Microtone
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MERLE TRAVIS and me
คราวนี้ผมขอฟุตฟิตฟอไฟเป็นภาษาอังกฤษหน่อย ก็คงจะย่นเวลาการเขียนได้แยะเพราะเรื่องนี้คงเป็นเรื่องยาว...ถ้าอยากจะอ่านก็ต้องถูไถเอาหน่อยน๊ะ!
I've been out of the music scene and lost interest in guitar collecting and guitar playing for a long time now, I know this because there are piles of guitar magazines that I subscribe to that are still in the original shrink wrap and unopened. My wife often asks me to at least take a look at it and I always answer her "it's the same crap, nothing new". But I still love guitars and get excited when I happen to see interesting/exotic guitars. I'm still interested in buying guitar books only if they have a lot of pictures because I don't like to read them I just like the pictures.
Speaking of that, there's an interesting coffee table type book that came out last year "THE STORY OF PAUL BIGSBY...Father of Modern Electric Solid Body" (195 pages, 26cm x 33cm, hard cover) by Andy Barbiuk, I had to buy it. Why? It has tons of pictures, stories, facts, research, etc. I don't think I have good taste in everything but when I see something good I recognize it right away. If you play guitars, especially Stratocaster or Les Paul, you've got to know the origin of them. This book is the real deal. For those of you who are hard core guitar collectors I recommend you buy this sucker before it goes out of print! I bought it from Amazon.com for a good price...it may be expensive in Thailand that I don't know, but, however, for a group who are interested in guitars and can't afford it could put their money together, buy it, and pass it around. The reason I bought it was because it has a lot of pictures and stories of Merle Travis, Hank Garland, etc. I've had it for about 3 months and never really read it...just enjoyed the wonderful pictures.
This book I really recommend but, I'm here to talk of Merle Travis, not to BRAG, but to PAY RESPECT to the great American guitarist/artist/composer/cartoonist/legend and a person who I had the privilege to witness as one of the most down to earth persons. I met Merle Travis in 1976-77 around there, though I heard of him before, I never had a chance to study his work. While living in Thailand I was surrounded with nothing but full blast rock and roll and that's why I didn't see the real truth of some other type of music art. In the USA I was playing with a Band, most of whom were older than me, they were all American, in fact, I always played with the farang musician the whole time I lived abroad. This Band played dance music of the 50's & 60's, a lot of Country as well as some Disco. We played mostly small clubs but, a packed house every night! Sometimes 6-7 days a week for 5-6 years. Believe this or not we never rehearsed! That's when and where I had to adapt myself to a different lifestyle and language...you have to do it or die! I learned a lot about the core of Western civilization but that we'll discuss later. I'll have to be careful of what I say because it's the truth and it might get me into trouble. Keep in mind that I'm not a pro Western type of guy...I love Thai, I am Thai, and I'll always be Thai no matter what! However, during this period I was playing a Les Paul Deluxe (you know the one with small humbucking pickups) and was about to switch to a Telecaster permanently because I felt like a sissy (หน้าตัวเมีย) when I encountered young farangs who came to jam with us and tear the place down with a thin sounding Telecaster on Country songs and not with a Les Paul guitar and Led Zeppelin songs. I hated Telecasters because of its trebly sound but those guys could make something great out of it and then I started to see the light! Thinking, WOW, they played with SOLIDITY, BALLS, and PRINCIPLES the attitude I lacked in my own playing. Maybe because I was raised in a different environment I will have to try to talk, think, eat, and breathe like them in order to achieve their guts or go back to Thailand.
