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Topic: Merle Lemon.........a great guitarist! |
Jerry Hayes
From:
Virginia Beach, Va.
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Posted 18 Nov 2007 8:22 am |
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Does anyone here remember or did you know the late Merle Lemon? He was a pretty hot picker in my book. Here's my memory of him.........
Around '73 or '74 I was working a club in the Los Angeles area which had an afterhours jam every Friday and Saturday night from 2:30 to 7:30 AM. It was an easy after hours as we always had enough jammers to play so we didn't have to work too hard!
One weekend right before the jam, one of the waitresses brought a male friend of her's over to me and asked if he could play some guitar later. He looked sort of "dorky" to me but I said OK.
I mentioned it and pointed him out to the bandleader who said he'd get him up later. There was a small bar around the bandstand and he just sat there watching the band for most of the night. Later when most of the crowd left we got him up and I went from lead guitar to bass.
All I can say is my mouth dropped to the floor. He took my Gibson and brought out one of those small clear plastic thumbpicks and proceeded to play some of the best guitar I'd ever heard.....I was embarassed for the way he'd been treated.
That was my first meeting with Merle Lemon. It seems he was a Gibson rep and was in the area for a while. The next week he brought in his own guitar which to my surprise was a 7 string Gibson Les Paul. It was made at the factory like that. I'd never seen one of those before and he used the whole thing. Needless to say, we got him up right away and he played most of the night. I hooked up my steel but just spent most of the night watching him as he was amazing.
I never saw him after that, but I heard later on that he'd passed away and I was sorry to hear about it. He was a premier player and I was just wondering if anyone out there knew him or had worked with him at any point. I don't even know what part of the country he was originally from......JH in Va.
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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!! |
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Jerry Hayes
From:
Virginia Beach, Va.
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Posted 23 Nov 2007 9:40 am
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No one knew this guy?.......JH in Va.
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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!! |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 23 Nov 2007 10:41 am
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There's a pic of Merle about halfway down the page here.
Greg |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 23 Nov 2007 10:53 am
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Greg |
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Jerry Hayes
From:
Virginia Beach, Va.
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Posted 26 Nov 2007 8:13 am
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Thanks Greg.........JH in Va.
_________________
Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!! |
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Bobby Caldwell
From:
St. Louis, Missouri, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 28 Nov 2007 7:12 pm
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| Yes, I remember Merle very well. I met him when he was with Gibson guitars way back when. He was a really fine player and heck of a nice guy.Bobby |
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Ken Newman
From:
maitland, Florida, /desmoines,ia
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Posted 28 Nov 2007 10:44 pm
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merle? not only a good rep , also a great player and moreover a fun, fun player. we met in des moines as he called on george w. owner of des moines music, george brought him out to pick with me , george took a taxi home. start of a good pickin' friendship that lived on
even in george's party room.
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stay tuned, kenny |
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