Old Crow Medicine Show gig

Last night I went to the very first show at Minglewood Hall, Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN to break in the fresh paint. The old site of Strings'n'Things has now been converted into a cool live venue, with free parking, and no need to go all the way down town. Old Crow Medicine Show were the draw card supported by The Felice Brothers.

The Felice Brothers were an absolute unknown to me. They were super-animated on stage, having way too much fun. Instrument-wise, they presented thinline hollowbody guitars (new Guild, or Hofner? I was just a bit too far away), bass, drums, keys, accordion, fiddle, corrugated tin and wash tub! With vocals and styling very much like Bob Dylan, and the fun stage presence, their set had me smiling all the way. As a treat, A.A. Bondy was playing a guitar for them through the whole set, and sang lead on one song.

Old Crow Medicine Show delivered all I expected and more. It took me a few songs to realise they don't have a drummer - but they don't need one, nor do I think they could find one to keep up. It wasn't all fast cow-punk bluegrass, but when it was fast, dang! The acoustic guitar and banjo chugged along at an unbelievable pace, and I honestly don't see how drums could fit. No less than three banjos, acoustic guitars with pickups, an upright bass and fiddles... just glorious. They have a backbone 6 string guitar/banjo player, and two of the other guys played 5 string banjo on and off. One of them, and I need to research this more, but it seems he is player that uses the less seen technique of pushing the strings with the tops of the fingernails rather than the more common upward plucking. Quite a sight at high speed, and it commands respect.
In the genre, they can be summed up as brilliant, and fun.

As the show progressed, various, and eventually all members of The Felice Brothers joined them, and it was a right royal hootenanny. A top notch evening!

Curry And Lager

I'm in the red when it comes to sensible choices of composition. My talents are dwarfed by many. Here's my little ragtime twist on the theme song of my favourite SciFi SitCom, played on a ~1960 Harmony H60 guitar, fitted as standard with a Gibson-made P13 pickup.

Whose Army?

I had the pleasure of seeing this young and upcoming band on Friday night in Memphis. They played at Ubee's on Highland and HOSED their opening act out the door with a metaphorical fire extinguishing apparatus. An entire set yielded but one cover song - actually a cool blend of two into a medley, but this young group not only played together well, they had an awesome vibe, sounded fantastic in a small venue with a self-controlled PA, and presented material of quality one would expect from a well seasoned song writer. Songs generally hit me first as sound, and as both an electric and acoustic guitarist, my ears were perked by the overall tone of their delivery. Once they had my attention, I started to really listen to what I was hearing. Their lyrics and song structure command respect and with sensitive dynamics, they completely amazed me. If I was 20 years younger, I'd be banging on their door trying for auditions.

Watch out for Whose Army? They're going to kick your seatables.

http://www.myspace.com/whosearmyrocks

http://www.myspace.com/whosearmyrocks

The Tone Den is now online!

I'm selling a bunch of guitars and a few miscellaneous items.

Check it out here! toneden.thruhere.net



So far I've listed:

Fender Stratocaster American Standard and 1962 Vintage Reissue, Harmony Bobkat, Harmony Rocket Reissue, Alden 9908 Tuxedo, Silvertone S1320, Harmony Stratone H42, H44, H47 and H88, and a Supro Belmont!!

More to come!!

~1960 Harmony Stratotone H47

I've been working on this since I bought it in July, 2008. Here's the before shot:



Here's the work I did:
- pickup rewind by Brett Brubaker, to 12.4k. This one has a ceramic magnet with a FULL bobbin.
- added vintage knobs
- replaced tail piece
- wiring harness repair
- raised nut to kill some buzz from the fret board
- new strap pin (modern one that fitted)
- general stuff like, pot cleaning, fret dressing, fretboard oiling, spit and polish
- tuners lubricated
- new strings 10-46's

Quite a transformation, I'm sure you'll agree:

2001 Harmony Rocket Reissue

After decades of operation, the Harmony company of Chicago USA disbanded in the mid 1970's. The new owners of the name produced their instruments from Asian soil, keeping up with modern trends of Asian and American design, and labeled their instruments with "Harmony Est. 1892". In 2001 when MBT International owned the name, some reissues of the USA made instruments surfaced. Extremely limited models were reproduced, and even then in extremely limited numbers.
The Rocket was originally made in 1959 as a one pickup model, and through the 1960's was produced with 2 and 3 pickups. 2001 saw the reissue of the Rocket from Korea in black with 3 pickups as the "HAR59BK" pictured below. Each pickup has its own volume and tone control, and a selector switch allows signal from each pickup, or all of them together.
I'm lucky enough to own one these. Only 100 were produced... ever. This one pictured is mine, and is #90.

