Doc Stevens

Tondeleo: I ran across a quote by Hunter S. Thompson that made me think about some of the things that Doc, Marilyn, and their friends have said about the music business and how ruthless it can be. Here it is:

Tondeleo: One thing that Doc and Marilyn and the band are very strong about s getting along well with other musicians. Some musicians I have met have an "I don't care what they think; they're not coming to our shows or buying our merch" attitude. And while that may be true, and while musicians definitely can have attitudes towards other musicians and bands, I have found that Doc and Marilyn and their band aren't at all like that. They don't seem to comprehend the idea of competitiveness.I quizzed them about why they don't compete with other musicians and seem to like everybody...

Doc: Well, first of all, a man needs all the friends he can get...

Marilyn: So do girls, Tondy...

Doc: ...and we ain't competin' with nobody. Alot of bands and players are competin', an' that is where they can get an attitude toward other people.

Tondeleo: Competing for what, Doc?

Doc: Well, depends on what kind of music they're playin. Mostly, competin' for gigs, bookin's. Like, if you and five other bands are all tryin' to play at, say, the local bar or club, and you know only one's gonna get it, amd another band is undercuttin' you, you might get mad or ...

John Hungerford from Hometown Band inspects one of Doc's homemade guitars. Bill Hull from The Roadhouse Band looks on benevolently. In the background is Paco Blake from Hometown Band.

 Marilyn:  At least get your feelings hurt...

Doc: Yeah, or feelings hurt if someone else takes your gig away. Especially if they's not as good as you. Even more if they play the same kind of music you play. So, you got your set list and you're good at it, an' then the place stops callin' you so you go down there since NOW you got nothin' to do on Friday night, an' they're pretty much playin' your set list. And not as good as you. You might decide right then and there you don't like them.
You prob'ly need the money to keep the lights on or to pay some bills, and now these other people are playin' your show, and you feel like they're takin' food outta your mouth.

Marilyn: That hurts. Especially when you need some new shoes or jeans or something. Money's tight for everybody.


Doc: So that's one reason you might not like the other band. Another reason is just because they might have an attitude or something like that.

Marilyn: Like a pre-Madonna attitude. 

Doc: We're pretty lucky 'cause we aren't in that situation so none of it matters to us. We play what's in our hearts, and we play it how it sounds in our hearts, and we're already broke, so ain't nobody playin' what we play... and we don't have a set list.

Marilyn: Me and Rick have a list of a couple hundred songs we might pick from, but we never know what is coming next. Doc basically just sings what comes up in his spirit, and that might bring something to my mind, so I might sing that next...

Tondy: Marilyn, why is it that only you and Rick have song lists and nobody else in the band does?

Marilyn: Well, me and Rick need them 'cause we play harp and we need to know what key the different songs are in. Brian is the drummer, so he doesn't need to know any of that. Jerry on lead guitar doesn't know what key he is playing in and neither does Jay on the bass. They just play. But me and Rick need to know, because you have to have the right harp for the right key.

Doc: Yeah, we pretty much go by what the crowd is responding to, and then change it up as we find out what they really like. We might get booked as playin' blues, and then find out what they really like is old country music. Or rockabilly. Or even Gospel. Or rockabilly Gospel! You can't never tell up front. So how you gonna have a set list for that? I cain't read and play guitar at the same time anyway.

When it comes to other bands, once they look at us and hear us, they know we aint any kind of competition for them, and we could not steal their bookin's or their audience, so it's a lot easier to get along.

Some of the bands we are friends with heard us somewhere, or heard us busking or playin' out on the streets, and invited us inside to play with them. You're not gonna be a mic hog when people have been good to you.

A lot of these bands can sound just like the records. We can't do that. we have a hard enough time just sounding like us. So we think real high of a band that can sound like a whole lot of different groups and singers. People don't even realize how much work that is and how much talent it takes.

They can tell we look up to them, and that helps a lot. Most of them have good equipment, which we don't. Plus, we don't even play the places where most the bands play. We mostly do festivals, conferences and conventions... community events...

Marilyn: Civic events, church anniversaries, fish fries, barbecues...

Doc: and pig pickin's and family reunions. I like playin' wherever they feed us. So's the band.

And since we don't play what the other bands are playin', we don't sound like anyone, we don't look like anyone, it just makes it easier to get along, play a lot of music and be friends. And, we feel the songs we sing and we let it show. If we're feeling a song, you're gonna know it, and were not gonna hide it. I cry sometimes when singin' a sad song, 'cause I feel it in my heart. Marilyn does too. Sometimes if I'm singin' and cryin', she starts cryin' 'cause she feels sorry for me up there cryin'! She's a good girl, Tondy.

But whatever we play and however we do it, it ain't never a threat to other bands and singers. so we all get along. We like everybody, Tondy. you know that.

Tondeleo: I find myself ever so fascinated by the creativity of rural Americans. I think it is part of their DNA. If they want something badly enough, they are not going to let something like a lack of money keep them from trying to have it anyway. For those who won't steal what they want, and who can't get what they want any other way, there is inner creativity that they draw on. 

