</a>, the steel guitarist for Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies, an extremely influential steel guitarist who was the first to record with an amplified instrument; and his colleague <a href="http://emando.com/players/Raley.htm">Leo Raley</a>, who played electric mandolin in Cliff Bruner’s Texas Wanderers in that band’s formation following the death of Milton Brown in 1936.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Leo Raley saw no virtue in the traditional acoustic mandolin. Raley added a homemade pickup to his Martin A-style, and played lead electric jazz mandolin, a role that the instrument had never taken before (it should be noted that the first commercially available electric mandolins, from Gibson and Vega, debuted the same year—1936—that Raley began playing his Martin with the homemade pickup). Raley didn’t play the chordal style so associated with the polite parlor mandolin, and he didn’t play like a Bluegrass boy—Raley instead reinvented the mandolin as a little brother to the electric guitar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Leo Raley started a small movement in Southeast Texas when he began using the electric mandolin as a lead instrument for western swing. Raley was not a virtuoso soloist, but those who followed Raley’s example were. These included players such as <a href="http://www.johnnygimble.com/">Johnny Gimble</a>, who went on to play fiddle and mandolin for Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys; <a href="http://www.emando.com/players/Buskirk.htm">Paul Buskirk</a>, the Houston-area virtuoso who played mandolin and guitar for everybody from Tex Ritter to Willie Nelson (Buskirk didn’t really play like Raley, coming from a West Virginia background, but undoubtedly Raley’s use of amplification influenced him); and young ‘Tiny’ Moore, who decided after seeing Raley to concentrate on lead electric mandolin as his main instrument.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The first electric mandolin Tiny played was a custom-made instrument by his friend Raymond Jones. As Tiny progressed, he eventually bought a brand new Gibson EM-150 electric mandolin, strung up with only four strings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> As World War Two began, Tiny concentrated on learning the mandolin, and after being drafted in 1943, Tiny served a two-year stint in the military working as a radio operator in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The time spent in the Dakotas must have been good for woodshedding, for when Tiny returned to Port Arthur in 1945, he was a monster player, with the ‘Tiny Moore style’ fully formed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In 1945 and 1946 Tiny played with legendary honky-tonk piano player <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Mullican">Moon Mullican</a> and his band the Showboys. It was by far the most professional gig he had worked thus far, and gave Tiny a hint of what might be possible, if he was lucky enough to catch a break.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Moon Mullican on stage at the Big D Jamboree, Dallas.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFGR1f8XVI/AAAAAAAAAKk/UQMn8uqBqBs/s1600/MoonMullican.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFGR1f8XVI/AAAAAAAAAKk/UQMn8uqBqBs/s640/MoonMullican.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> That break came for Tiny in the most unlikely manner possible. Tiny had made plans to move to Oklahoma with a drummer friend in search of work, when the pair happened to drive past a late night diner in Beaumont, Texas, and saw Bob Wills’ tour bus parked in the lot. Bob Wills, lead vocalist Tommy Duncan, and Bob’s brother Billy Jack Wills were in the restaurant eating sandwiches after a performance at Beaumont’s Pleasure Pier, and Tiny wanted to meet them. Tiny struck up a conversation with Wills, and it wasn’t long before Wills asked him to get his mandolin from his car and play a little for them. Tiny was hired on the spot, got on the tour bus the next morning and became a featured member of Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys for the next four years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys, with Tiny Moore, second from left.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFNWkVW4FI/AAAAAAAAAK8/11xYwoben5o/s1600/BobWIlls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="500" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFNWkVW4FI/AAAAAAAAAK8/11xYwoben5o/s640/BobWIlls.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Bob Wills had been performing Western Swing music since the early 1930’s, first as a member of the Light Crust Doughboys (a corporate sponsored hot fiddle band that also included the other major architect of Western Swing, Milton Brown), and beginning in 1933 with his own band the Texas Playboys. The late 1930’s incarnation of the band was a large orchestra with brass and woodwind sections, however after losing most of his players to the draft in World War Two, Wills restructured the Playboys after the war to be a smaller, electrified combo with the emphasis on hot string players. The late 1940’s lineups of the Texas Playboys included incredible musicians like <a href="http://www.texasplayboys.net/Biographies/junior.htm">Junior Barnard</a> on bluesy, distorted electric guitar; <a href="http://www.remingtonsteelguitars.com/about.html">Herb Remington</a> playing incredibly adventurous steel guitar, and fellow Texan Johnny Gimble on fiddle and mandolin. Together with Tiny’s hot electric mandolin, the group worked up incredible two, three, and four-part harmony leads that Western Swing scholars are still trying to pick apart today.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Bob Wills and Tiny Moore.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFPywfMshI/AAAAAAAAALA/nSSCn5UDua8/s1600/BobWIlls2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFPywfMshI/AAAAAAAAALA/nSSCn5UDua8/s640/BobWIlls2.jpg" width="572" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In the late 1940’s, Wills owned a dancehall called Wills Point in Sacramento, California, but by 1950 had moved the Texas Playboys home base from Sacramento to Oklahoma City. After several years of hard touring, Tiny was beginning to tire of the road, and when Wills offered Tiny a position to manage Wills Point and stay off the road, Tiny jumped at the chance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Bob Wills had three brothers, all of whom had their own bands. Many of the famous Texas Playboys came up through the ranks of Luke Wills, Johnny Lee Wills, or Billy Jack Wills’ various combos. Although the various Wills bands were essentially ‘farm teams’ for big brother Bob’s star attraction, ‘Billy Jack Wills and his Western Swing Band’ became something altogether different when Tiny Moore put together a new group for Billy Jack to front the house band at Wills Point.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The two CD’s of material that Billy Jack Wills and his band record in the early to mid-1950’s reveal that there was something truly magical going on in the group dynamic, much more so than in Bob’s band at the same time. Billy Jack Wills was 21 years younger than older brother Bob, and as such, the music was geared to a younger audience. Tiny, along with young virtuoso steel guitarist Vance Terry, guitarist Kenny Lowery, trumpeter Dick McComb and fiddler/bassist Cotton Roberts, created a hot dance band that filled the gap somewhere between Western Swing and the new Rock & Roll style of Bill Haley And The Comets. The playing was off the Richter scale, with Tiny trading insanely hot solos and breathtaking twin harmony leads with Vance Terry.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Billy Jack Wills and his Western Swing Band (photo courtesy Andrew Brown).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFIs9Ki9pI/AAAAAAAAAKs/Orx1fVpPMe8/s1600/Billy+Jack+Wills+-2lo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFIs9Ki9pI/AAAAAAAAAKs/Orx1fVpPMe8/s1600/Billy+Jack+Wills+-2lo.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Vance Terry, wanting an instrument like other top steel players like Joaquin Murphey, Speedy West, and Noel Boggs, ordered a custom-made Bigsby triple-neck steel guitar in 1951. A Bigsby steel guitar was something only the top professionals could afford at the time, as Paul Bigsby built each instrument by hand, with a waiting list a year long to buy his instruments. Bigsby’s handcrafted instruments also cost two to three times more than a comparable Gibson or Fender. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Tiny Moore followed Vance Terry’s example and went to visit Paul Bigsby. Tiny ordered a Bigsby electric mandolin for himself, to replace and update his ten-year-old Gibson EM-150. While Tiny has erroneously been credited with receiving the first solidbody electric mandolin, the truth is that Bigsby made his first electric mandolin (unless an earlier example surfaces) for Paul Buskirk in 1950, which was a ten-string mandolin strung in 5 courses (not to mention the fact that Bigsby instruments made after early 1949 aren’t true ‘solidbodies,’ they are neck-through-body instruments with hollow wings). Bigsby also made several other mandolins around the same time, including electric mandolins for Eschol Cosby and Al Giddings, and a re-necked Kay acoustic mandolin for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nudie-Rodeo-Tailor-Original-Rhinestone/dp/1586853813">Nudie Cohn the ‘Rodeo Tailor</a>,’ among others.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Tiny originally placed an order with Bigsby for a four-string electric mandolin. The story of how Tiny’s mandolin wound up being a five-string is an interesting sidebar in the Bigsby saga.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> After Paul Buskirk had his 10-string mandolin made in 1950, he brought it back to Houston, where a local mandolin player named Scotty Broyles saw the instrument and noted that Buskirk added a fifth pair of strings, tuned to a low C below the standard mandolin tuning of G-D-A-E.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> A short time later Scotty Broyles went into the Navy and found himself stationed in San Diego at the Naval Base on North Island. San Diego had a tremendous country music and western swing scene in the early 50’s, centered at the Bostonia Ballroom east of San Diego in El Cajon. Here Scotty saw just about every top country music star of the day in person, and took color slide photographs whenever he could (in fact, several of Scotty’s beautiful color slides were included in the Bigsby book, including the only known color photograph of Merle Travis holding his 1948 Bigsby electric guitar).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Scotty befriended another country music fan on the Naval base, a musician and amateur guitar builder named Jim Harvey. Beginning around 1951, Jim Harvey built guitars, steel guitars, and mandolins in his La Jolla garage workshop, all showing a heavy Bigsby influence—neck-through-body construction, birdseye maple bodies with natural finish, aluminum nuts and bridges, etc. Soon Harvey agreed to build Scotty a 5-string electric mandolin, based on the Buskirk 10-string idea but with 5 single strings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Jim Harvey’s earliest creations had DeArmond floating pickups, as they were the only commercially available pickup at that time (it might be hard to imagine, but 60 years ago guitar manufacturers wouldn’t sell their pickups or parts as separate accessory items). Jim Harvey was aware of Paul Bigsby’s pickups, and he decided to drive up to Downey to meet Bigsby in person and ask to purchase pickups for use on his own Jim Harvey instruments.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Scotty Broyles tells the story: “Jim asked Paul if he would sell him a pickup, and Paul said he’d have to see his work, and if it was good enough, he might consider it. Jim went out to his car and got the guitar he was working on, and Bigsby spent about ten minutes slowly looking it over. Finally, without saying anything, Paul walked over to a cabinet mounted on the wall, pulls out a pickup, comes back over to Jim and tells him the pickups are fifty dollars, and they’re the same price if he takes the pickup by itself or leaves the instrument to have him install it.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Jim Harvey would go on to make a dozen or so instruments, about half of which used Bigsby pickups, including Scotty’s electric five-string mandolin. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Scotty recalls how Tiny Moore became associated with the five-string electric mandolin: “Jim Harvey had taken my unfinished mandolin up there to Paul Bigsby to have a five-string pickup installed. Well, it was sitting around Bigsby’s shop for a few weeks while he installed the pickup, and about that time, Tiny Moore came and visited Bigsby to see how his new electric mandolin was coming. Tiny had ordered a four-string mandolin, but when he saw my Harvey five-string mandolin lying there, he changed his mind and told Paul right then and there his had to be a five-string too. Paul was mad, because he was just about done with Tiny’s instrument! Eventually Tiny got his way, and that’s the reason Tiny’s Bigsby had five strings instead of four, was because he saw mine in the shop.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Scotty Broyles and his 1952 Harvey 5-string mandolin, with Bigsby pickup.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFJpiiP4iI/AAAAAAAAAKw/869MdQyuXW4/s1600/HarveyScottyBroyles.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFJpiiP4iI/AAAAAAAAAKw/869MdQyuXW4/s640/HarveyScottyBroyles.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Tiny’s Bigsby mandolin was finished on September 3, 1952, and we know that because the serial number stamped in the body near the mandolin’s tailpiece reads 9352. Paul Bigsby didn’t leave us much information on the creation of his instruments, but we do know (because he told many of his clients) that the serial numbers represented the date of completion. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHTWkxuBiI/AAAAAAAAALI/kKydetNu1lg/s1600/DSC04840.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHTWkxuBiI/AAAAAAAAALI/kKydetNu1lg/s640/DSC04840.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Tiny Moore’s Bigsby, although now weathered and showing the signs of decades of hard work on the road, is a magnificent example of Paul Bigsby’s work. One of the hallmarks of Bigsby instruments is the graceful slope where the neck joins the body. All genuine Bigsbys have this slope that seamlessly fades the back of the neck into the neck/body joint (and it’s easy to spot a forgery when they lack this feature), and the one on Tiny Moore’s mandolin is perhaps the most graceful example of the neck-to-body fade this author has ever seen. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHUOaeIkMI/AAAAAAAAALM/WDyayBnpWBs/s1600/DSC04819.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHUOaeIkMI/AAAAAAAAALM/WDyayBnpWBs/s640/DSC04819.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The binding, inlay and construction are tight and expertly done. At some point Tiny replaced the early Klusons with replacement tuners, and moved the rear strap hook from the tail area to the top of the instrument, but other than that, the instrument is in remarkably original condition (astute Tiny Moore fans may note that the instrument had a few sets of different volume and tone knobs over its lifetime of use, but the ones on it now are the originals that Skip found inside the instrument’s case).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHU3P6qb2I/AAAAAAAAALQ/HGkTWjA9qPI/s1600/DSC04810.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHU3P6qb2I/AAAAAAAAALQ/HGkTWjA9qPI/s640/DSC04810.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHVSDmFABI/AAAAAAAAALU/MbiVMZ5lZS0/s1600/DSC04812.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHVSDmFABI/AAAAAAAAALU/MbiVMZ5lZS0/s640/DSC04812.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Detail for geeks: Note that the Bigsby 5-pole pickup used the same covers as the 6-pole pickup, which had cast "dimples" for the six poles. For the 5-pole pickup, Bigsby simply drilled between the dimples.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHV2prGJUI/AAAAAAAAALY/ZgL1HGcpwaQ/s1600/DSC04831.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHV2prGJUI/AAAAAAAAALY/ZgL1HGcpwaQ/s640/DSC04831.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Tiny’s instrument has a couple of unique features, despite the fact that all Bigsby instruments are unique. A feature not found on any other Bigsby instrument is the master volume control located above the bridge, with the tone control by the pickup switch, suited to Tiny’s ergonomic preference. The bridge saddle is straight across at a slight angle, which all of Bigsby’s mandolins and the upper mandolin neck of Grady Martin’s doubleneck guitar have in common, unlike the typical compensated Bigsby bridge saddle found on the larger instruments. The mandolin’s top and back are made of figured curly maple, unlike the birdseye maple used on most, but not all, Bigsby instruments. The mandolin utilizes the standard mandolin scale length of 13 7/8”. With its neck-through-body design (with hollow wings) style of construction, the instrument is also light as a feather, as most Bigsbys are.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHWpldJLQI/AAAAAAAAALc/u4yTusarQ0A/s1600/DSC04838.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHWpldJLQI/AAAAAAAAALc/u4yTusarQ0A/s640/DSC04838.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHXOPkb6XI/AAAAAAAAALg/uoyTyINzHTE/s1600/DSC04836.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHXOPkb6XI/AAAAAAAAALg/uoyTyINzHTE/s640/DSC04836.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHXzuujIgI/AAAAAAAAALk/jdDIRchV9As/s1600/DSC04856.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHXzuujIgI/AAAAAAAAALk/jdDIRchV9As/s640/DSC04856.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> When Tiny received his Bigsby mandolin in the fall of 1952, he used the instrument extensively with Billy Jack Wills’ band, and also on several Bob Wills recording sessions in 1955. If you search out the Billy Jack Wills CD’s (not available on iTunes, but the CD’s are easily found on eBay), you can hear Tiny’s Bigsby in all its glory, and it really is a magnificent sounding instrument. With Tiny mixing Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian guitar licks into his mandolin playing, Tiny probably influenced more guitar players than mandolin players.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Tiny was so good, in fact, that he received offers from huge stars of the day such as Red Foley to go on the road and leave the Sacramento gig behind. Tiny refused the offers, though they would have meant a huge pay raise.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Another classic shot of the Billy Jack Wills band (courtesy of Andrew Brown).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFKBIH8qUI/AAAAAAAAAK0/RmJwGAdkNig/s1600/BillyjackWills-1-lo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFKBIH8qUI/AAAAAAAAAK0/RmJwGAdkNig/s1600/BillyjackWills-1-lo.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Bob Wills wound up drafting most of the Billy Jack Wills band into the Texas Playboys touring band in 1955, and after Wills Point closed in Sacramento, Tiny rejoined Bob Wills’ band for a short time before quitting the road once again, choosing to remain in his adopted hometown of Sacramento.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> From 1956 to 1961 Tiny played locally and appeared on local children’s television as ‘Ranger Roy,’ a character he invented for a kid’s show with a monkey as his sidekick (Skip recalls: “Tiny had a real nice old Gibson flat-top acoustic guitar, but it got covered in monkey bites and claw marks during his ‘Ranger Roy’ phase!”). When that gig ended, Tiny founded the ‘Tiny Moore Music Center’ in Sacramento, selling instruments and giving lessons—where a young Skip Maggiora also taught and sometimes would run the studio when Tiny was on the road.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In the 1970’s, Tiny collaborated with Jay Roberts to make the Roberts ‘<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mando_gal/483518620/">Tiny Moore Model</a>’ electric mandolin, very loosely modeled after Tiny’s Bigsby. They were sold directly out of Tiny’s music store, and not many of them were produced. Today they are quite collectible, though the Roberts are not Bigsby copies—they are different in nearly every way except the basic appearance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Tiny had a great second career when Merle Haggard came calling in 1970 to do a Texas Playboys reunion album. Haggard was obsessed with the music of Bob Wills and is directly responsible for bringing Wills’ name out of fading obscurity back into the limelight. Tiny played both mandolin and fiddle, and did so well with Merle’s band (‘The Strangers’) that he became a regular member of the touring and recording band. Tiny would continue to play with Merle Haggard on and off throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, eventually ending the Haggard gig when Merle insisted his entire band relocate to the Redding, California, area—Tiny declared he was staying in Sacramento and handed in his resignation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Tiny's original Bigsby case still has the "Merle Haggard Road Show" sticker on it from his 1970's tours.