Author Archives: dobroallen

Looks like  I may still owe $20, so, schtum!  DOBROS and NATIONALS; OLD SCHOOL HEAVY METAL  I GREW UP IN JOHNNY WINTER COUNTRY. When Johnny wasn’t tearing open the sky on a reverse-body Gibson Firebird, the pride of Beaumont, Texas was frequently seen and heard with a crazy metal guitar which sounded like a garbageContinue reading “Dobros and Nationals; Old School Heavy Metal”

Rickenbacker for Dummies     When 70 million Americans watched The Beatles on Ed Sullivan that night in February, 1964, a couple of things happened. For one, the foreign-sounding-yet-built-in-Southern-California “Rickenbacker” guitar metamorphosed from elegant oddity to The Guitar That Every Teenager On The Planet Wanted.(Footnote: George’s choice, a Gretsch, likewise sounded German, but wasn’t.) Oh, theContinue reading “Rickenbacker for Dummies”

The night Gretsch happened for me was not The Beatles on Ed Sullivan (I was watching, but, at 4 years old, the subtleties of Hi-Lo ‘tron pickups eluded me); Not when I bought my first Atkins LP, even though I used to stare at the Chester and Lester album cover, dazzled by the banks ofContinue reading “The Night Gretsch Happened”

Howdy. This here’s my blog. This first post is something I wrote in 2009, while living in Dallas, for the Texas publication “Southwest Blues”. I now live in Los Angeles, and will be posting stories; some old, some new. Kick back, light an expensive cigar, and enjoy the ride!The Blues Jam Diary of a HollywoodContinue reading “The Blues Jam Diary of a Hollywood Texan”