Straight from the stage of "Town Hall Party" were Larry and Lorrie Collins in their first Southern California appearance in 15 years, and their first show in Anaheim in decades! Singing their big hits "Mercy," "Rock Boppin' Baby," "Let's Have A Party," "Whistle Bait," and others, the show also included Larry Collins playing the snot out of his double- neck Mosrite on such tunes as "Rockin' Gypsy" and "Hurricane!"
Featuring Paul "Mr. Moto" Johnson! Many remember Teisco Del Rey as the columnist for Guitar Player magazine for many years. Others remember him from his astounding instrumental albums, where he tackled everything from surf to soul, channeling the spirit of Duane Eddy. Yet others remember him as the only man in the last 3 decades to seriously play the "Guitorgan"! All this and more was revealed in Teisco Del Rey's first-ever Southern California live appearance, with an all- star band featuring Paul Johnson of the Bel-Airs (who came and rocked his song "Mr. Moto" at last year's fest!), Steve Soest from The Torquays, and Pete Curry of the Halibuts and Los Straitjackets!
Your host teamed up with the king of nerdabilly from Enon, Ohio, in a special set of guitar duets! This was NOT two guys sitting down with a couple of acoustic guitars.
In a dangerous attempt to see how many Mosrite doubleneck players we could fit onto the bill, we brought back perennial favorite Brian Lonbeck of Bakersfield to tear down the house with more Maphis-inspired mayhem!
The English-born Gregory was given the title "Maestro" by Queen Elizabeth's government in 1983. After years of studying classical music, he entered the field of rock, where he has mastered such inventions as the seven-string guitar and the electric mandolin.
Junior has been playing around Southern California for the last three decades, first as a founding member of the Mighty Flyers with Rod Piazza, then as a ten-year member of Canned Heat. Since then he's played with just about everybody in the blues world and has amassed a cult following as the blues cat with THE TONE!!!!
It is rare to see an instrument made by Paul A. Bigsby, inventor of the Bigsby vibrato. Many people know that Bigsby was an important instrument maker who invented the first modern solidbody electric guitar for Merle Travis, but most have never seen one of these instruments in person! For one evening we had a band on stage playing exclusively instruments made by Bigsby. The band was led by festival stalwarts Jeremy "J.W." Wakefield on steel guitar and "T.K." Smith on electric guitar, along with a slew of other older and younger players--all living Bigsby owners were invited to participate!
Hailing from Finland, Lester Peabody is a double threat to be reckoned with--not only as a great Chet-style finger picker on the guitar, but also as a great steel guitar player! Bonus for all the lonely guitar fans was an appearance by sultry-voiced Texas singer Marti Brom, who sang a couple of numbers with Lester!
Jimmy Wilsey has an impressive resume. Not only is he the guitarist who played on Chris Isaak's breakout hit "Wicked Game," with its haunting atmospheric guitar parts, but he was also in the seminal punk band the Avengers, who can actually claim to have shared a bill with the Sex Pistols at their very last show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco in 1978!