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHYXIsfMoI/AAAAAAAAALo/guk0k9CRpMo/s1600/DSC04867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHYXIsfMoI/AAAAAAAAALo/guk0k9CRpMo/s640/DSC04867.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In the last few years of his life, Tiny recorded a few new albums, mostly straight jazz albums by himself and with fellow mandolin virtuoso Jethro Burns. One of those albums, ‘Tiny Moore Music,’ shows the aging, but still agile, master of the instrument holding his battle-scared Bigsby mandolin on the cover.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFK1HWTv4I/AAAAAAAAAK4/JyVBMKRQLt4/s1600/BigsbyTinyMooreLP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQFK1HWTv4I/AAAAAAAAAK4/JyVBMKRQLt4/s640/BigsbyTinyMooreLP.jpg" width="634" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Tiny Moore died on December 15, 1987, while playing a gig at Cactus Pete’s in Jackpot, Nevada. Until the day he died, Tiny was still playing great, rocking his little electric mandolin like the mighty instrument it was.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Skip Maggiora founded Skip’s Music in Sacramento in 1973, and Skip’s is now an institution around the area. Tiny’s three most important mandolins—the Gibson EM-150, Tiny’s personal Roberts mandolin, and of course, the legendary 1952 Bigsby mandolin are now treasured centerpieces of Skip’s personal instrument collection.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: The three instruments used by Tiny Moore in his long career, photographed at Skip's Music (thanks Skip):</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHSMe4kb7I/AAAAAAAAALE/jT1YM1UZnR8/s1600/DSC04869.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TQHSMe4kb7I/AAAAAAAAALE/jT1YM1UZnR8/s640/DSC04869.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> While Tiny's Bigsby mandolin was sadly overlooked in the recent Bigsby book, I’m proud to tell Tiny’s story here in these pages. Thanks to Skip, we’re able to get a better look at this incredibly historic and important Bigsby instrument.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Deke Dickerson<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Thanks to Skip Maggiora, Andrew Brown, Chris Lucker, and Scotty Broyles.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The author is interested in hearing from readers with Tiny Moore stories, or from anybody with a Bigsby story to tell. Email Deke Dickerson </span></span><a href="mailto:eccofonic@earthlink.net"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><!--EndFragment-->Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-88466335658745647582010-11-29T00:52:00.000-08:002010-11-29T00:52:08.550-08:00LETRITIA KANDLE--FEMALE ELECTRIC GUITAR PIONEER from Vintage Guitar Magazine<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">THE STORY OF LETRITIA KANDLE—FEMALE ELECTRIC GUITAR PIONEER—AND THE MAGNIFICENT ‘GRAND LETAR’</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNT6r0gDOI/AAAAAAAAAJk/2qRNXe60PFA/s1600/LetritiaLEADPHOTO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNT6r0gDOI/AAAAAAAAAJk/2qRNXe60PFA/s1600/LetritiaLEADPHOTO.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">When you run down the list of early electric guitar innovators, an all-male group comes to mind. </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Paul"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Les Paul</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvino_Rey"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Alvino Rey</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Christian"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Charlie Christian</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merle_Travis"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Merle Travis</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, and </span></span><a href="http://www.museumofmakingmusic.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=206&Itemid=4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the like</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">—there isn’t a female on the list. This is the story of a woman named Letritia Kandle who, although virtually unknown until now, deserves to be on that short list of those who pioneered the electrified instrument back in the 1930’s. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The list of innovations contained within Letritia’s 1937 ‘Grand Letar’ console steel guitar is impressive—the first guitar amplifier with two speakers, the first console steel guitar (first steel guitar that was not a “lap” steel), the first steel guitar with more than two necks, a series of tuning advancements that predated the modern pedal steel guitar, and perhaps most incredibly, a built-in moving light show with lighted front, sides and fretboards. You read it right, a built-in light show—in 1937!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This story is really about two people. Firstly, Letritia Kandle, the musician and steel guitar pioneer who is the subject of this article, and secondly, Paul Warnik, the tireless researcher and steel guitar historian who recently uncovered Letritia’s amazing story.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Paul Warnik is a Chicago-area steel guitar collector who has seen just about everything over the years. However, one image always haunted him—a photo from the National guitar chapter in Tom Wheeler’s book ‘American Guitars.’ The photo caption in Wheeler’s book merely said </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“Teacher Letritia Kandle poses with National’s Grand Letar Console Steel.”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> A photo shows a pretty young woman from decades past posing in front of a large multi-neck steel guitar. The steel guitar was highly unusual, certainly no standard National instrument, and with no other information given, Paul filed the image away in his mind. </span></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNWTlQVexI/AAAAAAAAAJo/ZbEUD_tDP2k/s1600/LetritiaGrandLetar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNWTlQVexI/AAAAAAAAAJo/ZbEUD_tDP2k/s640/LetritiaGrandLetar.jpg" width="508" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Information on Letritia Kandle was nonexistent, and years went by with no clues. When Paul purchased a National lap steel at a vintage guitar show in the early 1990’s, it had a signed receipt from Letritia Kandle’s guitar studio with a Chicago address, which told him that she was from the Chicago area, but Paul assumed that she must have passed away. More years went by, and finally in 2007 Paul met one of Letritia’s former students at a steel guitar convention in Illinois, who informed Paul that Mrs. Kandle was still alive and living in the Chicago suburbs! This person was able to put Paul in touch with Letritia, who had been quietly living her life under her married name since she gave up music in the 1950’s.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">When Paul finally got in touch with Letritia at her home, the real story began to unfold. Letritia’s story had been unfairly relegated to the dustbins of history. However, thanks to her incredible memory, and the amazing photos and press clippings of the era that survive, her story can now be told.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Letritia Kandle was born in Chicago in November 7, 1915, the only child of Charles and Alma Kandle. In her early years, Letritia was a very typical young lady of the era. She took piano lessons, but when she was thirteen years old, she saw Warner Baxter play the Spanish guitar in the film ‘The Cisco Kid.’ This film made such an impression that immediately Letritia wanted to play the guitar instead of the piano. Her instructor advised her that the Hawaiian (also known as “steel”) guitar was becoming popular, and helped Letritia get started on the acoustic Hawaiian guitar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Letritia’s father was always supportive of his daughter’s efforts, and after demonstrating she was serious about the Hawaiian guitar, she had top-of-the-line instruments for her musical endeavors. Her early acoustic instruments included a Weissenborn Koa guitar, and a National Style 2 (and later, a top of the line Style 4) Resophonic Hawaiian guitar. When Letritia saw an old turn-of-the-century double-neck harp guitar (possibly made the by Chicago maker Almcrantz) hanging in a second-hand shop, she asked her father to buy it for her and help her convert it from a harp guitar to a Hawaiian raised-nut instrument with a standard neck and a 12-string neck capable of different tunings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNpGTBowLI/AAAAAAAAAKY/TG-GwJ7EhCc/s1600/CRW_8911W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="566" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNpGTBowLI/AAAAAAAAAKY/TG-GwJ7EhCc/s640/CRW_8911W.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">At the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933, Hawaiian music and culture was all the rage. There, Letritia met George Kealoha Gilman, who mentored her in Hawaiian lore—speaking the Hawaiian language, Hula dancing, and making leis and grass skirts. The following year, in 1934, Letritia formed an all-girl ensemble known as ‘The Kohala Girls.’ The Kohala Girls specialized in Hawaiian music, and had matching National Resophonic guitars.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNXYM-u7bI/AAAAAAAAAJs/aMJ0UpfP-LA/s1600/LetritiaKohalaGirls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="506" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNXYM-u7bI/AAAAAAAAAJs/aMJ0UpfP-LA/s640/LetritiaKohalaGirls.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Unlike many young musicians, Letritia was continually thinking of ways to not only improve her own musicianship, but ways to improve the steel guitar itself. After a few years of playing with the Kohala Girls, during which time electric lap steels and double-neck lap steels began to come on the scene, Letritia had a vision for a brand new revolutionary instrument.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Letritia wrote the story herself of how the National ‘Grand Letar’ console steel guitar came to be, for a series of articles in ‘Music Studio News.’ Here, directly from the source, is how this incredible instrument came into being:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“Have you ever indulged in dreaming? If you have, you know that there are primarily two different kinds—one where the dreamer tries to escape from the reality of living, and one where the dreamer sets a mental goal for himself, and then tries by hard, honest endeavor to reach it in reality. The second type of dreamer is responsible for many of the advancements of our Modern way of life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“And so while waiting for an appointment on one of the upper floors of a tall office building in Chicago, the idea for a 26 string guitar was born. It was summer and through the large window facing the West from where I was sitting, the sun, like a huge ball of fire, surrounded by a myriad of colors, sky blue, pink, yellow, purple, and green was dropping by the horizon, there appeared an instrument seemingly blown of glass. I kept looking at the sky, when the crisp friendly voice of the receptionist called my mind back to this world. In those few moments of daydreaming, I knew what I wanted.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“A guitar that would enable me to stand while playing it, one that would sound full, like an organ, and yet produce tones like a vibraharp—one with not less than 26 strings, for complete harmony, and one that would change colors as the different tones were produced. When I arrived home, later that evening, I told my father of the dream. Although my dad is an engineer and not a musician, he offered to help build the ‘dream instrument’ for me, if I would help.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“The problems we encountered were many, each one had to be dealt with separately—a metal had to be chosen for the casting, that would not expand or contract when in contact with heat—sizes of strings, electronics, etc. until finally after many days, weeks, and months of labor, emerged a finished instrument.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“Now that the instrument was finished a name for it had to be selected, so, from my first name, Letritia, we took the first three letters, and from the word guitar we chose the last two letters. With this combination, the ‘dream instrument’ became the ‘GRAND LETAR!!!’”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">During the first part of 1937, after Letritia had this vision of her dream instrument, her father worked on constructing the Grand Letar to his daughter’s specifications. The instrument was a large console, with the top part of the steel guitar made of a poured aluminum casting. The sides and “console” were made of wood and covered with a chrome-plated steel wrap. This was the first time that a steel guitar was not held in the lap, so it was a radical construction for the time. Additionally, no steel guitar had ever had more than two necks on it before this one. Letritia’s Grand Letar appeared to have four necks on it, three six-string necks and one eight string neck, but in reality it had three six-string necks and two four-string necks on it (more on that later).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Letritia’s father built the console of the steel guitar, then went to see Louis Dopyera at National Guitars. Letritia had been playing National Resophonics with The Kohala Girls, and already knew the Dopyera family at National. Mr. Kandle brought the basic body of the Grand Letar to National, where they installed pickups and an internal 20-watt National amplifier with two 12-inch Lansing (JBL) field coil speakers. This built-in amplifier happens to hold the distinction of being the first guitar amplifier to use two speakers—a full ten years before Leo Fender made the Dual Professional, and twenty-odd years before Leo began offering the Twin with JBL speakers as an option! Letritia’s Grand Letar with the dual speaker setup was a veritable Marshall stack in its day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The coup de grace of the Grand Letar was the built in light show, which is so complex that it’s difficult to describe. Letritia and her father worked on an idea that utilized Mr. Kandle’s engineering know-how to realize Letritia’s vision. The fretboards, sides, and front of the steel guitar were etched glass that displayed lights that shone from within the guitar. The front panel of the Grand Letar was originally a rising sun motif, which came from Letritia’s initial vision of the instrument. Unfortunately, due to World War Two and the Japanese Invasion of Pearl Harbor, Letritia was eventually forced to change the rising sun motif to an art deco motif with musical notes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Inside the steel guitar was a 1930’s vision of the future—an extensive network of 120 bulbs in four colors that flashed and changed colors as a large motor in the base of the Grand Letar engaged electrical contacts on a large flywheel. On the rear panel of the Grand Letar, a control panel with four rheostats and twelve toggle switches was used to control the brightness and other aspects of the internal “light show.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">When the Grand Letar was finished, National built a road case to transport the instrument. Because of all the etched glass, the instrument could not be transported unless it was secured in the custom-built road case. Unbelievably, the Grand Letar was 265 pounds by itself, and 400 pounds in the road case! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: The Grand Letar's 1930's road case--built like a tank!</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNpaeCcoiI/AAAAAAAAAKc/VIUFt1Sd_zk/s1600/CRW_8929W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNpaeCcoiI/AAAAAAAAAKc/VIUFt1Sd_zk/s640/CRW_8929W.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Letritia was playing with the well-known Big Band leader Paul Whiteman during this time, and it was actually Paul Whiteman who came up with the name “Grand Letar.” Letritia played the Grand Letar with Whiteman during a residency at the Drake Hotel in Chicago during 1937.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNX9p0JmLI/AAAAAAAAAJw/ecaPN9vl1Cs/s1600/Letricia+and+paul+Whiteman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNX9p0JmLI/AAAAAAAAAJw/ecaPN9vl1Cs/s640/Letricia+and+paul+Whiteman.jpg" width="508" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">After the instrument was completed, National was eager to have Letritia demonstrate the Grand Letar at the 1937 National Music Trade Convention in New York City, the NAMM show of that era. All the major musical instrument manufacturers displayed their products at the convention, and many of the great names in music performed as demonstrators for the various companies. National signed an endorsement deal with Letritia in July, and agreed to transport the instrument to New York and provide her room and board in exchange for Letritia demonstrating the instrument at the National booth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">While demonstrating the Grand Letar at the New York trade convention, a very interesting thing happened. Letritia looked up while performing at the trade show to see none other than her idol, Alvino Rey, watching her demonstrate the remarkable new instrument. Letritia idolized Alvino Rey, who was one of the country’s greatest steel guitar players and bandleaders. Before the song was over, Alvino had quickly left the room, and Letritia never did meet him in person. Letritia was crushed, but more than likely the reality was that Alvino’s mind was blown at what he saw.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Whatever Alvino thought when he saw Letritia performing on the Grand Letar, the fact was she had predated him on a major evolutionary step of the steel guitar. While Gibson guitars had built many experimental steel guitars based on Alvino’s ideas, the Grand Letar was a huge step beyond anything that Gibson had ever conceived of up to then.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What is interesting about this happenstance is that within two years, Alvino Rey and Gibson guitars came out with the Console Grande steel guitar, which was Gibson’s first multi-neck console steel guitar. Alvino’s exquisite Console Grande steel influenced many later players and instrument makers, but the evidence points to Alvino getting the idea after seeing Letritia demonstrating the Grand Letar at this 1937 trade convention.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The dates of Letritia’s innovations can be verified through national press articles about her new instrument. ‘The Music Trades’ ran an article about Letritia and the Grand Letar in their September 1937 issue. ‘Down Beat,’ the highly regarded jazz magazine, also ran an article in October 1937. The dates are important because during the mad rush of stringed instrument innovation during the 1930’s, it is often difficult to prove who “got there first.” The articles written in 1937 prove that Letritia was indeed there first with her impressive list of innovations.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNYYBt499I/AAAAAAAAAJ0/VNl-ugLjaYM/s1600/LetritiaDownBeatArticle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNYYBt499I/AAAAAAAAAJ0/VNl-ugLjaYM/s1600/LetritiaDownBeatArticle.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">One of the ideas that Letritia had for the multi-neck arrangement of the Grand Letar was the tuning of the necks. Until the Grand Letar, lap steels and double-neck lap steels were usually tuned with one or two standard tunings, such as the low bass A tuning for Hawaiian playing or the C6 tuning for jazz. Letritia envisioned being able to cover all harmonic and chordal bases using a playing style that necessitated switching back and forth between the necks many times during each song. The basic ideas that Letritia came up for chord inversions were later utilized by pedal steel players, with their pedals achieving the same result as Letritia’s idea of switching between necks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The first neck on the Grand Letar was tuned to an A-major (high bass) tuning, A-C#-E-A-C#-E. The second neck was tuned to an E7 with the standard old-school E7 tuning, B-E-D-G#-B-E. The third neck was an A minor tuning which could also make C6th inversions. Lastly, the fourth neck, which was an 8-string, was arranged in two small clusters, with four strings for each. One was tuned to an augmented chord, F-A-C#-F, and one was tuned to a diminished chord, F#-A-C-E.