This morning, December 24th, we lost one of the greatest and most influential banjo players in bluegrass music. The legendary J.D. Crowe passed away at the age of 84. You don’t know bluegrass if you haven’t heard of him, and if you listen to bluegrass, you have surely heard his work.
Somewhat of a banjo prodigy, Jimmy Martin offered him a job in the Sunny Mountain Boys when J.D. was 17. He declined so that he could finish school, but finally joined in 1956 and stayed for four years. During this time, some of the best recordings from the Sunny Mountain Boys were released, including “Rock Hearts.” “Sophronie,” and “My Walking Shoes.” After his stint with Martin, D.J. formed the Kentucky Mountain Boys, which lasted for 10 years. His next project was The New South, which became somewhat of a bluegrass supergroup that included Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, and Jerry Douglas. The group’s Rounder Records self-titled album, affectionately known by its release number “0044,” is considered a bluegrass classic, perfectly mixing traditional and progressive bluegrass sounds. If you haven’t heard it, go and get yourself a copy right away!
Along with the New South, J.D. would also take part in a number of tribute albums with the group The Bluegrass Album Band, which also included Rice, Douglas, Doyle Lawson, Bobby Hicks and Todd Phillips. In 1983, he won a Grammy for his song “Fireball” in the Country Instrumental category.
J.D. slowed down a bit as far as touring during the last decade for health reasons. He had been suffering from COPD the past few years, and went to meet The Lord early this morning. I am sure that there is a bluegrass Angel Band waiting for him up there.
I was able to meet him once at a IBMA World of Bluegrass conference when it was still in Nashville. I saw a bunch of bluegrass “fans” excited to seeing Dailey & Vincent running right past J.D. without a glance. I walked up to him and shook his hand, telling him how much I appreciated his work with Martin and the great 0044 album. He was not very talkative, but appreciated the fact that someone recognized him in the crowd without making a scene.
J.D. will be missed, especially by so many banjo players. More than an influence, he was a guiding light, and his work will last for decades to come.
Chew on it and comment. Merry Christmas to you all.
Everyone that knows me knows that I love Martin guitars. I have a 1981 D-28 that I call Hazel (after Hazel Dickens) that I traded for with a Fender American Telecaster. She sounds beautiful, and even though my arthritis has been making it a bit difficult to fret, I still rely on her to be my guitar wife.
My first Martin as a DXM model that had a laminated top and was a low-end model. Even so, I was able to sell it years later for the same price that I paid. Over the past few years the lower-end Martins become more valuable as they age just like the higher-priced models. I have five or six other acoustics, some are easier to play, but Hazel is my go-to acoustic when I am recording or playing live.
I have always been a fan of Martin guitars. Partly because many of my country and bluegrass heroes played Martins. They truly set the standard for acoustic guitars, especially dreadnoughts. I recently subscribed to the Martin Guitars YouTube channel. It contains videos of artists performing at the Martin Guitar museum in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, as well as demo videos of Martin guitars and ukuleles. There is also a “Jam on the Road” series, with the most recent upload being country artist Dierks Bentley doing an acoustic jam with some of his bandmates.
There are two newer videos showing the construction of the D-18 and D-28 models at the Nazareth factory. Watch them and tell me what you think that I find wrong about them.
It has nothing to do with what the video is showing. It is great that they can show all of what goes into making a solid, beautiful and legendary acoustic guitar in under five minutes. However, the music is what I find wrong. The background music is electric blues-rock, with distorted electric guitars and heavy drums. Why would someone put this kind of music on an acoustic guitar video? There are hundreds of hard-driving guitar-laden bluegrass recordings out there. A Billy Strings or Molly Tuttle instrumental would work. Or most perfectly, “The D-18 Song (Thank You, Mr. Martin)” by Norman Blake and Tony Rice.
But what do I know?