I have seen and heard many home made musical instruments in the rural areas of the States. Most of them sound as good or at least as interesting as their commercially made massed produced counterparts. One example is Doc Stevens' fishing tackle box guitar. Doc says that several years ago, when he was traveling on foot and by hitchhiking, he wanted a strong guitar that would take abuse, was small enough that he could travel with it, and that sounded good. One more thing, he wanted to be able to carry a sandwich or two in it. The result is the tackle box guitar that he made about a decade ago.

Doc: Yeah, I made that one about ten years or so ago. I wsa on the move a lot, and needed somethin' I could carry around and wouldn't get torn up. Needed it to be smaller than a regular guitar. I had a old tackle box. I measured it out an' found out you could make one that would work.

Tondeleo: What do you mean by measure it out. Do you need specific sizes?

Doc: Well, yeah. What I learnt was you have to have the same length from the nut, the part at the far end of the guitar to the twelfth fret, as you have from the twelfth fret to the bridge. If you don't have that, it will never sound right. I don't know if that is really a true fact, but it is what I learnt. The tackle box worked out to be long enough.

Then, I did what I always do in a guitar which is put a two inch board on the inside, and seal it to the edges. That is what the neck bolts to, and the pickups are mounted into. It gives the guitar more sustain, and also balances the weight. What I don't like about cigarbox guitars is the neck is usually heavier than the box part, and they don't feel right, well don't feel right to me. Some boys what have 'em love 'em like a bear loves a picnic. I like a guitar to have some weight to it, like 6 pounds or a little more. 

 Tondeleo: What else is involved, Doc?

Doc: You gotta get a neck. Make it or take an old one and trim it to the size and thickness you like. Mount it to the wood inside the box. Put pick ups in it. I picked out three that I had in a box of old parts, and got it so the neck one sounds like a jazz guitar, the bridge one sounds twangy like a Tele - that's a Telecaster - and the middle one just is in between the other two. With that, you can play any music you like - and still look like a broke man while doing it.   

Tondeleo: What do other people think of your guitars when they see them?

Doc: I don't know what people think. I hardly know what I think. But I get a lot of pictures tooken. 

Some people want to pose with me holding the guitars. Like last week, Jimmy McWilliams, the lead singer from The Hometown Band got his picture tooken with me. Not because of me, but because of the tacklebox guitar. He liked how it looked and wanted to be seen with it. He liked that you can put things in side of it. I can get two sandwiches, a bag of Doritos and a Capri Sun in it... and still play it. 

People think these guitars will sound like garbage because of how they look. They are amazed when they sound as good as a decent store bought guitar. Heck, I ain't surprised. I make 'em to play 'em, not to look at 'em.  But I have found out that people like to look at them, and when I play it, people always come up to take pictures of it. They don't do that when I play a regular guitar. I have a couple store bought guitars, what people have traded me for my home made ones. That always surprises me.

Tondeleo: Why is that, Doc? 

Doc: It surprises me 'cause if I could afford a store bought guitar, do you think I'd be makin' these guitars out of garbage and whatever parts I can scrounge from other peoples' old guitars? I make these pieces of garbage, and get them to sound as good as I can, livin' out here in the country. Then, someone who can afford a real guitar comes and trades it to me for one of my home made ones. It just seems weird to me, Tondy. I can't explain it.

Other guitar players see them, and then ask to play 'em and are always surprised at the sound and tone and how well they play. Then, a lot of times they want that guitar, right then and right there, and trade me whatever they had been playin' that night. That makes a poor man feel better. But it don't help pay the rent.

Here is something cool, Tondy. Last Saturday night, after me and Rick did a set, with some other guys from other bands playin' with us, Troy Peterson was commenting on how good it sounded. That made me feel pretty good. 

Troy's a real good guitar player. I let him play it a while and he played it on stage for a long time. He was shakin' his head at how ugly it is, but that it plays well and is well balanced and all that. He was likin' the tone and weight and size - plus it's built like a tank.

Troy Peterson plays in a couple bands  - I know he plays with Sara Gray and he does a solo act too, I think. That was pretty cool, him playin' it and likin' it.Well, to me it was, anyway.

Tondeleo: Do you ever sell your home made guitars?

Doc: Yeah, I sell 'em. I trade 'em more. More people got extra guitars than extra money. That's why I'm still poor! Sometimes I trade 'em, and then later one of the boys down here wants to buy a store bought guitar, so I do end up makin' a couple dollars here and there.

I had a guy who lives in Orlando, Florida. He had a 50's lap steel in the case, with the three legs and all that. He played my tackle box and decided he had to have one. I like lap steels pretty good. I already had one from the 40's that I'm not that good on. So I figured maybe I needed one from the 50's that I'm not so good on. 

I made him up a tackle box guitar almost just like mine and we swapped even. I think he takes it out on his boat with his fishin' buddies, I'm not sure. I brought his lap steel home and set it up on the porch and that got me to play it more than havin' it tucked away in a case out in the shop. So it was a pretty good deal.  I'm just as poor now as I was before - but I got more stuff now!

Tondeleo: One factor in the sound of many of the deeply rural musicians in America is that they are not in areas where they can get a clean radio signal, internet access is spotty at best, and they just don’t listen to new music.

For Doc and his friends and neighbors, hi speed internet is not even available. The more affluent ones have dial up, which means that YouTube and other media are basically non accessible.