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Grand Letar proved to be very unwieldy to transport, so it was mostly used for big engagements and residencies. In 1939 Letritia and her father came up with a more portable instrument, which was essentially like the Grand Letar without the built in amplifier and light show. This new instrument was called the “Small Letar.” Most notably, Letritia added a 7</span></span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">th</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> string to each of the standard necks, with one interesting variation on the E7 neck—she added a high F# string on the top of the E7 neck, which when played turned it into an E9 chord, predating the now-standard Nashville E9 tuning by twenty years!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Letritia and the "Small Letar."</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNaEimEAGI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/tzaSNm6uqdQ/s1600/letritiaSmallLetar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="516" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNaEimEAGI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/tzaSNm6uqdQ/s640/letritiaSmallLetar.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">There were several inquiries to National in regards to manufacturing and selling Grand Letar consoles, but the excessive cost and weight prevented another from being made. National promoted Letritia’s involvement with the company by picturing her in the 1940 catalog holding a National Princess lap steel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNd9hDh1rI/AAAAAAAAAKE/SsqCpeWXEAc/s1600/LetritiaNationalConsole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNd9hDh1rI/AAAAAAAAAKE/SsqCpeWXEAc/s640/LetritiaNationalConsole.jpg" width="492" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In 1941, Letritia became the featured soloist of the 50-piece ‘Chicago Plectrophonic Orchestra,’ which featured Letritia playing classical numbers such as “Blue Danube Waltz” as well as other pop and Hawaiian numbers. When her mentor, conductor Jack Lundin, passed away in 1943, Letritia took over as conductor of the Orchestra.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNaf2_ufVI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/PkOWYMFcxnw/s1600/LetrititaPlectrophonicOrch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="460" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNaf2_ufVI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/PkOWYMFcxnw/s640/LetrititaPlectrophonicOrch.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The decade of the 1940’s found Letritia teaching hundreds of students at her guitar studio in downtown Chicago. She was featured in the ‘Who’s Who Of Music,’ and also acted as a judge in many talent competitions (shades of ‘American Idol’). Letritia made the cover of the prestigious ‘B.M.G.’ magazine, and wrote articles for ‘Music Studio News’ and others.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Letritia continued her interest in advancing the steel guitar. In the late 1940’s, she endorsed the new Harlin Brothers Kalina Multi-Kord steel guitar, one of the early attempts at a pedal steel guitar.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNbgKG2lqI/AAAAAAAAAKA/aiYYb42OkNg/s1600/LetritiaMultiKord.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNbgKG2lqI/AAAAAAAAAKA/aiYYb42OkNg/s640/LetritiaMultiKord.jpg" width="498" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In 1955 Letritia married Walter Lay, the former string bassist for the Chicago Plectrophonic Orchestra. After that, both Walter and Letritia went to work for Letritia’s father, who had begun a business that manufactured earth-boring equipment. Letritia essentially retired from music at this point, choosing to concentrate on raising a family.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Letritia’s story and her early innovations could easily have been forgotten and relegated to obscurity. Since she never made any recordings (beyond a few radio transcriptions which </span></span><a href="http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=189598&highlight=letricia+kandle"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">just recently surfaced</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">), or pursued fame beyond her own musical endeavors, she never entered the public consciousness the way that Les Paul or Alvino Rey did.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Luckily, Letritia and her husband Walter retained all of their old magazines and publicity photos documenting Letritia’s music career. Best of all, the magnificent Grand Letar lay in its road case, completely untouched, underneath the basement stairwell, for nearly 55 years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">When collector Paul Warnik finally tracked down Letritia in 2007, he was not only blown away by the fact that Letritia was still alive and well (with great memory for detail), but that Letritia and her husband Walter had kept all her instruments and documentation of her music career.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">After forging a friendship with Letritia and Walter, and making inquiries about the Grand Letar under the stairwell, Letritia surprised Paul by making arrangements for him to become the caretaker for all of her instruments (sadly, Walter, Letritia’s husband of over 53 years, passed away on December 15, 2008).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Grand Letar had to be brought up the stairs in its road case, with a crew of piano movers hired to remove it from its half-century cold storage. When Paul began to restore the Grand Letar, it was essentially in good shape, but needed restoration of the amplifier and the light show. Jeff Mikols, Southside Chicago’s amp wizard, rebuilt the amplifier section. The electrical wiring for the light show and field coil speakers was restored by Sue Haslam, a technician at Peterson Strobe Tuners in the Chicago suburb of Alsip, Illinois.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: The interior of the Grand Letar showing the controls for the light show at the top, and the tube amplifier chassis on the bottom of the cabinet. The sealed box on the left side of the bottom cabinet contained the motorized relays that controlled the "light show."</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNegLA5_JI/AAAAAAAAAKI/VHGSk9ujqY8/s1600/LetritiaGrandLetarInside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNegLA5_JI/AAAAAAAAAKI/VHGSk9ujqY8/s640/LetritiaGrandLetarInside.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">When the Grand Letar’s restoration was finished in September 2008, the instrument was transported to St. Louis. There it was featured at the Peterson Strobe Tuner booth at the International Steel Guitar Convention, where the Grand Letar was demonstrated in public for the first time in 55 years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNfLLJ3yUI/AAAAAAAAAKM/wK8wmU3oYno/s1600/LetritiaGrandLetarColor1lores.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNfLLJ3yUI/AAAAAAAAAKM/wK8wmU3oYno/s1600/LetritiaGrandLetarColor1lores.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Paul Warnik playing the Grand Letar.</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNfzZKtHPI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/oL6IGjpmqbk/s1600/LetritiaGrandLetarColorPaul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNfzZKtHPI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/oL6IGjpmqbk/s640/LetritiaGrandLetarColorPaul.jpg" width="518" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Now that Letritia Kandle’s story is coming out, and the Grand Letar is back in action, the 94-year old electric guitar innovator remains nonplussed. In her words, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“All I ever tried to do was elevate the steel guitar into a more versatile instrument that was capable of playing other styles of music, like modern and classical…not just Hawaiian music.”</span></span></i><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br />
</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Letritia Kandle at her Chicago home, September 2009.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNg4aEBjbI/AAAAAAAAAKU/GnJQI-HNsM0/s1600/LetritiaKandleRECENT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TPNg4aEBjbI/AAAAAAAAAKU/GnJQI-HNsM0/s640/LetritiaKandleRECENT.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Letritia’s modest statement belies the fact that her accomplishments deserve a great deal of recognition. This article serves to set the record straight—70 years too late, but better late than never. We all owe a debt of thanks to the early electric guitar innovators—people like Les Paul, Alvino Rey, Charlie Christian—and Letritia Kandle.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Deke Dickerson</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">POSTSCRIPT: Letritia Kandle became ill during the writing of this story and was hospitalized. When the issue of Vintage Guitar magazine finally came off the presses, T.C. Furlong rushed a copy to her hospital room so she could see it. Letritia saw the article, and died three days later, on June 9th, 2010. She was 94 years old. All who were involved with the story feel like she hung on just long enough to see her life story in print. Rest in Peace, Letritia.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Special thanks to Letritia Kandle, Paul Warnik, T.C. Furlong, Sue Haslam, John Norris, Jeff Mikols, and Kay Koster.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment-->Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-67183409870648080822010-11-08T23:39:00.000-08:002010-11-09T16:48:23.678-08:00FROM GUITAR PLAYER MAGAZINE<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">THE FIRST GUITAR “PEDAL!”</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNj4x9lgtTI/AAAAAAAAAJU/T6oIokhqKPA/s1600/AnthonyRocco1937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNj4x9lgtTI/AAAAAAAAAJU/T6oIokhqKPA/s1600/AnthonyRocco1937.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Imagine, if you will, all the millions of stomp boxes, effects and guitar “pedals” in the world. Now imagine a family tree with all those pedals leading back to one device that started the whole shebang. If you can believe it, at the top of that family tree would be this lovely art deco-styled volume and tone pedal, the 1937 Rocco Tonexpressor—the very first guitar “pedal.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNnoM9DX2oI/AAAAAAAAAJc/UppEFw1tYp0/s1600/IMG_6429.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNnoM9DX2oI/AAAAAAAAAJc/UppEFw1tYp0/s640/IMG_6429.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> The idea of the pedal came from the automobile’s accelerator, and the first known use of a volume pedal for musical use came with the early electric theater organs. However, it would take the ingenuity of an obscure steel guitarist named Anthony Rocco to take those ideas and apply them to the world of the electric guitar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNjxsFSBGVI/AAAAAAAAAI0/5QnnuTSBx8U/s1600/EPIROCCOBAR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNjxsFSBGVI/AAAAAAAAAI0/5QnnuTSBx8U/s640/EPIROCCOBAR.jpg" width="478" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Rocco (whose Italian name was Rocco Aiala, nee Antonio Rocco) was one of the earliest electric steel guitar players, and he carved out a career for himself in the New York City area, playing Hawaiian-style steel guitar with big bands and orchestras around the city. In addition, Rocco befriended Epi Stathopoulo, who manufactured Epiphone guitars, and Rocco came on board as advisor to the company.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> Based on Rocco’s designs and inventions, Epiphone began manufacturing a whole line of Rocco devices in 1937, including a Rocco double-neck steel guitar, a Rocco signature steel bar, and the innovative Rocco Tonexpressor, a combination volume and tone pedal.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNjvAibO5fI/AAAAAAAAAIs/9N8XmI9BbYw/s1600/RoccoSteelGuitar1937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNjvAibO5fI/AAAAAAAAAIs/9N8XmI9BbYw/s640/RoccoSteelGuitar1937.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> Rocco held a patent on the Tonexpressor, which was a complicated device utilizing gears, transformers, and a series of relay switches—the damn thing looks like some kind of antique telephone switchboard when you open it up. The volume control (up and down) worked in a fairly normal way, with a potentiometer and a string, but the tone (side to side) produced three distinct tonal characteristics that can only be described as bass, treble, and super-treble, to make the familiar “doo-ahh” crashing sound effect that was popular among steel guitar players for several decades. Many years later the same basic concept was applied in a much different type of musical context to become the wah-wah pedal, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNj6R6jOphI/AAAAAAAAAJY/AWlB_ATCUxk/s1600/3351248205_27c77c5fdc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNj6R6jOphI/AAAAAAAAAJY/AWlB_ATCUxk/s1600/3351248205_27c77c5fdc.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> Rocco’s inventions were ahead of their time, and as such sold poorly on initial release. Steel guitarist Jody Carver remembers Rocco playing around New York City for decades (where Carver got him to autograph this promo photo shown above), but then Rocco slipped into obscurity, a forgotten innovator in the world of electric guitar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> It’s a humorous thought to imagine Anthony Rocco, Hawaiian steel guitarist extraordinaire, in the middle of a modern-day music store, listening as dozens of kids blare guitars through <a href="http://www.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=flanger&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=2519&bih=1256">flangers</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&biw=2519&bih=1256&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=chorus+pedal&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=f&oq=&gs_rfai=">choruses</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&biw=2519&bih=1256&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=distortion+pedal&aq=f&aqi=g3g-m7&aql=f&oq=&gs_rfai=">distortions</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&biw=2519&bih=1256&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=wah-wah+pedal&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=f&oq=&gs_rfai=">wah-wah pedals</a>, yelling “Turn that goddamn noise down!” For that noise, and the invention of the first guitar pedal, we thank you, Mr. Rocco.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">--Deke Dickerson</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Below: The three different types of Rocco ToneExpressors. All have that same guts, but different types of housings. The one on the left is the oldest version.</span></span></o:p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNnrkcqki6I/AAAAAAAAAJg/XYBTAARzOL0/s1600/DSC00251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="344" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNnrkcqki6I/AAAAAAAAAJg/XYBTAARzOL0/s640/DSC00251.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Thanks to Jody Carver, Mike Black, Jeremy Wakefield, and Marty Smith. Anyone with more information on Anthony Rocco, please email the author <a href="mailto:eccofonic@earthlink.net">here</a>.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-53153509109251615802010-11-08T23:30:00.000-08:002010-11-08T23:30:32.051-08:00GUITAR MUSEUM AT THE GEEKFEST, 2010<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-large;">NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART</span></span></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Okay, now that I'm getting ready for Guitar Geek Festival 2011, I'm looking at the Museum from last year and wondering--how can we ever top that? This makes my knees weak. We had heavyweights like Lynn Wheelwright bringing incredible instruments like Alvino Rey's Frying Pan-in-A-Gibson-Body steel guitar and Speedy West's homemade steel guitar, Elaine Frizzell brought Joe Maphis' original Mosrite Octave Neck from his doubleneck, Adam Tober had the world's largest G.L. Stiles collection as well as Dolly Parton's pink Mosrite acoustic....a frighteningly real Bigsby electric guitar--it was pretty intense!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Geeks, be sure to wear shades when you look at this. I won't be responsible for your medical bills. Photos by the Geekfest Staff Photographer Spencer Hunt.</span></span><br />
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</div>Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-72229409164167834282010-11-05T02:40:00.000-07:002010-11-05T02:40:08.849-07:00FUN WITH PATENTS, Installment Number 1<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">BEAUTIFUL DREAMERS</span></div><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you're a guitar geek, undoubtedly you have a lot of time alone, by yourself, "between girlfriends," whatever you want to call it. The good news is that there is literally a whole new world waiting for you to discover, and it's all free and online. I'm talking about the wild world of U.S Patents, which can be found online at <a href="http://www.google.com/patents">www.google.com/patents</a>.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">America's love affair with inventing things goes back to the beginning of this country. The Constitution states in Article 1, Section 8 to guarantee "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries".</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of your "valuable" time can be spent researching decades of musical related inventions, from the early 1800's until the present day. Guitarists might be interested to know that the vibrato arm <a href="http://www.google.com/patents?id=OplcAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=607359&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false">originated on the banjo in the late 1800's</a>. The early era of the electric guitar showcases a whole host of interesting patents, including an early system by Arnold Lesti (<a href="http://www.google.com/patents?id=QoMWAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=Lesti+guitar&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q=Lesti%20guitar&f=false">Pat. #Re20,070</a>, produced as 'Volu-Tone' instruments) that didn't use permanent magnets for their pickups. Their solution? Before each gig, you ran a "charge" of super high-voltage through the strings from a "charge" plug in the amp to magnetize the strings themselves. Oops, don't touch the strings while you're running hundreds of volts through the guitar! I'm still waiting to find the newspaper from the 1930's with the headline "Man killed by electric guitar."</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">One of the things that I love while scrolling through these old patents, listed immediately after the name of the invention or design being patented, are the names and addresses of the inventors. When I see evocative names and locales such as "Ronald E. Dearth, Lima, Ohio" or "Carl Temple Schrickel, St. Louis, Missouri," I picture these people, these beautiful dreamers, hunched over workbenches, tinkering with their inventions, working out their ideas. Some of them were nuts, some of them were geniuses, but the main thing that comes to mind while scrolling through these thousands of patents is realizing how few of these inventions ever made it to production, and even fewer that were successes. Back in the day, and even today, it was a time-consuming and expensive process to apply for and receive a patent, so when I realize that "Bert Irie Gibbons, Fort Worth, Texas" likely invested his life's savings on a "One Man Band Apparatus" that never caught on, or was commercially produced, it has a double meaning for me. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">On one hand, it's sad to think that these people put so much of themselves into patenting a device that never made them rich or famous. Bert Irie Gibbons, of the One Man Band Apparatus, suffered the ignoble fate of registering not one hit on google decades later beyond his patent and one vital record (a difficult feat). On the other, a sense of pride swells inside knowing that no matter how gridlocked this country might be, no matter how deep a morass we find ourselves in, dammit, you don't see anybody in Norway or Japan or Brazil inventing things as simultaneously genius and stupid as Bert Irie Gibbons' "One Man Band Apparatus."