Where I got my first serious guitar. I bought from Joe a 1963 Martin dreadnought D-27 made of original Brazilian rosewood! Decades later, I traded it straight up with one of his sons at the St. Albans shop for a Taylor dreadnought with a sound system built in — I needed a performance guitar and was tired of playing the Martin to a microphone. Joe's son threw in a set of D'Addarios!
Where I got my first serious guitar. I bought from Joe a 1963 Martin dreadnought D-27 made of original Brazilian rosewood! Decades later, I traded it straight up with one of his sons at the St. Albans shop for a Taylor dreadnought with a sound system built in — I needed a performance guitar and was tired of playing the Martin to a microphone. Joe's son threw in a set of D'Addarios!
I love how Fret ’n Fiddle figured so often on our lives. For instance, Joe had a story in A Country Fiddler, about how he (and all of us) met those great Australian folkies Rod and Judy Jones. Joe wrote, "I returned to the store after eating lunch.. As I walked in, there was a couple playing and singing. The man looked to be in his thirties, wearing a yellow ball cap with 'CAT' written in black on the front and playing a guitar. The woman looked to be in her late twenties and was playing an old fiddle tune on the banjo. I stood there and listened. They played quite well. As they finished, Dennis said, 'Where do you think these musicians are from?' 'By the style they play, I would guess North Carolina,' I replied. But I was wrong. They were from Sydney, Australia. This was the first time I met Rod and Judy Jones. They were fans of Molly O'Day. Judy explained that it was their first visit to the U.S. and they had driven to Huntington especially to see her. Molly told them to visit the Dobbs brothers at the Fret 'n Fiddle before they left town. We had repaired several instruments for Molly and her husband, Lynn Davis. This was the beginning of a great friendship with the Joneses that resulted in two visits to Australia some twenty years later." Rod and Judy have returned to the U.S. many times since then, making friends among musicians all up and down the East Coast. And they’ve been regulars at Bowen House jams too. In fact, we devoted one of our “Pajama Jam” videos to the Joneses a few years ago:
Where I got my first serious guitar. I bought from Joe a 1963 Martin dreadnought D-27 made of original Brazilian rosewood! Decades later, I traded it straight up with one of his sons at the St. Albans shop for a Taylor dreadnought with a sound system built in — I needed a performance guitar and was tired of playing the Martin to a microphone. Joe's son threw in a set of D'Addarios!
Where I got my first serious guitar. I bought from Joe a 1963 Martin dreadnought D-27 made of original Brazilian rosewood! Decades later, I traded it straight up with one of his sons at the St. Albans shop for a Taylor dreadnought with a sound system built in — I needed a performance guitar and was tired of playing the Martin to a microphone. Joe's son threw in a set of D'Addarios!
Thanks, Douglas. What a wonderful story!
I love how Fret ’n Fiddle figured so often on our lives. For instance, Joe had a story in A Country Fiddler, about how he (and all of us) met those great Australian folkies Rod and Judy Jones. Joe wrote, "I returned to the store after eating lunch.. As I walked in, there was a couple playing and singing. The man looked to be in his thirties, wearing a yellow ball cap with 'CAT' written in black on the front and playing a guitar. The woman looked to be in her late twenties and was playing an old fiddle tune on the banjo. I stood there and listened. They played quite well. As they finished, Dennis said, 'Where do you think these musicians are from?' 'By the style they play, I would guess North Carolina,' I replied. But I was wrong. They were from Sydney, Australia. This was the first time I met Rod and Judy Jones. They were fans of Molly O'Day. Judy explained that it was their first visit to the U.S. and they had driven to Huntington especially to see her. Molly told them to visit the Dobbs brothers at the Fret 'n Fiddle before they left town. We had repaired several instruments for Molly and her husband, Lynn Davis. This was the beginning of a great friendship with the Joneses that resulted in two visits to Australia some twenty years later." Rod and Judy have returned to the U.S. many times since then, making friends among musicians all up and down the East Coast. And they’ve been regulars at Bowen House jams too. In fact, we devoted one of our “Pajama Jam” videos to the Joneses a few years ago:
https://youtu.be/BPbeag_xd5g