What this means is that the musicians and singers who live in these outlying areas are playing only the songs they remember from their childhoods or ones they learned by hearing other musicians play them live. It keeps them from even knowing how the original recordings sounded.

Another factor is that they could not take real music lessons, so they just picked up the instruments and figured out how to play. Their instruments tend to be old and cheap, or home made. While the musicians from the middle class have nice instruments and equipment, the rural ones have the cheapest and the most improvised of equipment, and it gives them a unique sound. That is again, a disadvantage on one hand, and an advantage on the other.

Doc: Yeah, Tondy, you’re right about that. We cain’t generally pick up the radio out here. And when we do, we ain’t like what they’s playin.’ 

We don’t sound like any other bands and don’t play what any of ‘em is playin’ most of the time. That’s good for them and also good for us.

Then, we got cheap equipment and home made equipment which is more what the original players and singer used. What we play is poor people music, which is what all the originals was: poor.

We mostly play what we grew up with. Music we heard our daddies and mama’s playin’ and singin’. It’s old songs, but good ones, and for us they have all the memories of when mama and daddy was young. We like that music better.

And, no, we ain’t able to go into town to take music lessons for a half day’s wages for a half hour lesson. That is for office boys and their spoilt teenage kids. It takes us 45 minutes to just get to La Plata. That’s a lot of gas. Then a half hour lesson and then 45 minutes back. Plus they want to stand around and talk a little bit, which is ok, but it adds to the time away. 

And then they want you to learn how to read charts and notes while you’re playin’! We aint up to that! It is all I can do to play that dang thing, let alone be lookin’ a a book while doin’ it, and then tryin’ to sing. That ain’t happenin’.

We just stick to what we know. But that ain’t a bad thing. When we go out and play and there is other bands, we ain’t doin’ the songs that they do, so that makes them like us more.
A lot of places get us to play for that reason. Ain’t too many people playin’ and singin’ what we do. We ain’t do NOTHIN’ newer than maybe 1958. And we ain’t doin’ any of the rock and roll hits from back then. 

A lot of people like what we play, but can’t find nobody to play it. Another thing is we ain’t human jukeboxes. We ain’t heard the original records probally in 20 years, and Marilyn ain’t never heard ‘em. So we ain’t hittin’ anything like a note for note copy of the original. Some people like what they call our arrangements. We ain’t got arrangements – that’s just how we remember them, and sometimes we get it wrong.

We all are church folks – and we go to churches where the people really get into it. We jump around in church, Tondy! You been there. Well, when we do it on stage, people think it is good showmanship, but it is just how we do. 

Playin’ out on the streets is somethin’ a lot of musicians ain’t done, and that gives us a different kind of edge. SO I guess bein’ poor can help you if you’re into playin’ music.

But it all works out, and it makes us sound like we got an original sound, and we ain’t copyin’ nobody. Hey, even if we did, we couldn’t sound like nobody else! It’s hard enough for us to sound like us! 

Tondeleo: It has been a few months since I have been able to post a blog for Doc. I have been busy with work and travel. 

Last week, I was able to get a few days in the Washington, DC area, and visited Doc and Marilyn. As you may know, Marilyn got married last September to David, and they moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Fortunately, she was visiting Doc when I was there for a few days.

Doc: Tondy, we just played a few jobs where there was people with a lot of money and nice cars and they was real nice to us. 

One was a lady’s 80th birthday party. Her grown kids threw it for her. They had a car show at it and everything. When we pulled up in my old Chevy panel truck, I saw all those nice cars with pretty paint and shiny rims and chromed out motors and thought, “Uh oh. They are gonna make me park out in the back!”

But once we got all the ‘quipment outta the back, the guy whose house it was asked me to park my old truck right out there with all those nice hot rods! I was really surprised, cause this truck ain’t never been waxed and only washed maybe twice in the last couple of years. But he let me pull it right out there in the line with the nice cars! And people took pictures of it, just like they did the other cars!

Then when we was settin’ up, I found out there was a good handful of guitar players and musicians there, too! All I had brung with me was the homemade guitars. I don’t know why. I brung my two favorites, which I made a long time ago, and two smaller ones what I keep in the truck. You need smaller guitars when you’re playing out on the streets, or travelin’. You ain’t got room for full size ones. 

It’s cheapest just to make ‘em yourself outta old parts and boxes. I keep the one what is made from a tackle box in regular tuning and the other little one in a open tuning for slide guitar and blues. The lady who lived there took pictures and sent them to us in a e-letter. 

I figured those guys with all that money was gonna laugh us off the property when they saw those old home made guitars what was made outta trash. But NO! They was real nice about it. People was even takin’ pictures of ‘em. That made me feel real good.
We had Marilyn down for the weekend, and Buttermilk Wade was on the lead guitar, and Lump was on the harp and K.I. on the drums. That is pretty much our line up these days. We are lucky to have a good handful of musicians to pick from and who can be available. 

The people there was real nice and it was a good party and we all ate a lot of food. They had a little bit of everything there. Nobody got too drunk, and there was no fightin’ which is always a mark of a classy party.