</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">America, for all it's faults, is a land of beautiful dreamers. The one thing the world still relies on America for are our ideas. The collective brain power that invented things like the Internet and Air Conditioning came from a culture that also bred <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion">Perpetual Motion Machines</a>, the <a href="http://totallyabsurd.com/toiletsnorkel.htm">Toilet Snorkel</a> and Bert Irie Gibbons' One Man Band Apparatus. Knowing that, perusing these thousands of American Patents reassures me that somewhere, in a garage workshop in Kansas or a computer hacker's bedroom in Florida, somewhere somebody is trying to invent something. The cure for cancer, or at least a <a href="http://www.google.com/patents?id=GCYXAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA4&dq=sealed+crustless+sandwich&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false">Sealed Crustless Sandwich</a>, is undoubtedly right around the corner.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Gibbons' <a href="http://www.google.com/patents?id=9KR0AAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=3521516&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false">One Man Band Apparatus</a>? It appears to be two guitar necks mounted vertically that one plays by bicycling with the right foot to keep the strumming going, and changing the position on the necks with levers operated by your left foot and your chin. I sure wish that googling Gibbons' name had turned up a youtube video.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">More Fun With Patents to come--there's an endless supply of great material to write about.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Deke Dickerson</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNPOacIp1bI/AAAAAAAAAIo/V7yeFWoUwRc/s1600/OneManBand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNPOacIp1bI/AAAAAAAAAIo/V7yeFWoUwRc/s1600/OneManBand.jpg" /></a></div>Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-22434391920774661822010-11-04T02:06:00.000-07:002010-11-04T02:06:59.513-07:00From GUITAR PLAYER MAGAZINE,<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-large;">Duane Eddy’s 1960 Howard Doubleneck guitar</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNJoLm6Bj8I/AAAAAAAAAIQ/W1jzlYjk-gs/s1600/DuaneHowardDoubleneck2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNJoLm6Bj8I/AAAAAAAAAIQ/W1jzlYjk-gs/s1600/DuaneHowardDoubleneck2.JPG" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">This futuristic Jetsons rocket ship of a guitar looks ready to go into orbit at any time. It was made in 1960 for instrumental hit-maker Duane Eddy by a Phoenix amplifier guru named Tom “Howard” McCormick. McCormick is known for his unique amplifiers, but little is known about his guitars. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://tony50.tripod.com/deddy-1.html">Duane Eddy</a> was and still is the ‘King of Twang,’ and he is most remembered for his Gretsch and Guild signature model guitars. In the late 50’s, however, he used to switch back and forth on stage between his Gretsch 6120 and his Danelectro 6-string bass. McCormick reckoned Duane needed a doubleneck that would do the same thing. Duane recalls that this instrument sounded and looked great, but he rarely used it due to its prohibitive weight.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">McCormick made unorthodox guitar amps, and this guitar is no exception. The necks are made of fiberglass with rosewood fretboards, and the backwards-Explorer headstocks predated <a href="http://media.photobucket.com/image/robin%20guitars/turquoisemoleeater/guitars/srv_jv.jpg">Robin guitars</a> by two decades. The pickups are super high fidelity, and the dense guitar sustains forever. Other features, such as the <a href="http://www.axeblaster.com/OutputJacks/">inside-out Strat jack</a> mounted on the side, the six oven knobs and five switches, and hand-milled vibrato are great reminders of an era where the future was so bright, you had to wear shades. Where are the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_pack">jet packs</a> they promised us?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I never knew that Howard made any other guitars than Duane's doubleneck, but there is a flyer for Howard guitars and amps inside the case of Duane's doubleneck.</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNJ1LMH8ogI/AAAAAAAAAIk/X37ZMJCPn3Y/s1600/HowardAmpFlyer1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNJ1LMH8ogI/AAAAAAAAAIk/X37ZMJCPn3Y/s640/HowardAmpFlyer1.jpg" width="464" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Howard Guitar Flyer, collection of the author.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">After viewing the flyer, this author recalled seeing some student model Howard guitars long ago at the fabled Chicago Store in Tucson, Arizona (long since plundered). How many of these guitars or amps were made? Not many, just judging by the fact that only a couple Howard amps and zero guitars have turned up on eBay in the last ten years.</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNJ0WJhHo9I/AAAAAAAAAIg/RsxnK1-T1pw/s1600/HowardGuitarChicagoStore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNJ0WJhHo9I/AAAAAAAAAIg/RsxnK1-T1pw/s640/HowardGuitarChicagoStore.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Photo from the good old days of the Chicago Store in Tucson, taken around 1998. Note blue Howard student model in foreground. Don't worry, all this stuff is gone--the fabled burial ground of vintage gear is no more.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Duane played the doubleneck on 'American Bandstand' with Dick Clark in 1960, and a few live shows around the same time. </span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNJywNRGGmI/AAAAAAAAAIY/fclgfHen6dQ/s1600/DuaneHowardBandstand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="510" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNJywNRGGmI/AAAAAAAAAIY/fclgfHen6dQ/s640/DuaneHowardBandstand.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Duane uses the Howard on Bandstand. Photo is Copyrighted.</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Duane found the guitar to be too heavy to use on stage, and the pickups sustained too much in a live setting. Duane put the guitar into storage, pulling it out at least one more time for a Guitar Player article written by Teisco Del Rey in June 1993.</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNJtwbrvItI/AAAAAAAAAIU/-8qzxhxtdG4/s1600/DuaneHowardDoubleGP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNJtwbrvItI/AAAAAAAAAIU/-8qzxhxtdG4/s640/DuaneHowardDoubleGP.jpg" width="486" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">This guitar is imbued with unexplainable, mystical luck. When Duane agreed to sell the Howard doubleneck to this author, the guitar was taken out of Duane's storage locker at Sound Check in Nashville and shipped on the last day of April, 2010. Two days later the Cumberland River flooded downtown Nashville, and the Sound Check facility (a massive rehearsal and equipment storage location) flooded. Thousands of instruments, many of them vintage and historic, were underwater. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Read about the flood at Sound Check <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/05/lost-in-the-nashville-flood-musical-instruments-galore-1.html">here.</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Most of Duane's prized instruments he had collected through the years were ruined. 50 years after it was created, somehow the Howard doubleneck escaped a tragic end through a narrow crack in the door. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Duane (ever the gentleman) has played down his losses and has asked those who are close to him to not publicize his story, because so many other musicians lost everything they owned. However, the story, as it relates to this crazy Jetsons doubleneck guitar, makes it the luckiest guitar I know of. Just having it around makes me feel like everything is going to be alright.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Read about Duane's contributions to the flood relief efforts <a href="http://nash2o.moontoast.com/">here.</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Little may be known of Tom “Howard” McCormick, but this author hereby declares this guitar as the coolest guitar ever made. May the Twang be with you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Deke Dickerson<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Note: The author would really like to find Tom "Howard" McCormick's family to get the full story, see more photos, and do a proper article on the history of "Howard" guitars and amps. Please email the author <a href="mailto:eccofonic@earthlink.net">here.</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">With special thanks to Duane and Deed Eddy, Teisco Del Rey, and Glen Harrison.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment-->Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-44499356358132141482010-11-02T15:41:00.000-07:002010-11-02T15:41:16.754-07:00From "HAG--The Capitol Recordings, 1968-1976"<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">MERLE HAGGARD ON "OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE"</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Here's a piece I wrote a few years ago for a Merle Haggard box set. I think it's a good piece for this Election day--does any of this sound familiar?</i></span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNBzgtzIJeI/AAAAAAAAAH8/bCcwPz0_zGY/s1600/MerleHaggard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNBzgtzIJeI/AAAAAAAAAH8/bCcwPz0_zGY/s400/MerleHaggard.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Merle Haggard, for all his successes and hit records up to the fall of 1969, was just another country music star. A very successful country star, but just another star nonetheless. One song was to change all that and turn Merle Haggard into a household name--a simple little ditty called "Okie from Muskogee."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Merle: "'Okie from Muskogee' is the song that changed my life."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee<br />
We don't take our trips on LSD<br />
We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street<br />
We like livin' right, and bein' free<br />
<br />
We don't make a party out of lovin'<br />
We like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo<br />
We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy<br />
Like the hippies out in San Francisco do<br />
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I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee<br />
A place where even squares can have a ball<br />
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse<br />
And white lightnin' is still the biggest thrill of all<br />
<br />
Leather boots are still in style for manly footwear<br />
Beads and Roman sandals won't be seen<br />
Football's still the roughest thing on campus<br />
And the kids here still respect the college dean<br />
<br />
I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee<br />
A place where even squares can have a ball<br />
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse<br />
And white lightnin' is still the biggest thrill of all<br />
<br />
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse<br />
In Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA</span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">--Merle Haggard (and Eddie Burris), "Okie from Muskogee"</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">See Merle Haggard & the Strangers perform "Okie From Muskogee" in this live youtube clip <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iYY2FQHFwE">here.</a></span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Merle had written the song in the summer of 1969 and began playing it live shortly thereafter. Everyone who heard it knew that it was a monster hit waiting to happen. According to steel guitarist Norm Hamlet, "The first time we played it, the audience just went crazy. We knew it was going to be huge."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">There couldn't have been a better time to launch a song like "Okie from Muskogee" on the American public. The country was embroiled in divisive politics and was going through difficult cultural changes like no other time in its history.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The United States was, at the time, mired in a war in Vietnam and Southeast Asia that polarized the country. There were those who felt that America's presence in Vietnam was an important battle of right versus wrong--that preventing the spread of Communism in far-flung locales was tantamount to preserving democracy at home. There were just as many others who felt that the Vietnam War was an exercise in futility, a confusing jungle conflict where enemy and ally were often one and the same. The people who opposed the war felt that the real reason the nation was in Vietnam was to fill the coffers of the defense industry, and that the hundreds of boys coming home in body bags every month was too high a price to pay.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">For a nation that, at the time, thought of itself as invincible, the Vietnam War pitted a generation of veterans against young idealists, and most significantly for our discussion here, it seemed to pit rural people who considered themselves diehard patriots against city people who felt that the war was wrong, no matter what the government was saying. No one was happy with what was going on in Vietnam.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Merle: "It was like this. I'd just got out of prison, and I say that like 'so what.' Well, it was a big deal, I'd just got out of the joint, and I had my whole life before me, and I was scared, and I was on parole, and I walked into this condition in America that was like no time in history."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In the midst of all this social and political change, three assassinations rocked the nation, coinciding with the ascent of Merle Haggard's career from his earliest records to the release of "Okie from Muskogee." President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in November 1963. His brother, presidential candidate Robert Kennedy, was assassinated in June 1968, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April 1968, making the decade one of the bloodiest in the nation's history.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Merle: "If you look back on it now, it was a sad time for America. People were misinformed . . . and the government was lying to us. It was a time of deception. And yet I felt sure that those long haired hippies did not know any more about freedom than I did. Now if they'd been over to Vietnam, and come back, and had on a Vietnam jacket, and they had something to say, I'd listen to 'em. But they hadn't. None of 'em had been anywhere. They hadn't been to prison . . . they hadn't been to Vietnam . . . and I found it really disturbing that they were against the American war.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNCEFtaxk-I/AAAAAAAAAIE/-z-Oze_I1vo/s1600/Merle1970.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNCEFtaxk-I/AAAAAAAAAIE/-z-Oze_I1vo/s640/Merle1970.jpg" width="446" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"></span></span></span><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">"Whatever America was doing, for me at that time, I felt confident that it was the right thing. Well, the hippies didn't believe in the war. I didn't know why they didn't believe in it, and I didn't understand it, and it irritated me that somebody who'd walk around pissing their pants and looking up in the air with their mouth open . . . at the time, I thought it was caused by marijuana. Well, we know that isn't the case. So I went on to have a different philosophy."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">As an ex-convict, Merle felt that hippies and left-wing radicals were demeaning the fabric of the country, a country that had given him a second chance and forgiven him for his crimes. Merle insisted in an interview with this author that he was dead serious when he wrote "Okie from Muskogee" and other politically charged numbers like "Fightin' Side of Me." But as time went on, Merle began to take an educated and unbiased look at his political views and personal beliefs.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Merle: "I was dumb as a rock, you know, I thought that the government told us the truth, and I thought that marijuana made you walk around with your mouth open. So when you write a song from that limited understanding, and have it become a hit, I was really in a whirlwind of change in America, and in my own way of thinking.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">"'Okie from Muskogee' came off the wall, written in about ten minutes, and it came off the back side of my brain, and my heart. Because I was disturbed about young America. See, I was easing into my thirties, at that time, so I was pretty much out of here as far as the young people were concerned, and they were young kids that I was irritated with, and they were doing things that I thought were un-American. Well, it wasn't un-American, they were smarter than me! Kids are always smarter than the old folks . . . they see through our bigotry and our hypocrisy. And I had a great lesson in life to learn, that they were already aware of.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">"I believe history has proven them right. The Vietnam War was a hoax, the reason we went to war was a lie. . . . Maybe Communism was a threat, but that wasn't why we were there."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In the music world, massive changes had taken place during the 1960s. The decade had begun innocently enough, with all genres of music, from pop to country, essentially carrying on the innocent themes of the 1950s. When the Beatles came over from England in 1964, it was as if everything changed overnight. Suddenly music wasn't about escape, release, and endless good times--it was now expected to be a harbinger of social change. With the turbulent times affecting everybody in the nation, it wasn't long before the previously staid world of country music was affected by the same sort of social awareness that the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and others had brought into the world of rock.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">It was a much different scenario in the country music world than it was in the rock and roll world, however. For the country western market, right-wing Republican was the norm, and few were willing to speak up for the liberal side of things, even if they felt differently. President Richard Nixon appeared on stage at the Grand Ol' Opry, playing the piano and laughing with Roy Acuff. Records like "Ballad of Two Brothers" by Autry Inman and "Hello Vietnam" by Johnny Wright pulled on patriotic heartstrings and rallied support for the Vietnam War. In the deep South, "under the counter" records on the Reb-Rebel label were huge underground sellers, with records like "Nigger Hatin' Me" by "Johnny Rebel," "Cowboys and Niggers" by "James Crow," and "A Victim of the Big Mess (Called the Great Society)" by the "Son of Mississippi." These were essentially Southern country music "protest" records, the racist redneck equivalent of Country Joe McDonald strumming an acoustic guitar at Woodstock and talking about peace and love. The country music establishment had its own political views, and they weren't about the peace and love bit one iota.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Johnny Cash was virtually the only country singer to speak for left-wing issues during this period, which didn't exactly go over well with the country record-buying public. Cash tackled the treatment of American Indians, spoke up for prisoners, and recorded with Bob Dylan, all of which endeared him to hippies and left-wing liberals but hurt him for years with conservatives.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">When Merle performs "Okie from Muskogee" now, he plays it off like a joke, and he has said in interviews over the years that it was a parody, or written from the perspective of his father, or only half-serious. It wasn't. "Okie from Muskogee" was a statement, and, at least in fall 1969, Merle meant every word of it.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Merle: "I felt the opposite side of the knife. . . . I knew that I was standing up for something that was probably gonna cost me half my audience. It's strange, all those people that were fans, people in the business, I didn't even realize it at the time [but] we were really accepted in the rock and roll field. . . . We had songs in the pop charts. You know, Dean Martin was cuttin' my records, and things like that. "Okie from Muskogee" took a big bite out of that because these people thought I was really down on marijuana, and that I was really as square as that song, and man . . . they dropped me like a hot potato."