Changing the topic. Back in August 2020 I blogged about the Sister Servants of the Eternal Word, a sect of nuns currently residing at the Casa Maria Convent in Birmingham, Alabama (https://luegra.design.blog/2020/08/07/nuns-performing-bluegrass-and-diversity/). The Sisters are very musically inclined, performing at various religious functions. Back in August I posted a video of them performing the bluegrass Gospel standard “I’ll Fly Away.” I just came across two more videos of Sister Mary Anthony jamming with fiddler David Morris and his mother. They are performing Bill Monroe’s “Jerusalem Ridge” and the old-time fiddle classic “Tom and Jerry.”
This is so wonderful to watch. Never doubt the power of God and music!
What constitutes a “banjo”? Why I bring this up is that I am seeing a lot of pop and rock stars claiming that they are playing a banjo, when in reality they are strumming and plucking a six-string instrument tuned like a standard guitar, with the strings going over a banjo head and resonator.
Now, 20 years ago, these instruments were referred to as banjitars, and the band Old Crow Medicine Show would call it a “guitjo” on its liner notes. These instruments have been around for decades, but popularity was mostly underground. I remember the first time that I saw someone playing one was guitar wizard Joe Satriani on an early episode of MTV Unplugged.
Usually when someone says, “I play the banjo,” we assume they are talking about the five-string variety, with the high G string droning, and played either clawhammer or Scruggs style. We tend to forget about the four-string plectrum banjo (popular with Dixieland bands), the shorter-neck four-string tenor banjo (used by many Irish bands), and of course, the many variations of gourd banjos. The one thing that they have in common is that the body or resonator part of the instrument has a top of skin or thin plastic stretched over the resonator pot (much like a drum head), and the strings being plucked will strike the head via a bridge to create the sound (unlike a guitar that produces sound through the sound hole). I am not going to get too technical here.
One of the most famous performers of the four-string variety was multi-instrumentalist Eddie Peabody. During the 1920s through 1950s, Peabody performed on stage, film and television on the four- and five-string banjos. His playing style was more of stroking the strings either with his fingers or a pick. He was a great entertainer, but his brand of music faded out as popular music turned to crooners, then country, then rock and roll. Toward the end of his career, Rickenbacker Guitar Company made him electric guitars with banjo necks. So, did this constitute the he was playing an “electric guitar”? By the way, Peabody was a whiz on guitar and fiddle as well.
Getting back to the six-string variety, is it an actual banjo? If one were to look at the entire lineup of banjos, as well as consider the sound that it produced and how it was produced, then technically, it is a banjo. For the fingerpick-style guitarist, it can be a new sound to songs, especially those using s drop-D tuning. As far as chord playing, it sounds way too washy (in my opinion). Yes, the those players of the plectrum and tenor varieties use a pick, but they usually either play a form of cross-picking, or the strumming is quick and semi-muted, so it is more rhythmic. Add to that the design with the strings draped across the bridge lying on a drum skin, this does not allow for sustaining tones.
Now if you were to ask a long-time bluegrass banjoist, or even a bluegrass enthusiast, he/she would probably have a set idea of what the banjo is. Five strings, played Scruggs style, ‘nuff said.
As for my opinion, I like to call it a “six-string banjo” and not just a banjo. Let the pop stars think that they are being cool, but we all know that when you say “I play the banjo,” the five-string variety is the standard. Now let’s get a taste of my favorite banjo player, Don Reno.
Last Saturday night, I went and saw a live show. I mentioned it in my blog last week, but I wanted to talk a bit about it, and live music during this whole COVID garbage in general.
The show was Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers, a traditionalist bluegrass band that divides about 70% secular and 30% Gospel bluegrass in their set. Joe is a great leader of the band. A good banjo player and vocalist, he loves to talk to his audience, probably due to his DJ work on Ohio radio stations. His fiddle player, Jason Barie, is not only a great fiddler, but also makes his own violins. I hope to get a story from that for Fiddler in the near future.
The band was great, the audience there was appreciative, and it was an enjoyable evening. The show was held at the Kentuckians of Michigan fraternal hall in Romulus, southwest of Detroit. I have seen a number of bluegrass shows there, with both national and local acts. You step into the hall, and you would think that you were in 1950. The atmosphere is perfect for traditional bluegrass music.