Back to the real reason I 'm here. One day the club owner said we were going to have Merle Travis perform for 2 shows and he needed only a drummer and bass player to back him up in some songs since most of the songs he would perform by himself. I knew nothing about his tunes/songs and the Band never rehearsed in advance with him either.... just go for broke. Then there he was, along with his wife who accompanied him, equipped with a yellow suit adorned with rhinestones, his Gibson Super 400, and his big smile. My first impression was "I smell Hollywood" because he doesn't look like a typical Hee Haw country star, but rather a Hollywood Cowboy. To top this, even though he hardly talked he had a glow about him...believe me!! He introduced himself to me first "I'm Merle" and offered me a handshake then I thought "What a guy"! He tested my amp with his Gibson Super 400 and only mentioned that my amp sounded a little distorted not as clean as he wanted but it was ok no big deal. The truth is I had smoked the output transformer on my Twin Reverb with 2 JBL's a week ago and it was still in the repair shop so the shop had loaned me a 2-12" Fender Pro Reverb amp with half the power of my Twin Reverb and that's why it was distorted plus Merle used very heavy gauge strings for the bass notes. I played as his rhythm guitar player with a full band only 2-3 songs and the rest of the show he performed by himself. His wife sang with him on a few songs like "You Don't Know Me". When he started to play and sing at the same time I was thinking I know those Zeppelin, Stones, Beatles, Shadows, Ventures and all that but where was I to not know this real art. He played about 6-8 songs and then the Band joined him.The whole time I was in Cloud 9 thinking I am playing with a Legend and what amazed me the most was that he was old, drunk, played and sang at the same time, and yet never missed a note on his famous Travis picking. He finished his first show. We, the Band, came on stage and played another hour while he rested to prepare to do the second show. I remember this, I was nervously trying to improvise the extension of the song "Watermelon Man" with my Les Paul and Clyde McCoy Vox Wah Wah, all of a sudden Merle came from behind the stage and stood near the right side of me and called me by name "Woody". I was surprised he remembered my name since we just shook hands earlier and that he was drunk but still called me by my name. With drink in hand and a smiling face he came and tapped my shoulder and said "You beat me Woody". I was so mad and embarrassed, wanted to disappear and leave town, instead I burst out saying "Fuck You" with an apologetic smile on my face. Merle laughed but stood there and watched me finish the whole song. I will never forget that moment. Perhaps he never saw an Oriental guy playing guitar with a farang band or something like that...don't know for sure. After he finished the second show I had an opportunity to touch his Gibson Super 400 guitar, the one with P90 pickups, I have a picture somewhere but I can't find it at the moment. What I remember most is the extra long, metal tremolo bar with some kind of engraving on it, very beautiful! I sat next to him the whole time he signed autographs and sold his albums like a son who worshiped his Dad. I had a feeling he'd rather talk to me than sign autographs. After he finished his business he said "Woody, I want to give you something" then he went out to his car and came back with an album which was different from the one he was selling in the club, I assumed this one was a more guitar showcased oriented album than the usual vocal/playing for commercial. Anyway, he then autographed it for me and thanked me for playing with him. I was thrilled and sensed that he really liked me. I also noticed by the way he signed the autograph he must be some kind of graphic artist besides a musician, and I was correct because later on I found out he was a cartoonist. After that, we went to the bar to drink and chat some more. I can't remember all of the details of our conversation since I was drunk and in Cloud 9 thinking I'd rather sit here with him than with Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck or whoever anyday. But, I remember he said this " I DESIGNED FENDER GUITARS". He didn't go into the details and I didn't ask, thought he was kidding, only later the truth was revealed in many magazine articles. Hope the truth is written in this book although I haven't read it yet !!!
I have also played guitar backup for other old Legends, who came to town, for example Tex Williams, Hank Thompson, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Bo Diddly, yet the only one I consider my hero and my friend even the short time I knew him is Merle Travis. What a gentlemen...what a pioneer...what a human being...what an artist! He will always be forever in my heart...I love you, Merle Travis, the architect of Travis picking.
I still have the album with his signature as a witness of our friendship along with a recording of the performance which I plan to give to his son just to say that I loved his dad as if he were my own too.
There is one more great Legend that I played with and I consider another one of the great human beings as far as my personal experience went and that was "Dorsey Burnett", of the Burnett Brothers, a legendary rockabilly band. I might write about him in the future. Again, I have a tape recording of that performance from 1976-78 not sure. I will donate the tape to his sons whenever I have chance to meet them.
That's all for now and I hope you learned something from the experience and struggles of this freelance Thai musician abroad.
Also check these for>>>>>>
Hank Garland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJEA78dusCI
Dorsey Burnett: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wklt2GW6Xhc
![[Image: ngsarah03.jpg]](http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/154/ngsarah03.jpg)
(This post was last modified: 11-07-2009, 08:03 by Microtone.)
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