Author Archives: sixstrstories
This Historic Day… my Daughter
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birth – day…. tooo-oo yoooou, Haaap-py Birrrrthdaaaaay……, dear Daughter, HAP – PY BIRTH – DAAAAY — TOOO-OO-OO-OO-OOOOO… YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let the party begin! “My Daughter’s Eyes” – Words, Music, Guitar & Vocals by Eric Sinclair T.C., H.T.O.F., … Continue reading
Finding Out
My son called the other day. It had been a couple of weeks since we’d last talked, but he soon started excitedly telling me about this excellent movie he’d recently watched: “The Last Play At Shea.” “The Last Play At Shea” is a 2010 … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man”
Who: Muddy Waters, electric guitar & vocals; Little Walter, harmonica; Jimmy Rogers, electric guitar; Otis Spann, piano; Willie Dixon, upright bass; Fred Below, drums. What: “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man” by Willie Dixon When: January 7, 1954 Where: the recording … Continue reading
An Old Acquaintance
It was the first Monday afternoon of the new year. I was driving through town, running an errand, listening to Tom Waits. The CD playing on the car stereo was one I’d purchased the previous Saturday while doing some end-of-2011 shopping at my favorite store on … Continue reading
The New Possibility
In May of 1970, when I started learning how to play the guitar, I had no idea that an acoustic guitar, if played in a certain style, could, on it’s own, sing a song. I discovered that this was possible thanks to John … Continue reading
Probably More Of An End of Winter Song, But…
I was sitting at my kitchen table, eating breakfast. The TV was on, tuned to a Boston station, and I was half-watching/half-listening to the morning news. The newscaster breathlessly announced a “Commuter Alert!!!” There was a major traffic jam on the southeast … Continue reading
A Song From A Holiday Past
Thanksgiving has come and gone. Christmas lies ahead. Most days we are two. We were a family of three eating turkey. We will be all four when opening presents. I’ve never written a cautionary song. This one is simply a … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: Merle Travis
In the world of guitar music, I know of only a few players who were respected and influential enough to have a style of playing the instrument named after them. There was Maybelle Carter and the “Carter scratch,” Elizabeth Cotten and her “Cotten picking” and … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: November 27, 1936, The Gunter Hotel, Rm.414, San Antonio, Texas
Today, November 27, 1936, was the third recording session in five days for the 25-year-old Blues musician from Mississippi, Robert Johnson. The first session, his first, had been on the previous Monday, November 23. It had been quite productive, with a … Continue reading
sixstr stories 