My second meetup of the day was with my friend Johnny Barnett, longtime drummer in the Bakersfield scene with such groups as Harold Cox and the Sooners, and the Trout’s house band for many years.
Johnny’s dad, Johnny Barnett Senior, was a fixture around Bakersfield and led the band at the Lucky Spot for many years, a place where Merle Haggard got his start in the early 1960s.
Johnny has mostly played drums his entire career, but in 1966, his dad had Semie Moseley make him this cool custom “Little Johnny” Mosrite Guitar.
Just last year, a thief broke into Johnny‘s house and stole the guitar. Luckily, it showed up in San Luis Obispo at a swap meet and Johnny was able to get his guitar back. And I guess the silver lining is that it was only because of the theft that I learned about the existence of this guitar.
Johnny let me photograph the guitar and scan some cool Bakersfield history photos today. And of course, because that’s just the way it is around Bakersfield, Johnny told me that his wife’s mother worked at the Mosrite factory in the 1960s! Amazing!
Thanks for your time, and great to see you, my friend. This cool guitar definitely needs to be in the book.
