Tuesday, Oct 6th, 2020: Eddie Van Halen dies at 65
legendary guitar virtuoso Eddie Van Halen, one of the all-time great players in rock history, died today after a long battle with cancer. He was 65.
It's hard to quantify Eddie Van Halen's massive influence on the electric guitar and hard rock in general, and it's fair to say that the entire guitar world is in mourning.
R.I.P Eddie Van Halen (1955-2020)
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This tribute on Youtube from Rick Beato.
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Gibson release the “Slim Harpo Lovell ES-330”
NASHVILLE, TN (March 30, 2021) For 127 years, Gibson has shaped sound across generations and genres and has emerged as the most relevant, played, and loved guitar brand around the world. Gibson is proud to release the legendary American Bluesman’ s signature ES-330 electric guitar, the Lovell. The Slim Harpo “Lovell” ES-330 guitar is handmade by the expert luthiers and artisans of Gibson USA in Nashville, TN and is available worldwide at: www.gibson.com.
An homage to blues musician James "Slim Harpo" Moore, Gibson USA has recreated Harpo’s guitar of choice, the Gibson ES-330 in the form of the Slim Harpo "Lovell" ES-330 in Vintage Sunset Burst. The Slim Harpo "Lovell" ES-330 features a three-ply Maple/Poplar/Maple top, back and sides with Spruce bracing, a Mahogany neck with a rounded C profile, Rosewood fretboard with small block inlays, ABR-1 bridge with Trapeze tailpiece, Vintage Deluxe tuners with white buttons, Dog ear P-90 pickups with hand-wired controls, and Orange Drop capacitors. The guitar has a custom “Lovell” logo on the back of the headstock to honor Slim Harpo’s wife, life partner, manager, and the co-writer of some of his biggest hits, Lovell Moore.
The story of Slim Harpo and his music is among the most fascinating in all of blues and R&B. With his fusion of blues, rock & roll rhythms, soul, swing and even country vocal inflections, Slim was a prominent torch bearer of a subgenre known as Louisiana swamp blues. His brush with chart topping pop fame was brief as was his life, but his imprint on music is undeniable. Today, 51 years since his passing, Slim is an unsung hero of the blues - that is, outside of the generations of iconic artists he influenced.
Born in 1924 among the sugar cane fields of Belmont Plantation across the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Slim Harpo, aka James Isaac Moore was among the last of the original down-home bluesmen, but also one of the first to register hits on the pop charts.
Slim made an impressive debut with his recordings of I’m a King Bee.” In 1957. Turning professional-against his wife and music manager, Lovell’s advice – Slim found it tough to survive. Lovell booked his gigs, co-wrote his songs (although she was mostly uncredited), and traveled with him to shows out of state.
Generations of musicians have been influenced by and recorded Slim Harpo’s songs including the Kinks, Van Morrison, Otis Redding, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Hank Williams Jr., the Grateful Dead, the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Among the first were the Rolling Stones, as Mick Jagger famously said, “What’s the point in listening to us… when you could be listening to Slim Harpo?”
In 1961, Harpo made a crossover entry into the R&B and Popular Music charts when “Rainin’ In My Heart” became one of those barely-categorizable, but unforgettable hits and got him onto American Bandstand in 1961.
Soon his blues songs on Excello Records of Nashville, TN--recorded in Crowley, Louisiana with producer J. D. Miller--were covered by the Rolling Stones and Van Morrison, among others.
Slim had an ambition that belied his laid-back manner. In 1966, when Slim hit #1 on the Billboard's R&B chart and No. 16 on the Hot 100 singles chart with the soulful rhythmic song “Baby, Scratch My Back”, he decided that elegant guitar grooves were the way to keep his music fresh. Slim bought a Gibson ES-330 and practiced day and night. In 1967, Slim renewed his contract with Excello and started working with session bands in Memphis and Nashville, TN and Muscle Shoals, AL. A string of popular hits followed including such guitar-led hits as “Tip On In” and “Te-Ni-Nee-Ni-Nu,” and other memorable blues tracks including “Mailbox Blues,” “Dynamite,” “Jody Man,” and “The Music’s Hot.”
Slim Harpo took his music coast to coast playing venues like the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles and the Fillmore East in New York. Slim toured with James Brown and appeared on bills with rock bands- always pictured with his Gibson guitar. He was preparing for a spring 1970 tour to Europe when he died that January, at just 46 years old.
