Author Archives: sixstrstories
This Historic Day In Music: Mary Chapin Carpenter
Songwriter, singer & guitarist Mary Chapin Carpenter has performed at the Prescott Park Arts Festival in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, three times over the past five summers. She shared the stage with singer/songwriter Marc Cohn on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 and … Continue reading
Two Kings, Two Birthdays, Two Songs
Lead Belly and Sam Cooke. The “King of the 12-String Guitar” and the “King of Soul.” Last week, as I read the birthday entries for those two artists on my January list of “Historic Days In Music” – January 20, … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: Elizabeth Cotten – Take 3
It’s been five years since I last celebrated Elizabeth Cotten’s birthday here on sixstr stories. I think it’s time to do so again. On January 5, 1893, in the town of Carrboro, North Carolina (right next to Chapel Hill), George … Continue reading
Quotations Marked 6
From A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens: “It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that, while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” British … Continue reading
A Little Christmas Polka
Must Be Santa! The Rounder Christmas Album is one of my all-time favorite Christmas collections. Released in 1995 by Rounder Records – the legendary-and-still-going-strong Cambridge, Massachusetts-based label – this 19-track album contains a recording that is one of my family’s … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: “Two Tone Stomp” & “Have To Change Keys To Play These Blues”
In the Fall of 1928, Lonnie Johnson and Eddie Lang were the two best and busiest studio guitarists in New York City. Lonnie Johnson… …was born Alfonzo Johnson in the Storyville section of New Orleans, Louisiana on February 8, 1894. … Continue reading
The Ones That Got Away
I was looking through an old photo album the other day and came upon some pictures of a few old friends. Here’s one. That is a Fender “Duo-Sonic.” It was my first electric guitar. I purchased that guitar sometime in … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: Georgia Turner & The Rising Sun Blues (Yes, again.)
I love this story. In September of 1937, Alan Lomax and his wife, Elizabeth, took a song-collecting trip through the mountains of Kentucky. Alan had recently been appointed as the Assistant in Charge of the Archive of Folk Song of … Continue reading
Another Trip To The Museum
In March of 2014, I published a post here on sixstr stories entitled “A Trip To The Museum.” In that post I wrote about three very old guitars (1628, 1680 & 1725) that were on display in the Musical Instruments … Continue reading
sixstr stories 