Going through some old photo cards tonight. In 2009, I had the honor of meeting and interviewing Letritia Kandle, the pioneering female steel guitarist from Chicago who invented the “Grand Letar,” a three-necked console steel guitar built by the National company to Letritia’s design in 1937. The Grand Letar weighed four hundred pounds in the road case, had its own moving “light show” built in the front, and had its own enclosed amplifier (with two speakers—I have not been able to find an earlier guitar amplifier with two speakers, does anyone know of one?).
Letritia was a remarkable woman, and she passed away not long after I got to meet her—although she was able to see the proof of the Fretboard Journal article I wrote about her literally a day before she passed. Thanks again to Paul Warnik and TC Furlong for making this whole thing possible. Link to the blog post about Letritia in the comments.
Read the original post at Deke’s Musings of a Muleskinner blog!