Harpo lived, worked, and performed most of his life in Louisiana--and kept his day job hauling sugar cane and scrap iron—that never diminished his stature among his more famous rock peers in New York and Los Angeles. An unassuming and calm man, he nevertheless developed a polished and assured stage appearance. When he died, he left behind one of the most consistently good and coherent bodies of blues recordings. Harpo’s music was pure blues in essence, but also borrowed from and wandered into soul and country styles without losing face. Easy to listen to, easy to love, but real, Slim’s music possesses an underlying intensity that continues to make it appealing to generations of performers.
The list of artists influenced by Slim Harpo and his growly, soulful riffs and hooks is a veritable who’s who of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. And even though he left us way too soon, Slim Harpo left his mark on one of America’s true original art forms. The King Bee’s legacy is alive and well influencing legions of players, whether they realize it, or not.
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One of Eddie Van Halen's Guitars is Being Auctioned Online by Former Fiancée.
Auction is Thursday, March 25, at 8 a.m. PDT until March 31 at Midnight PDT.
Joey House Quotes:
"Eddie Van Halen and I, Joey House, had an amazing deep incredible whirlwind relationship."
"He created these House of Petals guitars out of the love and passion we had. We would sit in the garden of House of Petals, play music, laugh and talk late into the night. I will continue to cherish these unforgettable memories forever."
"Eddie's beautiful wicked sense of humor and his passion and creativity are unmatched by anyone else I've ever met. He will always be a beautiful amazing man, musician, father, and creative genius in so many areas of life."
"We had so many fun wild adventures together. Eddie and I used to go into his 5150 studio at his house, and create music and songs late into the night and morning. It was so fun, inspiring, and creative. We would stay up late, creating beauty and magic. We didn't even care about sleeping!"
"Eddie would ask me to come over and watch him create and build guitars. It was so fascinating to watch him build and sculpt guitars from scratch. It was one of his fun creative outlets."
"Eddie's passion for music and creativity was part of his life force. He used to tell me all the time that he would let go and just channel, letting the information and inspiration come through him to create his music and magic. It was so beautiful to witness."
"These guitars are such a beautiful representation of his creativity, love, joy and passion. He will always be cherished and missed. He was such a magical human being and profound artist and musician, continuing to be alive in all of our hearts forever, cherished and missed incredibly for all of our lifetime."
Info: Visit www.eddievanhalenguitars.com or email info@eddievanhalenguitars.com.
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Thursday; 3/25: Special Limited-Edition Tom Petty SJ-200 Wildflower Acoustic Available Worldwide on Gibson.com
For 127 years, Gibson has shaped sound across generations and genres and has emerged as the most relevant, played, and loved guitar brand around the world. Gibson is proud to announce it has teamed with the family of world-renowned music icon Tom Petty to create his beloved SJ-200 Wildflower acoustic guitar. Decades in the making, the Tom Petty SJ-200 Wildflower acoustic guitar is handmade by the expert luthiers and artisans of Gibson Acoustic Custom Shop in Bozeman, Montana and is available worldwide at: www.gibson.com.
Preferred by famous musicians for decades, Gibson acoustic guitars are known on stages the world over, and in the hands of the most celebrated musicians across the globe. Gibson acoustics are cemented in the zeitgeist as the quintessential American acoustic guitar. The SJ, or Super Jumbo body shape, was first designed in 1937 and is engineered for volume even with a natural touch. The Tom Petty SJ-200 Wildflower is inspired by the guitar Gibson made for Tom around 1996 while he was entering a prolific period of songwriting, recording, and performing around the release of his Wildflowers album.
“It is so incredible to see the SJ-200 design our Dad worked on so long ago, lovingly brought to fruition with his long-time guitar tech and friend Alan Weidel and the craftsmen and women at Gibson guitars.
There has been much effort made to make certain this guitar lives up to Tom’s musical standards and the specs he wanted for a best-in-class instrument. Alan Weidel has put this instrument through its paces as he has with all Tom Petty signature guitar models.
Tom played the SJ-200 while writing and recording Wildflowers and to us it is an honor and a privilege to have Gibson launch this instrument to celebrate his musical masterpiece. That way others can make what my Dad called “the big jangle” a reference to that gorgeous, big, SJ-200 acoustic sound he loved.
We hope fans and members of the music community alike enjoy this beautiful instrument as much as we do. It is a beautiful tribute to him.”
-- Adria Petty
Above: the Tom Petty SJ-200 Wildflower in Antique Natural.
Tom Petty SJ-200 Wildflower photos, credit Gibson: Here.
Tom Petty SJ-200 Wildflower, spec sheets: Here.