The best part about it is, no one is bugging you about whether or not you were vaccinated, or that you should be wearing a mask. I am used to wearing a mask in most places (work, grocery store, etc.) for rules posted. However, the entertainment industry, especially with music halls and concert venues, has been on the firing line of these restrictions the most due to the close proximity of the audience members. It was great to be able to sit at a table and watch a show without some “Karen” bugging me to keep my mask on. In fact, I was one of the few people having one around my neck.
The Ark in Ann Arbor has re-opened recently, and is back to having quality roots-music acts nearly every evening. However, I doubt that I will be attending any show there in the near future, if ever again. The venue’s policy is that one must show proof of vaccination before entering. I have chosen not to take the vaccine for many reasons, primarily religious and lack of long-term effects studies. The world has come to a point that, unless you get the vaccine, you are considered an enemy of the State. Venues, restaurants, and even places of employment can deny you access unless you have been vaccinated, many without an alternative choice like showing proof of negative infection.
This craziness has extended to the most crucial jobs – first responders. A year ago, doctors, nurses, fire fighters and police officers were considered heroes for having to deal with the COVID pandemic while others hid in their homes. Today, these people are losing their jobs because of their decision to not get vaccinated, despite just cause. I am glad to see that some unions and officials are fighting back, filing lawsuits against companies and municipalities forcing the vaccine mandate.
It is so ironic that the same leftist liberals that were against Donald Trump, who initiated Operation Warp Speed to get a vaccine out to the public as soon as possible, are now the same people who are attacking anyone that has doubts about the vaccine. The powers-that-be have become true hypocrites!
Back to the music. I’m not as young as I used to be, and I don’t get out much any more (sounds like a song there). Pre-pandemic, I maybe went out one Friday or Saturday evening a month, as well as hitting two or three meetings during the weekdays. For the year and a half of lock-down, I never left the house except to shop, go to work (although I was laid off for most of it), or attend church. Now that some venues are opening for shows, I may get back to once-per-month outings. I thoroughly enjoyed hitting the Milan Bluegrass Festival for two days back in August, and the Joe Mullins show last week did wonders for my relaxation. I hope that venues will not be as dystopian-leaning as The Ark. I understand that the non-profit concert hall has bills to pay, but at what price to cut off a large chunk of its donors (including me, as I do not plan on getting a shot just to attend shows, nor will I be making any yearly membership donations).
Winter is nearly here, so there will not be a lot of opportunity to see live music. We will need to wait until late spring for any outdoor shows (a bluegrass staple). I will keep my eye open for shows at places like the Kentuckians of Michigan, where all are welcome.
This past week, the talented teenage bluegrass performer Carson Peters was eliminated from competition on the music-reality show The Voice. Sad, but what can you expect? The judges, even country star Blake Shelton, are all expecting the next Aretha Franklin or Otis Redding to come on stage looking like a cute white kid.
A few years back, bluegrass band Mountain Faith competed on another entertainment-reality show, America’s Got Talent. The judges were impressed, even the arrogant a-hole Howard Stern (sorry, I just do not like that man). Of course, the band did not make it to the finals.
So why do I bring these situations up? For two reason. First, we bluegrassers need to accept that the rest of the music listeners will always look at bluegrass as a novelty genre. Like polka, tejano, and other culture-centric forms of music, the mainstream music industry looks down on these formats. The possible exception to this is Celtic, with the popularity of Lord of the Dance and other Broadway-type shows highlighting this music. However, in those cases, much of the raw tradition was watered down and reworked with pop-music ingredients (pop arrangements, physically attractive performers, etc.) to make them accessible to the mass audience.
Last week, Billy Strings and his band appeared on The Jimmy Kimmel Show. They sounded great, but they were dressed totally out of the norm. I am used to seeing the band in their usual laid-back jeans and t-shirts. This time, they were wearing Western-style suits and big ol’ cowboy hats. Yes, the song “Red Daisy” that they performed was a lot more traditional bluegrass than their usual fare (and they killed it!), but the look was too hokey! It seemed like they were forced by the show’s producers to wear the suits. They looked a bit uncomfortable, but they got through it. Who knows? Maybe they will start wearing them on stage more often.
