Pound for pound, Spartanburg has more really quality musicians than any other small town I have ever seen. It's growing like a kudzu vine though and will soon be a veritable metropolis, I fear. I keep around 80 students per week and there are kids waiting in line to learn to play. Not just for me but other teachers also. It has to be something in the water. The reason many folks won't support local concerts by name acts here is that someone in their family or the next door neighbor can probably play better! It is part of life to play music.
What music do you like listening to? I listen to Jazz, blues and old time BeBop. I like the "Great Guitars"
series...Charlie, Barney and others. It still confirms my belief that great play- ing starts with those little things called digits at the end of your hand! Phooey on all those pedals!
Who are your rockabilly heroes? Elvis - the old stuff- and Carl Perkins are my all- time heroes of
rockabilly...in that order. Buddy Holly had the right stuff too. Nowadays I like The Dimaggios...lots of great musicians out there using those digits!
What’s your instrument of choice? Stratocaster, ditto, ditto...well you
know...cut my
teeth on one. I need to really get into the strings and control them. I can't on a Gibson or Telly. People throw a fit about antique guitars but lis- ten, the electronics, fret-boards, etc. are so much better than they were back then. I'll take these new strats anytime. Sure would like to have that ol’ ‘57 back though!
Tell us a bit about your hometown and it’s musical legacy.
The Sparkletones with Elvis.
What are your memories of playing the Ed Sullivan Show? Ed Sullivan show? Anna Marie Alberghetti was on the first night in November of ‘57, so we didn't remember too much about that one...we were all in a daze....just kidding. It was a great experience with all the hoopla and people making a fuss over you. We were just country boys and didn't know enough to be scared. I worried about breaking a string. Strats go out of tune when you break a string.
What about American Bandstand? American Bandstand. Dick Clark was a great guy and they really were nice to
us.There were kids our own age there and so it was real comfortable for us. We played live so we could get good crowd reaction. It was awesome.
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