Author Archives: sixstrstories

About sixstrstories

I am the son and only child of a registered nurse & a self-employed collector of wildflowers. I went on to become: a Beatles’ fan; a record collector; a drummer; a music magazine subscriber; a guitar player; a songwriter; a high school graduate; a college student; a music major; a performing singer/guitarist; a photography student; a yearbook photographer; a student teacher; a boyfriend; a letter writer; a college graduate; an elementary school music teacher; an apartment dweller; a husband; a guitar teacher/independent contractor; a homeowner; an independent music producer; the father of a daughter; the father of a son; a bandmate; a teacher of the history of popular music in America; an instructor of music/adjunct faculty member; a grandfather (x3); a condo dweller; and a blogger.

Guitar Music: “The Water Is Wide”

Posted on January 10, 2016 by sixstrstories

(To see more Guitar TAB transcriptions, click on Guitar Music in the Categories list!) sixstr stories, as it says on the home page above the right hand corner of the close-up photo of my favorite guitar, is “Just another WordPress.com weblog.” … Continue reading →

“O Holy Night”

Posted on December 23, 2015 by sixstrstories

I originally shared the recording of “O Holy Night” by The City of New Orleans on the occasion of sixstr stories’ first Christmas. On December 22, 2010, I wrote: This is my favorite recording/performance of Christmas music. Period. Hands down. … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Audio, Random Topics | Tagged Christmas Music, Oh Holy Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Trombone Shorty, Troy Andrews | 2 Comments

An Early Christmas Gift

Posted on December 20, 2015 by sixstrstories

Acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Ed Gerhard has performed in the Seacoast New Hampshire area during the holiday season every year for the past 33 years. For most of those years, “Ed Gerhard’s Annual Christmas Guitar Concert” has been held in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, Random Topics | Tagged Christmas Acoustic Guitar Music, Ed Gerhard, Ed Gerhard's Annual Christmas Guitar Concert, Martin Simpson, Portsmouth NH, Silent Night | 1 Comment

These Wide Waters

Posted on November 23, 2015 by sixstrstories

Last July… I spent the better part of a Wednesday morning and early afternoon in the emergency room of my local hospital. Our 14-year-old family station wagon was suddenly reduced to a nearly-worthless pile of spare parts, scrap metal and … Continue reading →

Posted in EFS Music, Posts with Audio, Random Topics | Tagged EFS Music, Eric Sinclair Songs, The Water Is Wide, These Wide Waters | Leave a comment

Tasting The Universe

Posted on October 29, 2015 by sixstrstories

On the evening of Wednesday, September 2, 2015, the weather in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was perfect: a bit more than seasonably warm and barely a cloud in the sky. Perfect for catching an outdoor concert in Portsmouth’s Prescott Park, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, Random Topics | Tagged Homecoming, Josh Ritter, Prescott Park Arts Festival, River House Concert Series, Sermon On The Rocks, The Royal City Band | Leave a comment

This Historic Day In Music: Wanda Jackson

Posted on October 20, 2015 by sixstrstories

Wanda Jackson? Let me introduce to you… One of the pioneering artists in the history of Rock & Roll: singer, guitarist & songwriter Wanda Jackson, The Queen of Rockabilly. Wanda Lavonne Jackson was born in Maud, Oklahoma on October 20, … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, This Historic Day In Music | Tagged Elvis Presley, I Gotta Know, Queen of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson | Leave a comment

This Historic Day In Music: John Winston Lennon

Posted on October 9, 2015 by sixstrstories

Seventy-five years ago today, on October 9, 1940, at 7:00 am in the Maternity Hospital on Oxford Street in Liverpool, England, John Winston Lennon was born. He was the first and only child of Fred and Julia Stanley Lennon. John … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, This Historic Day In Music | Tagged Abbey Road Studios, Brian Epstein, George Harrison, George Martin, John Lennon, Nowhere Man, Parlophone Records, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Rubber Soul, The Beatles | Leave a comment

September’s Songs

Posted on September 25, 2015 by sixstrstories

On the sixstr stories calendar of historic days in music, no month has as many dates commemorating individual pieces of music than September. Here’s the list! (Happy listening!) September 4th On this date in 1962, The Beatles – 21-year-old John … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, Random Topics | Tagged Alan Lomax, Ashley & Foster, Black Bottom Stomp, Georgia Turner, James Taylor, Jelly Roll Morton, Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers, Love Me Do, Oh Susanna, Rising Sun Blues, Stephen Foster, T-Bone Walker, The Beatles, They Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday's Just As Bad) | Leave a comment

Thomas Edison’s First Phonograph

Posted on September 8, 2015 by sixstrstories

“Of all my inventions, I liked the phonograph best.” Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) Thomas Edison wrote the date – November 29, 1877 – in the upper right-hand corner of the piece of paper on which he had drawn the sketch of … Continue reading →

Posted in Random Topics | Tagged John Kruesi, Menlo Park, Phonograph, Scientific American, Thomas Alva Edison, Tinfoil Phonograph | 1 Comment

On This Historic Day In Music: Columbia Records, PC 33795

Posted on August 25, 2015 by sixstrstories

“The release date is just one day. The record is forever.” Bruce Springsteen, 1975 Forty years ago today, on August 25, 1975, Columbia Records released Born To Run, the third album by the New Jersey-born, songwriter/singer/guitarist Bruce Springsteen. The song … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, This Historic Day In Music | Tagged All Music Guide To Rock, Bloomsbury Press, Born To Run, Bruce Springsteen, Columbia Records, Louis P. Masur, Meeting Across The River, Runaway Dream, William Ruhlmann | 1 Comment