Unknown Hinson: The King of Country Western Troubadours
I just discovered this guy and am not sure what to make of him. I just know that he is one
heck of a great guitar player.
Unknown Hinson, whose real name is Stuart Daniel Baker, was a music teacher and studio musician from Charlotte, North Carolina. He created Unknown for a cable TV show that featured comedy sketches and concert footage.
He started touring and was "wowing audiences with his outrageous and campy, white-trash persona and freewheeling, sleazy tone. Hinson's most recent CD release, "Target Practice", melds weepy twang and searing guitar riffs and lyrics that speak of love-gone-bad and the dark side of the honky-tonk lifestyle. Raucous, theatrical and over-the-top, Unknown Hinson isn't just for the trailer park set anymore!" (Source: UnknownHinson.com)
I spent some time last night watching him on YouTube and found that his guitar tone is fantastic. He plays a Reverend with P-90 pickups through Vox amps. Twang tone for days here! Plus, the guy is funny as hell. Some of his fans include Billy Bob Thorton, Matt Groening (creator of the Simpsons), Tom Petty, and even the Rolling Stones.
A few links: Review in Illinois Entertainer; Wikipedia Entry, and an interesting interview at Steelbender.com
i would definently go see him in concert. I would love to have his guitar tone. That Reverend though the Vox is raunch rock and roll at its best. Check him out on YouTube!
Duane Allman's Guitars at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
We traveled to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a few years ago, as we made our way around the Great Lakes. We arrived there a few hours before closing on the 4th of July, so it was not crowded and we got a parking place right up front. (see my wife's website, theroadtraveler.com, if you want to read about this trip.)
I did not know what to expect, other than Duane Allman's famous 1959 flame top Les Paul was there. So naturally I was anxious to see it. But we took our time going through all the other items -- a Beatles exhibit with lots of notes and original lyrics, a Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster (that has been sold since, I have read), making that my third Hendrix Strat I have seen (Hard Rock Cafe in New York and Experience Music in Seattle). There was a wall of items from various American bands, including a Lowell George Stratocaster, Kurt Cobain guitar, and others that I can't remember. There was so much there that it is hard to remember everything!
I turned the corner and came to the 1970's exhibit and there it was--the famous tiger-striped 1959 Les Paul, a goldtop Les Paul from Dickey Betts, a Hammond organ from Gregg Allman and...surprise... Duane's 1962 Les Paul/SG.
That was the guitar he used for slide. I was not expecting that. The SG was given to Gerry Groom after Duane's death, per Duane's own request made way before his passing. After Gerry's death, the family sold it to Graham Nash's wife, who gave it to Graham as a birthday present. He in turn has loaned it to the Hall of Fame for people like me to see. I stood there for at least 10 minutes soaking all of this in.
After that, we made our way to the second floor. On the wall, I saw two Les Paul sunbursts. Low and behold, it was Duane's first 1958 sunburst -- the one he used on the Fillmore East album. Now the flametop 59 gets all the attention. There are tons of pictures of him with the flame top, and it was assumed that was the Fillmore guitar. No -- it was not. He did not own that guitar until mid-1971, after the Fillmore East recording. In front of me, on the wall under glass, was the Fillmore guitar. The Fillmore East album is the reason I ever started playing guitar. I was able to examine this guitar in detail, wishing I I could take it out and play it for a few minutes. However, these guitars will never be played much anymore.
Next Duane's burst was Gary Rossington's burst, although I do not know the year of it or if it was his main guitar he used all those years. It was great too see these two historic guitars side by side, and on the wall, where you could take a close look at them. No pictures are allowed so I have nothing to show.
Duane traded his 1957 Goldtop Les Paul in Florida for this guitar, allegedly exchanging the pickups from the 57 into the 58. Layla was recorded on the 57, but shortly thereafter, he got the burst. And here it was. I do recall that Duane's daughter owns these Les Paul's and has loaned them for exhibit.
The 57 Goldtop stayed in a private collection in Florida for years, and is currently up for sale. This guitar was the cover story on a recent issue of Vintage Guitar.
Duane's other guitars are: a 1960 Les Paul Jr., his first electric that ended up in Delaney Bramlett's hands. Duane wanted it back but Delaney wouldn't sell it. That guitar is owned by a Japanese businessman, who apparently is quite a good guitarist and uses the Jr. on stage.
Duane's 50's 1956 sunburst Stratocaster is at the London Hard Rock Café vault. Another Stratocaster is at the Hard Rock in Florida, if I recall. He played Stratocasters while a session player at Muscle Shoals. If you listen to Goin Down Slow off of the Duane Allman Anthology album, you will hear his Stratocaster tones. Tone is in the fingers and the trademark licks are there in full force. He is mostly associated with the Les Paul, and these session recordings prove that he played and sounded remarkably the same on any guitar.
On YouTube, someone has placed the Love Valley concert from July 1970. Duane is playing a 50's Les Paul Special on Whipping Post. He sounds very much the same as he does on the Les Paul. This guitar has P-90 pickups, vastly different from humbuckers. That is what my ears hear, anyways. You can judge for yourself.
His Tele with the Strat neck from the Hourglass days was stolen, and the whereabouts of his Gibson ES-335 is unknown. He played this guitar before the Hourglass, probably in the Allman Joys.
