Ron.V's
Personal
& Family Music
and Musical Instrument History
Last
updated 08/27/2023
The following is a history of how music has affected mine and my childrens' lives as well as the lives of my friends. It is a Chronological History. See the menu (below) if you want to view categories.
For fellow musicians, I'm giving details about my instruments. The menu will help you skip to the part you are interested in. I also discuss playing & recording with the bands and band members. After reading a section, you can click the "Return" link to come back here.
If parts seem more like emotionless details, my life has actually been filled with emotions related to music. Each detail and each musical instrument I've owned are full of emotions for me. For example:
- My first instrument represents the love my parents and my Aunt Evelyn had for me.
- My
first guitar was what opened the door to dating my wife for the first
time and gave me a feeling of importance I'd never felt before.
- My
first band helped me develop a life-long friendship with one of my
dearest friends.
- My
best guitar reminds me of the happiness and hardships my wife,
Susie, and I lived
through as a young married couple because it was with us everywhere.
- The
loss of my best guitar reminds me of how I lost Susie to cancer after
3-1/2 decades of marriage.
- My
collection reminds me of how purchasing and owning the instruments
I'd always dreamed of helped me get through the loss of both my mother
and my wife in the space of 2 short years.
- Other
guitars I've bought for my grandchildren remind me of how much I
loved them and wanted them to know the happiness I grew up with.
- My newest guitar reminds me of the love my wife Linda has for me. She got it for my 70th birthday.
So when I tell my family, "I remember that guitar", it isn't that I notice the guitar in a family photo more than I notice the people. It's because of the family memories surrounding the instrument are so dear to me.
|
| At Birth |
Early
Childhood |
1950s |
1960s |
2000s |
|
| The Huns | Family Talent |
| The Bluerock Band |
Susie & Ron singing |
| Retirement My Song | |
| My First Multi-track recorder, a Fostex X-14 | My First Band |
| Boss BR-8 | My First Rock Band |
| Boss BR-1180CD | Other (band and non-band) Music |
| Boss BR-800 | Gigs |
In The Beginning
I've been told I was born with musical
talent. Being "born with a talent" doesn't mean a
person
will develop the talent. It only means they have the
opportunity. I've never been that good at it, just good enough to enjoy it and share my talent to make others happy. There's been a little money in it at times. So the benefits are: the clatter, the calm, occasional coin, camaraderie, and accomplishment.
| My oldest son John, a talented drummer, displayed a talent for music as a toddler. When we sat him on the countertop, he would play the kitchen cannisters as if they were a drum set. All my children displayed a talent for music, some more than others. Some of them have pursued it and made careers, some have made part-time jobs. Some just shared the joy of music with friends and family ever since childhood. You can read more about them below. |  |
EARLY CHILDHOOD
When I was 7 or 8 years old, I became close friends with the grandson of the lady across the street from us. His name was Sandy Barry. Sandy's grandmother had an old pump organ. I attempted to play it. Her name was Mrs. Daisy Mulkey. She was good friends with my Aunt Evelyn who may have discussed the organ with her. Aunt Evelyn lived next door to us. Two of my aunts had pianos but I typically ignored them until I was a little older.
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THE 1950s
When I was 10 or 11 years old, we often visited the home of Bill and Dottie Dobbins. My brother Larry was in the same grade at school with their son, Billy. They had a piano. I spent lots of time plinking on that instrument. My mother saw my interest and decided I needed to develop it. Perhaps Dottie encouraged it.
My
First Instrument
 |
Aunt
Evelyn was an antique dealer. She had run across an old
pump organ at a local shop in Woodstock, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.
For my
twelfth
birthday, my mom and dad secretly had Aunt Evelyn buy the old organ.
I
think they paid $100 for it (nearly $1,000 in today's dollars).
That birthday was so special because, to
get me out of the house, they sent my brother Larry and I to see The
Ten Commandments at the theater, a four-hour movie. That gave
them enough time to move the organ to our house without me knowing it. Dad spent many hours fixing the thing and getting it to work. He later told me he had to completely rebuild the bellows which was made of animal skins. It worked perfectly and was quite a surprise gift. They put the organ against our bedroom wall. They kept the suprise from me by keeping the bedroom door closed until they revealed it. Wow! What a shocker. |
My Aunt Evelyn taught me a couple of old ragtime tunes. Cousins taught me how to play chopsticks and "Heart And Soul." I picked out the melody for "In The Mood" for my mom since she loved Benny Goodman and the band tunes of the '40s. I couldn't read music very well (still can't) but I had no problem picking out single-note tunes on that old organ. It entertained me and my neighbors for hours.
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THE 1960s
My First Guitar
My dad loved to travel and took our family
on some amazing
vacations. I was 9 years old the first time my father took us
to
Mexico City, Mexico. He took me there 7 times in the next 10
years. On our vacation in 1961, we were nearing the
end
of our trip. Our favorite town to shop for souvenirs was
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. There was a huge market there
with
stalls on two levels where vendors sold nearly everything. I
still have a few old souvenirs from there. Many of
the vendors
sold inexpensive Mexican guitars. These were the cheap, nylon-string Spanish guitars found all over Mexico. We had often listened to Mariachi guitarists. Dad bought some records. There was one duo who played at the Hotel Fundicion in the town of Zimapan, Hidalgo, Mexico. The lead singer was Valentin Estrada. He was a charmer and great singer. His brother was one of the best guitarists I've ever heard. Our family loved their family and we all became very close. I fancied myself playing the guitar like them and asked my dad if he would buy one at the market in Monterrey.