This leads to my second reason. Should bluegrass bands and artists succumb to the whims of pop music standards just to get noticed? Did Peters or Mountain Faith really need to go on those reality shows? Knowing how the judges are, and how America’s taste in lousy music is, even Bill Monroe or Flatt & Scruggs in their prime would have never made it past the semi-finals.
The real good and successful bluegrass acts know who their fan base is, and who got them the success that they have. They also know that they are happy and successful with the success that they have achieved. Rhonda Vincent, Dailey & Vincent, and Del McCoury have all been loyal to the bluegrass fold. If someone from outside of the bluegrass audience takes notice, all the better! However, these acts have no intention of changing their style just to attempt to appease the pop music audience or executives.
Acts such as Ricky Skaggs and Patty Loveless have had pop success in the country music field, but they (Skaggs especially) have learned to not get above their raisin’. They have come back to an arms-wide-open bluegrass audience and seem totally satisfied.
Yes, Alison Krauss has achieved pop music success like no one else in the industry. And while her bluegrass side of music is limited with Union Station, it still exists. Some from the bluegrass fold may consider her no longer bluegrass. She is still a bluegrasser in my eyes and thousands of others. She did not attempt to get her foot in the pop music field – her talent and voice were so good that it was the pop music execs that came after her! Moreover, at the beginning of her peak of success in the music industry, rather than continuing to work the pop music end, she instead served a big part in the traditional music movie soundtrack O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
Let’s talk a bit about that album. OBWAT was successful, indeed! At the time, it was receiving no airplay, yet sold over 6 million copies. The radio execs were saying that it was a fluke, despite many listeners calling in requests. Twenty years later, where is bluegrass? It seems that it really was a fluke in the pop music industry. However, this was not the fault of anyone but the radio execs. They pushed that “one-hit-wonder” status on the album so much that listeners tended to believe it, and turned away from bluegrass and the other roots music formats. You don’t hear much about it or any bluegrass music on country radio these days.
In short, bluegrass artists should not water down or surrender to pop music whims just to get noticed. Be happy with the loyal audience that you have. If your talent is really that great, others will notice, just like Billy Strings.
Tonight, I go to see a great traditional bluegrass band that didn’t get above its raisin’, Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers.
By now, most everyone in the bluegrass world knows of the death of Sonny Osborne, banjo player extra ordinaire, passing away last weekend at the age of 84. Sonny was phenomenal on the five-string, to say the least. Although he retired from The Osborne Brothers in 2005, he still kept his finger on the pulse of bluegrass, occasionally appearing on stage and writing a column for the online resource Bluegrass Today.
Sonny always had an essence of “cool” about him. When most bluegrass musicians were clean shaven, he had a well-trimmed Vandyke beard that complemented his brother Bobby’s muttonchops. The brothers were the first to electrify their bluegrass instruments so that they could be heard better at festivals that were booking country and rock acts. Sonny often experimented with the banjo, and was one of the first to use a six-string version.
Sonny worked with Bill Monroe as a teenager while Bobby was in the Marines during the Korean War. After that, the two formed a band with Jimmy Martin and became regulars at WJR radio in Detroit. Upon splitting from Martin, they went to Wheeling, West Virginia to be part of the cast at WWVA’s “Wheeling Jamboree.” From that point, the duo’s stardom began to rise. Along with fantastic playing, the band was known for having Bobby sing lead as high tenor, while Sonny and another member harmonize in lower baritone or tenor registers – something unheard of in bluegrass before. The Osborne Brothers had a number of hits during the 1950s through 70s, including “Ruby,” Tennessee Hound Dog,” Up This Hill and Down,” and the classic, “Rocky Top,” which would become the official State Song of Tennessee.
Sonny’s physical presence was demanding. He was big, and always looked like he could kick your ass in. However, once you saw that Cheshire cat grin of his, you knew that a cool dude was in those shoes. His trademark while playing banjo was, if he hit a bad note, he would play that note again to make you think that he meant to play that way. I remember once seeing the Osborne Brothers on TNN’s Ralph Emory Show, and Sonny was playing a unique guitar. It had a guitar body with a banjo neck. The banjo rolls were mellow sounding, which again was something different. Again, the band was always doing something to push the barriers out.