But we was all amazed that people kept asking about those guitars and takin’ pictures! Well, I know this: If we’d had nice guitars and good equipment, and nice clothes, ain’t nobobdy woulda been takin’ pictures!

Oh yeah – the other thing is that when they see those crappy looking guitars and old amps, they figure we’re gonna sound like garbage. So when we don’t sound like garbage, they all are surprised and then they think we are good. Those guitars sound GOOD though, Tondy, they was just cheap to make, that’s all.

Tondeleo: One thing that fascinated me when I first began working around real American rural musicians is that they did not all play bluegrass music. That is the stereotype that we hold of them: blowing on moonshine jugs, playing banjo’s, mandolins, jaw harps, violins and guitars.

When I met Doc and his friends several years ago, they described what they played as “downhome country blues roots.” It is a mix of country, blues and a fair bit of early rock and roll. I was curious as to how this fit in with the stereotype that we have of these people playing nothing but bluegrass.

Following is an interview I had with Doc and Big Dave a couple of years ago.

Doc: Why don’t we play bluegrass? Well, we ain’t got no banjo’s or violins or mandolins first off, Tondy. We got guitars, I got a bass and we got amps. Bluegrass don’t like basses and amps and electric guitars. But we do.

My family was tryin’ to get away from all that when we was comin’ up. People called us hillbillies and my Grand dad said we needed to quit lookin’ and talkin’ like hillbillies or we ain’t never gonna have anything or amount to nothin.’

Big Dave: I don’t like bluegrass. Ain’t nobody told me to. It just reminds me of my old man. He listened to bluegrass all the time. If it wasn’t his friends comin’ by and playin’ it at the house, it was on the radio. It got bad memories for me. It gets on my nerves.

Tondeleo: Bluegrass gets on your nerves? I thought all rural Americans thrived on bluegrass!

Big Dave: Well, you thought wrong, little buddy.

Doc: We don’t play bluegrass. I never learned it. When I was comin’ up I learned from my grand dad and uncles, and their friends. Some was white and some was black. We all learned each other’s songs. But he steered us away from bluegrass.

I been to places where all they play is bluegrass, and I can be playin’ along, and some office boy what took “bluegrass lessons” will watch me a few minutes and then tell me that I am not playin’ “bluegrass chords.” Bluegrass chords? What’s that? I never learnt no bluegrass chords. I ain’t never took lessons.

I learned a lot of what I play from being in the drink houses. That was whites and blacks and mixed people. Just poor people what had problems and still wanted to sing. Mostly they ain’t know what they was playin’ as far as chords go. They just figured out what sounded good.

I ain’t know the names of all the chords. I know more than some people does, as for the names, but not all of them.I just play what I seen other people play an’ I have some what I figured out, and I slide ‘em up and down the neck to make different ones. That’s what mostly I seen comin’ up.

We’d take our guitars and go to the drink house and eat and talk and play music.

Tondeleo: Drink houses. What are drink houses?

Doc: A drink house is what they have a lot of down south, in North Carolina especially. If they ain't a bar in the area where you can go down for a drink or play some music, a person might just open their house up as a drink house.

You can’t just go and hang out in a bar all night if you ain’t drinkin’ and if you’re dirty from work, they ain’t like that too much neither. A drink house is where poor folks go to hang out and talk and drink and relax.

It's just a person’s house, and they might have they livin’ room or back room with a little bar in it, and a few beers in the ‘frigerator, and maybe a few bottles of liquor in the cabinet. You give 'em a couple of bucks and they give you a shot of whiskey or a beer. Maybe even a dollar might get you a sip, if all you got is a dollar. You can just hang out there and talk of play music or whatever you want, as long as you're not causing any trouble.

People in the neighborhood'll come by. Some will pull up in their car and come in just for a drink and leave. Others hang out there all day or evening.It’s a place to hang out, to talk, meet people and swap songs and learn a little by watchin’ what the other guy is doin’ and listenin’ to how he is playin’ and then do it yourself. You can learn a lot that way.

Sometimes they got a radio on, and you can learn some songs that way. That’s where some of the songs we play come from. That and old records we found here and there.

Big Dave: Yeah. I used to go to drink houses when I was in western North Carolina. It was just a cheap place to go and waste some time, and eat a sandwich and play music.

Some of 'ems open just some days or some evenin's and others is open day or night, seven days a week. Some's got a poker game in the back room or out on the picnic table in the back yard in the summer.

Some got a room fixed up where you can play music inside, with a little stage area over in the corner.

Some sell drugs, some don't. Some sell about anything a person could want, if they know you or you is family to a friend of theirs.

I never went for that. I just went for a sandwich, some music and some place to go before going back to my room to sleep.

Doc: You ain’t got to be a drunk or druggie to go to drink houses. I went for the food and music mostly and people what don’t have any money or good clothes got to be able to go someplace, too after work. Where else are we gonna go?

And that’s where we learnt to play and where we learnt the songs we sing. A bit of everything. Hank Williams, Webb Pierce and all them from my grand dad and uncles and they’s friends, and then John Lee Hooker, BB King, Albert King and a bunch of others from the drink houses.

Really, you got to know all of it so you can make a few dollars. We play some places where it is mostly white people and they want that country music what they call roots. So we play it. Some people think we only play country.