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">When "Okie from Muskogee" was released on August 15, 1969, it shot straight to the top of the country charts and to number forty-one on the pop charts. The song was a blockbuster in every sense of the word, and the best-known song Merle would ever release. People went wild when he performed it. There was little doubt that he would be performing "Okie from Muskogee" for the rest of his career.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The song was so popular that Merle included it on all three of his live albums, including the phenomenally successful</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Live in Muskogee</span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">album. In 1969 the Academy of Country Music (ACM) named it single of the year and song of the year.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Live in Muskogee</span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">was album of the year, and Merle was voted top male vocalist. The following year, the CMA awards gave "Okie from Muskogee" their own song of the year award and</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Live in Muskogee</span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">album of the year, and Merle was voted both entertainer of the year and male vocalist of the year. "Okie from Muskogee" was so popular that Capitol re-released the single in 1972, using a live version taken from the live Philadelphia album. It was, quite simply, a phenomenon.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Incensed liberals immediately began pigeonholing Merle Haggard as a puppet of the right-wing conservative movement, feelings which were intensified by follow-up songs like "Fightin' Side of Me," the Vietnam POW anthem "I Wonder if They'll Ever Think of Me," and Merle's performance for President Richard Nixon in 1973. Nearly a decade later Merle performed at a Ronald Reagan fundraiser, further fueling the fire. Parodies of "Okie from Muskogee" from the liberal point of view were written and recorded, such as "Asshole from El Paso" by Kinky Friedman and "Hippie from Olema #5" by the Youngbloods.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">What many of the unhappy hippies didn't realize was that Merle Haggard was nobody's puppet. Merle may not have cared for the far left wing, but he also didn't like neoconservatives. Alabama governor and independent right wing presidential candidate George Wallace asked Merle to endorse his 1972 bid for the White House, but Merle refused. Ex-Klansman-turned-politico David Duke asked Merle to do a private party, and Merle told him, in a colorful way, what he could do with his offer. Merle also discovered his own love of marijuana, stating in a 1974 Michigan newspaper interview "Muskogee is the only place I don't smoke it."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Merle's latest interview in High Times magazine <a href="http://hightimes.com/news/ht_admin/4931">here.</a></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">No one got to hear the song "Somewhere in Between," either. Merle wrote the song in 1970 and recorded it twice, once in 1970 and again in 1971, but it has never seen the light of day until now. A song guaranteed to make neither side happy, it speaks Merle Haggard's state of mind better than any press release ever did. While both the left-leaning hippies and the far-right rednecks wanted Merle to be something they had defined based on their own prejudices, Merle wasn't about to be defined by anyone but himself. "Somewhere in Between" would have probably made the hippies madder and angered Merle's core audience if it had been released at the time of its recording, but it would have shed a little light on the complex personality of Merle Haggard.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">There's a certain class of people who might venture out too far<br />
There's the common man who's satisfied with things the way they are<br />
There's the acid-taking dopies with their minds eat up inside<br />
But it takes all kinds to make the world so wide<br />
<br />
I stand looking at the left wing, and I turn towards the right<br />
And either side don't look too good, examined under light<br />
That's just freedom of opinion, and their legal right to choose<br />
That's one right I hope we never lose<br />
<br />
I stand somewhere in between divided wings<br />
The liberal left, the narrow right, and the young of 17<br />
And I'm not too old to understand the young who disagree<br />
And it leaves me standing somewhere in between<br />
<br />
We analyze the trouble that reflect the current times<br />
While we're searching with a question weighing heavy on our minds<br />
And I haven't heard an answer that'll change things overnight<br />
And that's one thing I know for sure is right<br />
<br />
And I stand somewhere in between divided wings<br />
The liberal left, the narrow right, and the young of 17<br />
And I'm not too old to understand the young who disagree<br />
And it leaves me standing somewhere in between<br />
It leaves me standing somewhere in between</span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">--Merle Haggard, "Somewhere in Between" (revised lyrics, 1971)</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Hear Merle sing "Somewhere In Between" <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn_JClPEGXQ">here. </a></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In 1990 Merle released "Me and Crippled Soldiers," an anti-flag-burning song, on his</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Blue Jungle</span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">album. More recently Merle has released a song called "America First," which has the line "Let's get out of Iraq, and get back on track," and he has spoken up for blacklisted liberal pariahs the Dixie Chicks. Merle also has infuriated his conservative fan base with "Hillary," a song that endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in 2008. In January 2009 Haggard released a pro-Obama song entitled "Hopes Are High." Haggard is a man who clearly doesn't have a problem speaking his mind.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNCEzlBcZ9I/AAAAAAAAAII/6WditbiHVk4/s1600/MerleOlderWiser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNCEzlBcZ9I/AAAAAAAAAII/6WditbiHVk4/s640/MerleOlderWiser.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Liberals and conservatives alike should take another look at Merle Haggard. Merle may be a country boy without much formal education, but unlike many of his supporters and detractors who have doctorates or are in positions of power, Merle has listened to both sides, formed an opinion, spoken his mind, listened and learned more over the years, and (unafraid to contradict his own earlier positions) spoken his mind again--with fairness, regardless of whether anyone wanted to listen. In anyone's book, this is the definition of an intelligent man.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Here's a perfect example of Merle refusing to be anybody's political tool <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J_GPBkZ5FM">here.</a></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Merle: "What went on in the evolution of America and the evolution of Merle Haggard is not what people would have expected."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #a65300; font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">--Deke Dickerson</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Below: Merle Haggard and the author, at Hag's place outside Redding, CA. 7/17/08</span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNCRYh8V8RI/AAAAAAAAAIM/AvCxmrx4Pso/s1600/DekeHag.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="534" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TNCRYh8V8RI/AAAAAAAAAIM/AvCxmrx4Pso/s640/DekeHag.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-804177363231555459.post-51897479021117564342010-11-01T02:43:00.000-07:002010-11-01T22:24:09.180-07:00From FRETBOARD JOURNAL, Issue 19<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">TOUGH OLD MEN AND BIRDSEYE MAPLE--THE JIM HARVEY STORY</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Note: All photos and text are Copyrighted. No unauthorized use permitted.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Jim Harvey, La Jolla, CA, around 1955.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4wXeQE5rI/AAAAAAAAABo/eH9fjNR_8UE/s1600/HarveyBig1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="516" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4wXeQE5rI/AAAAAAAAABo/eH9fjNR_8UE/s640/HarveyBig1.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">There was a time in this country when hardy souls ate red meat and gulped whole milk and built their own houses and played music in the parlor when the day’s work was done. One of these men, a career Navy man named Walter James “Jim” Harvey, built musical instruments in Southern California nearly sixty years ago. Several other tough Navy men and flashy hillbilly entertainers played the instruments that Jim Harvey built. This is their story, and we soft, ninety-pound weaklings of today deserve their scorn. Despite this, I urge you to keep reading.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Guitar history is full of stories that have become legend. If you have a cursory interest in vintage guitars, these stories are heard so many times that they are absorbed into a common vernacular of guitar geekdom. John D’Angelico, an old-world Italian craftsman, makes the world’s finest archtops in a small, uncomplicated workshop in New York City. Lloyd Loar, a master archtop builder for Gibson, abandons the company to build his innovative yet ill-received Vivi-Tone electrics. Paul Bigsby, a motorcycle racer, machinist, and friend of Merle Travis, builds the first modern electric solidbody guitar in a Downey garage, setting the stage for the electric guitar boom that would engulf the world in the decades to follow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">All of these stories are fascinating, and yet if one digs a little deeper, there are always more stories, hidden behind layers of time and obscurity. To this author, these forgotten and neglected stories are equally as interesting, perhaps greater in their sense of curious discovery. Willy Wilkanowski and his unique violin-constructed archtop guitars offer a Polish immigrant’s alternative universe to D’Angelico’s Italian glamour. Paul Tutmarc, a musical inventor of the isolated Pacific Northwest, ultimately had superior ideas and implementation with his Audiovox brand than his better-known peer Lloyd Loar in their similar quest for electric amplification. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Undeniably, when Paul Bigsby made his beautifully handcrafted instruments and namesake vibrato, he earned his place in history. Paul Bigsby’s story deserves all accolades, but likewise Jim Harvey’s story has been unfairly relegated to the vault of obscurity. His story deserves to be told.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Certified guitar obsessives can certainly relate to the statement that the more obsessed one becomes with guitars over a period of time, all things eventually float to the surface. And so it is that over the last seventeen years I have seen tiny pieces of the Harvey guitar mystery come to light. This article is a biographical piece on Jim Harvey’s guitars, but it’s also about how these guitars, and these men, affected my own life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Seventeen years ago, the first time I heard about Harvey guitars, the name was completely new to me. I heard about an older gentleman taking a custom-made doubleneck labeled “Harvey” to various music stores and record stores in San Diego, looking for a buyer. Assuming it must be the work of Harvey Thomas (the luthier from Washington state, famed for his wild-shaped creations such as the 'Iron Cross' guitar), I tried to find the man with the guitar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In the pre-Internet, pre-cell phone days, attempting to find information on a brand like Harvey guitars was like wearing a blindfold and wandering in the desert looking for Biblical scrolls. There were no references to Harvey anywhere in any guitar book. I called Lou Curtiss, of Folk Arts Rare Records in San Diego, and he knew the man selling the guitar quite well, revealing his name as John Goertz. Goertz had an unlisted phone number and was said to usually come by the store on Tuesdays. I told Curtiss to have Goertz call me the next time he came into the store. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">When the man returned, he had just sold the guitar to a San Diego lawyer and collector named Tom Sims. I knew Sims from record dealings, and we were on a friendly basis. Sims let me come over and see the guitar. I had my first, fleeting Jim Harvey moment that day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The guitar was absolutely amazing. You could see a heavy Bigsby influence, with a blonde birdseye maple finish with walnut accents. It was obviously meant to emulate a Gretsch Duo-Jet, with a baby Duo-Jet 8-string mandolin coming off of the top of the guitar. Like a real Duo-Jet, the guitar had DeArmond pickups (with two 4-pole DeArmonds on the mando neck), Gretsch knobs, and a Bigsby vibrato. The headstocks resembled musical notes. The playability was excellent. The headstocks read HARVEY.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4g8b35cLI/AAAAAAAAABI/pHasWO51Mso/s1600/HarveyJohnGoertz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4g8b35cLI/AAAAAAAAABI/pHasWO51Mso/s640/HarveyJohnGoertz.jpg" width="462" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Who the heck was this guy? This guitar was too well made and too professionally finished to be made by another backyard hillbilly luthier. Harvey didn’t fit in. Typically, the backyard guys made guitars with hacksaw marks, misaligned pickups robbed from a Kay or Harmony, bowed necks that played with the comfort and accuracy of a musical corn cob. Whoever this Harvey guy was, he was very, very good.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was disappointed I had missed my opportunity to buy this instrument. I wrote Tom Sims perhaps the most heartfelt letter of my entire life (sorry Mom), asking—pleading—for him to sell the guitar to me. Sims said no, but he sold me John Goertz’ mint Magnatone 280 amplifier as a consolation prize. I was heartbroken and defeated by Sims’ refusal to sell the guitar, but it would take fifteen years to learn two of life’s most valuable lessons—good things come to those who wait, and secondly, you can’t have all the pretty girls in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It’s a good time to throw in another well-used old adage—the Lord works in mysterious ways. Though I was hurt by the fact that Tom Sims wouldn’t sell the guitar to me, fifteen years later it was his ownership of the guitar that ultimately helped find Jim Harvey’s family, which led to the publication of this story.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Harvey doubleneck, still owned by Sims, has been on display at the NAMM ‘Museum Of Making Music’ in Carlsbad, California, for the last few years. It was at the museum that Harvey family members saw the guitar and told the then-museum director Dan Del Fiorentino that they were related to the man who built the instrument on display. Dan contacted me, and a few emails later, I was in touch with Jim Harvey’s oldest son, Howard Harvey.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Howard had a wealth of information, and he and his brother Walter had each kept one of their dad’s guitars. In addition, Howard’s wife Flower had put together a very nice scrapbook of dozens of photos showing the history of Jim Harvey and his musical instruments. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Seeing the photos for the first time confirmed what I had suspected—Jim Harvey was every bit the unknown Guitar Yoda I had imagined he would be. Although Jim had been dead for almost thirty years, these photos brought him to life. He seemed like a great guy. I wish I could have known him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jim Harvey was born March 12, 1922 in Onida, South Dakota. In 1926 George and Elizabeth Harvey moved their family to Pacific Beach, California, a residential area in the northern part of San Diego. George Harvey built the family’s house in their newly adopted hometown on a fresh plot of virgin California soil.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Southern California in the Twenties and Thirties must have seemed like paradise to a young émigré from South Dakota. Opportunities abounded that never would have existed on the plains. Southern California was rapidly becoming a country music mecca, from the Dust Bowl migration that brought a massive influx of hillbillies into the region.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A vintage photo, labeled </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Winners—Dugdale’s Amatures [sic] of Pac. Beach”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> couldn’t better illustrate the dichotomy of Southern California during the 1930’s. Standing to one side were Jim and Kenny Harvey, holding banjo and fiddle, dressed in hillbilly finery, their dark indigo Levis perfectly cuffed above polished cowboy boots. They weren’t Okies, but they certainly looked the part. Next to the Harvey brothers, there is a pair of attractive young women dressed in Hawaiian garb, leis around their necks, one holding a ukulele, showing the influence Hawaiian culture had on Southern California. On the right side of the photo, two cute teenage girls smiled and showed their legs. Two girls for every boy--California must have been heaven to these young farm boys from South Dakota.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Jim Harvey, with banjo. His brother Kenny is on the left, holding the fiddle. California Paradise, 1930's style.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4p9db6udI/AAAAAAAAABM/B1Qv8DVPs4M/s1600/Harvey1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="446" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4p9db6udI/AAAAAAAAABM/B1Qv8DVPs4M/s640/Harvey1.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another photo shows Jim Harvey as a teenager posing in the driveway of his home, with a lemon tree in the background. Typical of that time, it was important to Jim to show his newfound affluence by posing for a shot in his best western clothes. In the photo, he is holding his Gibson archtop guitar, with his Martin mandolin, Gibson tenor banjo and upright bass placed around him. The most revealing detail of this photo—a custom pickguard on his Gibson archtop emblazoned with </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“JIMMY”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—shows the burgeoning influence of customization on hillbilly guitar culture (a style that began with Jimmie Rodgers, the “Singing Brakeman,” inlaying his name on the fretboard of his Martin in the late 1920’s). The customized guitar bug had bitten Jim Harvey.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4sG19Gi6I/AAAAAAAAABQ/9q0VXN2Q8qs/s1600/Harvey5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4sG19Gi6I/AAAAAAAAABQ/9q0VXN2Q8qs/s640/Harvey5.jpg" width="432" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jim Harvey, above all else, was a Navy man, and a family man. He enlisted in 1939 and did his twenty-year stint. When Jim became a Chief Petty Officer and moved off base, he bought a home in La Jolla, another San Diego suburb just north of Pacific Beach. He married Hilda in 1941, and had three children—Howard, Barbara, and Walter Junior.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jim’s father worked as a carpenter, then a cabinetmaker, and it was through his father that Jim learned how to work with wood. Later, in the Navy, Jim became a Chief Metalsmith, and gained experience with all kinds of different metals. This background (much like Paul Bigsby’s experience as a machinist and motorcycle mechanic) explains how Jim Harvey was able to make instruments in his garage that had such a professional aura. Howard Harvey remembers that his dad used a Shop-Smith, one of those ancient machines that used a single motor to drive five or six power tools mounted on a single rail, for just about everything in the instrument-making process. With only simple tools, Jim Harvey’s experience and perfectionism is what enabled him to make instruments of such high caliber.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jim eventually became a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy, and was a member of FASRON #691 based on North Island in San Diego. Music played a large part in his life, and he would often go to the Bostonia Ballroom, where all the stars of the day appeared. The Bostonia was in El Cajon, a dusty town adjunct to San Diego where the Okies preferred to live.