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#16
05-14-2020, 03:58 PM
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Quote:
The great mandolinist Jethro was living in the Chicago area when I lived there, and my roommate and musical partner took mandolin lessons from him. (Now, of course, I wish I had, too. But mandolin wasn't a primary focus for me back then.) Anyway, I met and spoke with Jethro a few times; he was a nice man, and a masterful musician. When I knew him he was playing a Gibson twin horned mandolin, but I think his had an oval soundhole rather than ƒ holes. Yep, here's a picture of Jethro with the mandolin I'm thinking of:  Jethro Burns (right) with Tiny Moore The gentleman to the left in the photo is Tiny Moore, who played fiddle and five string solidbody electric mandolin in Bob Wills' seminal Texas Playboys, the group that essentially invented Western Swing music. The mandolin he's holding has a low C string, and was made for him by Paul Bigsby, the same guy who invented the first functional whammy bars and built the electric guitar Merle Travis is holding in this photo:  ≈≈≈ Bigsby also made the neck for Merle Travis' Martin D-28, complete with the Bigsby headstock, that has caused several generations of guitarists to ask: "Just what the heck kind of guitar is Travis PLAYING here?!?!?  ≈≈≈ Anyway, here's a Jethro Burns story for you. Jethro taught students at his modest suburban home, and one day when my roommate Ross was sitting in Jethro's living room waiting to take his lesson, the door to the room Jethro taught in opened and a ten year old boy came scampering out. Jethro didn't say anything at first, he just stood there with a bleak expression on his face. Then he walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge, took out two cans of beer, handed one to Ross and said: "Here. I need a beer after THAT kid..."  ≈≈≈ Jethro Burns was a great guy as well as a great musician. Wade Hampton Miller 
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