Some places we play is like we are the only white folks there. We play blues; John Lee Hooker, Artie White and BB King and all those kinds of songs there. They ain’t never hear us play country.

Sometimes we play where it is mixed and we do mixed music there. A bit of blues, a bit of country. Whatever they want. We play Gospel too, Tondy! We learnt that at church. But also at drink houses and from family. Most poor folks go to church some time in their life, because life is hard and they need help from the Lord. I need help from the Lord.

And me and Marilyn like singin’ and playin’ Gospel music. It reaches down deep inside you.

Tondeleo: I know, I’ve heard you do that, and I quite like it, I do…

Doc: We like that Gospel, Tondy. Not the new stuff. The old stuff. When a man is poor and can’t deal with his problems, he can turn to drinkin’ and drugs, or he can turn to the Lord. I been turnin’ to the Lord when I get down in the mully grubs, and sometimes I can just pick up my guitar and sing a while and I feel all better. We play Gospel around the house a lot. A whole lot.

Tondeleo: One thing I have noticed at home in England and everywhere else I have travelled is that people want to stand out and have their own personal style.That goes for people with money and education as well as for old age pensioners and even the homeless. There is a human quest for individuality that cannot be suppressed.

I was talking about this with Doc at Scott’s II Store one afternoon, as I was noticing and commenting on the way the various patrons expressed themselves with their clothing, their jewelry, accessories, hats and their cars and trucks. When the conversation was in full swing, I realised that I needed to get out my digital recorder and capture some of these thoughts.

What prompted me getting out my recorder was a Cadillac out in the car park of Scott’s that was pulling out as we went out to Doc’s truck for Marilyn to get her harps. It was evident that the car's owner didn’t have much money, but that he had a sense of style and clearly a sense of pride – and his car very much stood out from the others!

Doc pointed out all the changes that the owner had made:

Doc: Lookit that, Tondy! You ain’t got nothin’ like that over there to that England, I guarantee it! He got a Corvette hood scoop on it.Painted his grille gold. It’s just spray paint, but it makes it stand out. He got him some Wal Mart wheelcovers on it – and they ain’t match each other, but at least he’s tryin’.

Tondeleo: Well, ummm, you’re right Doc. I have never seen anything quite like this in England. It is sort of an American CHAV vehicle, perhaps. I don’t really know what to compare it to. It DOES make one sit up and take notice, I confess!

Doc: Yeah, Tondy, You gotta stand out. This boy’s standin’ out!

Marilyn:I think it stands out in a yucky way.It’s too much. Well, at least for me. I bet the cops could spot him a mile away, too! He probally ain’t thought of that.

Doc: Well, sometimes you wanna stand out and sometimes you wanna blend in. You can figure that out by walkin’ in the woods. Most the time, for survival, you gotta blend in. That’s what keeps the predators from noticin’ you and eatin’ you. Most everything in nature wears camo (camouflaged clothing). Snakes, turtles, frogs, deer, birds, almost everything. They need to blend in so they don’t get eaten.

But then, sometimes they gotta stand out for protection. Like a peacock blowin’ his tail all out big to look bigger than he really is – and prob’ly for standin’out so the girl peacocks notice him and think they want him ‘cause he’s a big man! Bull frogs does it, too! So they is two laws in the jungle. Blend in so you don’t get eaten and sometimes stand out to scare off enemies.

Look at him! He got what…five antennas on the back! And American flags! And magnets, too! He is scarin’ off the competition. I mean a dude with a regular car can’t compete! He is sayin’ somethin’ here, Tondy! Puttin’ ‘em on notice! He got a lot of work in that car an’ you can tell he loves it! That’s his baby!

Look how proud he is! An’ he OUGHT to be proud. That’s a car to remember! It ain’t about the money, it’s about the love you put in it. If it was mine, I’d be proud of it!

I’m proud of what I got, even though it ain’t worth much. At least it’s mine.

Me an’ Marilyn does the same thing when we’re playin. When we’re playin’ in the streets for money, we need to stand out enough so people stops to listen an’ give us money an’ if they really like us to ask for a card or invite us to play at a event or party or something. Lotta ties you gotta play ‘coustic guitar when buskin.’ BUt I use my drum box with the tambourine on it for a beat. That helps.

We make eye contact with ‘em an’ I’ll make up some words to the song I’m singin’ to put them in it:

Like: “I see that lady there with the sunglasses watchin’ me

She’s reachin’ in her wallet and gettin'’ out some money!

An’ she walks over here… an’ she puts it my case

That’s a good lookin’ woman

she puts a smile on my face – thank you ma’am!”

I’ll do somethin’ like that for anyone I can catch the eye of and it gets a crowd, an’ a crowd gets you money an’ bookin’s and friends. You gotta have friends ‘cause they pass the word around about you.

We stand out by lookin’ happy and bein’ high energy an’ ‘proachable. Marilyn kinda dances. We have dance contests on the street, too. Ain’t nothin’ funnier than havin’ a dance contest out on the streets an’ watchin’ men dance! And it gets a crowd.