Rare and collectible, this first run of the Tom Petty SJ-200 Wildflower acoustic guitar features the detailed SJ-200 ornamentation and beauty expected from Gibson acoustics, it is equipped with a AAA Sitka spruce top, a stunning and highly figured quilted maple back and sides and the neck is flamed maple. With gold Grover Imperial Tuners, as well as an LR Baggs VTC under-saddle pick up with soundhole-mounted volume and tone controls, this SJ-200 is stage-ready, right out of its custom Wildflower case. Personalized artist touches include the Wildflower logo in Mother-of-Pearl on the headstock, the “You Belong Among the Wildflowers” lyric decal on the back of the headstock and Tom Petty’s signature engraved on the double pickguard make this a very special guitar. An acoustic masterpiece, only 100 of these SJ-200 Wildflower guitars will be available.
Both solo, and with his band The Heartbreakers, Tom Petty created some of the most beloved and enduring music of our time. Released late 2020, Tom Petty’s final project, the long-awaited Wildflowers & All The Rest, featured all 25 songs from the Wildflowers sessions as they were originally envisioned by Tom. Produced by Tom, Rick Rubin, and Mike Campbell, the Wildflowers & All The Rest collection is a complete look at one of rock music’s most unique and beloved albums allowing fans to see the entire recording process from demos, to the studio, to the stage, and more. Wildflowers & All The Rest can be streamed/purchased Here.
Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions) will be released on April 16 via Warner Records. The album features 16 studio recordings of alternate takes, long cuts, and jam versions of Wildflowers songs as Tom, band members and co-producer Rick Rubin worked to finalize the album in 1994. The release offers fans further deep access into the writing and recording of Wildflowers, as well as realizing the full vision of the project as Tom had always intended. The tracks on Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions) were previously released on the limited-edition Super Deluxe 9-LP version of Wildflowers & All The Rest and will now be available on limited edition gold vinyl for TomPetty.com and indie retail, CDs and on all digital streaming platforms for the first time. For more information on Finding Wildflowers, visit: https://tompetty.lnk.to/findingwildflowers.
The new documentary “Tom Petty: Somewhere You Feel Free,” explores the same time period of Petty’s life; creating and touring around the Wildflowers album. Shot by Petty’s filmographer Martyn Atkins and directed by Mary Wharton, “Somewhere You Feel Free” is crafted around a treasure trove of discovered 16mm footage, as well as new interviews with Adria Petty, producer Rick Rubin and Petty’s Heartbreakers bandmates Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, and Steve Ferrone. For more information on the film “Tom Petty: Somewhere You Feel Free,” which premiered at SXSW last week, visit: www.tompetty.com/film.
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PRS announces Limited Edition SE parlor acoustic in Antique White.
PRS Guitars just announced a Limited Edition SE parlor acoustic in Antique White. This Limited Edition maintains all the original appointments of the PRS SE P20E with the addition of an Antique White solid-mahogany top paired with natural mahogany back and sides. The Antique White PRS SE P20E is limited to 3,500 pieces worldwide.
PRS Guitars has long been known for its solid-body electric instruments, but PRS proudly announced its first-ever Parlor acoustic guitars in May 2020. The PRS P20 and P20E are parlor-sized acoustics with big presence. Featuring PRS hybrid “X”/Classical bracing, which allows the top to freely vibrate, the SE parlors project with bold, even tone. These guitars boast all-mahogany construction, and have an organic, warm voice. Their smaller size makes playing for hours effortless and comfortable.
“The SE parlor acoustics have been received very well by players at all levels, and from their inception, we thought this would be a good platform to have a bit of fun with color,” said Jack Higginbotham, PRS COO. “From Davy Knowles to PRS Pulse Artist Sophia Gripari to thousands of players at home, these guitars offer a new and unique tool for writing, home-recording, and getting lost in playing for hours without ending up with a sore strumming shoulder.”
High-quality features include a solid mahogany top, ebony fretboard and bridge, bone nut and saddle, as well as PRS trademark bird inlays and headstock design. PRS SE Parlor acoustics come with a high-quality gig bag and are strung with 12-53 strings.
The Limited Edition PRS SE P20E Antique White also comes standard with a Fishman GT1 pickups system. Plug in, and this system delivers dynamic, organic tone. Whether writing, recording, or performing, the SE P20E is sure to impress. Parlor-sized acoustics can be miscategorized because of their size, but this electronics system features an undersaddle pickup and soundhole mounted preamp with easy-to-access volume and tone controls, which transforms what some may consider a “couch-only guitar” into a workhorse stage instrument.