He didn't hesitate. The thing cost less than 5 dollars ($47.76 in 2021). I was 14 years old. I don't have a photo of it but it looked like the one above, just not as fancy.
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My
First "Band"
Steve Hamilton and I were neighbors.
When I found out Steve
played guitar, he and I immediately began playing together.
We played
American folk songs. Folk groups were quite popular in the
early 1960s
so we mimicked groups like Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Kingston Trio,
and
the Smothers Brothers. It was Steve who "introduced" me to my
wife, Susie Little. Together, the 3 of us
played
for Susie's class at Pittman Jr. High School. The kids in the
class loved
us. The "love story" they conjured up was quite a plot. Susie and Steve were classmates as well as neighbors. Susie and I lived next door to each other but I had never paid much attention to her. She was just a skinny kid next door, one of 3 sisters all much younger than I. As a 'man' of 16 years I failed to notice this child barely 14 years old. I was in high school. She was in junior high.
Steve played match-maker. With the help of Mrs. Cahela who lived across the road from Susie, Steve helped plan to get Susie and I together for a first date. I was so naiive. It's a good thing Susie could sing well or my kids might never have been born!
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My
First Electric Guitar
We weren't home from
vacation long before I began
spending most of my free time picking out tunes on my new nylon string
Mexian guitar. Harry Belafonte and calypso tunes were
popular so I picked out the lead guitar parts to "The
Banana
Boat Song" and "Jamaica Farewell." That's all I knew at the
time since no one had ever shown me how to play guitar. My mother's double-first cousin, Russell Warren, mentioned something about guitar chords. I said, "What are cords?" I may have pictured something to hang my guitar around my neck. Russell taught me my first chords: G, C, and D. The lyrics to Ray Stevens' song "Guitarzan" come to mind. The first chords Russell taught me went to the tune of "Little Brown Jug." Finally, I could play a whole song!
Over the next months, Russell taught me several new chords. My dad thought I was getting pretty good with it so he surprised me one day with a new Japanese electric guitar and amp he got from a local pawn shop. He paid $40 for them both ($382.06 in 2021). The steel strings were a challenge at first but I played 'til my fingers hurt then kept playing. Russell said that was the only way to toughen up my "calluses." He was right.
The electric guitar pictured above is similar to the one I had. Mine was a knock-off of a Fender Stratocaster. Guitar manufacturers copy each other like crazy. My first electric guitar had one, single-coil pickup and a pick guard like the one above but the neck and body paint on mine were different. Mine was dark brown sunburst that faded into black around the edges. The neck and headstock were also dark. My first guitar amplifier was a Japanese no-name brand. It had one volume control, one tone control, and an 8-inch speaker. Just the basics.
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My First Rock
Band
I had heard my first Beatles tune at my
cousin Chuck Knaffl's
house in 1963. Chuck was interested in learning guitar so his
mom
bought him a Gibson Melody Maker and amp. It was a really
sweet
guitar and I loved playing it. Chuck only had a passing
interest in it. As Chuck and I listened to the
Beatles for the first time, we wondered what kind of group this was.
The music was new and exciting. Every teen boy back then
had dreams of becoming a famous rock'n'roll guitarist. Steve Hamilton was 2 years younger than I and about to enter the 10th grade the summer after the 1963-1964 school year. It was then, the summer of 1963, when Steve first introduced me to some of his fellow class mates, Robert and Rick. Rick Jackson's house was in Rutledge (AKA Fairfield Highlands, today part of Midfield, Jefferson County, AL).
His house had a big, empty basement where we could practice. Rick's dad also played guitar so Rick played his dad's Fender Telecaster guitar through a Gibson amp. The guys wanted me to join them. They seemed interested in my ability. Ha! Little did they know.
I didn't even know how to make Barre chords. In fact, my knowledge of chords and scales as well as how to play rock music in general was almost non-existant. But I was a quick learner and Steve was willing to teach me. Rick picked up where Steve left off.
In no time, we had learned a few songs. We had no drummer, no bass player, just 3 guys with guitars plus a mediocre lead singer. The one thing we had going for us was courage. We were oblivious to our lack of knowledge and talent and we had the guts to go ahead anyway.
Our first gig was a talent contest at their old school which was a feeder school to Hueytown High where they would enter the 10th grade in another month or two. We couldn't decide on a name at first so we called ourselves the "Strangers." Later we found out there was already a band with that name so we chaged it to the "Huns." Here's a news photo from that summer 1963 engagement:
The news media got everything wrong as usual. Rick's brother, Mike Jackson, just happened to be there so they included him in our photo. Mike wasn't in our band. Philip Lacy wasn't in our band either, just a neighbor and friend. Looking at this photo makes me laugh. We were all trying to look like rock stars. Sadly, this is the only photo ever taken of us when we first began. Steve left the group later so this is also the only photo with both Steve and I together. I'm holding my first electric guitar mentioned above.