When we’re playin’ and there is other bands, we don’t never do songs that they would do. We ain’t no 70’s cover band. We does mostly old stuff from the 40s and fifties. Nothin’ much newer than’ 1960, far as I know. That’s cause all we had was old music what other people didn’t want, when I grew up, or old songs what the people round us sang an’ played. We ain’t no human jukebox. We play songs what most bands don’t play so we don’t overlap what they is doin’ and that way the other bands likes us, too. That’s part of standin’ out.

Like, we bring along Thurman Goodlett to dance for us whenever we can. That boy can dance like Michael Jackson with ants in his pants! That helps us stand out. There is lotsa bands out there and they’s all better than us, so we gotta put on a show, if we’re gonna stand out. You got to stand out, Tondy. And people like a show. It ain’t so much about the music as it is about the show. Standin’ out is the show.

Marilyn: Sometimes it embarrassin’ but you gotta do it. Doc says if it don’t take guts, it ain’t worth doin’ and you gotta be bold, Tondy. Stand up and stand out is what I always say.

Tondeleo - If you have read these posts up to now, you will have gotten some understanding of the minds of rural Americans, who may be nearly penniless, yet have large amounts of guns and musical instruments. They don't find this extravagant at all. They say these are necessities and are part of what makes life worth living. That and "the good Lord." Guns, guitars and God (and pickup trucks, and for many, beer).

This post is about what Doc calls Tele Number Two. This one is a 1971 Fender Telecaster that he has had for a long time. It has been heavily modded. In fact to a purist, it might be considered heavily ruined. Doc mentioned taking it to a guitar shop down in Virginia, and the guitar tech looked it over, and pronounced that while it lost some value due to it not being all original, that the modifications were old enough that some of them were considered vintage!

This guitar was modded more than thirty years ago.

Doc: This here Tele was what we called "hopped up" back then. We didn't say modded. It weren't rare back then, it was just an old guitar an' it needed to sound better. It is kind of rare, too, because it's got a maple plug up on the neck where the adjusting rod goes in. Most of them has like walnut. Mine don't.

Tondeleo: What is it with Americans that even ones like you, without much money, have this mad drive to customise EVERYTHING? Can't you leave well enough alone?

Doc: Well, we like to make things personal, Tondy. The factories make things for just average, like not for anyone special. So when you get it, whether it's a guitar or a pickup truck or bike [motorcycle], it's up to YOU to make it the way YOU want it for what YOU plan on doin' with it.

You might jack your truck up, for mud boggin' or lower it down for a low rider. Or custom paint it so it stands out. You gotta put rims on it and all that.

For your guitar, it's the same thing. Everyone is a individual and has to make it so it is just right for what you want to do with it, the kind of music you play and the sound you want. Out of the box, it's not really for anybody. Just everybody, if you know what I mean.

Plus, if you're poor, you might just want to have SOMETHING that is special just to YOU. You want to stand out and be different. It is kind of like showmanship but in real life.

On this Tele, I think it was about 1978 or 79 when we did it. We put on a Kahler whammy bar setup. It's got pulleys and springs and is for doing what was called dive bombs, and making the sounds bend, without the guitar going out of tune. That Kahler set up was $300 back then! I painted a boy's pickup for $300 and then gave all that money to the guitar shop for that Kahler bridge! They had to cut into the guitar to put it in and set it up. But I guess it was worth it. I couldn't have done it right!

On a Telecaster, the strings go all the way through the body, so it stains [sustains] longer. The strings goes in through the back. That's else why I couldn't have put that Kahler on there. I woulda ruint it for sure.

Then we put more pickups on it. A Tele comes with with just two single coil pickups on it, so it hums a bit and is kind of limited. We wanted it to sound different - you see, I already had the other Tele, Tele Number One, and they weren't rare - still aint rare. Just old ones is rare now. Tele Number Two was like 8 years old back then. Just old enough to be ready to upgrade. Nobody thought it was stupid back then - just now, 30 years later! But I don't care, cause I ain't sellin' it.

It aint a collector's guitar, Tondy, it's a player's guitar. And it plays blues like you wouldn't believe, and rock, metal, country, you name it. It'll do it. And it should, with all this work done to it!

Like now, instead of just two single coil pickups like it came with, it's got two humbuckers and one single coil. We put in a five way switch so you can have five combinations of ways it can sound.

They had a "brass works" option from Fender back then, I think them and Kahler was in on it together, so we got that, too. That was a few dollars, at least for a poor man back then. It was the back plates behind the knobs and pickups, and the whammy bar had a brass tip on it, and the knobs were brass.

Since the Kahler was black and the pickups were brass, I threw away the brass knobs and put black ones on it to match better. That Tele was the envy of most everybody who saw it back then. It looked so sharp, and sounded good, and just had "that look" to it. All the boys back then liked it and wished they could do somethin' to theirs. Some of them did, but not many cause nobody had any money. I worked hard because I had a desire for it, and saved my money for this.

Tondeleo: What are the four little holes up there on the part where the tuners are?

Doc: We had the locking nut which was part of the Kahler set up, up there for a while, but it was a hassle to tune, so I took it off and threw it away about a year after putting it on. I never filled the holes from the screws. It'd look worser than it does with the little holes in it. I still like how it looks and sounds. It is good for rock and blues and country, pretty much anything. It's been good to me.

