You can never have too many guitars - Tex Morton

There's an advertisement appearing on my Facebook feed with that saying almost on a cool looking coffee mug and a picture of a pile of guitars. I'd love it, but they want US$20 for it plus postage and I'm too stingy to pay that. I'd rather put it to more guitars:)

The one in front of the photo is a treasure. It is an original Tex Morton guitar. It has a guarantee label inside saying they will pay 50 pounds if it is proven not to be an original. I used to play it a lot when doing blues songs with my band on gigs as a slide guitar with an acoustic pickup, but it is almost unplayable as an ordinary guitar so most of the time it hangs on my wall.

When I visited the Country Music Hall of Fame museum, they had a tribute to him. He was a Kiwi who spent most of his life in Australia (where he was inducted into their Country Music Hall of Fame) known as the Yodelling Boundary Rider and he was a common figure at rodeo's and country events. He passed away 34 years ago at the age of 44 so the rough life didn't hurt him too much.

Not many people knew it but he was also a hypnotist and a whip cracker who started his career busking on street corners during the depression, so for those of you starting off your careers, keep doing it if that's what spins your wheels.

This video, slide up to just over 3 minutes will take you back towards the end of his career 50 years ago and you can see the trademark Tex Morton logo on the stock of the guitar he's playing. I love the story in his song about being arrested for busking. About 10 years after this video was recorded, I was arrested in Christchurch as teenager busking without a license by the cathedral that was pretty much destroyed in the earthquake a few years ago. Charges were dropped when council pointed out there was no such thing as a buskers licence. I guess the real issue they had was that I had long hair and was therefore an undesirable.

For me, keeping the guitar is an acknowledgement of some of the great pioneers of country music. Don't make me any offers, it is not for sale. As you can see I don't need it as a slide guitar any more, I also have a resonator, but I would love to have a National Steel...