The Other Woman

Dena sometimes refers to my guitar as the "Other Woman" because it gets more huggs than she does. She notes that guitars have feminine curves, and perhaps that is why I am attracted to them. Who knows? Fact is, guitars have been a part of my life since I was 8 years old. That means I've been playing for 49 years. Imagine, 49 years and I still can't play a solo piece all the way through. That's because I'm not really a soloist. I'm an accompanyist. Rhythm, lead, bass, doesn't matter. Fact is, when I'm jammin with my budds, I feel great!

Musicians are a nicer class of people generally speaking, at least the folks I choose to play with. Except perhaps those who believe there are only two kinds of music.. Rock & Roll. (Hey - get a life!)

I like all kinds of music.. jazz, blues, latin, country, olde tyme, rock, flamenco, classical, and so on. But there has always been a thread running through that music - the guitar.
I started to play on an el-cheapo flattop my dad bought for me. Taught myself to play "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley" in six keys. I didn't know how to tune the thing, so I played the melody up and down one string. When I played it on the next string, I was in another key. One of my dad's friends tuned it for me and showed me a few chords, and I was on my way. My glacial rise to fame had started.
I progressed to the point that I joined a band. We called ourselves "The Versatiles" because we played both pop and country. My first "professional" debut was at a seedy bar in Renfrew. I was underage, so the group leader, (Bob - not my uncle) kept me away from the bar owner. The audience consisted of one guy at a table near the back of the room, and he was three sheets to the wind. Never mind, I was still as nervous as nervous as a turkey at Christmas. Bob slipped me a rum and coke to loosen me up a bit. Since I didn't drink, I got loose rapidly. You don't play any better when you're loose, but you sure think you do. Anyway, I had a blast, and that gig turned into a regular weekly thing.

We were making pretty good money for kids, so I purchased my first good guitar - a Guild Starfire exactly like this one on the left. That guitar played like a dream. And like almost every guitar I've owned since, I wish I still had it. That particular guitar was stolen. Not sure what the next guitar was, but it was probably an Epiphone. I keep trading. Not in any particular order, I've had a Gretch 6120, Gibson humingbird, Heritage 575, Ibanez GB20, Ibanez Joe Pass, Gibson L50, and a dozen I can't remember. It's a hobby, and an obsession. I've even built a couple of archtop jazz guitars from scratch. Just something I always wanted to do.

My current axes are a fine Martin 0017, and a Variax 700.


The Martin (right) is a sweet sounding flattop made in the old world tradition. The Variax (left) is part guitar and part computer. It can model 25 different vintage guitars from Telecasters to Gibson Super 400's at the turn of a switch. Dena says "Since this guitar has all these cool guitars built in, you'll never need to buy another guitar.. Right?"

Don't worry Dena, you'll always be my main squeeze!

Here is a picture of my Main Squeeze and me at a recording session at Ocean Way Studio in Nashville Tennessee
Ocean Way Studio
I know what your thinking.

Did we actually record at one of the finest recording studios in Nashville Tenessee? The same studio where Alison Krauss, Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris, Yo-Yo Ma, and the music for O’ Brother Where Art Thou? was recorded?

Yup.