|
Post by honeyboy on Feb 26, 2010 13:05:48 GMT
Interesting new album released this week from Eric Bibb, featuring a song recorded on Booker White's old National Guitar, with a fascinating story behind it.... Booker (aka Bukka) White was well known for playing National steel guitars. His name, much to his chagrin, was misspelled in 1937 by Vocalion, his second record label, and the mispelling stuck with him for the rest of his life. The cousin of BB King (who gave BB his first guitar, a Stella) Booker was a consummate blues man and slide guitar player. Eric Bibb met a man named Keith while touring the UK who offered Eric a chance to play Booker’s guitar, affectionately named "Hard Rock" by Booker. (Keith and Booker became friends during the American Folk Blues Festivals that exposed the kings of the blues to Europe back in the 1960’s. After meeting and recording Booker on cassette and exchanging countless letters, Booker sent "Hard Rock" to Keith as a gift shortly before he passed away in 1977). Keith has protected and kept the fabled instrument, and even showed it to BB King who remembered it sitting in White’s place in Memphis many years go. Bibb fondly remembered the experience and later wrote the song "Booker’s Guitar" with the intent to record it while playing the guitar, which he has now done. Hear a preview of the 15 track CD herewww.youtube.com/watch#playnext=1&playnext_from=TL&videos=mjnMU4xYUNU&v=PQl6g-jrFYkEric Bibb plays 'Booker's Guitar' www.youtube.com/watch#v=bsMpHHSLSlcBooker White plays Booker's Guitar - Aberdeen Mississippi Blues
|
|
|
Post by Michael Messer on Feb 26, 2010 14:00:34 GMT
This is an interesting one because either the chronology or facts are not quite correct about this whole story. I don't mean Eric Bibb's connection, that is totally genuine and fan based. It is the story of how and when this guitar got to Keith Perry in Whitley Bay.
In 1979 I saw this guitar in Gruhn's Guitars, Nashville. It was for sale as Bukka White's National Duolian in its case with 'Bukka White Blues Singer, c/o Aberdeen Miss....etc' on the case, it had the trinkets on the headstock and some picks and tools in the case that included a 6 inch nail. It was without question THE Bukka White guitar that Eric Bibb has used. I have the Gruhn's catalog somewhere, the price was 700 Dollars, which at the time was way out of my league. Needless to say I did not buy the guitar. As far as I remember the guitar was being sold for the Bukka White estate.
A few years later, 94ish, I heard the guitar was for sale for I think 10k pounds and it was at that time I spoke to Keith. I heard that Gary Moore had bought it, but that was obviously just a rumour.
Looking at the photos and films of Eric with the guitar, it appears to have been restored as it all looks very clean and it has Phillips screws holding the coverplate on.
I heard from Mark Makin that Mark Knopfler & Steve Phillips visited Keith back in the Notting Hillbilly days 20 or so years ago. So the whereabouts of this guitar has been known to us for just over 30 years. It has been discussed on this forum before, but quite a while ago.
In fact in 2002 I wrote a song with Terry Clarke called 'Love' that is on the Second Mind album, it has a verse about Bukka's guitar hanging in a shop in Nashville with a big price tag on it. I am surprised nobody has ever picked up on that lyric and asked me about it.
All I have done here is lay out what I know about this guitar. I know what I saw in Gruhn's in 1979 and I have the catalog 'somewhere' to prove it.