Sonny had a fantastic sense of humor. He loved telling and hearing jokes, and although Bobby was the MC of the band, Sonny could throw out a line or two that would make the audience wail with laughter. Whenever the band was booked at a festival with The Lewis Family, you could guarantee that there would be sone pranks going on between Sonny and Little Roy Lewis.
Because The Osborne Brothers were known for their progressive instrumentation during the 1960s and 70s, Sonny was always supportive of young bluegrass bands trying something different. Yet he was also a staunch supporter of tradition. After his 2005 retirement due to rotator cuff surgery, Bobby continued with the band Rocky Top X-Press. Sonny would promote a number of signature banjo lines, as well as write his Bluegrass Today column, “Ask Sonny Anything.” He suffered from a stroke earlier this year, which kept him from doing much, including having to dictate his columns.
Sonny’s banjo playing was distinctively strong. The banjo rolls were spot-on, you didn’t need any type of metronome. Drummers would follow him in keeping the beat. And as far as a signature, who could forget that ending to “Rocky Top,” in which Sonny does that familiar scrape?
Sonny is now playing with the Angel Band, along with so many other bluegrass heroes and pioneers. His smile, laughter, and personality will be missed just as much as his banjo playing. Fortunately, we have so many Obsorne Brothers’ recordings to enjoy and from which to learn.
Last week just after I posted my blog, I learned of the deaths of two great musicians. This week, I will briefly cover the lives and influential presence of dobroist Phil Leadbetter and The Chieftains’ leader, Paddy Moloney.
Phil Leadbetter was a true traditionalist when it came to the dobro. He kept his feet firmly in bluegrass while others took it to other genres. He began playing the dobro at age 12, and soon after graduating high school worked with country legend Grandpa Jones. He spent his longest tenure with J.D. Crowe and the New South, often serving as booking agent as well, from 1990-2001. He helped form a number of superstar bluegrass bands, including Wildfire, Flashback and Grasstowne.
In 2011, Phil was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. He was part of trials that tested the drug Opdivo for his type of cancer, and became a five-time survivor. He returned to performing part-time in 2013, working with Dale Ann Bradley as well as his own band, Phil Leadbetter and the All-Stars of Bluegrass. Unfortunately, his health kept deteriorating, and there were a number of benefit concerts and funding pages. Phil passed away October 14 from COVID-19 complications working against his already poor health. He was 59 years old.
While Phil’s work can be heard on the aforementioned bands, as well as work with The Whites and Vern Godsin, if you want to hear probably his best work on the dobro, seek out his 2005 solo album Slide Effects on Pinecastle Records. The cut “California Cottonfields” was a Number 1 hit for two months on the bluegrass charts, and the disc won the Instrumental Album of the Year award that year at the IBMA World of Bluegrass show. He was a three-time Dobro Player of the Year winner, and both Gibson and Recording King released signature resonator guitars in the past few years.
Phil will definitely be missed in the bluegrass community. I had the chance to meet up with him after a Grasstowne show, and he was one of the most humble people you would ever get a chance to meet. Hopefully, there are a number of young dobro players out there listening to his fine work.
My first true experience in watching The Chieftains was when the band appeared on a special St. Patrick’s Day showing of Saturday Night Live back in 1979. By then, the band was just starting to get some notoriety in the US, after much success in Ireland and the UK. This was not the usual musical fare of SNL, and I was blown away. The sound was magical, moving, hitting at your heart strings. And in the middle of this ensemble sitting, playing the uillean bagpipes and with a big grin, was Paddy Moloney. One could tell after just a few seconds of watching that he was the leader, and that his direction was similar to a classical music conductor, but not as obvious. He knew where to guide the music, and everyone in the band trusted his instinct.