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was at the Bostonia Ballroom, around 1950, that Jim Harvey first saw Paul Bigsby’s instruments. A particularly telling set of black and white snapshots, taken by Jim at the Bostonia, show his obsession with guitars. There were shots of Joaquin Murphy bent over his tripleneck Bigsby steel guitar, and more importantly, Merle Travis playing his groundbreaking Bigsby electric solidbody guitar. To a musician used to seeing hollowbody guitars and lap steels, most of which were made back East in places like Kalamazoo or Chicago, seeing a beautifully made solidbody guitar crafted in a Southern California garage must have been as radical as seeing a cell phone for the first time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Photo taken by Jim Harvey at the Bostonia Ballroom, El Cajon, CA. Joaquin Murphy is playing his Bigsby steel guitar on the left, Smokey Rogers is playing Merle Travis' Bigsby electric solidbody guitar, second from right. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Photo is copyrighted, no use is permitted.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5msSh8XqI/AAAAAAAAAE0/5f4XX-rRPuo/s1600/BigsbyMerleTravis4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="474" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5msSh8XqI/AAAAAAAAAE0/5f4XX-rRPuo/s640/BigsbyMerleTravis4.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As much as the photos can tell us, the first musical instrument that Jim Harvey built was a simple doubleneck steel guitar, made around 1950 in the garage of his La Jolla home. The guitar was roughly patterned after a Bigsby steel guitar, but photos tell us that it was fairly primitive. Nonetheless, it appeared to inspire a passion in Jim Harvey, who now knew he could build a guitar, if he put his mind to it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4s5axpNmI/AAAAAAAAABU/qNV8ycKkINY/s1600/Harvey18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4s5axpNmI/AAAAAAAAABU/qNV8ycKkINY/s640/Harvey18.jpg" width="404" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Above and below: Jim Harvey's first custom-made instrument, a primitive non-pedal steel guitar. Circa 1950.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4tEJRuLyI/AAAAAAAAABY/oPIuOnG06Vg/s1600/Harvey21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="398" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4tEJRuLyI/AAAAAAAAABY/oPIuOnG06Vg/s640/Harvey21.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first standard guitar Jim made was his own personal instrument. The body shape was an interesting one, with the large silhouette of an archtop guitar, and the thin neck-through-body, flat top and back construction of a Bigsby electric guitar. It was quite obvious that Jim had taken most of his inspiration from Paul Bigsby, with copious use of birdseye maple throughout, aluminum nut and bridge, and strap hooks instead of strap buttons. Most importantly, the guitar had a Bigsby pickup in the treble position, with one switch and three knobs, just like Merle Travis’ Bigsby solidbody guitar. Regardless of the inspiration, Harvey’s creation was remarkably original in all respects. It was no mere Bigsby copy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4tUwV1OqI/AAAAAAAAABc/yHsf_j0rtZs/s1600/Harvey2Dec1952.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4tUwV1OqI/AAAAAAAAABc/yHsf_j0rtZs/s1600/Harvey2Dec1952.jpg" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Most unusually, Jim’s personal guitar featured photographs of his wife Hilda and his two children at the time, Howard and Barbara, inlaid in the markers of the fretboard. Perhaps if there are any readers out there who are spending too much time with their guitars and getting grief from their wives, this example of Jim Harvey’s should be followed—inlay her photograph in the fretboard!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4tlNI9MYI/AAAAAAAAABg/F7h-0mTkEi4/s1600/HarveyBig7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4tlNI9MYI/AAAAAAAAABg/F7h-0mTkEi4/s640/HarveyBig7.jpg" width="516" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Above and below: Jim Harvey with his first standard guitar, known as the "Jimmy" guitar. If you look closely in the upper photo you can see the family photos inlaid in the fretboard markers.</span></span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4vTO7MJ8I/AAAAAAAAABk/48IPLwbHOZ8/s1600/HarveyBig3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4vTO7MJ8I/AAAAAAAAABk/48IPLwbHOZ8/s640/HarveyBig3.jpg" width="516" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jim began building his guitar in 1951, and it was finished by early 1952. During that time, Jim Harvey began working on another instrument—a five-string electric mandolin made for another one of his Navy friends, William “Scotty” Broyles.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Like a lot of men in the Armed Services, physical fitness was extremely important to Jim Harvey. He constantly lifted weights, ran and swam laps at the pool. It was at the swimming pool that Jim Harvey and Scotty Broyles struck up a friendship based on their mutual love of hillbilly music.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scotty Broyles was and is a man small in stature, but tough as nails. Like most Texans, he is very friendly and outgoing, but his hard stance assures you that if there were to be a problem, he could still take care of business. Scotty was an electric mandolin player who came from the same Texas electric mandolin tradition as Tiny Moore, Johnny Gimble, and Paul Buskirk.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I got to know Scotty a few years ago, and made the long drive to visit him and his wife Betty in isolated Ridgecrest, California, on the edge of the China Lake Naval weapons desert testing facility. Scotty let me sleep in until 6 in the morning, and he did what seemed like a thousand pushups while I tried to clear my head with my first cup of coffee. These old Navy guys are tough. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Scotty Broyles and his Harvey mandolin.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5pu2S5uJI/AAAAAAAAAE8/-sM4JYq1WTY/s1600/HarveyScottyBroyles.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5pu2S5uJI/AAAAAAAAAE8/-sM4JYq1WTY/s640/HarveyScottyBroyles.JPG" width="480" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scotty amazed and delighted me with a collection of color slides that he had taken in the early and mid-1950’s. You don’t often get to see crisp, color shots of legends, and the images brought these people to life in a way I didn’t dream was possible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There was a color slide of Merle Travis holding his Bigsby solidbody—the only known color photograph of Merle holding that guitar. There were amazing photos of Hank Thompson, Homer and Jethro, Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant, Lefty Frizzell, Joaquin Murphy, and a hundred others, all dressed in incredibly ornate and vividly colored Western suits. Even the audience members at these shows were dressed in dazzlingly colored Hawaiian shirts and perfectly cuffed slacks. No wonder these 80-year-old guys think this country is going to hell in a handbasket—after viewing these slides, then going to the supermarket and seeing everyone in sweatpants, I would have to agree.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4xDL9iLJI/AAAAAAAAABw/2xYptb4rkts/s1600/SmokeyRogers1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4xDL9iLJI/AAAAAAAAABw/2xYptb4rkts/s640/SmokeyRogers1.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Above and below: Two gorgeous examples of the color photographs found in the Scotty Broyles collection. Upper photo: Smokey Rogers' Orchestra, featuring Joaquin Murphy on Bigsby steel guitar. Below: Merle Travis, in the only known color photograph of him with his 1948 Bigsby electric solidbody guitar. You can see all of Scotty's incredible photos at www.dekedickersonphotoarchive.com</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4xKn4FPOI/AAAAAAAAAB0/jjbyroLxKDY/s1600/MerleTravis1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4xKn4FPOI/AAAAAAAAAB0/jjbyroLxKDY/s640/MerleTravis1.jpg" width="426" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scotty still has his 1952 Jim Harvey mandolin, and he wanted to pick with me. I awkwardly tried to accompany him on old rags and polkas that I had never played before. In our first get-together, we didn’t have a whole lot of musical middle ground, but I was and still am eager to learn the secret musical language that these 80-year old men speak with ease. Scotty is still a great mandolin player and I had a ball getting to know him. I liked him so much that I never got around to asking him about selling his mandolin. Here was a man still happily playing the instrument he’d had custom made almost sixty years earlier. I just wanted to see him play it some more.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To see a Youtube video showing Scotty Broyles playing his mandolin, with the author accompanying him, click</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR3NXqyCie4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> here.</span></a></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scotty commissioned Jim Harvey to build him a five-string electric mandolin in early 1952. The idea for the fifth string, a low C below the G-string, was taken from Paul Buskirk’s 1950 ten-string (five double courses) Bigsby mandolin. Scotty had seen Paul Buskirk playing his Bigsby mandolin in Texas, and was blown away by his ability on the instrument. A few years later Scotty would introduce Buskirk to Jim Harvey.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5oBxj_ibI/AAAAAAAAAE4/T9oHxZBIAuc/s1600/Scotty'sMandolinnum2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5oBxj_ibI/AAAAAAAAAE4/T9oHxZBIAuc/s640/Scotty'sMandolinnum2.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM44Pta3yyI/AAAAAAAAACA/f3qvK_FvtmU/s1600/Harvey2-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM44Pta3yyI/AAAAAAAAACA/f3qvK_FvtmU/s640/Harvey2-10.jpg" width="616" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5LAd1D9VI/AAAAAAAAADY/6BUkVaVYzO8/s1600/ScottyBroylesTX56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5LAd1D9VI/AAAAAAAAADY/6BUkVaVYzO8/s640/ScottyBroylesTX56.jpg" width="436" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The steel guitar player in Scotty’s Band, Robert Hansen, designed the body and headstock shapes for Scotty’s mandolin. Like Jim’s guitar, the mandolin was made of beautiful birdseye maple, with Bigsby-style appointments, such as the aluminum nut and bridge and decorative pickguard. Engraved into the tailpiece was the inscription: </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Custom made for Scotty Broyles by Jim Harvey.”</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4yJNPoyiI/AAAAAAAAAB4/FO9dpTqiijs/s1600/JimHarvey_w_Scotty'sMandolin_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4yJNPoyiI/AAAAAAAAAB4/FO9dpTqiijs/s640/JimHarvey_w_Scotty'sMandolin_.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Above: Scotty Broyles poses with his mandolin, not quite finished.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Jim Harvey and family with Scotty's mandolin, under construction.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM41UNxc0FI/AAAAAAAAAB8/0SREWxrvGSE/s1600/JimHarveyFamilywScottysmando.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM41UNxc0FI/AAAAAAAAAB8/0SREWxrvGSE/s640/JimHarveyFamilywScottysmando.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scotty Broyles reveals the story of how some of Jim Harvey’s instruments utilized Bigsby pickups. When it came time to put a pickup in Jim’s first standard guitar, he made up his mind that he would drive up to Downey and see Paul Bigsby. Remember, these were the steamboat days of the electric guitar—Fender and Gibson wouldn’t sell you one of their pickups unless it was attached to one of their guitars. For the amateur guitar builder of 1951, the pickup was a magical, mystical thing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jim drove up to Downey to see Paul Bigsby, with Scotty Broyles in tow. As Scotty remembers it, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Jim asked Paul if he would sell him a pickup, and Paul said he’d have to see his work, and if it was good enough, he might consider it. Jim went out to his car and got the guitar he was working on, and Bigsby spent about ten minutes slowly looking it over. Finally, without saying anything, Paul walked over to a cabinet mounted on the wall, pulls out a pickup, comes back over to Jim and tells him the pickups are fifty dollars, and they’re the same price if he takes just the pickup or leaves the instrument to have him install the pickup himself.”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paul Bigsby installed the pickups on Jim’s new guitar and Scotty’s mandolin. During the time that Scotty’s mandolin was in Bigsby’s shop, Bigsby was also putting the finishing touches on a four-string electric mandolin made for Tiny Moore, mandolin player with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scotty recalls how Tiny Moore became associated with the five-string electric mandolin: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Jim Harvey had taken my unfinished mandolin up there to Paul Bigsby to have a five-string pickup installed. Well, it was sitting around Bigsby’s shop for a few weeks while he installed the pickup, and about that time, Tiny Moore came and visited Bigsby to see how his new electric mandolin was coming. Tiny had ordered a four-string mandolin, but when he saw my Harvey five-string mandolin laying there, he changed his mind and told Paul right then and there his had to be a five-string too. Paul was irritated, because he was just about done with Tiny’s instrument! Eventually Tiny got his way, and that’s the reason Tiny Moore’s Bigsby had five strings instead of four.”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5CbI2VHOI/AAAAAAAAADI/MGouN76cfmE/s1600/BigsbyTinyMoore.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5CbI2VHOI/AAAAAAAAADI/MGouN76cfmE/s640/BigsbyTinyMoore.JPG" width="480" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Above: Tiny Moore's Bigsby mandolin. It became a 5-string mandolin after Tiny saw Scotty's mandolin in Bigsby's shop being equipped with a 5-string pickup. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Scotty Broyles and his western band, after the Harvey mandolin's completion.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM45EjT-MjI/AAAAAAAAACE/0C2C9KrDj3s/s1600/ScottyBroylesBand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM45EjT-MjI/AAAAAAAAACE/0C2C9KrDj3s/s640/ScottyBroylesBand.jpg" width="518" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Below: Photos of Scotty Broyles' mandolin as it is today. Note engraved tailpiece worn from years of Scotty's palm resting on it</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5qvetKk4I/AAAAAAAAAFA/xX9C1sUqsPY/s1600/DSC02560.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM8qR1QNssI/AAAAAAAAAHU/bdMvW0G0Cqs/s1600/HarveyScottyMando1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM8qR1QNssI/AAAAAAAAAHU/bdMvW0G0Cqs/s1600/HarveyScottyMando1.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM8qjQ0Q-ZI/AAAAAAAAAHY/KTviOKBhUTQ/s1600/HarveyScottyMando2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM8qjQ0Q-ZI/AAAAAAAAAHY/KTviOKBhUTQ/s640/HarveyScottyMando2.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5rVE6I3XI/AAAAAAAAAFE/pYNh9M0vBPo/s1600/DSC02572.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5r-iFnBdI/AAAAAAAAAFI/Wi5KIgvdtp4/s1600/DSC02567.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5r-iFnBdI/AAAAAAAAAFI/Wi5KIgvdtp4/s640/DSC02567.JPG" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5si4KCAJI/AAAAAAAAAFM/URoPeKwIZ9o/s1600/DSC02564.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5si4KCAJI/AAAAAAAAAFM/URoPeKwIZ9o/s640/DSC02564.JPG" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5tGFN6N2I/AAAAAAAAAFQ/yBI4qFncc10/s1600/DSC02569.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5tGFN6N2I/AAAAAAAAAFQ/yBI4qFncc10/s640/DSC02569.JPG" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scotty retains his original mandolin to this day, but Jim’s first guitar is lost to time. Photos seem to indicate that Jim sold the guitar to another sailor, but not before replacing the fretboard, adding a Bigsby-styled armrest, and adding a new pickguard that read ‘Emil.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM45QZKtRJI/AAAAAAAAACI/CFNX5P9oTc4/s1600/Harvey23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM45QZKtRJI/AAAAAAAAACI/CFNX5P9oTc4/s640/Harvey23.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another personal story to add, that goes along with the biographical chronology—a year after I saw that elusive Harvey doubleneck that began this article, another Harvey guitar popped up and was profiled in a now defunct magazine. This Harvey was much different than the doubleneck I had seen, but it was also highly influenced by Bigsby. The pickguard said ‘Bob’ in cartoon cursive letters. There were some sketchy biographical details about Jim Harvey, but not much.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM45n9uYHZI/AAAAAAAAACM/uRihqWo3U0k/s1600/HarveyBobArticle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM45n9uYHZI/AAAAAAAAACM/uRihqWo3U0k/s1600/HarveyBobArticle.jpg" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A short time later, I was at one of the San Francisco-area vintage guitar shows, when one of my favorite guitar dealers in the world, Jay Rosen, told me he had a guitar that I had to buy. Jay said that he had brought it to the show but wasn’t displaying it, because he knew it would draw a lot of attention, and he had already decided I was going to buy it. When he crouched under the table and cracked the case, I knew immediately that he had the Harvey ‘Bob’ guitar saved back for me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The guitar came with a letter from the original owner, with a business card in Las Vegas. I contacted Rob Tuvell and he has since become a great friend. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Robert Tuvell was a fellow Navy man stationed on North Island with Jim Harvey. One day he happened to stop and admire Jim’s new guitar at the base. Jim offered to make him a Bigsby-style electric standard guitar, if Tuvell would pay for the materials.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tuvell remembers going over to Jim’s house to see the materials, once they arrived. He recalls the wood being beautifully figured birdseye maple, and that Jim made a point of telling him that the hardware for his guitar came from a Gibson.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For Tuvell’s guitar, Jim chose a decidedly unorthodox construction method. The body shape was roughly the same as his personal guitar. However, I have never seen another neck-through-body, flat and thin electric with a DeArmond floating pickup on it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tuvell recalls that the materials cost around $100, and to put that in perspective, at the time he was only earning $140 a month at the base. This probably explains why this guitar did not have a Bigsby pickup, since Bigsby charged $50 (approximately $350 in today’s money) for a single pickup. The DeArmond floating pickup was a decent substitute, suited to Bob’s needs—chunking rhythm guitar for dance bands.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM45-1os9eI/AAAAAAAAACQ/T-DjelMploI/s1600/HarveyBobTuvell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM45-1os9eI/AAAAAAAAACQ/T-DjelMploI/s640/HarveyBobTuvell.jpg" width="518" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Above and below: Robert "Bob" Tuvell receives his new Harvey guitar. Photos taken in Jim Harvey's living room, 1952.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM46Xcg4RQI/AAAAAAAAACU/qISZygx1Qz4/s1600/HarveyBig4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM46Xcg4RQI/AAAAAAAAACU/qISZygx1Qz4/s640/HarveyBig4.jpg" width="516" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Former owner Dave Westerbeke said of the ‘Bob’ Harvey guitar: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“This guitar has almost no acoustic sound, but plugged in, with flatwounds, it has an amazing bell-like jazz tone. Harvey didn’t finish out his guitars like, say, D’Angelico, but he was very strong on rudiments. He had a lot of guts. He put two wood screws through the bridge so it won’t adjust at all, but he nailed it perfectly and it intonates beautifully. With that ‘bolt-on’ bridge, extremely rigid neck, and neck-through design, it has more sustain than any guitar I’m aware of. I have a bunch of L-5’s and a Tal Farlow, but this kills all of them.”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM6LZG4mYvI/AAAAAAAAAHM/A_2gXz6Q50I/s1600/HarveyBob1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM6LZG4mYvI/AAAAAAAAAHM/A_2gXz6Q50I/s1600/HarveyBob1.JPG" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another interesting feature of the ‘Bob’ guitar is the case. The case is made of solid birdseye maple, covered in black tolex and lined with green felt material, and weighs twenty pounds. Jim told Rob Tuvell when he received the instrument: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“the case was harder to make than the guitar!”