The second half of today’s Guitar Safari was a solid blast! I went and visited my friend Bill Bartlett and interviewed him, photographed his instruments, and scanned his old photos for the Mosrite book I’m working on.
Who is Bill Bartlett, you might ask? What a life in music he’s had! He’s best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist of the monster 1970s hard rock anthem “Black Betty” by the band Ram Jam (yes, that’s Bill, with the long hair and beard and Les Paul in the famous “Black Betty” video that has 382 MILLION views on YouTube). What’s funny is that some have accused the band of being racist, being a bunch of long-haired white boys drawing on Leadbelly’s song “Black Betty,” but Bill insists that when he wrote additional lyrics for the Ram Jam hit, he was thinking of 1950s pinup model Betty Page, because “he really liked brunettes.” Ha!
But years before the success of Ram Jam and “Black Betty,” Bill was the guitarist with the group the Lemon Pipers, of “Green Tamborine” fame (a group that got a Mosrite endorsement in 1968), and even before that, Bill was the guitarist in the Ohio teen band Tony and the Bandits, who had a minor hit with “It’s a Bit of Alright”—and they even appeared on the TV show Shindig! (link in the comments).
Bill is a great dude! You wouldn’t think that me and a guy who is most famous for a rock anthem like “Black Betty” would have that much in common, musically or otherwise. But the best part about Bill is that he first got interested in music seeing the Collins Kids and Joe Maphis on the Ranch Party syndicated TV show in the late 1950s. He also loved Scotty Moore’s playing with Elvis, James Burton’s playing with Ricky Nelson, and Cliff Gallup’s playing with Gene Vincent. Throughout all his later musical endeavors, he was always the “odd man out” who dug all these earlier music legends—so of course Bill and I have a lot in common, and lots to talk about!
For instance, you’d never think this watching the video for “Black Betty,” but the Les Paul that Bill played on the song was a 1954 Les Paul goldtop that he heavily modified to look like . . . Larry Collins’s and Joe Maphis’s 1950s Mosrite doublenecks! The headstock bears a shockingly close resemblance to the extravagant, flared, and fancy 1950s Mosrite headstocks. Bill even chipped away the original gold top so he could overlay a bird’s-eye maple top on the guitar—because Joe Maphis’s original Mosrite doubleneck had a bird’s-eye maple top . . .
Bill also modified the 12/6 Mosrite doubleneck he got in the 1960s as a Mosrite endorser with the Lemon Pipers. He modified the guitar extensively so it would look like Joe Maphis’s and Larry Collins’s Mosrite doublenecks! He changed the twelve-string neck to be like the small “octave necks” that Joe and Larry had on their guitars. Bill was clearly a man on a mission his entire life. A few years ago, he even got Terry McArthur to build him a fancy TNM Custom doubleneck in the style of the Joe Maphis and Larry Collins doubleneck guitars. Amazing!
It was a super-fun evening of guitar geekery with a genuine rock legend. Thanks again for your time, Bill! I had a blast! BAM A LAM!
Find additional photos and YouTube links for some of Bill’s greatest hits in the comments at Deke’s original post.
