We miss you Leo! You and your guitars are still with us!

It is his 109th birthday? My first guitar was Fender, and I am loving guitars ever sing. Happy Birthday, Fender!

For a fleeting time I used to wonder if country singer FREDDIE FENDER was related.

But "Fender" wasn't the singer's real last name.
Whitefang

Today is the 101st anniversary of JOHN LEE HOOKER's birth.

A LOT of guys' earliest known bluesman, I joyously enjoyed seeing him included in that all-star cast that showed up in THE BLUES BROTHERS movie.
Whitefang

Today marks the 113th birthday of ARTHUR CRUDUP.

Whaddya think Elvis would have recorded without him?
Whitefang

He would have recorded That's When Your Heartaches Begin by the Ink Spots from 1941. Elvis recorded this song originally for his mother in his private collection at Sun Studio in 1953 prior to Arthur Crudup's That's Alright. But Elvis and the boys owe everything to Arthur as that was their 1st hit and one of the 1st rock and roll hits recorded in 1954. Elvis later had a gold record hit with That's When Your Heartaches Begin when he moved to RCA in 1957 as the B side of All Shook Up. He also recorded the song in 1956.

That question was RHETORICAL anyway, Larry. Nobody could really answer it with any accuracy.

Anyway....

Today marks what would ahve been CHARLES "BUDDY" HOLLY's 82nd birthday, had the weather been better, or the pilot.
Whitefang

Sorry, I thought you were asking what we think...

Here's a cool one!

Both RILEY B.(B. B.) KING and CHARLIE BYRD were born this day in 1925!

How often does THAT sort of thing happen?
Whitefang

Well, often enough for
HANK WILLIAMS and BILL BLACK to share Sept. 17!

But a couple of years apart.
Whitefang

Hank Williams is one of the country greats of all time and Bill Black was a rock and roll pioneer...RIP.

And today would have been the 84th birthday of the ORIGINAL "5th Beatle"--
BRIAN EPSTEIN

Whitefang

And today, is the 125th anniversary of the birth of

LEMON HENRY"Blind Lemon" JEFFERSON

And I'm hoping somebody is keeping his grave clean!
Whitefang

CHUCK BERRY would have been 92 today!
Whitefang

Chuck Berry will always be remembered as one of our greats and one of the founders of rock and roll! Here's one of my favorite tunes with him "rockin on Bandstand":

Ya might say he taught everybody abt R&R


& the tributes started right away
[digCochran's solo!]


& the kept goin' for,well , ever


One John after another fellto his sway




born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942


However...

We used to think(for a very short spell) that maybe Chuck's legend was more that than fact, as it seemed( and you'll notice from that clip) that he wasn't really playing when we saw him on TV and such. But it was WAY before we really knew anything about "lip-syncing" an d pantomiming to pre recorded playback.

But when he showed up at The Grande Ballroom in '68, he showed he really COULD play and do those acrobatics at the same time.

Of course at that time, he was but a mere 42 years old.
Whitefang

Of course, as my esteemed colleague knows, it didn't & doesn't matter what happened on a TV set.
Chuck Berry wrote the book of rock gtr playing & songwriting.

Young Chuck (no lip-sync)


Old Chuck (age = 69)

That clip with Springsteen tickles me in that in Chuck's autobiography, Bruce wrote the preface and mentions back when his band was still a bunch of just local New Jersey kids, and Chuck was still known to have promoters come up with a backing band for his performance dates, Bruce's band got the gig. He mentioned they were all scared as hell and asked Chuck, "what songs are we going to play?" and Chuck answered "We doin' Chuck Berry songs." and left it at that. But after it was over, Chuck told them they did OK, and they settled down after about a week.
Whitefang