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The
Huns
Within a year, we had practiced so much we
were quite good. In 1965 and '66, our band promoted Vox
guitars and amps in
behalf of our sponser, Ed Phipps, owner of Phipps Piano Co. in
Birmingham. Here's a promo photo below taken of our group
during
those
years. That's me in the center of the photo a little left of
the
drum set. Rick is on the far left. Next to me is
Robert,
then Mickey King, our drummer. Laying down is Don McCurdy,
our bass player. None of this equipment belonged to us. We were advertising for Ed Phipps, our promoter. We had cool looking band uniforms. The clothes in this photo were custom made chartreuse shirts with dark-green polka-dots. They had a 3 button cuff and heavy ruffles down the front. We wore matching black pants and Beatle boots with this outfit. I think we were trying to look like Paul Revere and the Raiders.
We also had black naugahyde vests to go with this outfit. I remember Rick joking about how many "Naugas" they had to kill and skin to make our vests. I attempted to create a colorized version of this B&W photo but was not very successful. Click the photo to see my attempt. The actual color of the shirts was more like the background of this web page.
(CLICK the photo for an enhanced version in COLOR)
Just for grins, here's a few other Huns band photos. In the one below, taken in 1965, we went for the "Robin Hood and his merry men" look. L to R are Don, Rick, Robert, and me (Ron). I had already graduated high school by the time this photo was taken so I let my hair grow out. Note the ring on my left hand. I still have it, a Christmas gift from my mom.
The other guys (Rick and Robert) got in trouble at school for such "long hair." The principal threatened to expell Robert for wearing his hair as long as it was in this photo.
In
this Huns band photo, Don and I are wearing the vests I mentioned
above. We were also wearing
the shirts with ruffles. Note the Beatle boots which were
really
popular in 1966, one year after the British Invasion. These
old
photos show what an influence Brit music had on teen dress styles and
behavior.
In
this last Huns band photo, we thought it would look "cool" for Bob to
be pouring from a can of oil onto an old hubcap I'm holding while he,
Rick, & I stood casually on a car hood. Hey, ya never know
when ya need a good pic for an album cover!
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Harmonica
and 12-String Guitar
At the time we were practicing in Rick's
basement in 1964, a neighbor of his who could play
blues
harmonica came by. I
don't know
the
guy's name but he taught me how to bend notes and play cross-harp.
I began buying
harmonicas and teaching myself how to play blues cross harp
style.
"Cross harp" is a method of playing harmonica tuned to the "four
chord"
of whatever key the guitarists are playing in.
I found that the 'A' harp was best
for
many blues songs.
I
began learning the styles of blues harp players Slim Harpo and
Sonny Boy Williamson. In the summer of 1965 or '66 my father bought me a 12-string guitar in Mexico. The size of the neck was huge so I never played it much. Here is a 1969 photo of me with that guitar.
As my father-in-law would have said it, "The neck was so it took 3 grown men and 4 little boys to reach around it!"
Gibson
ES-335
Between
springtime and Christmas 1965, I somehow persuaded my father I needed a
better guitar and
louder amp. My little cheap, Japanese amp was so small that I
could barely be heard on stage. My dad knew I needed better
equipment and genuinely wanted to get me quality equipment but nothing
he found suited me. His efforts endeared me to my father emotionally more than I can explain. He had been very thrifty all my life. If he was willing to spend his hard-earned cash for my benefit, I knew it meant he loved me and appreciated my accomplishments. After he died in 1993 I asked my mother about it. She said he always enjoyed my guitar playing. The thought of it makes me smile.
My father came from that generation when men rarely expressed compliments or showed signs of love. He showed his love in other ways but we wanted to hear him say it. One day my oldest brother Rick asked him, "Daddy, why don't you ever tell us you love us." Dad said, "Rick, you know I love you." With tears in his eyes, Rick said, "Yeah, but you never say it!"
From then on until the day he died, our father always told us, "I love you" whenever we visited him. He made a point of it. I know it was hard on him. I always called them the "Popeye" generation because they always acted tough like the cartoon character. Never let your emotions show.
PERFECTION
I finally discovered the perfect guitar in the shop window of Banks Pawn Shop in Bessemer, Jefferson County, AL. A man whose name we only knew as "Mr. Limley" was the very kind, old gentleman there in charge of musical instrument sales. I thought Mr. Limley had told me the guitar I wanted was ony $40 so I rushed home to tell my father.
When my mother and father went with me back to purchase the guitar, Mr. Limley told me, "No, I told you it was $140." I had misunderstood him. My heart dropped. This was more money than my dad had ever spent on any of his children.
By then, though, I was the youngest and only child still at home. Both my 2 brothers had already married and left home. Dad had recently been promoted to supervisor at U.S. Steel. He had the money and surprised me by agreeing to my begging. That sweet Gibson guitar was mine!
It was a vintage "thinline" Gibson semi-hollowbody ES-334 in a tobacco sunburst finish. The serial number was A-33230 which showed it to be 1960 model. It came with an original plush lined hardshell case. I got Mr. Limley to install a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece on it for an additional $40.
Later my dad took me to Sears and bought me a Silvertone 100 watt, 2-channel, twin-twelve stack amp with reverb and tremolo. He got less than a dollar in change from the $200 he gave the sales person for it. He bought both the guitar and amp in the fall of 1964. I remember playing with this rig for several months before I graduated in '65. Here's a 1967 photo:
Here's a better photo from Christmas Day 1967 of me playing the Gibson:
In today's dollars the price day paid for the guitar and Bigsby vibrato tailpiece would be $1,613.89 and the price of the amp would be $1,793.21. For $1,000.00 LESS, he could have bought me a new '64 Ford Mustang! Needless to say, I was shocked at his generosity. No wonder my brothers were envious.