Paddy formed The Chieftains in 1962, but the band did not become full-time professionals until the early 1970s. They built up a large following in Ireland and Europe, but it was the band’s work on the Stanley Kubrick film Barry Lyndon in 1975. From there, it was international success. They have performed with dozens of other famous musicians and singers, have held concerts for Pope John Paul II and a number of other dignitaries, and in 1983 were invited to perform at the Great Wall of China, the first non-Chinese artist to do so.
Paddy was born in Dublin in 1938. He first picked up the tin whistle at age six, then the uillean pipes at age eight. In 1962 he invited local musicians Sean Potts and Michael Tubridy to his house for a jam session, and The Chieftains was born. The band signed with a local label Claddagh Records, and Paddy served as leader, composer, and arranger for the band’s music. His endless work to promote the band made it an international success. If any big-time producer or film director needed Irish or Celtic music, they would call on The Chieftains.
I cannot begin to list the different artists that the band has worked with. Almost everyone from Luciano Pavarotti and John Williams to Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney. While The Chieftains had never had a huge hit in the US, it did score minor hits with Van Morrison and The Coors in the UK. They also performed on the soundtracks for the films Gangs of New York and Bravehart. Paddy was a major reason that The Chieftains have such a huge following. His business head knew that it was important for the band to work with different people to get the best exposure, but his musical heart knew not to sell out. The sound of the band stayed pure and close to its roots, so that other performers gladly adapted to the band’s sound.
Paddy recorded 44 albums with The Chieftains, and there is not a bad one among them (although I can honestly say that I have not heard all of them, but trust me). If you were to pick only one, you might try to locate The Best of The Chieftains from 1992, which contains selections from the band’s 7th, 8th, and 9th albums. The 1993 disc The Celtic Harp is hauntingly beautiful. To hear how well the band worked with American artists, get a copy of Down the Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions from 2002.
I only got to see The Chieftains once live. It was during a tour promoting Down the Old Plank Road with Allison Moorer as a guest. The sound of the band live cannot be described with words. One could close his/her eyes and be transported into a different world. If Ireland had a sound, it would be The Chieftains.
Paddy passed away at age 83 on October 12, and is now buried in Glendalough, Ireland. He was the last original member of the band. There will never be another band like The Chieftains, and definitely never be another beautiful man such as Paddy Moloney.
OK, this COVID is still knocking me on my butt, but I’m tired of lying in bed doing nothing, so I will at least try to write a small blog on the IBMA awards from two weeks ago.
So Billy Strings won Entertainer of the Year. No argument here, he’s been touring relentlessly over the past year performing at bluegrass and not-so-bluegrass festivals to thousands. Is his style akin to Bill Monroe or Flatt & Scruggs? Hardly, but he is helping to keep the format in the spotlight. If it were not for Billy, I am sure that bluegrass would not be half as popular as it is now.
Billy also won Guitar Player of the Year. Again, no argument. For the past few years and probably another five or more in the future, I see that award passing between Billy and Molly Tuttle.
I am extremely proud of my good friend Bronwyn Keith-Hynes for winning Fiddle Player of the Year. She has busted her tail this past year recording her own album as well as recorded and performed with a number of other acts. She has recently announced that she is leaving Mile Twelve after seven strong years. I know that whatever she does, it will be amazing! Big hug from Detroit, Bronwyn!
Most of the other award winners were predictable. Partly because live music is still trying to get back fully on its feet, partly because the voting membership doesn’t really pay attention to anything new coming out. Even though I haven’t been a IBMA member for four or five years, I still get the ballots emailed to me, and I just shake my head. Bluegrass will never be big if the audience refuses to open its mind. Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglass, The Punch Brothers, and now Billy Strings are being innovative, yet most listeners just want to listen to re-hash standards. Bluegrass will eventually get stale and, like old bread, will be tossed in the trash.
I’m exhausted just doing this little bit of typing. COVID is truly a virus that will bring you down, but I still refuse to take the vaccine, so I will just keep plodding through.
First off, it was 20 years ago today that the US experienced one of its greatest tragedies. We lost thousands of citizens, the Twin Towers completely disappeared within a few hours, the Pentagon saw heavy damage, and a few dozen ordinary citizens became heroes losing their lives by fighting terrorists and crashing an airplane into a Pennsylvania field instead of the White House. I can remember it like it was yesterday, and it hurts a bit every time that I think about that day. For a few months afterward, we became a true united country. No democrats or republicans, just Americans working together. Let us never forget.