By the way, that guitar was worth maybe $300 at the most when we did all that work on it! A $300 guitar and maybe $500 or so in making it personal. At the time, it DID make it worth more. I weren't doing it to make it worth more in money. I did it to make it worth more to ME.

But now after 30 years, some of them boys say it cut the value in half or less. Ain't that somethin? But I ain't care. It's not for sale. Probably when Marilyn gets married someday and has some youngin's I'll give it to the one what'll learn how to play guitar and treats me good.

Tondeleo: Doc has several electric guitars, as do most of his friends. Most of these Americans, as is stereotypical of Americans, do not leave their instruments the way they came from the factory. They all seem to want to personalise their instruments, with different parts, to get that special tone or increased playability or reliability.

As you've seen on the guitars that I have posted about so far, Doc, like a lot of rural musicians has an eclectic group of odd, cheap instruments that have been adapted and modified to meet the preferences of the owner. He has two home made electric guitars that I am trying to get him to tell me more about. But he wants to build up to them, for later. Actually, he used to be embarrassed by them, because they were home made, but recently, a visit from a musician from Wyoming who saw them and raved about them got him to rethink them.

As for factory built guitars, Doc favours the Fender Telecaster for its sound and tone. He has at least two Telecasters that are about 40 years old.

One of them seems relatively original. He calls it "Tele Number One. " It is very well used and has an awesome sound, at least to me. Doc says that the pickups were modified several years back, and that is what makes this guitar have that sound that many guitarists search for and never find. He will not tell me what was done, other than it was not just some cheap wiring trick. He had the pick ups wound differently by an "electronics dude" and he is not going to tell me just what was done, because I would "tell everybody."

I don't think that most people would care what was done, and whatever it was, I am sure that there are thousands of "Tele" owners who have had the same mods done. Also, after knowing him for so long, I think it is because maybe HE doesn't know exactly what was done, and doesn't want to admit it. Rural Americans can be very secretive towards outsiders and I am fortunate that Doc and Marilyn trust me so far. I think they are amused by me, actually.

To be quite honest, I do not know much about guitars, and am hoping to learn more. Apparently some of these old guitars are worth a few quid. For example, this Tele, Doc does not use for busking anymore, because it is old, and he doesn't want it to get rained on anymore, and also because someone may want to steal it. He plays it at home and in some of the inside venues that he and Marilyn get. He also has stopped loaning it out, except to Big Dave. He says Big Dave is like a brother to him, and can borrow anything he wants.

To me, a tele is rather plain and primitive looking, but to those who love them, they are beautiful. Doc thinks they are beautiful - "prettier than a yellow dog." He says they are beautiful because they are simple and are very tough guitars, and have a good tone. They definitely can sound twangy, and have what he and his friends call "the Nashville sound," whatever that is. Doc says that the mods done to his pickups have given it a "dirtier" but more mellow sound for blues, while also being able to be twangy as a buck toothed squirrel.

He played some country style music using both pickups, with the switch set to the middle. Then he did some Creedence Clearwater style music (that's my description, not his) using the bridge pickup, and it was very twangy. Last he switched up to the neck pickup and played some blues licks,and it sounded like a totally different guitar. More of a Rory Gallagher or Buddy Guy sound. It was very bluesy and gritty sounding. Doc said that it was the "hot rodding" that gives it such a variation of tones.

The next post will be about Tele Number Two, a very much modded Telecaster.To me, it looks more modern, or more like what I would call a rocker's guitar.

Tondeleo: Doc travels a lot and when he is in a new town, he likes to play at the venue or event that he is booked for, and then he always seeks out a local jam or open mic night, if his schedule permits. He usually goes down pretty well at these, and is always invited back. I have accompanied him to several over the last few years, and he truly is well liked and well received by the locals. So I asked him what advice or counsel he would have to some who wanted to go down well at a jam or open mic night.

Doc: Well I ain't good enough to be tellin' anyone else what to do or how to play but I learnt a little bit over the years at how to get a crowd likin' you and how not to get on other musician's nerves what is there.

You don't wanna come in like you think you're JImi Hendrix, Eric Clapton or Stevie Ray. Be humble and not a know it all. Aint nobody like a know it all. There's no end to the number of good talent out there and you probably aint the best what's gonna show up. Be low profile.

Second, it you play guitar, be a good rhythm player first. Most of the time there is no shortage of lead players and few rhythm players. I aint no good at lead, but I am real good at rhythm and that is all I want to be good at. [Actually, Doc is also a very good drummer, a more than proficient bass player and a decent piano player - don't let him fool you with his "aw shucks, I aint nuthin'" act. I have heard him play these instruments. - Tondeleo] I am happy to play rhythm and I enjoy hearin people play a good lead guitar over it.

Number three would be to let the other guys go first. Don't push to go first or act like you think you're on American Idol an you're gonna get discovered. You aint and you aint. Aint nobody gonna discover you. You an everyone else is there to have fun, play some songs and make some friends. That'll help you keep your cool.

Four. Do a few songs that you know well, and that you can relax with and when you're done, sit down, or pull back or whatever they do at that one. Leave em wanting more. You don't wanna be the one that people get up and go to bathroom during, or go out for a smoke.