Shine On Michael.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2010 14:29:43 GMT
Hi Honeyboy
Thanks for posting that. I love that youtube clip. Especially when he starts slappin that rhythm out.. One of my favourites Would love to see it in colour. Just to see what that crazy cardigan was really like. That guitar of eric's sho is shiny tho'
|
|
|
Post by honeyboy on Feb 26, 2010 15:14:44 GMT
Michael, This graphically shows the unreliability of music PR's. Information seems to have come from a PR source at 'Telarc', Eric Bibb's record company. In the pack they sent to independent record shops, they also described the guitar as 'Booker White's Tricone' There are a number of reviews on Eric Bibb's website - they mostly all repeat verbatim the words of the PR If the guitar could talk, it surely would have a tale to tell... Here's Eric Bibb's account, more than slightly 'puffed' by Telarc PR "The story is as legendary as Robert Johnson at the crossroads, as old as the blues itself. A traveling musician has a chance encounter in the most unlikely of places with something mystical and powerful, and everything changes. Suddenly, everything is up for grabs, and the music - already rich and historically resonant - takes a whole new direction. So it was for itinerant troubadour Eric Bibb one night in a London hotel after a gig just a few years ago, when he was approached by a fan carrying a guitar case. Inside the case was a relic from the past that made the hair on the back of Bibb's neck stand on end: a 1930s vintage Resophonic National steel-body guitar that had belonged to Delta blues legend Booker White. In a moment that could only be described as intoxicating, Bibb found himself holding Booker's guitar, and catching a brief but revealing glimpse of all the stories locked within it. The encounter inspired a song, and the song became an entire album - one that captures the spirit of the original Delta blues of the early 20th century and reinterprets it for a new era. Booker's Guitar is set for US release on January 26, 2010, on Telarc International, a division of Concord Music Group. "Holding the guitar that Booker White had played for so many years," Bibb recalls, "seeing his actual handwriting on a set list that had been taped to the side of the guitar - it all made me feel like the time was finally upon me to make a statement about my relationship with the Delta blues tradition. It was like a rite of passage, an initiation. I felt like this guitar finding its way to me was a signal that I had journeyed far enough to be able to make an honest tribute to the music of my heroes." Born in rural Mississippi in 1909, Booker White - an older cousin to B.B. King - was a Delta blues singer and slide guitarist who made the bulk of his recordings between 1930 and 1940. He was imprisoned in Memphis in 1937 for allegedly shooting a man, but he jumped bail and made it all the way to Chicago before being captured and sent to Parchman Farm, a notorious Mississippi prison. He was released two years later, but after recording a few more songs, his music career faltered. He disappeared into obscurity for the next two decades, but was rediscovered during the folk-blues revival of the early ‘60s. "Booker White was someone who I was aware of and listened to while I was growing up," says Bibb, who was a teenager when White resurfaced. "I followed his career from his earliest recordings to the time when he was rediscovered during the folk movement of the ‘60s and started touring not only in the States, but also in Europe - which is how my friend, Keith, met him and eventually came into possession of his guitar." The encounter inspired the album's half-spoken, half-sung title track, which Bibb recorded in England using White's guitar. The remaining tracks, although recorded in rural Ohio on Bibb's own guitars, sprang from the same well of inspiration. "Once I had written that song, I really wanted to make a complete statement and document my connection to the Delta blues tradition," says Bibb. "I really wanted to put myself in the position of my heroes, but in a contemporary context, and create songs that I feel could have been part of their repertoire and could have come from their own experience." That journey is one that crosses generations as much distances on any map. In the end, Booker's Guitar - mystical and powerful - is the instrument that connects Eric Bibb to another era, and at the same time connects the blues of another era to the human experience of the modern day. "Writing a country blues song that draws on the traditions but is not rehashing old material from another era - writing something that's both connected to that tradition but is contemporary as well - is hugely challenging," says Bibb. "It's tricky, but I was so happy that I was able to do it for a whole album, and really feel like I could stay focused on that whole sound and that whole culture. It was an achievement that I had been wanting to pull off, but hadn't been able to do until now."
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2010 15:55:52 GMT
Hi
Just went a bit off topic and followed my nose to Gruhns guitar website
$175,000 for Buddy Holly's Magnatone amp anyone, might go well with the $28.000 guitar!
|
|
|
Post by lewiscohen on Feb 26, 2010 16:39:11 GMT
So when was "Hard Rock" plated, then? Did BW have it done?
|
|
|
Post by pete1951 on Feb 26, 2010 17:25:47 GMT
In `Guitarist' a few years ago Derek Trucks said he had Bookers guitar. I remember a picture of a 12fret with flat cut F holes. Maybe Booker had more than one guitar!!!!!! `If you know how many guitars you have ........you don`t have enough.' R.Mctell.