He is pictured at Muscle Shoals on a post-CBS sunburst Stratocaster with a rosewood neck and black plastic, but I have never read anything about that guitar.
He gave a 1961 Sunburst Stratocaster to Delaney Bramlett, which I recall is still owned by Delaney.
Where are his Marshall amps and cabinets? You never hear about those.
Eric Clapton: His Autobiography
I have just finished reading this very revealing book, written entirely by Eric. I have to say that he has every right to
play the blues.
Eric wrote this book himself, after rejecting the one written by another author. He goes into detail about his upbringing as an illegitimate child, raised by his mother for a few years, and then given over to his grandparents. He is raised thinking that they are his parents, and once he finds out, feels a sense of abandonment that is still with him today.
What is amazing to me is that he started playing guitar in his teens, and in a few years, was in the Yardbirds.
But he was unhappy with the pop sound that the Yardbirds were heading for, and left soon after "For Your Love" was released. He wanted to play pure blues, so he went over to John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, where he changed the sound of rock guitar by using a 1960 Les Paul Standard through a Marshall 100 watt combo amp. This is the sound that reverberated through the music world. The book tells about how he was bored with the photo session for the album, and was reading a Beano magazine to show his dissatisfaction with it.
Of course, the album, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, featuring Eric Clapton, is now known as the Beano album. It was about at this time that graffiti was put up around London, with the now-famous slogan, "Clapton is God."
This led him to create Cream, which had huge success in America, but was overshadowed by Jimi Hendrix in England.
Eric is forever unhappy with his music, and after hearing The Bands, Music from Big Pink, he decides to leave Cream to go after a more pure form of music. "The Band has said it all", he says in the book, and wants to get away from the long, repetitive solos of Cream.
Moving forward a bit, he meets Duane Allman, who rescues the Layla album, which was being hampered by the severe heroin use by everyone in the band. He does not go into detail about Duane much, and devotes only two pages to it.
My only criticism of this book is that he does not go into detail about many events, and starts with one, drops it and moves on to another.
Where Eric does shine is in his detailed description of his drug and alcohol addiction. He is very candid about the fact that he almost died a few times,and made many bad decisions while on drugs.
The book hits home a little in his telling of his times at Hazelden, a drug and alcohol rehab facility in Center City, Minnesota. I have been there as a job applicant and can attest to his description of it as a fortress in the middle of nowhere. However, after getting a tour, I was very impressed by the place and can see why it is known world-wide. I didn't get the job there. Too bad, they had a great fitness center for employees.
Eric's life story is an amazing read. He has seen so many of his friends die, loses his only son in an accident, and agonizes over his relationship with Pattie Boyd-Harrison, who inspired Layla and many other songs. He goes from woman to woman, finally meeting his current wife, with whom he has three children with. He seems to be in a good place now, after going through so much addiction and depression. His work for his drug rehab center is admirable, as are the Crossroads concerts and his auctioning off his beloved trademark guitars to raise money for it.
I participate in a few guitar forums, and Eric is continually criticized for not innovating, playing the same things over and over, and that his guitar tone sucks! It seems silly to do that, as he has paid his dues, all while changing the sound of rock guitar at a time when it was all new, influencing countless musicians in the process and has lived through hell to tell his story.
He admits he may not do another large tour, due to his health problems and family obligations. I wish him well on whatever he does.
It's Sounding Twangy Around Here
There is no better sound to a guitarist than that of a twangy Telecaster. I grew up with this tone, as country music was popular in small town Minnesota.
A quick history on my interest in twangy music: Duane Eddy personified the twang sound - Rebel Rouser, for one, with his many hits of the 1960's.
He did not use a Tele - he played a Chet Atkins-model Gretsch 6120. I listened to Duane in my early years,
and still have many of the original 45's, which have the added bonus of being disc jockey only promo discs.
Of course, country music had the Telecaster twang thing going on. Listen to Luther Perkins - who was with Johnny Cash. Folsom Prison Blues has the signature country twang lick in the first few bars. This was another record that my dad owned, and which I listened to frequently.
Then there is Don Rich, who played lead guitar with Buck Owens, until his untimely death in 1974. I watched Hee Haw - no apologies for watching it - there was not much on tv when you live in southern Minnesota in the middle of corn fields. It is not like there are many tv stations around. Don was great on that Telecaster. He used the Telecasters tones to create a twangy "chicken pickin'" that was one of the trademark tones of country music.
The master was Roy Buchanan, who even impressed my metal-head friends way back then. The master of the Telecaster, who could make it cry like a man in pain, or who could send that chill up your spine with just a smoothly place note, with a graceful touch of vibrato. He was called "the world's greatest unknown guitarist" in the early 1970's and was the subject of a PBS special. Click on the link - there is far too much to write about Roy than I have time for. Just know that he was the best and left a huge impact on guitar palyers around the world, who left us way too early in life. Even the Rolling Stones couldn't have him - he turned down an offer to replace Mick Taylor!
His admirers were Les Paul, James Burton, Lenny Breau, Vince Gill, Bill Kirchen, Albert Lee, Arlen Roth, Ricky Skaggs, Slash and Jimmy Vaughn.
Sadly, Danny committed suicide on October 4, 1994. It is said he suffered from depression his whole life.
I own his instructional DVD. He makes it look sooo easy!
I could go on and on about guitarists like those above, but it would take me years!