I foolishly traded the guitar on May 6, 1993 for a Gretsch Country Gentleman and hardshell case, S/N 102239. The Gretsch was in near mint condition and I had always wanted one.
When the salesman offered an even trade I should have realized he got the better deal. I later found out the Gretsch was only worth $1,000 while my Gibson was worth at least $1,500 at the time with the price steadily spiraling upward. Prices vary widely but, today, my vintage Gibson would be worth between $10,000.00 and $20,000.00.
I can't complain. My fellow bandmate, Rick, also traded his vintage Telecaster worth between $18,000.00 and $25,000.00 today and his dad sold a vintage Martin D-28 acoustic guitar worth maybe $40,000.00 if it was still in the same shape when it was new. We've all made stupid decisions.
Here's a silly video of me in 1966 acting like a fool with my Gibson. My dad took this on our front lawn.
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THE 1970s, 80s, and early 90s
Other non-rock-band
Music (1970 -
1999)
The Vietnam War, marriage, and life in
general put music and
band business on hold for several years. I've had many other
guitars, amps, and other musical gear since my teen years.
During this period of my life, music
was still very much a part of my life and the lives of my wife and
children but I was no longer in a rock band. In
the photo below, my wife and kids were supposed to be dressed as
cowboys while
I sat at the piano wearing a silly, oversized cowboy
hat. I
loudly played and sang "Long Tall Texan" with my family as my backup
group.
I love the angry look on 3-year-old Karen's face as mom held her hand for the photo. That's Rainey posing in the white shirt with tall brother John behind her. Sarah is behind Karen, David by John, and JoAnna behind Sarah.
They were all grinning "like a possum eatin' saw briars" (as my dad used to say). The photo is from 1983. Notice my bell-bottom jeans, a hangover from the 1970s clothing styles. Every time I look at this photo I can't help but grin, it brings back such sweet memories of my children when they were young.
I love the angry look on 3-year-old Karen's face as mom held her hand for the photo. That's Rainey posing in the white shirt with tall brother John behind her. Sarah is behind Karen, David by John, and JoAnna behind Sarah.
They were all grinning "like a possum eatin' saw briars" (as my dad used to say). The photo is from 1983. Notice my bell-bottom jeans, a hangover from the 1970s clothing styles. Every time I look at this photo I can't help but grin, it brings back such sweet memories of my children when they were young.
Our
old garage band, the "Huns," had our first reunion in 1985.
Here's a
photo from then (below). Our group hadn't been together
since 1966. We tried playing the old songs for an hour or so
then
ate sandwiches our wives had prepared. After it was over, I remember
waving goodbye to Rick as he drove back to Memphis. I had
been so happy to see him that I forgot to ask for his address or phone
number.
As I stood in the middle of the Birmingport Highway waving goodbye to him, it dawned on me I might never see him again. I almost cried. I never felt that close to the other guys but there was something between Rick and I that just clicked.
We were both devout Christians, passionate about our religion and our families. We were both deeply into electronics and the new computer generation, and we both loved music and old rock'n'roll songs.
Rick is generous, smart, and talented. More than that, Rick has values. He has always been a good man and I knew it, a man who was a good influence. I knew we somehow had to get back together and share our interests more often.
As I stood in the middle of the Birmingport Highway waving goodbye to him, it dawned on me I might never see him again. I almost cried. I never felt that close to the other guys but there was something between Rick and I that just clicked.
We were both devout Christians, passionate about our religion and our families. We were both deeply into electronics and the new computer generation, and we both loved music and old rock'n'roll songs.
Rick is generous, smart, and talented. More than that, Rick has values. He has always been a good man and I knew it, a man who was a good influence. I knew we somehow had to get back together and share our interests more often.
Fortunately
we did get back together every few years after that. Here's
a 1989 photo of me, Rick, and my son John who had his own band by then.
That's me with a beard on the left, Rick seated, and John
(with
long hair) on drums. John became a great drummer and, like
his dad, played gigs with several bands. His last band was
called Exit 97 after the community at the I-59/20 exit where he grew
up.
In 1995 my family was back on stage at church with me playing guitar as we sang lyrics to a song my daughters and I had written previously. We wrote the song on a Saturday when my girls were bored and I was looking for something for them to do. So I said, "Let's write a song" and we did.
We got together on something simple to the tune of the old Renaissance tune, 'Greensleeves." Our version was called "Green Leaves" and was about how they turn brown and you have to rake them up, a silly song but we had fun with it. In the photo below, L to R are my youngest daughter Leah, then JoAnna, Sarah, my wife Susie, and me on guitar. That's Karen hidden behind Susie.
On
April 13, 2005 my son David (who sings bass) with 2 others
from church and I created a quartet for a song competition at church.
We sang this song the girls and I wrote. It wasn't
half bad.
CLICK HERE to hear me singing "Green Leaves" in an acapella quartet with my son David, Charlie Bush, and his brother-in-law, Ted Driscoll singing 3-part harmony. In the photo below, that's Charlie on the left, then Ted, David, and I. We didn't win any prizes but we had fun.
(Click HERE to
return to Top)
Susie and all 8 of my children were musically talented almost from the time they were born. Susie conducted Handel's Messiah at church for several years and sometimes sang at weddings. It was more than a great loss when she died of cancer in 2003.