Five, if you screw up don't let no one know it. Like on that California Blues song what you put on that Yourtube, after the first verse, I got thinkin' about somethin else and then realized I done forgot the rest of the song. But aint no one knowed it, because I made up a bridge and a couple of verses what aint never been in it before or since. Look it up on that Yourtube. [See below - Tondeleo]. But you cant tell it cause I didn't announce it or look mad or anything. If you look close you might catch it when I done realized I was lost, but that is all. They is there to have a good time, not to care about if you screwed up or not.

If you're at a open mic, you oughtta have about 4 songs you're good and relaxed at. Don't come in with somethin you learned special for that night. Play stuff you been playin' so much that you can do it in your sleep. Then you can focus on the people or on performing or you can daydream like what I done on that California Blues.

If you stick to songs what you know real good, then nothin' will distract you and make you mess up so bad you have to stop. Unless you have to hit a man what I have had to do but only a couple of times in more than 35 years of playing. One time I hit a man pretty hard with my Telecaster. But he had it comin, so that don't count.

Here's another one. Do songs what all has a good beat. A solid rhythm what gets people tappin they's feet and wavin' they's heads along with the music. If you're doin' good, people will get up along the front and dance. When me and Marilyn play outside on the streets, people always come up along the front and dance, if we is playing at night. During the day they aint much for dancing or listening too long. They gotta go to work.

It really aint about how good you sing or play but can you hold a audience. If you got them clappin' along or dancing when they walk or swayin' or any of that, you are doin' good. If there is a manager of the place, he will notice it or she will if it is a lady. Here is a trick, Tondy:

Get them to clap a lot. I get them to clap for the lady up front that is dancin'. I get them to clap for the manager! I get them to give a clap of 'preciation for the soundman, or the light man, or the bouncers! Anything to get people to clap a lot and cheer when you're playin! It makes 'em relate that clappin' to you, and the manager hears it and wants you back.

Most people want to hear songs they already know. That's a trick too. You win every time if you do songs they know and like. They aint want to hear some new song what is too slow or hard to sing along with, unless you was Paul McCartney and the song was "Yesterday." I mean in general, that's how it is. I'm talking about playing it safe.

Oh yeah. Tondy, get this one. You gotta act like you're havin' fun and then the people will have fun too. If you're scared you'll mess up, they'll be scared you're gonna mess up and you'll make them nervous. Like I aint never act like I'm scared I'm gonna mess up, because I aint scared of it. I know I'm gonna hit some bad notes but it don't matter. We're here to have fun.

Don't be too loud. Amateurs always want the sound person to turn up the guitar or turn up the mic or to turn up something else. No. Ask the sound person to turn DOWN the one that sounds just right to you, so it matches what you think is too quiet. If you ant anything to be turned up, ask for the stage monitor to be turned up so you can hear yourself. Say, "I need LESS guitar," Or "Gimme less mic." In most places what hold only a couple of hundred people, I don't even use no mic and neither does Marilyn for singing. Aint neither one of us needs one. We just amp the guitar and sometimes the harp. We both sing loud because we been singing outside for years, and that helps you sing out. I can sing louder than a bus.

Don't open with a slow song. Even if it's a pretty one. Start with something high energy, and follow with something high energy, and maybe song number 3 can be slow, but end with a fast one.

Have plenty of business cards to hand people. It aint no good to go out and play for free and not get a gig out of it somewhere or at least a meal. You also got to know what you charge or what you'll take if someone wants you go play for them. I aint no fashion plate and I aint greedy, but I gotta eat.

Like, there is circles of people what know me an they pass my name to their friends, and I get to go all over the place. Mostly I charge about $200 or $250 if Marilyn comes with me, and they gotta feed me and give me a place to sleep if it is far away.

I went down Texas an played for three days for this: They fly me out there and back. They give me rides, food, place to sleep and $1000 and a ride back to the airport. I stayed at a dude's house one night, at a motel two nights and at another dude's house one night. They played me six times in a bunch of places what I didn't know where. But it was good an for one man that is good money for a weekend. For me at least. And I left cards there and made friends and they will have me back. If you're from far away, they think you is better.

Put your name on your stuff. Name and address or cell phone number or email if you got it. I got email now. If you leave something behind they can get it back to you. Keeps people more honest by not stealing your stuff so fast and saying they thought it was theirs.

Show respect. Act like you really like everybody else what is playing. Don't be no critic, telling what you think they need to be doing better and badmouthing anyone. Whatever you send out in life comes back to you multiplied. Say something good about every body. Clap and cheer for them.

Say good things into the mic about the place you is playing, about manager, the sound person, and the audience and other players. Make sure people can tell that you really like people and that you aint no snob. Aint nobody like a snob.

Oh yeah, and you aint got to have good equipment. You just got to get some good sounds out of it. I like Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials and he plays $75 guitars, and I do too. Most of the ones I play is what other people laugh at, and call a piece of crap. They IS a piece of crap. But I can move a crowd with them. It aint the instrument, it's the heart of the person playin. I play crap guitars and got some cheap amps.

I have a old Peavey tube amp with 2 12's what is now my best amp. Others is worse. I have a old 1966 or 67 Telecaster what I have had forever and some people say is worth about $500 but I would not take $700 for it. That is a good enough guitar. But I usually take out pieces of crap guitars.