Concert week! Tom Waits / Robert Plant & Allison Krauss

Wrapped around my birthday this year were two concerts, and beyond the cake, I could ask for nothing more.
We drove from Memphis to Birmingham, Alabama on 7/3 to see Tom Waits at the Alabama Theatre. For the Memphians familiar with the Orpheum Theatre, this was a similar venue in age and styling, but perhaps a little smaller. We had seats 6 rows back from the stage.

My wife is the bigger fan of Tom Waits himself. My story is, I went for the guitars, but stayed for the show. Tom may be a little hard to listen to for the first time, but in person and in concert, he is a fantastic performer and entertainer. If shock is a word that comes to mind when you hear his voice, the rest of the package squashes that. His band was really great. His drummer had quite an extensive kit to dismiss need for an additional percusionist, and even included what appeared to be a polished brass spent shell from a naval war ship as one of his 'clanging' devices.
I knew there would be a 1950's Harmony Stratotone H44 in the mix. Aside from the songs that called for an acoustic guitar, Tom's guitarist played an H44 exclusively for the entire show. I cannot tell you how great it was to hear and see this instrument being used in this capacity! What an awesome sound! I noticed that the scratch plate was not original, and it lacked holes for the volume and tone pot's (it actually lacked volume and tone control completely that I could tell!). There was a switch, which may have been the original tone cut switch and another very small knob near it which may have been an after-market volume control, but certainly the originals were gone.
Tom had a 1950's Kay solid body guitar with a single pickup close by, frequently incorrectly identified as a Stratotone, but he did not pick it up during the show.
The musician covering saxophone, blues harp and other wood wind also picked up a guitar for 2-3 songs, and as an unexpected surprise, it was a Holiday-branded Harmony-made H15 Bobkat! It had a black-red sunburst body as opposed to the H15's black-honey, but still had the Dearmond goldfoil pickups.

On 7/8/08 we went down town Memphis to the Mud Island amphitheater to see Robert Plant and Allison Krauss on their Raising Sand tour. WWWWOOOOWWWW!

I don't know if I can say more! This was an extremely pleasing blend of the country and bluegrass of Allison Krauss performed with a harder rock/blues edge, and the alternate rock of Led Zepplin styling performed with a bluegrass/country edge! The amphitheater at Mud Island is outdoor, and right on the bank of the Mississippi River. We rode the monorail across the river (the one in "The Firm" with Tom Cruise). Our seats were about half way back, and dead center. I can't do justice in describing what it was like to experience Allison Krauss and Robert Plant as performers, they are beyond words. Their musicians impressed us greatly also. The main guitarist switched between a single lipstick pickup Danelecto and what I think was a modern hollow body Gibson with a 'flashy' modern sharper edged f-hole shape. When I toured the Gibson factory in Memphis this year, I was somewhat disappointed in the stlying they are choosing to adopt to stay 'modern'. This guitarist also played an autoharp, a mandolo, and pedal steel guitar. Their secondary featured instrumentalist played some guitar, banjo, violin and mandolin. His banjo playing was heavily bent with blues tones to fit the 'Zeppelin' edge of their songs. It was quite a thing to hear his 5 string banjo playing blues lead. His violin playing was equally impressive and surprising. The biggest impact in the opening tune was a lead solo fashioned and delivered in a screaming Led Zepplin stlye guitar solo... on violin! Distortion, loads of triplet notes in high speed, just phenomenal!
T-Bone Burnett is touring with this arrangement as band leader. He mostly played a Kay 'Jimmy Reed' Thin Twin guitar. His alternate was a black hollow body with twin pickups, Bigsby vibrato... but JUST too far away for me to make out if it was a Harmony or Gibson. He also played a small body acoustic for a few tunes.