Steve Earle's kid is a Texan-o-phile....

[dhanners623]

Been watching a bunch of videos on YouTube of Justin Townes Earle because A) the kid is pretty good and he's playing a Texan in a bunch of them. In a whole lot of them, in fact. Can't tell if it's an original or one of the later editions. He has an interesting style of playing, too, but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and the kid can write.

 

Here's one:

 

I recall seeing a photo in the last year or two of his dad playing a Texan, but now that I go looking for it, I can't find it online anywhere.

[Red 333]

He's playing a Masterbilt AJ500RC (which is a cedar and rosewood 12 fret model) in a couple of those videos, too!

 

Cool!

 

It looks like the Texan with the fixed saddle is vintage, and the adjustable saddle one is a McCartney. That's my impression from a quick look on my small screen laptop, so I could easily be wrong. Did you see more than two?

 

Thanks for the link, by the way. I hadn't really heard any of Justin's music, and I enjoyed it. I'm going to give a few more songs a listen.

 

I thought of you this weekend, by the way. I was at the Deep Ellum Art Festival, and happened across a great performer in the Woody/Dylan/Springstein tradition, playing at an outdoor bar. As a pickup on his battered old acoustic, he taped a lapel mic to a strip of wood and wedged it across the soundhole. One string broke so he played the rest of his set with five. He was GREAT!

 

He'd just moved to Dallas from Arkansas. He was selling CDs of songs, which he'd burned himself on a computer. No label, just his name written in magic marker on the disc. I haven't listened to it yet, but I will definitely seek him out if he's playing any bars or coffee houses. He had no pretensions--just the sheer joy of playing. I haven'tt experienced a live performance that I've enjoyed more in some time, and I had just seen Ricky Scaggs the night before. Boy, can his band PLAY, by the way.

 

Red 333

[dhanners623]

I figured if anybody could ID those guitars, it would be you, Red. Thanks.

 

Yeah, Deep Ellum has produced some interesting acts over the years. I was there in the '80s when acts such as Edie Brickell (back when they were just the "New Bohemians") came out of Club Dada. Same with Sara Hickman. She used to bake little muffins and throw them out to the audience. Great audience-building move there. I'd try it, but with my baking skills, I'd either A) bonk somebody on the head with an over-cooked muffin or inadvertently poison them. That type of stuff doesn't je;[ build an audience.

 

I recall there was some club there -- I think it was called the Art Pawn Shop or something like that -- where the performers played on this second-floor overhang that had no railing. I was always scared of falling off whenever I played there.

 

The most money the trio I was in ("Roadkill") ever made at a gig, though, was at some place whose name I can't remember but it was an old African-American supper club. It was built for un-amplified entertainment and had the best acoustics of any room I've ever played. Our folk trio was on the bill with three thrash bands. In the green room, the kids in the other bands were all marveling at the old guys (we were late 20s, early 30s) and our acoustics. They'd never really played acoustics before. Or seen a mandolin. The guy who booked us was named Joe Christ (before that, he'd been "Joe Danger") and it was like a scene out of movie; we literally had to chase him down in the street to get our money before he climbed in his car and sped away.

 

Gawd, those were strange times....

[frenchie1281734003]

Justin`s stuff sounds pretty good, I like his McCartney Texan. Any reason why he has taped over the Epiphone name on the H/stock (PASTE video`s)?

[zoid_99]

What kind of pickup is he using?

[dhanners623]

Looks to me like a Baggs M1. Noticed quite a few of them of late.

http://www.lrbaggs.com/AudioPages/m1.htm