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Jim made cases for all of his instruments, but with more standardized case construction methods.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jim also made a pedal steel guitar, an elegant looking thing from the photos, though it too has disappeared. It was a single-8 string steel with five pedals, an innovative guitar made at the turning point of pedal steel technology. 'Harvitone' was inlaid in cursive letters on the front. One classic photo, taken at the Del Mar County Fair exhibits hall, shows the farthest step Jim Harvey ever took in advertising himself as a guitar maker. The steel guitar and his personal 'Jimmy' guitar are displayed in a booth next to model airplanes on an adjoining table. A hand-lettered sign read: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“These electrical instruments designed and built by Jimmy Harvey, LaJolla, Calif.”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This appears to be the only time Jim Harvey ever promoted himself in any way. According to Howard Harvey, Jim often flirted with the idea of making instruments on a commercial basis, even approaching his son with ideas about marketing and advertising. With his Navy and family commitments, he simply didn’t have the time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM47zv8alII/AAAAAAAAACc/ArBrn0uHHdo/s1600/HarveySteelGuitar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="526" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM47zv8alII/AAAAAAAAACc/ArBrn0uHHdo/s640/HarveySteelGuitar.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Above: The 'Harvitone' pedal steel guitar, first incarnation--with a Harlin Bros. Multi-Kord type pedal setup. </span></span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Jim Harvey's booth at the Del Mar County Fair. Note that the pedal steel has a more refined pedal setup in this photo. </span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM47HH7bVdI/AAAAAAAAACY/RVr666L8reU/s1600/Harvey32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="638" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM47HH7bVdI/AAAAAAAAACY/RVr666L8reU/s640/Harvey32.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Besides Scotty Broyles instrument, there were at least three other Harvey electric mandolins. One of them was based on a Martin acoustic mandolin, with a Martin-style headstock, scale length, and neck shape. The pickguard reads “Dave” and Scotty Broyles remembers Dave as a comedian who utilized the mandolin in his act. The other two mandolins appear in family photos, but their whereabouts are unknown.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM48X8Nkd0I/AAAAAAAAACg/RdeNI1Y7sGM/s1600/HARVEY+Mvc_412f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM48X8Nkd0I/AAAAAAAAACg/RdeNI1Y7sGM/s640/HARVEY+Mvc_412f.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Above: Photo of "lost" Harvey mandolin taken outside a guitar show several years ago. Current whereabouts unknown. (Photo courtesy Chance Wilson)</span></span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: "Dave," on the right, with another lost Harvey mandolin, this one patterned from a Martin mandolin (note headstock shape).</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM49Rt_fl9I/AAAAAAAAACo/rLT36JCKocU/s1600/Harvey22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="406" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM49Rt_fl9I/AAAAAAAAACo/rLT36JCKocU/s640/Harvey22.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scotty Broyles also remembers seeing Jim Harvey on Smokey Rogers’ local television show talking about a guitar that Jim was making for him. Smokey Rogers was a former member of Tex Williams’ Western Caravan, and leader of the house band at the Bostonia Ballroom. The whereabouts of Smokey’s Harvey guitar, if it still exists, is unknown.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jim began working on another personal guitar that would become his next “family” guitar. Since selling his original family guitar, his youngest son Walter Jr. (“Wally”) had been born, which made for a good excuse to make a new one.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Jim Harvey's second "family" guitar. Note inlays of his wife and kids in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th frets. The workmanship on this guitar is simply stunning.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM55oyoPuxI/AAAAAAAAAFk/r4q422SSuiM/s1600/HarveyFamilyGtr1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM55oyoPuxI/AAAAAAAAAFk/r4q422SSuiM/s1600/HarveyFamilyGtr1.JPG" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM56MY6T-5I/AAAAAAAAAFo/ClFqFeFMr5Y/s1600/DSC05738.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM56MY6T-5I/AAAAAAAAAFo/ClFqFeFMr5Y/s640/DSC05738.JPG" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM57RMbkPSI/AAAAAAAAAFs/vhjEvnvUBds/s1600/DSC05747.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM57RMbkPSI/AAAAAAAAAFs/vhjEvnvUBds/s640/DSC05747.JPG" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM58ABZfFnI/AAAAAAAAAFw/Oky26ZNLbbw/s1600/DSC05691.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM58ABZfFnI/AAAAAAAAAFw/Oky26ZNLbbw/s640/DSC05691.JPG" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM58xI-muSI/AAAAAAAAAF0/N2Prqr4tfuQ/s1600/DSC05699.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM58xI-muSI/AAAAAAAAAF0/N2Prqr4tfuQ/s640/DSC05699.JPG" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM591mqbNoI/AAAAAAAAAGY/37znxNYt7Ik/s1600/DSC05715.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM591mqbNoI/AAAAAAAAAGY/37znxNYt7Ik/s640/DSC05715.JPG" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4-1r5jzxI/AAAAAAAAAC4/5CM3mbl6bbg/s1600/HarveyBig2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4-1r5jzxI/AAAAAAAAAC4/5CM3mbl6bbg/s640/HarveyBig2.jpg" width="516" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are several pictures that show the guitar under construction, and again, the Bigsby influence was undeniable. Around this time, Jim came up with the musical eighth-note motif for his new headstock design—one that I might add is particularly well designed and thought out. In fact, all of Jim Harvey’s work is remarkable in that it is clearly influenced by Paul Bigsby yet original in design, with graceful, flowing lines that set him apart from all other backyard guitar makers. Nothing Jim Harvey did was clumsy. The guy had class.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM491gByJYI/AAAAAAAAACs/pkemQwvCKlE/s1600/Harvey28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="452" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM491gByJYI/AAAAAAAAACs/pkemQwvCKlE/s640/Harvey28.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Above and below: Jim Harvey's second personal guitar, under construction.</span></span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM49-x1tqzI/AAAAAAAAACw/9re4CIu8kDg/s1600/Harvey27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM49-x1tqzI/AAAAAAAAACw/9re4CIu8kDg/s640/Harvey27.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jim’s new personal “family” guitar had one Bigsby pickup, and again featured photographs of the wife and kids inlaid into the fretboard position markers. In addition, the three knobs on this guitar were hand-cast metal with each of his children’s name stamped on top, so instead of volume, you adjusted the “Wally” knob, instead of tone you adjusted the “Howard” knob, and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paul Bigsby had come out with his new vibrato since Harvey’s first guitars were made, so of course this new guitar had to have one as well. Jim’s handmade vibrato used chromed steel and a hinged top base, and works darn well considering the failure rate of most early handmade vibratos. A scribbled note on the back of a photo, in Jim’s handwriting, reveals that he finished this guitar while on a Navy ship coming back from Japan. Jim’s son Walter Jr. still owns this guitar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Around this same time, Jim took on another luthier’s challenge—he made an acoustic guitar. The “Harveytone” (different spelling than the “Harvitone” steel guitar) acoustic was a large-bodied, bizarrely shaped 10-string guitar with an abalone-inlaid armest and playing card suits inlaid in the fretboard. The idea for the playing card suits came directly from Merle Travis’ Bigsby guitar. Jim would always refer to the acoustic as his “Gambler’s Guitar” (which, not coincidentally, was the title of a Merle Travis song).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4_Luhx6sI/AAAAAAAAAC8/X4e5VDYL7os/s1600/Harvey2-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4_Luhx6sI/AAAAAAAAAC8/X4e5VDYL7os/s1600/Harvey2-4.jpg" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It’s difficult to trace where Jim Harvey might have gotten the inspiration for the design of his acoustic. It’s aesthetic can only be explained by a 1950’s Southern California combination of Project Blue Book flying saucers, Paul Bigsby’s hillbilly flash, and the large-bodied Guitarrons played by the local mariachis. It is simply one of the most unusual acoustic guitars I’ve ever laid eyes on. Though we will never know what inspired Jim Harvey’s vision, I think it is great.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The acoustic still exists and is owned by Jim’s son Howard. The instrument went through several phases in its life. At one point, the guitar was converted to a six string, and the four extra tuner holes were filled with (what else?) inlaid dice, adding to the “Gambler’s Guitar” motif. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Photos of Jim Harvey's "Gambler's Guitar" as it appears today. Originally a 10-string, it was converted to a 6-string then again to a 9-string. The body was originally deep with a flat back, and Harvey thinned the body and put an Ovation-style arched fiberglass back on in the 1970's. The guitar also shows evidence of an electric conversion.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5LoMSX3YI/AAAAAAAAADc/P3KQq9tQqXE/s1600/HarveyAcoustic1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5LoMSX3YI/AAAAAAAAADc/P3KQq9tQqXE/s1600/HarveyAcoustic1.JPG" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5MNQ2LwdI/AAAAAAAAADk/oWySD2L7up0/s1600/HarveyAcoustic3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5MNQ2LwdI/AAAAAAAAADk/oWySD2L7up0/s640/HarveyAcoustic3.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the 1970’s, obviously inspired by the new roundback Ovation guitars, Jim cut the acoustic body down to half its original thickness, and added a fiberglass bowl back to the guitar (with a nod to SoCal surfboard culture, the outside of the bowl back was brown like the color of wood, but the inside of the bowl was metalflake green, seen through the sound hole). There are extra holes in the pickguard from an electric conversion that is no longer there, and finally (why not?) Jim converted the guitar to a 9-string, drilling new tuner holes in between his original 4 extra holes that he had filled in with inlaid dice. The guitar is one of the most singularly original acoustic guitars in the world, bar none.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4_smgi7mI/AAAAAAAAADA/_vGCwCElaQY/s1600/Harvey53.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="620" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4_smgi7mI/AAAAAAAAADA/_vGCwCElaQY/s640/Harvey53.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The acoustic guitar, as well as several other Harvey instruments, feature inlaid mother-of-pearl made from genuine abalone shells. In those days, abalone was not environmentally protected, as it is now, and Jim and his family would often go to the beach and dive for abalone shells. Both of the houses in La Jolla where the Harvey family lived were less than a five-minute walk to the beach. Howard Harvey remembers a large stack of abalone shells outside his dad’s workshop. Jim would cut up the finest pieces and use the mother-of-pearl for inlay on his instruments. I love this small detail—a guitar maker diving for his own abalone shells to get inlay material--it is a perfect Southern California guitar-making story.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">John Goertz was a local San Diego music fan and amateur guitar player. He was one of those men who had a good job and used his expendable income to buy lots of records and several nice guitars. Around 1957, he ordered a guitar based on his own design—a Gretsch Duo-Jet with a baby Duo-Jet mandolin growing off the top of the guitar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4_-FU1OGI/AAAAAAAAADE/zkVGHkCGel0/s1600/Harvey14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="450" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM4_-FU1OGI/AAAAAAAAADE/zkVGHkCGel0/s640/Harvey14.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Goertz received the guitar in 1958, and kept it, rarely played, until he sold it to Tom Sims. The guitar is currently on display at the Museum Of Making Music in Carlsbad, California—interestingly enough, posed in a glass case next to J.B. Thomas’ 1956 Bigsby doubleneck guitar. The pair of birdseye beauties are worth the price of admission.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paul Buskirk was a virtuoso musician, originally from West Virginia, who ruled the local scene in Houston, Texas. Buskirk was one of the country’s great mandolin players (Fretboard Journal did a nice article on Buskirk in Issue #14), but he was equally at home on tenor banjo, guitar, or his favorite, the mandola. Buskirk had a long career dating back to the 1930’s, including stints touring behind Tex Ritter and Gene Austin, a few years in Memphis playing for Eddie Hill, and a few years in Dallas in the early 1950’s, where he recorded with Lefty Frizzell and many others. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Buskirk settled in Houston in 1956 to work with husband and wife team Curly Fox and Texas Ruby, who had a popular local television show on KPRC-TV. It was here that he helped a struggling young man named Willie Nelson. Willie was a disc jockey and songwriter and singer, but hadn’t had much luck until Buskirk set him up teaching guitar lessons at Buskirk’s music studio in Pasadena, Texas. As Willie recalls, Buskirk would keep him one lesson ahead of the students. When Willie’s recording of “Nite Life” came out in 1960, the record label read “Paul Buskirk and his Little Men, featuring Hugh Nelson, vocals.” Though Nelson had released a few singles before this one, with “Nite Life” his style emerged fully formed. It would take nearly twenty years for Willie to grow his hair and hit the mainstream consciousness, but this record began his ascent. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Six months after the release of “Nite Life,” Nelson was living in Nashville and had a contract with Liberty Records. Willie never forgot the career boost that Buskirk gave him, and later gave Buskirk a third of the royalties from his “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” album in the 1980’s.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paul Buskirk received a Bigsby mandolin in 1950. Typical of most virtuosos, Buskirk prided himself that he owned the best instrument possible, and also took a certain measure of pride in the fact that Paul Bigsby was at his service. In 1952, Bigsby gave Buskirk one of the very first Bigsby vibratos, adapted with pins for his ten-string mandolin, and a few years later Bigsby made Buskirk a 5-string Fender-style mandola neck for his 1954 Stratocaster (!), an instrument that is now lost.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Below: Paul Buskirk plays his Bigsby 10-string mandolin while Tex Ritter checks his watch. Photo courtesy Andrew Brown.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM8mOyyjhaI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/NxR304Ey1W4/s1600/BigsbyBuskirkTex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM8mOyyjhaI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/NxR304Ey1W4/s640/BigsbyBuskirkTex.jpg" width="418" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eventually Buskirk decided he needed a doubleneck guitar, as the rock & roll business was killing his employment as a mandolin player. Buskirk contacted Paul Bigsby about getting a doubleneck made, and Bigsby turned him down. A letter dated May 22, 1956 related that Bigsby was unable to make Buskirk a guitar because he was making vibratos for Gibson and Gretsch at a rate of “100 units per month, and I do all the work myself.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Paul Bigsby's "rejection" letter to Paul Buskirk, which prompted Buskirk to commission a Harvey doubleneck. (courtesy Andrew Brown)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5Em8aCpjI/AAAAAAAAADM/mt_BUci16W0/s1600/BigsbyBuskirkletter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5Em8aCpjI/AAAAAAAAADM/mt_BUci16W0/s1600/BigsbyBuskirkletter.jpg" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Regardless of Bigsby’s intentions with the letter, it slighted Buskirk. He considered himself too important of a musician to be rebuffed by Paul Bigsby.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scotty Broyles left San Diego and returned to Houston in the mid-1950’s, where he reacquainted himself with Paul Buskirk. After Bigsby’s rejection letter, Buskirk had a conversation with Scotty about the man who made his custom mandolin. Broyles gave Buskirk Jim Harvey’s address.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Burkirk ordered a doubleneck guitar from Jim Harvey with very specific instructions. The upper neck was to be a six-string, 20-inch mandola scale, the bottom neck a standard guitar. Because of his beef with Paul Bigsby, Buskirk wanted the pickups on both necks to be Fender Stratocaster pickups, and although the instrument would have two Bigsby vibratos, Buskirk wanted the Bigsby logos covered up with decorative walnut and abalone plates.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Jim Harvey with Paul Buskirk's doubleneck. The photo is dated October, 1958. More than likely the date is also the completion date of the instrument.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5FMiIl0XI/AAAAAAAAADQ/CFcYYISjO7k/s1600/Harvey2-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5FMiIl0XI/AAAAAAAAADQ/CFcYYISjO7k/s640/Harvey2-3.jpg" width="518" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When the Paul Buskirk doubleneck was finished, it was without question Jim Harvey’s masterpiece. The enormous body was an artistic vision of birdseye maple, walnut, abalone mother-of-pearl, and the art of the French curve. Once again, the Bigsby influence was present, with a large scroll on the upper bout, but done in Jim Harvey’s original design. The final concept was equal parts Lone Ranger and the Jetsons, a futuristic vision of the West. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Buskirk remained a local figure, never becoming famous anywhere except Southeastern Texas, but his presence around Houston was huge. Buskirk appeared playing the doubleneck in a locally produced color movie, “Tomboy And The Champ,” backing up a child singer on a rockabilly ditty called “Barbecue Rock.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">See Paul Buskirk playing the Harvey doubleneck in the movie </span></span></span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fWQBA-i0Tc"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">here.</span></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In 1962, Buskirk released an album on the tiny Merba record label, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Paul Buskirk Plays a Dozen Strings,”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> proudly displaying the Harvey guitar on the cover (interestingly enough, though Buskirk ordered the upper mandola neck as a 6-string, mostly he only used 5 strings on it, and it can be seen strung this way on the cover of the record, making the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Dozen Strings”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> album title slightly misleading). The album was a tour de force of insanely hot playing, with the best song on the record a blazing instrumental called </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Jim Harvey’s Rag,”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> a tribute to the man who made his instrument.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5Nmg7NwbI/AAAAAAAAADo/NZLTAVYhoHk/s1600/HarveyPaulBuskirk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5Nmg7NwbI/AAAAAAAAADo/NZLTAVYhoHk/s1600/HarveyPaulBuskirk.jpg" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p><br />
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hear Paul Buskirk play "Jim Harvey's Rag" <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOtM-v0xJ6s">here.</a></span></span></span></o:p><br />