Susie & Ron
We're blessed that she allowed me to record her singing a few of the songs we sang with our children while they were growing up. CLICK HERE to listen to Susie and Ron singing in 2003.
After she passed away, Linda and I married. I was happy to learn that her daughter Wendy also played piano and her son Kaleb plays a little.
Here's an example of some talents of mine and Susie's children and grandchildren:
CLICK HERE to hear me singing "Green Leaves" in an acapella quartet with my son David, Charlie Bush, and his brother-in-law, Ted Driscoll singing 3-part harmony. In the photo below, that's Charlie on the left, then Ted, David, and I. We didn't win any prizes but we had fun.
Family
Talent
Family Talent Menu(scroll down for details) | |||
| Susie & Ron Singing (vocals and guitar) | |||
| John (Tenor vocals and drums) | David (Bass - acapella vocals) | JoAnna (Soprano vocals - click video to play) | Sarah (Alto vocals) |
| Rainey (piano - click video to play) | Karen (piano - also sings Soprano) | Adam & Andrea (guitar and vocals) | Ed & Leah (guitar and vocals) |
| granddaughter Bianca (multi-part harmony vocals) | |||
Susie and all 8 of my children were musically talented almost from the time they were born. Susie conducted Handel's Messiah at church for several years and sometimes sang at weddings. It was more than a great loss when she died of cancer in 2003.
Susie & Ron
We're blessed that she allowed me to record her singing a few of the songs we sang with our children while they were growing up. CLICK HERE to listen to Susie and Ron singing in 2003.
After she passed away, Linda and I married. I was happy to learn that her daughter Wendy also played piano and her son Kaleb plays a little.
Here's an example of some talents of mine and Susie's children and grandchildren:
- John
sings bass and tenor (better at tenor). In falsetto he can hit 2nd tenor high notes. Like his father, John's volume trails off when he sings bass. He still has the range, though. He studied trumpet in junior high school band but preferred the drums. He later went on to become the high school band's percussion leader. As a teen, he was a drummer in a rock band.
After he married, John became a semi-professional drummer and singer with the band Exit 97, a popular country-rock group in central Alabama.
John's children all studied dance and did quite well. His daughter Jori, with the help of her sisters, organized a dance class and recital at church. John and his wife, Tracy, also have sung in church choir. Here's a sample of John's music. This is a song he wrote called Long Time. In this song, John is singing multi-part vocals and playing drums.
CLICK HERE to listen.
- David
sings bass better than any of us. He studied tenor sax in high school. David has also sung in church choir. His beautiful bass voice has always been our family's bedrock male sound and was just what we needed when he and I joined a brother-in-law team from church to form an acapella quartet. In a '50s Do-Wop song where our friend Charlie Bush is singing the lead part, my son David starts the song off. To listen to David sing bass, CLICK HERE.
- JoAnna
sings soprano like her mom and plays piano. She studied clarinet in junior high band but wanted to be on the flag team. She later became flag captain. Her son, Joseph is a better guitar player than any of us. All her children play piano and Hannah is quite good at it. JoAnna's husband, Glen, is studying to play the banjo. JoAnna and her children have sung in church choir.
A few years ago JoAnna and Karen helped me sing a song I had just written for some friends. That's JoAnna on the left.
Click the video to play.
- Sarah
is our best alto and has the most clear voice of any of us. She also plays piano and played several instruments in junior high and high school band. Sarah sings in church choir.
- Rainey
was born to play the piano. Like Sarah, she played many instruments in the school band, majoring in French horn. After she switched schools the band director selected her to be the drum major -- the person who leads the band on the field. She did well.
After studying classical piano for years, she studied piano pedagogy in college, graduated summa cum laude, and became a professional classical piano teacher. In voice, Rainey sings alto. She has sung in church choir, led the choir, and accompanied the choir on piano and organ. See below for a video of Rainey playing.
- Karen
was an award winning clarinet player in high school but later began studying piano and now plays for the Primary at church. She sings 2nd soprano when we sing as a family. Karen has also sung in church choir. She has become a talented pianist like her sister.
Here's a 2 minute sample CLICK HERE.
- Adam
is our church's choir leader. He arranges his own music. He was an award winning trumpet player in high school. He is the only one of my children who learned to play guitar. His wife, Andrea, sings in church choir. They'll probably never forgive me for posting this publicly but here's a sample of Adam and Andrea singing a popular tune. To their dad, they sound like beautiful harmony even if it's not the most professional recording.
CLICK HERE to listen.
Adam and Andrea's oldest daughter, Bianca, recorded this multi-track recording of You Are My Sunshine. CLICK HERE to listen.
- Leah
is our family's other 2nd soprano and a great harmonizer. Like JoAnna and Karen, she learned to play the clarinet in high school band. Leah's husband, Ed, plays guitar and ukelele and sings in church choir. For Fathers Day 2020, Leah and Ed recorded my favorite song that Leah and I always sang together. Ed's playing is perfect and Leah's 3-part harmony is simply beautiful.
CLICK HERE to listen.