|
|
|
Post by honeyboy on Feb 26, 2010 17:44:40 GMT
Here's a link to Michael's original post Michael's Booker White Post from 2008Looks like there was likely more than one guitar (which wouldn't be a surprise) What was surprising, (to me) was finding out that Eric Bibb's godfather was Paul Robeson - now that IS cool... Booker White lyric mentioned by Michael from the track 'Love' on from the great 'Second Mind' album is Bukka White's guitar in a window Hummin' with the beat from the Orchid lounge Price tag just three figures You could probably beat him down.. I've got beaten down love from 'Love' by Michael Messer from the album 'Second Mind' - Now, go and listen to it again - you know that you want to!
|
|
|
Post by Michael Messer on Feb 27, 2010 11:03:32 GMT
I thought this would happen - it has raised many questions and comments!
Here are the replies to the various comments in no particular order: -----------------------------------------------
The guitar was plated while it was owned by Bukka White.
I am sure Bukka White owned more than one guitar, but the one I saw in Gruhn's in Nashville was the same guitar as Eric Bibb has been photographed with. (one annoying thing is that back in 79 when I saw the guitar I did not take note of its serial number.
I too have heard the Derek Trucks story. Firstly, Derek may have one of Bukka White's guitars. Secondly, I have heard quite a few stories over the years about people thinking they own a celebrity National guitar that once belonged to a well known musician. Stevie Ray Vaughan springs to mind; he was convinced that his National was originally owned by Blind Boy Fuller. (that is how my brother's photo, the 'In Step' album cover came about). Unless Stevie had other proof, nobody has ever seen a photo or evidence that Stevie's guitar was Fuller's.
Paul Robeson was Eric Bibb's Godfather and his father was folk singer & actor, Leon Bibb.
I have not heard it referred to as 'Hard Rock' before.
Shine On Michael.
|
|
|
Post by thebluesbear( al) on Feb 27, 2010 12:07:27 GMT
Hi
just wanted to say that i have been following this thread with huge interest ,,,regarding the serial number of the guitar eric bibb is playing if it was of a interest it shouldnt be hard to find that out the more than one guitar of booker white well that itself sounds like a interesting mystery,perhaps we as a forum can try and shed some light on the matter
al
|
|
|
Post by Michael Messer on Feb 27, 2010 14:42:56 GMT
I can get the serial number easily from Keith Perry. That is not a problem.
I am more interested to know the story of the guitar I saw in Gruhn's, which I still believe is the same one. I have written to George Gruhn who will hopefully clear up some of the mystery. I just hope he remembers the instrument and kept some photos & documentation.
I can think of four guitars Bukka White was seen with in photos & films; THE Duolian, a Style O, an Exploding Palm Tree Tricone, and a Gibson acoustic (can't remember the model). I don't recall any others, but....
Meanwhile I will dig out the 1979 Gruhn's catalogue.
Shine On Michael.
|
|
|
Post by blueshome on Feb 27, 2010 16:04:00 GMT
Shame Erib Bibb's not playing blues on it if the sample posted is anything to go by it's his usual "folk-blues" lite. Waste of a good guitar.
|
|
|
Post by lewiscohen on Feb 27, 2010 16:12:20 GMT
I know, it's all a bit Des'ree, isn't it.....
What I'd like to hear is Alvin Youngblood Hart playing that guitar. That would be something.
|
|
|
Post by growler on Feb 27, 2010 16:36:18 GMT
What I find interesting about this thread is the incredibly bad illustration?......... who is it meant to be , the shape of the guitar needs a good look at , especially the angle of the nut and the frets........ might be due to all that banging Booker did
Sorry to go off track a bit , but being an illustrator I look at things like this
Growler
|
|
|
Post by lewiscohen on Feb 27, 2010 16:41:09 GMT
What I find interesting about this thread is the incredibly bad illustration?......... who is it meant to be , the shape of the guitar needs a good look at , especially the angle of the nut and the frets........ might be due to all that banging Booker did Sorry to go off track a bit , but being an illustrator I look at things like this Growler According to Eric Bibb's website, that is a limited edition print of him created to mark the recording of "Booker's Guitar" with .....er......Booker's guitar.
|
|