Musings

I can verify that as of tonight, December 23, 2024, Merle Travis’s bent telephone pole still stands, behind Ireland’s 32 bar in Van Nuys, California.

Remembering the time I got to work with Conway Twitty’s wonderful guitar player from the early days, Al Bruno. What a character!

Jon Spencer (he of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) contacted me out of the blue a few weeks ago and asked to book a recording session at my studio. And I think the tracks sound great!

This is a pair of original 1966–67 Hallmark Swept-Wing guitars made by ex-Mosrite employees Joe Hall and Bill Gruggett in Arvin, California.

I had a great day today, meeting up with former Mosrite records star (and one of the legends of the Bakersfield sound), Ronnie Sessions!

Tim Davis of the Grand Ole Opry Museum archives invited me to see “Little” Jimmy Dickens’s Farber guitar next time I was in Nashville, so today I went down there to see it—and so much more—in person!

In Nashville for a couple days doing more research for the Mosrite book, I was lucky enough to snag my favorite Airbnb in the whole country: Hank Snow’s Rainbow Ranch!

At today’s Guitar Safari I visited my friend Bill Bartlett and interviewed him, photographed his instruments, and scanned his old photos for the Mosrite book I’m working on.

RIP Vic Flick, the amazing British session guitarist who played the iconic lick on the James Bond theme (he was the session guitarist on lots of other iconic hits, as well).

Went to a preview tonight at Heritage Auctions in Beverly Hills for an upcoming auction featuring the guitar collection of Skip Maggiora, former owner of Skip’s Music in Sacramento.