Here's a 3 minute video of my daughter Rainey at my piano playing Clair de Lune:
THE LATE 1990s, 2000s AND RETIREMENT
Other
Guitars (1970 -
1999)
My renewed involvement with my old garage band in the
late 1990s
taught me I needed
new gear. Also, I did not own a decent acoustic guitar, never
had
one in fact, but always wanted one. I bought a Ventura V-10
acoustic steel-string guitar
for around $100 in the early 1980s when I got a check from the Veterans
Administration to help with my college education. I kept it
for
nearly 20 years then sold it February 1, 2002 for $100.By the late-1990s I was making very good wages as a systems specialist for Bellsouth. A friend and coworker, Jeff Newman, had a Japanese Fender Stratocaster for sale for about $100 so I bought that (thanks, Jeff). That's another guitar I wish I had held onto. They're collectors items today. Here's a photo:
Here I am below playing the same guitar in this 1998 photo with my Gretsch guitar on the side below. I see in the photo I'm wearing a Delta Blues Museum t-shirt that Rick and I had bought the year before when I visited him for the first time in Memphis, TN.
Epiphone
Dot, Gibson Blueshawk,
Epiphone Alleykat, etc., etc.
I must have been in a trading mood from
1999 to 2002.
Please note that it's very rare to gain on a trade.
Almost
every one I know who sells or trades old music gear loses money on the
deal. If vintage equipment is involved, you lose money on its
unknown future value. If it's non-vintage, you often make
only 40
cents on the dollar of all retail sales. That's kind of a
national
average with prices fixed by the huge, nationwide retailers like Guitar
Center. According to my records, here are some of the trades
and
purchases I made during those years: | DATE | TRADE | Cost/Value | FOR | VALUE |
| 5/26/1993 | Traded Gibson ES-335 | $1500- $2000 | Gretsch County Gentleman guitar | $1000 |
| 11/17/1999 | Traded Gretsche | $1000 | Epiphone Dot guitar and Fender Super Reverb amp | SAME |
| 3/23/2000 | Sold Epi Dot and Fender amp to Mars Music, in Birmingham, AL | bought a Gibson Blueshawk guitar at Mars Music | $864.00 | |
| 10/6/2000 | Bought a hardshell case for the Blueshawk from a guy in West Memphis, AK | |||
| 11/24/2001 | Bought a Line-6 Combo amp from Highland Music in Birmingham, AL | |||
| 2002 | Traded the Blueshawk and hardshell case at Musictown in Memphis, TN | $864.00 | Epiphone Alleykat guitar | $528.00 |
Epiphone guitar is a subsidiary of Gibson. The Gibson ES-334, the Gretsche Country Gentleman, and the Epiphone Dot guitars are all thinline, semi-hollowbody guitars, my favorite guitar style.
Sometime in the early 2000s about the time I bought the Line-6 amp, I bought a 200 watt Fender Bassman Amp and a Fender Ultimate Chorus Amp. I no longer own either of these. The bass amp went belly up and was not repairable. I traded the Chorus Amp and Alleykat guitar for an old, Ford pickup truck in 2004. I later sold the truck for $1000.
Sometimes I traded even, sometimes I traded down. The 2002 trade of the Blueshawk for the Alleykat looks like I traded down. However, at the same time and place I traded a $200 Vega banjo for a Deering "Goodtime" banjo and resonator that's now worth more than twice that much.
Here are a couple of photos :
The one below is a Gibson Blueshawk like the one I bought at Mars Music in 2000. My son John tells me frequently that it was his favorite and he wishes I still had it. Me too. I also wish I still had the Alleykat.
Here's the Epiphone Alleykat and Fender Ultimate Chorus amp that I traded to coworker Larry Hughes for a pickup truck. I emailed Larry a couple years ago and he said he still has this guitar and amp. Larry is an expert on music quality, what's called an "audiophile" in the industry. He's also an excellent trader and knows value when he sees it.
He was quite good at picking up bargains in yard sales. He told me how he once found stereo amp for $14. I was writing tunes and experimenting with my BR-8 at the time so I recorded this little ditty for him. It's written and produced as if it were a jingle, a radio advertisement.
The Boss BR-8 digital recorder had built-in voice effects that allowed my voice to sound like one of the famous "Chipmonks." It also allowed me to artificially alter the sound of my 6-string electri guitar to sound like a bass guitar. On this song, I played "bass" guitar, lead guitar, and sang 3 part-harmony. The drums were "canned."
Written in 2000, I call it "Larry's Rhythm."
CLICK HERE to listen to it.
Here are the lyrics:
Here I am playing the guitar on stage at a club in Memhis, TN in October 2002. Rick and I had matching guitars. He just chose not to play his Alleykat that night, but we really looked good on stage with them. That's my son John looking up at me from his drum set.
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Other
Instruments and Electronics
For me, as a musician, it has always been a "Bucket
List" item to produce my
own music and to own and be able to play several instruments. In
1965 I had met a guitarist at a neighbor's house who had a Roberts 770X
4-track reel-to-reel
recorder. He showed
me
how it could record one track while playing back
another. He let me record all 3 guitar parts of a Ventures instrumental. I loved it but it would be another 34 years before I could afford to purchase one. By then, technology had changed so much that my first multi-track recorder came in a really small package.
