Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge THE BLUES

For those interested in the history of the blues and how Sears & Roebuck enters in to it.

http://reason.com/archives/2012/04/19/delta-dawn/singlepage

Fascinating read there, Mac. Thanks for posting it!

(...btw...betcha didn't know that the reason why Montgomery Ward ceases to exist while Sears is still in business is because Monkey Ward ONLY ever sold accordions in their catalog...and WHO ever likes listenin' to THOSE???!!!...nah...just a joke, of course)

Well Dwight the polka never really caught on like the blues, except maybe Milwaukee.

Interesting read indeed.
By the way I’ve read some conspirators claim the man in the picture in this read is not really Robert "Hellhound on My Trail" Johnson. But that’s another story/theory altogether.

I bought my first guitar for 14 dollars at the age of 12 from a Western Auto Store, remember those? Put her in layaway and paid for it a bit at a time with a summer job. Never did learn to play that thing worth a damn, or any other one for that matter.
Didn’t mean to hijack the thread, back to the regularly scheduled program.

Borrowed from the article which I give a +1 "It may seem odd that an instrument with African roots, originally played by plantation slaves, would become popular among the white masses, but the banjo was portable, melodic, and relatively easy to play." Really? Seems perfectly natural to me and besides if whites hadn't hapsicords would probably still be in fashion and we would have been doing the Mineret at the high school dance.

The dime store photo of Robert Johnson is, for everything i've ever seen, is legit. Johnny Shines even recognized the flat top guitar in the photo as being the first one he used. I've not heard of any controversy on the photo in the past, and looked around a bit on the internet today and still can't find anyone disputing it.

As far as the Sears & Roebuck guitars (Silvertone), they extended into the sixties as being the starter guitars (and amps) for the new young players. I know 'cause my folks bought me my first Silvertone when i was ten. I've owned several since (plus amps), and have a few now, including the amp-in-case. They were made by several companies including Harmony and Danelectro.

Truetone was the brand that Western Auto had. I have one. Monkey Ward had plenty of guitars. They were called Airline, made by Valco. Jack White of The White Stripes, has several. He pretty much bought them up i think.

Guitar manufacturers would license out their brand such as Epiphone (and Dwight Argo will surely appreciate this), like the Dwight Department Store out of New York. Epiphone supplied them. Steve Marriott, of Humble Pie, played a Dwight Coronet. I have had two Epiphone Coronets, and have one of them still. Great little guitar with one P90 pickup. It definitely has the same sound as what Steve used.

The lowly Sears Silvertone is living on bigger than ever in the vintage collecting world (considering they were a cheap guitar and amplifier). The Silvertone amps have a great sound, btw.

Thanks for posting this, Mac. I didn't know the banjo (banjar) originated from Africa. Bella Fleck (arguably the world's best banjo player) took his banjo to Africa and played with locals in towns, villages and homesteads all over the continent. I now better understand the significance of that venture.

$1.89 for a new guitar. I'd love one of those Silvertones in my collection.

Quote:

---

I bought my first guitar for 14 dollars at the age of 12 from a Western Auto Store, remember those? Put her in layaway and paid for it a bit at a time with a summer job. Never did learn to play that thing worth a damn, or any other one for that matter.

---

sounds like a great song lyric to me, Mike.

hey Churchkey. I've been wrong before but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express one night.

Here's an article that sheds more light on the subject. You're right, i believe the name "Silvertone" wasn't used to re-brand guitars until the late '50s. Stella was popular in the early 20th century because of its affordability. I see 'Acme' listed in the one page shown from the early S&R catalog.
http://www.19thcenturyguitar.com/index.p...e&Itemid=62

STELLA "I AM A CONTENDER!"