Re: Old Guitar Pickers

Old Doll wrote:

Nela!

I drank all the whiskeys meself. Even had me own little sing song.   Finished on this one for ya.!

Feeling maudlin ya know.:lol:

Have a good day in the Swamps!


Sláinte,

Old Doll.


http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=J_sEtNrYlC4

I guess it's ones is first exposure to a song regarding the "better" version. I heard Pearl Jam do "Last Kiss" before I heard J.Frank Wilson and The Cavaliers do it. Sounds to me like J.Frank is pinching his nostrils closed when he sings it. I like the Pearl Jam version much better. Thanks for that link Old Doll, I enjoyed it immensely.

Give everything but up.

Re: Old Guitar Pickers

to each his own nothing against pearl jam great group but the lead singer sounds like he singing and gargling water i dont care for this cover it has a machanical feel to it,but thats just my opinion if you prefer it over the original you can listen as often as you like i'll take the original version

SouthPaw41L wrote:
Old Doll wrote:

Nela!

I drank all the whiskeys meself. Even had me own little sing song.   Finished on this one for ya.!

Feeling maudlin ya know.:lol:

Have a good day in the Swamps!


Sláinte,

Old Doll.


http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=J_sEtNrYlC4

I guess it's ones is first exposure to a song regarding the "better" version. I heard Pearl Jam do "Last Kiss" before I heard J.Frank Wilson and The Cavaliers do it. Sounds to me like J.Frank is pinching his nostrils closed when he sings it. I like the Pearl Jam version much better. Thanks for that link Old Doll, I enjoyed it immensely.

"Growing old is not for sissies"

53 (edited by Old Doll 2008-01-28 17:25:45)

Re: Old Guitar Pickers

Russell!

Tell me darlin who sung the original.. I love the melody in  this song.

Old Doll.



Ok Russell, I found your version.

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=gzU8f-TS_kc

Somehow i prefer the Pearl Jam. .

Why Blend in with the Crowd ? When you were made to stand out !

Re: Old Guitar Pickers

Wilson and the Cavaliers from a google search covered by pearl jam recently and featured in by by birdie the musical according to wikipedia

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Re: Old Guitar Pickers

How about another guitar question?  Saw a great picture of Willie Nelson this morning in the Fort Worth Star Telegram and he's still pickin' that same old guitar.  Anyone have any idea what kind it is?  If it' good enough for him to stick with for a hundred years, it"s good enough for me to try!!  (Another "old Fartz question)

Old age and treachery...

Re: Old Guitar Pickers

Nelson's principal guitar is a Martin N-20 nylon-string acoustic, which he has named "Trigger", after Roy Rogers' horse. Constant strumming over the decades has worn a large sweeping hole into the guitar's body near the sound hole. Its soundboard has been signed over the years by over a hundred of Nelson's friends and associates, from fellow musicians to lawyers and football coaches.

Give everything but up.

Re: Old Guitar Pickers

That was interesting SouthPaw, so I did a little search and found this article (from 2002, so now "Trigger" is 41 years old). I saw Willie a few years ago on his ballpark tour with Bob Dylan. A couple of icons, that's for sure.

TRIGGER' HAPPY
Willie Nelson has played the same battered guitar for 35 years

Joel Selvin, Chronicle Pop Music Editor

Tuesday, February 19, 2002


Willie Nelson calls his guitar Trigger, after Roy Rogers' noble steed, and no horse ever meant more to any cowboy.

Like Nelson himself, the guitar is weathered, slightly the worse for wear, and one of a kind. Both have a sweet song inside. On the cover of his new record, "The Great Divide," Nelson poses almost like an afterthought behind the battered face of his Martin N20. It is covered with the etched signatures of the country singer's most esteemed colleagues and is missing a good chunk of wood right out of the front.

"It's a classical guitar, and it wasn't designed to use a pick on," said Nelson, who opens tonight for four nights at the Fillmore Auditorium. "Normally, if you're going to use a pick, they have a big plastic pick guard. But this one, over the years, without a pick guard, a lot of picks and fingernails and 'Whiskey Rivers,' the hole just gets bigger every year. "

The nylon-string guitar has been an integral part of Nelson's sound throughout his career. He has owned it 35 years and doesn't play any other guitar. He plays the thing with a touch as unique as his singing, and he has no interest in repairing the hole.

"I think it helps the sound," he said. "I've had to reinforce it inside over the years a few times because the hole sorta weakened the woodwork inside. "

Martin Guitar's Dick Boak agrees. "He has had some epoxy glopped on it to keep it from falling apart," said Boak. "The guitar really does sound great, and he's probably right in not replacing the soundboard." Martin, in fact, made a special Willie Nelson model replica -- "you have to supply your own hole," Boak said.

"It always was the best guitar I ever played," said Nelson, "and it just keeps getting better. Every year it gets a little bit better, like a Stradivarius violin."

The guitar and Nelson have a long, tangled history.

"I originally had a Baldwin setup

-- Baldwin guitar, amps and pickups -- and the Baldwin guitar people had given it to me. One night in Helotes, Texas, some drunk stepped in the middle of it and busted it. So I sent it to a friend of mine in Nashville, Sean Jackson, and asked him if he could fix it. He called me back. 'I can't fix it, ' he said, 'but I've got a good guitar on the wall up here. I can take the pickup out and put it in here.'

"I said, 'What is it?' and he said, 'It's a Martin classical guitar.' And I said, 'Well, is it any good?' And he said, 'Martins don't make bad guitars.' I said, 'All right, let me have it.' I paid $750 for it."

Somewhere along the line, he started collecting autographs on the guitar, asking pals such as Johnny Cash or musical associates like his longtime drummer, Paul English, to sign their names in the wood.

"It started out with Leon Russell," Nelson said. "He had a brand-new guitar,

and he wanted me to sign it. I started to sign it with my pen, and he said, 'No, no, I want you to take this knife and scratch it in there because I want to keep it and it will make it more valuable.' I said, 'In that case, scratch mine.' He signed my guitar, and since then a lot of people have signed mine -- Roger Miller, Waylon, Kris and a lot more guys."

Nelson doesn't delve into technical talk when asked what is so special about this particular model. Straight talk is his specialty. "I like it because it has a nice soft tone," he said. "Acoustically, it's got a great sound -- I sit around on the bus or hotel room and play it without an amplifier."

Nelson, who is also the author of a new book, "The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes" (Random House), laughs when asked why he put the guitar's picture so prominently on the cover of his new album.

"I think probably the guitar has maybe more fans than I do," he said.

Rule No. 1 - If it sounds good - it is good!

Re: Old Guitar Pickers

Now what do you think the value of that guitar would be. 35 years ago it was bought for $750.00. Today that guitar would be priceless.

Nela