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Fostex X-14
 |
On
May25, 1999 I bought a Fostex X-14 Multitracker at a music store in
Tuscaloosa, AL for about $100. It recorded on cassette tapes
and
was really simple to use. I had a lot of fun with it
recording
song idea, singing multi-part harmonies, etc. I would still
have
it except it wasn't what we needed at the time. Our band was just getting into recording our own songs. The little Fostex would often fizzle out. I had to send it back to the factory for repairs. It was time to replace it. |
Rick Jackson to the rescue. Rick bought an expensive Roland digital 8-track recorder that recorded to a hard disk. This was back in very earliest days of home recording. His machine cost a bundle. He had to trade an expensive guitar for some of the stuff that went with it. It was on Rick's Roland that our newly reformed band, The Bluerock Band, recorded all of our songs. I had written several of them and was delighted that the guys thought some of my tunes were worth recording.
I've had 3 other multi-track recorders since then, all by Boss and all digital.
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BR-8
My
first digital multi-tracker was a Boss BR-8. I got it from
MMI in
Hoover, AL for about $400. Of all that I've owned it was my
favorite. It was very simple to use and had all the tools I
needed onboard (and then some). Unfortunately, the technology
was
quickly out of date. It recorded on Zip disks. No
one uses
them anymore. I sold it to my son John for about $200.
He
recently told me he still has it he thinks.For the first time in my life I had the tools to record the kind of multi-track music I had always dreamed of. I had to experiment. Here's a verse of an instrumental I created in August 2000. I called it "BR-8 Blues." Haha.
CLICK HERE.
On this song I'm playing bass guitar, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and blues harmonica. The drum machine was built-in to the multi-track recorder (i.e. "canned").
BR-1180CD
My
next was a BR-1180CD purchased through Musicians Friend on
October 21, 2003 for $999.99. I was sure it would solve all
our
problems. It had a CD writer. All I needed to do
was write
my songs to CD and we would no longer have the problem of finguring out
how to share them. I didn't know at the time that technology
still had not caught up. Writing CDs is an unreliable catch-as-catch-can operation with more problems than solutions. I needed a device that would write directly over a USB cable to my PC. Unfortunately, reliable multitrack recorders with USB would have to wait another few years. They weren't invented yet.
I could do more with this recorder. Here's a 1 minute song, an old gospel tune called "Railway to Heaven." In this song, I recorded myself singing 4-part harmony, bass guitar, rhythm guitar, harmonica, and banjo. Because the parts used more tracks than I had available, I mixed down the vocals and rhythm guitar to a single stereo track before overdubbing the other instruments.
CLICK HERE.
BR-800
My
final recorder is a used Boss BR-800 I paid $335.85 for at Guitar
Center. It has USB connections and can transfer multi-track
files
directly to my PC. I had to convert songs from all my
previous
recorders to different formats and/or from digital to analog then often
back again. That's no longer necessary. I just wish
I was
into recording as much as I used to be. 
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Piano
My
kids had a piano growing up. We got an old acoustic upright
piano
from someone and they banged on the thing from the time they were kids
until we sold the house in 2007. David (the one on the right)
carved his initials in the end of the old thing. This is a
Pioneer Day photo we took in July 1981 in front of the old piano. 
After the kids were grown, and after Linda and I married, I got rid of the broken old acoustic piano and bought a new Yamaha digital piano.
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Banjo,
Dobro, Mandolin,
Dulcimer
I've
had a banjo since the 1980s. Russell Warren sold my first
banjo
before he died in 1991. I later traded it for a Deering.
You can see it in the photo below
in
the corner of the room. That's a Johnson dobro on the left. "Dobro" is actually a brand name the same as "Band-Aid." However, no one says "adhesive bandage", everyone just calls them "band-aids." It's the same with the dobro. Few people would know them as a "square-neck, resonator, acoustic steel guitar." It's easier to just call them a dobro.
The other guitars in the above photo are (L to R):
- an acoustic-electric Little
Martin that Linda got me for my 70th birthday,
- a Martin DM I bought 20 years ago for $700. I couldn't afford it at the time and had to borrow the money from my father-in-law, Coot Little. I paid him back a little at a time for about a year.
- an
inexpensive little Harmony nylon string guitar that has an amazing
tone.
- an Blueridge BR-160. Blueridge is a
Chinese
knockoff of a Martin D-45. I bought this one at Alpha Music in
Murphy, NC for about $750.
I had looked at this model guitar in 3 other states -- a music store in La Grange, GA; one in Memphis, TN; and one in Bucksville, Tuscaloosa County, AL before I found one in North Carolina that didn't have major fret problems.
If you get a chance to pick one of these babies up for a good price, be willing to pay an experienced luthier $100 or so to finish the frets properly and setup the action. These guitars sound awesome.
- In the corner is my Deering Goodtime Banjo.
- Next is a 1965 Gibson J-45. It looks awful but
plays like a
dream. I picked it up a little shop in Nashville, TN for
$800.
- Next to the Gibson is my Washburn "A" style
Mandolin.
- Not shown in this photo is an Ovation 12-string
guitar my friend Rick Jackson sent me.
After our friend, Melanie Witte, told us about her dulcimer, Linda was fascinated with the instrument. Her decor matched it and she wanted one to display. We never play it but it's a pretty simple instrument to play and is really unique with its drone strings, its open-D tuning, and because it is fretted to diatonic scale (8 notes) like a harmonica instead of a chromatic scale (12 notes) like all other instruments.
There are different types but this is the most common. This is Linda's dulcimer (below).
I don't have any current photos of my electric guitars, amplifiers, harmonicas, PA system, microphones, mic stands, guitar effects pedals, tuners, accessories, and other gear. Here's an old photo from 2005 (see below). On the wall are a few of my favorite electrics.