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Buskirk’s influence was so strong around Houston, in the late 1950’s a local luthier named F.A. Thorp made several five-string electric mandolins and mandolas, all based on the design of the Jim Harvey doubleneck, even copying the Harvey headstock shape. These have surfaced and been misidentified as Harvey instruments, but the Thorp instruments generally have DeArmond tinfoil pickups and are more basic in design.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Photos of Houston-made F.A. Thorp instruments with Harvey-style headstock shape. These instruments were produced after Buskirk's doubleneck caused a sensation around his home town of Houston.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5O7nPKtlI/AAAAAAAAADw/3Tk38ZAx9go/s1600/FAThorp2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5O7nPKtlI/AAAAAAAAADw/3Tk38ZAx9go/s320/FAThorp2.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5PAoAAQ2I/AAAAAAAAAD0/v06uppAbXSw/s1600/FAThorp3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5PAoAAQ2I/AAAAAAAAAD0/v06uppAbXSw/s320/FAThorp3.jpg" width="176" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5O0VS6ISI/AAAAAAAAADs/2rhYIOZtVBs/s1600/Thorp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5O0VS6ISI/AAAAAAAAADs/2rhYIOZtVBs/s640/Thorp.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Paul Burkirk guitar appears to have been finished around 1958. Jim Harvey retired from the Navy in 1959, and around that time, the guitar building stopped. Jim built a cabin by hand up in Pine Hills, an hour east of San Diego. Howard Harvey remembers that with all of his various commitments, family and otherwise, Jim simply didn’t have much time to make new instruments. Jim continued to tinker with the ones he had already made, and continued to play music, but the burning desire to make new instruments seems to have dried up by the end of the 1950’s.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There was one more Harvey instrument, made in 1966, eight years after the Buskirk doubleneck. Not much is known about the young man whose name was Dick, except that he played in a local group called the Mavericks. This is all guesswork, but it would appear that Dick’s bandmate in the Mavericks was a guy named Collin who had a Gibson doubleneck. Not to be outdone, Dick had Jim Harvey make a tiny electric mandolin that would fit onto the upper horn of his fiesta red Fender Stratocaster.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Dick and his baby Jim Harvey mandolin, designed to fit atop his Fender Stratocaster. Dick, where are you...? If anybody knows Dick's name or his whereabouts, email the author </span></span><a href="mailto:eccofonic@earthlink.net"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">here.</span></span></a></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5SqdVZTiI/AAAAAAAAAD4/W3KqBAK21ZM/s1600/Harvey34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="638" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5SqdVZTiI/AAAAAAAAAD4/W3KqBAK21ZM/s640/Harvey34.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5TC-TXgCI/AAAAAAAAAD8/gkbPVwcEhhI/s1600/Harvey35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="638" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5TC-TXgCI/AAAAAAAAAD8/gkbPVwcEhhI/s640/Harvey35.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5T02IR5DI/AAAAAAAAAEA/ns3oH4QTREk/s1600/Harvey38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="630" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5T02IR5DI/AAAAAAAAAEA/ns3oH4QTREk/s640/Harvey38.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5T9zwX3eI/AAAAAAAAAEE/y-oVP9O15Y8/s1600/Harvey39.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="540" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5T9zwX3eI/AAAAAAAAAEE/y-oVP9O15Y8/s640/Harvey39.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Photos show the tiny Strat-shaped birdseye maple mandolin, posed atop Dick’s red Stratocaster. Jim Harvey sits on the couch next to Dick, showing him how the mandolin slides on top of the guitar. Jim Harvey looks older. This guitar’s whereabouts are unknown. The one bizarre photo we have of The Mavericks, lit from underneath like a 1930’s horror photograph, shows Collin with his Gibson doubleneck, a smiling Dick with his Fender/Harvey doubleneck, and a drummer named Russ, who apparently didn’t mind being in a band with no bass player and two guys playing doubleneck guitars.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: The Mavericks scare the kids with their horror-movie lighting.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5UnQKyrlI/AAAAAAAAAEI/5ldm0J1lWJ0/s1600/Harvey45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="512" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5UnQKyrlI/AAAAAAAAAEI/5ldm0J1lWJ0/s640/Harvey45.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After living for decades in the beachfront towns of La Jolla and Pacific Beach, Jim Harvey bought a piece of land in Rancho Santa Fe. At the time, Rancho Santa Fe was a rural, mostly uninhabited area north of San Diego, set into the mountains and foothills.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In 1972, Jim Harvey built his own home from the ground up. Like his custom made guitars, the house was of his design and creation. The final touch was a swimming pool shaped like a grand piano, complete with 88 keys made of black and white mosaic tile. The diving board was shaped like a guitar, with the cement base poured into the shape of a guitar’s body, and the diving board itself shaped like the guitar’s neck. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5VCIn2D9I/AAAAAAAAAEM/bnZaMcPo1jk/s1600/Harvey2-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5VCIn2D9I/AAAAAAAAAEM/bnZaMcPo1jk/s640/Harvey2-12.jpg" width="634" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5VNX9Km5I/AAAAAAAAAEQ/cr3rJykPemI/s1600/Harvey2-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5VNX9Km5I/AAAAAAAAAEQ/cr3rJykPemI/s640/Harvey2-13.jpg" width="634" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5Vk5Rw_sI/AAAAAAAAAEU/agf1NUBZB8Y/s1600/Harvey2-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5Vk5Rw_sI/AAAAAAAAAEU/agf1NUBZB8Y/s640/Harvey2-15.jpg" width="426" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jim Harvey contracted Mesothelioma and died at the age of 59 on October 15, 1981. By all accounts, for two decades Jim was a fanatic about weightlifting at the North Island navy base facility, which happened to be located in a basement room underneath the swimming pool. The bottom of the swimming pool area was lined with spray-on asbestos. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Jim and Hilda Harvey, not long before Jim's death.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5Vy3bsgdI/AAAAAAAAAEY/pv9PZTDR7P4/s1600/Harvey55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5Vy3bsgdI/AAAAAAAAAEY/pv9PZTDR7P4/s640/Harvey55.jpg" width="458" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Were it not for the instruments themselves, Jim Harvey’s story would have ended there. The scrapbook of photos would stay tucked away in the closet. His family would have fondly remembered him. The problem was that Jim Harvey’s instruments were just too original and creative and well made to remain a secret forever.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There was one loose end, for me, in the Jim Harvey saga. Paul Buskirk was dead, but where was that guitar? It had to be somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Through my friend and fellow researcher Andrew Brown (who, not coincidentally, was the man who gave me Scotty Broyles’ phone number and first showed me the Paul Buskirk “Dozen Strings” LP), I discovered that Buskirk’s once magnificent Harvey doubleneck guitar had endured a rough life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the 1970’s, the guitar was stolen from Buskirk, and it stayed in the hands of the thieves for several years. During that time, the guitar apparently spent most of its time in a car trunk. The thieves eventually needed cash, knocked off the metal Harvey logos from the headstocks, and tried to pawn the instrument. Buskirk was a very well known figure around Nacogdoches (where he was living at the time), so the first pawnbroker they took the guitar into immediately recognized the guitar, and confiscated it from the thieves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Buskirk got the instrument back, but was disgusted by the treatment it had received out of his hands. After that, Buskirk didn’t take care of it, either. One story involved Buskirk leaving it in the case underneath a dripping Texas air conditioner wall unit in his trailer for several years, which explains why the original case is long gone. The top neck headstock was drilled out to become an 8-string mandolin. There were dozens of extra holes in the body of the guitar, from unknown experiments. A clumsy jackplate hole was drilled in the back of the guitar after the sidejack needed repair. The neck and body joints, instead of being repaired, had auto Bondo putty added to them in the hopes of strengthening the joints. The original 1950’s Fender Stratocaster pickups were long gone. The necks were horribly bowed. The once majestic Jim Harvey masterpiece, at the time of Buskirk’s death, was as worn out as Buskirk himself. The guitar, for all intents and purposes, was dead too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When Paul Buskirk died in 2002, he left no family behind. His wife and two daughters had died before him, so he made his friend executor of his estate, luthier Huey Wilkinson of New Caney, Texas, maker of Axehandle guitars. The estate was a substantial one; Buskirk had retained partial ownership of two Willie Nelson songs, the gospel standard “Family Bible,” and one of the most-covered country songs of all time, “Nite Life,” both of which brought in substantial royalties each year. A few years previous to his death, Buskirk had also given Huey his Bigsby mandolin, and what was left of the Harvey doubleneck.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Huey Wilkinson is one of those soft-spoken Texas gentlemen whose word is as good as gold. Once he likes you, he really likes you. Concerned with the legacy of his friend Paul Buskirk, Huey started the Paul Buskirk music scholarship fund at a the Stephen F. Austin College of Fine Arts in Nacogdoches, and gave the school the rights to the Willie Nelson songs, which essentially would keep the scholarship fund going for the next hundred years. Before Buskirk died, Huey returned the Bigsby mandolin Paul had given him so that Buskirk could sell it and keep the money (it wound up in the Chinery collection, and is now part of a collection on the East Coast). The Harvey doubleneck, played no more, sat in Huey’s workshop. Every now and then, Huey would look at it and ponder restoration of the thing—then think better of it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I got Huey’s contact number, as luck would have it, it turned out that he knew me. A few years earlier, my group had stopped by Fuller’s Vintage Guitar in Houston, a store that Huey manages, and my bass player bought an Epiphone ES-295 copy from him. I didn’t remember much from our initial meeting, but then again, he didn’t mention at the time that he had Paul Buskirk’s Harvey guitar sitting at home, either.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I told Huey that I just wanted to see the guitar, even in the sad state it was in, and to get some photographs for an upcoming book. My band was driving in from Dallas to Houston to play a show that night, and Huey agreed to meet us in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel off Interstate 45.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Paul Buskirk's Harvey doubleneck, robbed of parts, full of holes, and just plain sad. April 27, 2008.</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5xcHy6XII/AAAAAAAAAFU/n_ux1Hrb3oM/s1600/DSC02902.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5xcHy6XII/AAAAAAAAAFU/n_ux1Hrb3oM/s640/DSC02902.JPG" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As the hot Texas sun was going down, I took some photographs of the guitar. We both marveled at how wrecked the instrument was. After hearing what a great friend Paul Buskirk was to Huey, I didn’t want to sully the conversation by trying to get him to sell the guitar to me. I told Huey that if he ever decided to put the restoration in someone else’s hands, somewhere down the line, to let me know.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Huey’s response was: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Awww, load it in your van. Merry Christmas.”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’m not sure exactly what Huey saw in me that made him want to give me the guitar. I sensed that passing on the guitar to me took care of his obligation to Paul Buskirk’s memory—he had done right by Paul on the Bigsby mandolin, set up the scholarship fund when Buskirk died, and waited for the right nutjob to come along for the Harvey doubleneck. That nutjob, apparently, was me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Huey Wilkinson says goodbye to an old friend. This author will never forget his generosity and kindness. April 27, 2008.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5zC-8lj0I/AAAAAAAAAFY/0tzM9gqyWPk/s1600/HarveyBuskirkHuey.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5zC-8lj0I/AAAAAAAAAFY/0tzM9gqyWPk/s640/HarveyBuskirkHuey.JPG" width="480" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Feeling as though I had been given the Stradivarius of California doublenecks, I was struck by the awesome responsibility of getting Paul Buskirk’s guitar back in its original condition. I contacted the best Guitar Geek obsessive restoration luthier I know, my friend Garrett Immel, about the job. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Garrett did an incredible restoration job on the guitar, painstakingly fixing 30 years of abuse and damage. Extra holes drilled in the body were filled in and concealed with hand-painted fake birdseyes that blended in with the rest of the birdseye maple. Unbelievably, Garrett put in over 100 hours restoring the guitar. Additional help came from Steve Soest, who magically straightened the bowed necks, and pickup guru Don Mare, who supplied four 1950’s style Strat pickups. When it was done, it was as if a time machine had gone back to the day it was completed and snatched it from Jim Harvey’s shop. The guitar was alive again. It was incredible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM6HYhcij9I/AAAAAAAAAGw/jQsmPsIiVKU/s1600/HarveyBuskirk1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM6HYhcij9I/AAAAAAAAAGw/jQsmPsIiVKU/s1600/HarveyBuskirk1.JPG" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With the Buskirk guitar restored, as far as I was concerned, there was really only one thing left to do—get all these instruments and all the original guys together in one place. Despite the fact that I had become good friends with Scotty Broyles, Rob Tuvell and Howard Harvey, we had never all met as a group.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Each year on Easter weekend, I do a guitar showcase as part of the Viva Las Vegas rockabilly festival. This year, in addition to several young rockabilly hotshots, part of the program included a one-time performance by the “All-Harvey Band.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The idea was to get all the known Jim Harvey instruments on stage at the same time, with two of the original owners playing their original instruments, and Howard Harvey playing one of his dad’s guitars. A set list was agreed upon, with a mix of standards like “Caravan” and “Sweet Sue,” and hillbilly classics like “Hey Good Lookin’” and “San Antonio Rose.” To augment the older guys and myself, I recruited my friends Joel Paterson, “Crazy” Joe Tritschler, and Sean Mencher, to round out the band.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Scotty Broyles and Rob Tuvell practice their licks backstage at the "All-Harvey Band" show. Photo credit: Julia Dillon</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5b21oFIqI/AAAAAAAAAEg/ap4W6RyTM7I/s1600/IMG_1823.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5b21oFIqI/AAAAAAAAAEg/ap4W6RyTM7I/s640/IMG_1823.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5heqm2H-I/AAAAAAAAAEo/sTTuHZu1W28/s1600/Harvey2-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="448" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5heqm2H-I/AAAAAAAAAEo/sTTuHZu1W28/s640/Harvey2-6.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Above: Howard Harvey poses with four of his father's creations, 1958.</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Howard Harvey poses with those same four guitars, reunited for the "All-Harvey Band" performance. Photo credit: Julia Dillon</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5gCxrp1dI/AAAAAAAAAEk/NIBY7l_RWBk/s1600/IMG_1806.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5gCxrp1dI/AAAAAAAAAEk/NIBY7l_RWBk/s640/IMG_1806.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: Scotty Broyles and Rob Tuvell pose with their original Harvey instruments, in front of photos of them holding the same instruments nearly 60 years earlier. Photo credit: Julia Dillon</span></span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5igZ1j6bI/AAAAAAAAAEs/DVvcCQgv878/s1600/IMG_1784.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="430" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5igZ1j6bI/AAAAAAAAAEs/DVvcCQgv878/s640/IMG_1784.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And so it was that nearly 60 years after Jim Harvey made these instruments, Scotty Broyles was up on stage playing his original 1952 mandolin, and Rob Tuvell was reunited with his original 1952 electric guitar. Howard Harvey played his father’s “Gambler’s Guitar” acoustic. Sean Mencher played the Gretsch-had-a-baby doubleneck (loaned with kind permission from Tom Sims and Tatiana Sizonenko at the Museum Of Making Music), Joel Paterson played the “family” guitar, and “Crazy” Joe Tritschler and myself took turns on Paul Buskirk’s doubleneck, eventually both playing it at the same time for the grand finale.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below: The "All-Harvey Band" in full flight. From left to right: Joel Paterson plays Jim Harvey's "family" guitar, Rob Tuvell and the "Bob" guitar, Sean Mencher and Sean Chambers double up on the John Goertz doubleneck. Scotty Broyles digs in on his mandolin, "Crazy" Joe Tritschler and the author double up on the Paul Buskirk doubleneck, Howard Harvey plays the "Gambler's Guitar" acoustic. Dave Wolfe plays the upright bass, and Chris "Sugarballs" Sprague is on the drums (obscured). Photo credit: Julia Dillon</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5jybjgBxI/AAAAAAAAAEw/FYHwXyAt9GU/s1600/IMG_2121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dAI1sFMWJQs/TM5jybjgBxI/AAAAAAAAAEw/FYHwXyAt9GU/s1600/IMG_2121.jpg" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We certainly weren’t the tightest band in the history of music, but that wasn’t the point. The crowd sensed the history and the heart of what they were witnessing. Half of Jim Harvey’s total instruments were on stage doing what they were made to do—get together to play music and have fun. The crowd gave the All-Harvey Band a standing ovation. We were all smiling. Somewhere I knew Jim Harvey was smiling too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What had begun as a personal quest to acquire more guitars had turned into something completely different. In the end, getting to know these old Navy men, experiencing the generosity of people like Huey Wilkinson, and getting to know Jim Harvey through photographs and stories, meant a lot more to me than owning guitars. Seventeen years after I saw my first Harvey guitar, I eventually wound up with two Jim Harvey guitars in my possession, which are objects that I certainly treasure. The guitars, however, were really just the vessels that led me through one of my life’s journeys, to meet some amazing people united by a common love of music and joy. Ain’t that what it’s all about?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">--Deke Dickerson<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Author’s note: If anyone knows the current whereabouts of any other Jim Harvey instruments, we’d love to know about them. You can email the author </span></span><a href="mailto:eccofonic@earthlink.net"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">here.</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Special thanks to: Howard and Flower Harvey, Derek Harvey, Walter Harvey Jr., Barbara Harvey, Rob and Marilyn Tuvell, Scotty and Betty Broyles, Julia Dillon, Tom Sims, Tatiana Sizonenko, Dave Westerbeke, Jay Rosen, Andrew Brown, Huey Wilkinson, Garrett Immel, Steve Soest, Don Mare, Dan Del Fiorentino—and Jim Harvey.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div>Deke Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05102841468714254860noreply@blogger.com13