Last year in some earlier blogs, I was talking about the positive aspects of Glarry acoustic guitars and how they would make great beginner guitars, especially for the price. At the time, you could secure a new one directly from Glarry for about $50.00. The price seemed to go up a few dollars with each passing month, to the point now that the GT-502 Dreadnought Cutaway Acoustic is selling for $90.00. While it is still a good guitar, at that price, you may be able to shop around and find a quality used guitar that is much more durable and sounds better.
The Glarry acoustics just don’t have that look about them that makes you want to show up at a jam session with one, even as a beginner. You want to have an acoustic guitar that looks like a true dreadnought. While a Martin D-28 and its sisters are the standard for folk and bluegrass guitarists, new models cost at least $500 for the X series (which do not have that great of a reputation as far as volume or tone), around $1,200 for the made-in-Mexico Road series and 15 series, $1,600 for the 16-17 series, and the Standard series starting at about $2,500 for a D-18 (if you can find one). Don’t even get started with the prices of Limited Edition, Modern Deluxe, and Authentic series models. Used models vary in price, but not by much, due to Martin having a great reputation that the guitars age really well and the company stands by their work.
There are also a number of boutique brands like Collings and Bourgeois that cost even more, and some competitive brands such as Taylor and Guild that float around the same prices as Martin, although they are not as popular tone-wise. Face it, as a bluegrass guitar, Martin is the first choice by many.
Generally, Martins have gone up in price over the past decade or so, even with the lower-end models. My first Martin was a DXM model (which they don’t make any more) that I purchased online with gig bag for $300. It was good, but did not have the true Martin tone. Fortunately, I was able to sell it a few years later for the same price so that I could purchase my current Martin, a used 1981 D-28, which I have had for about 10 years now.
But back to what I am writing this blog about. What about the person that has less than $200 but still wants a decent dreadnought guitar that plays well and has a decent tone? My recommendation is the Yamaha series of acoustic guitars. There is a reason that Yamaha has been around in the music industry for over 50 years. They put out quality products for affordable pricing. We are talking about instruments across the board. Plenty of drummers use Yamaha drums as their regular kit. The DX-7 is a standard with keyboardists. I have had a Yamaha electric bass in my arsenal once and sold it for what I paid for.
A great beginner acoustic guitar is the Yamaha F-325. This is the model sold in the US, while in Europe and Asia the same model is called the F-310, with the only difference being the pickguard (F-310 = black, F-325 = tortoise pattern). This is a standard dreadnought size, with an easy-playing neck and a great full tone. These can usually be purchased for about $170 new. Online dealers like Sweetwater sell a package called GigMaker which includes a F-325 with a gig bag, tuner, and other accessories under $200.
Out of the box, these are set up really well. Mind you, they will not be as good tone-wise or heft-wise as a Martin D-28. They are lighter than your average dreadnought and, due to a laminated top, there’s a little less bottom end to the tone. Also, these models have rosewood fretboards, compared to high-end acoustics that usually have ebony fretboards (which give a more deeper tone when fretted). However, as a quality beginner bluegrass rhythm guitar, the F-325 is well worth it. I know of a few Martin players that have a Yamaha as a backup guitar. Yamaha does produce many other models, but all are more than reasonably priced as new.
As the F-325/F-310 was made for beginners, there are a lot of them out there that were purchased for aspiring youngsters only to be put into a closet when the student lost interest. This can be rewarding to you as the buyer. My winter pastime of working on instruments led me to scout around Craigslist and eBay for some good buys. I have snagged three of these models (two F-325’s, one F-310) used for around $100 each. Only one requires some body work (whoever owned it actually put a few small holes into the backside, either by drill or BB gun), but the other two are pretty solid. I plan to work on getting the tone a bit better with each of them through some basic modifications, which I will cover of the next few months here.