On the far left is a Gibson Melody Maker with after market PAF pickups. It's an all mahogony guitar that sounds a lot like a Les Paul only lighter. It's a vintage guitar but not in mint condition since it's been modified.
Next is the Japanese Squire Stratocaster which I mentioned earlier. The green guitar on the far right is a cheap 'fat-Strat' style Kramer from Music Yo that my friend and luthier Rick Jackson customized for me. It's now a gorgeous guitar that I gave to my grandson Joe Arnold (our family's best guitarist) to remember Rick by after we're all dead and gone. Rick is a great guitarist and an even better guitar maker. The instruments he makes all turn out looking amazing.
Next to the left of the green guitar is a yellow sunburst Fender Telecaster that Rick also customized (I had to keep one for myself!). It also has custom electronics -- a four-way switch and special pickups.
The red guitar in the middle is one I would have trouble parting with if it came to it. It's a Line-6 Variax, one of the first. It only cost about $400 but it's one of the world's first all-electronic guitars, not "Electric" but "Electronic." It has built-in, onboard computer processors and external switches that, when properly plugged in and hooked up, can make it sound like almost every vintage electric guitar ever made. It can also make sounds like electric-acoustic guitars, 12-string guitars, a sitar, and a banjo. Very versitile.
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The Bluerock Band
Beginning
about 1997 our old garage band from high
school became interested in reforming. We kicked over several new
names for the group. On Feb 6th, 2000, I emailed the guys
and suggested a name. Lead guitarist, Rick Jackson, liked it,
added the word "The" in front, and we renamed the group "The Bluerock
Band." It fit because we played classic rock'n'roll and blues as
well as several songs I wrote for the group. There is at least
one other group, more famous than we were, with the same band
name. Perhaps that's why Rick added the word "The" as part of the
band name. The BlueRock Band
cover of Tequila Sunrise
From 2000 to 2002, we were doing a lot of recording and a few public performances. We entered a battle of the blues bands where we played in Birmingham, AL hoping to represent the city at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN where our lead guitarist lived. For more about this gig and to listen to the songs we played, CLICK HERE.
We did not win but we attended the International Blues Challenge that year and heard some great performers from all over the world. The performers from Scotland and Japan were especially interesting.
Gigs
Over
the years, I've played a lot of venues with a lot of different people.
They were all fun but being with my bandmates was the most
fun.
Rick and I have known each other since we were kids.
It was
icing on the cake when my son John joined our group. Here we
are
at Bartlett Park near Memphis in October 2002, one of our last big
engagements. Rick and I both played harmonica and guitar for
this
gig. These were our matching guitars. He was really
good at
lead guitar.
Leroy's Boyz
We
don't get paid for playing in our church. It's all volunteer.
But the talent shows and such are so much fun I'd rather do
the
non-paid gigs anyway. One such group was Leroy's Boyz, named
after the children of Leroy Bush who made up most of the band members.
Here we are in February 2007 playing at a talent show.
L to
R are Charlie Bush (lead singer) on guitar, Daryl Bush (our bishop) on
the upright bass, Ron
Carter (Daryl's brother-in-law) on guitar, me on banjo and
dobro, John (my son) on percussion, and Jake Ware on guitar and
mandolin.
This same group played a couple gigs at the Tannehill Opry in 2005. The Opry was a local stage near the famous state campling park in Alabama. Jake played the mandolin in this photo.
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Retirement
I
don't do much with music anymore. Now and then I'll pick up a
guitar, banjo, or mandolin. Now and then I'll plink a few
notes
on the piano. I no longer practice like we all should but
years of playing eventually paid off. Fellow
church member, Hank Painter,
asked
if I'd join him in a performance. That's when my past
experience came in handy. Hank is an excellent
singer and
drummer. He plays guitar. He has a voice that can
nail John
Fogerty of Credence Clearwater Revival. When Hank asked if I'd join him for his mother-in-law's 90th birthday, I accepted. He needed someone who knew classic rock'n'roll. I thought we were gonna practice first. We never did! In fact, we never even met each other before the gig !!! I still can't recall the name of the bass player. Somehow the gig went so well it was as if we'd been playing together for years. What happened was truly amazing to me. Below is a 2009 photo of Hank on drums with me and the other guys he organized.
The other fellows were clearly much better than I. The lead guitarist was James Deraney from our church. He and Hank once played professionally together in a band. The bass player had also played with Hank but had never met James or me.
One reason the gig went so well is because Hank picked mostly songs with three-chord (1-4-5) progressions. A chord progression and the key the song is in is usually all an experienced musician needs to follow a tune. Experienced players can play chords and adlib the scales to fit.
James and I took turns playing lead guitar. I called out the chord changes to the bass player. We all sang backup harmony as Hank sang lead. The crowd was well pleased and never knew we band members had never seen each other before the performance.
In the photo below (L to R) are: the bass player (still don't know his name), Hank Painter who played drums and sang lead, me on the Telecaster guitar, and James Deraney on the red Gibson ES-335. Hank had the PA and mics. Jim didn't use many effect pedals and (I think) a custom Fender amp. I used a Boss GT-6 pedal board and a Peavy Classic 30 tube amp.
This has been my musical story. What's yours. I'd like to hear about it. Email me at the address below.
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