Preserve the Voice...

Cathy used to now and then catch me off guard with the question, "and how many guitars do you have?" I'm sure she means to include in that count anything which has one to eight strings though some may question the merits of a turtle string with an axe handle affixed as a guitar. Of course when asking this question she does make it known that she has one guitar which certainly serves her well but over the years I think she has softened a bit as I have proven that for my creative purposes all those stringed instruments do something different and it's something I usually make good use of eventually. I guess I should count myself fortunate that there have been no challenges to the two tubas, the baritone, the tenor horn or the trombone. Most of those I don't play as well as I do the turtle shell with the axe handle affixed but I did mention good use, eventually. 

Some instruments I have bought because it's what I wanted, some like a stray cat have found me, some were rescued from junk no one wanted and of course there are ones I have made. Whatever the case I do like to get the instrument's voice on video or audio for the record so to speak even if it's a weird thing buried in a thick sonic mix that some nerd will use an AI program to isolate long after I'm gone just like they did to find out what television show John Lennon was watching while he wrote songs and recorded them on cassette while sitting at his kitchen table.

Most people know my cigar box guitars and other primitive instruments I've made and I'm sure a few readers own one. I could never sell this Elvis Christmas Tin guitar. I thought Elvis, people love him but like the two tubas, the baritone, the tenor horn and the trombone I have often misjudged what's going to be the next big thing in the music business. The Elvis Tin never sold. It was more kind of an art piece because the long box of the body kind of threw the scale off so it did not play as well as most of my inventions. 

Luckily in Nacogdoches there is a place, an old church turned into a listening room where local artists have their art hanging and fortunately for me they love Elvis and I donated the guitar to the residents and owners of The Love Oak Listening Room, Jerry and Patty. Jerry strikes a mean pose and the guitar fits the décor.   

Of course I recorded it to preserve the voice. Maybe a little more Arthur Big Boy Crudup than Elvis but as they say, that's alright. 

Oh yeah, never trust a man with out a guitar, a trombone, a turtle shell or two tubas in his house. Let the voice be heard.