Ocean Beach Radio

20/03/2024

04/03/2024

22/02/2024

Last week uncle there was a write up about uncle Lefty’s influence in country music in Billboard magazine. Today I want to tell the story of one person he heavily influenced (Merle) and also about the infamous “Lefty guitar.”

At just 16, fresh out of the reformatory, Merle and his buddy Bob Teague made it to uncle Lefty’s show in Bakersfield, Ca. Bob went to Lefty’s dressing room and asked if he wanted to hear a guy who could sing just like him.
Here’s how Merle tells the story (directly from his biography):
“Bob asked Lefty if he’d like to meet a guy who sang like he did. He said sure. So, I was brought in.” Frizzell handed Merle his custom 1949 Gibson J-200, retrofitted with a custom neck and black pickguard with LEFTY FRIZZELL cut into it in. It had beautiful body curves like a Vegas showgirl, slim at the waist with a big bottom, tinted reddish-orange like a blushing bride.

Merle was surprised and thrilled to actually hold Lefty’s guitar in his own hands — a trophy, a torch, a talisman. He slipped the leather strap over his head, reached for the pick he always carried in his shirt pocket, took a deep breath, and launched into a pitch-perfect impersonation of Frizzell doing “Always Late With Your Kisses.” Lefty, already pretty well lit, grinned, applauded lightly, and told Merle it was like listening to his own record. Merle: “Just as I finished up, one of the show’s promoters, Joe Snead, came by and told Lefty it was time to start the show, and Frizzell said, ‘I want this kid to sing a song out there before I go on.’ Snead looked at Lefty like he was crazy and said, ‘Hey, the crowd didn’t pay to hear some local yokel sing. They came to hear Lefty Frizzell.’ But Lefty refused to go on if I wasn’t allowed to sing, so he got his way … and I got to use his guitar and have his band play behind me. It was quite a thrill.”

Merle said once he left the stage and Lefty went on, he watched him and thought to himself…. Yep, this is what I’m going to do with my life. He gave credit to his musical hero Lefty the rest of his days, and when Lefty died, Merle bought Lefty’s guitar (the same one he’d gotten to take on stage at age 16) for $350,000.

22/02/2024

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