In the meantime, if you can get one of these guitars for a good price, say, $120 or less used, I would recommend at least trying it out. I leave you with a comparison of a Yamaha F-310 versus a Martin D-35 video from YouTube. It is a bit long, but you get the idea. The Martin has a better deep tone, but there is a difference between $200 and $3,200.
This past week has not been good in the world. Way too many deaths. Before I get into my coverage of the three musicians, I ask that you pray and keep in your hearts the 13 soldiers that were killed at the Kabul airport by an insane ISIS-K bomber, as well as pray for the soldiers’ families.
Don Everly of the Everly Brothers. Man, those sibling harmonies were beyond human comprehension. Think about the hits that the duo had in the 1950s and early 60s. “Bye, Bye Love,” “Cathy’s Clown,” the controversial “Wake Up, Little Susie,” and my favorite, “All I Have to Do is Dream.” They came from a musical family, guitarist Chet Atkins promoted them passionately, and with the songwriting contributions of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the brothers were at the top of the music world. They both joined the Marines in 1961, and along with drug concerns as well as conflicts with their publishing company, the Everly Brothers lost footing in the pop music field. By 1973, they grew tired and resentful of each other, and there were a few reunion concerts until Phil’s death in 2014.
But those vocals were hypnotizing. Listen to recordings of the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, and the Bee Gees. You can tell where these groups learned to harmonize. However, one of the greatest gifts Don Everly gave to rock-n-roll was back in the mid-1960s. The duo was on tour with the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards asked Don how he got that great rhythm guitar sound. Don showed him the open G tuning and what fingering to use to change chords. Listen to Keith’s iconic rhythm guitar on “Brown Sugar,” “Honky Tonk Women,” and “Start Me Up.” That’s all the result of Don Everly.
Banjoist Bill Emerson. A true gentleman musician, beyond performing with the Country Gentlemen. His style was tight, yet not too flashy. His early career was with the Gentlemen as well as with Jimmy Martin. Those early years taught him a lot about the banjo, as well as timing with other musicians in a live setting. In the late 1960s and early 70s, he worked with guitarist Cliff Waldron, helping to advance the newgrass sound by combining bluegrass with country, rock, and soul music.
His big achievement came in 1973 when he joined the US Navy and helped to form the military band Country Current, which consisted of Navy servicemen performing as a bluegrass ensemble. He served as the band’s leader for 20 years before retiring as a master chief petty officer. Upon his retirement, the Stelling Banjo Company issued a Bill Emerson signature model. He performed irregularly the past few years, and passed away August 21 from complications of pneumonia at the age of 83. After Earl Scruggs and Don Reno, most banjo players today would name Bill as a major influence.
Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones. This one hit me hard this past week. The Stones were one of the main reasons I got into playing music as a teenager. Charlie was the perfect rock-n-roll drummer. Seriously, he defined how a drummer should play a rock-n-roll song. The drummer should be felt and not heard. Yes, you can hear his drums in so many Stones songs, like the intro to “Get Off of My Cloud.” But when you listen to the full recorded work, his drumming is felt within, while Mick’s vocals and Keith’s patented rhythm guitar riffs fill the ears.
He was quiet when it came to the public persona, but he was a Stone. Just as much as Mick or Keith. The band could never have gotten to where they are without having Charlie in the drummer’s seat. He knew exactly what would fit in the song. You knew that Keith, Bill Wyman, and Ron Wood valued him more than anyone. He loved jazz drumming, studying the great like Max Roach, and implemented that attitude into the Stones’ songs. There will never be another drummer like Charlie, and I am so glad that I was able to appreciate him during my formative music years.
My favorite Charlie Watts story? Back in the 70s, Mick was going on a rant ab out the Stones being his band. He kept referring to Charlie as “his drummer.” Late at night in a hotel, Mick kept calling for “his drummer” to show up at his room. Charlie dressed up in his best suit, polished his shoes, went to Mick’s room, and when Mick opened the door, Charlie punched him hard in the face and walked away, telling Keith what he just did. That is classic rock! I leave you not with a Stones video, but a great video of Charlie doing a pre-show backstage warm-up. Just look at Keith’s reaction!
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