A few years ago, I was playing a show in West Plains, Missouri. In the first verse of one particular song, I recounted the famous story about Bing Crosby discovering Les Paul in his garage as Paul was searching for the sound of a solid-body guitar. In the lyric, I placed them in Paul’s garage in New Jersey. After the show, this guy approached me and complimented the song, but said I had it wrong. Paul and Crosby were actually in Hollywood. He then handed me this beautiful hardcover book called Les Paul in his Own Words. Oversized, gorgeous, in an additional hardcover-sleeve. He had published it himself, after years of interviews with Les, and limited the run to about 1,500 copies. Each one was hand numbered and signed by Paul, and he gave me one. It even has an introduction by Paul McCartney. The gentleman’s name was Russ Cochran, and he co-authored the book. He was living in West Plains, MO, where I just happened to be performing a song about Les Paul.
I of course changed the lyric immediately.
AMERICAN MASTERS explores the life of Les Paul, and the revolutionary results of his drive to create sounds that had “never been heard on earth” when “Les Paul: Chasing Sound” airs Wednesday, July 11, 2007, 8:00-9:30 p.m. CDT on NPT-Channel 8 and PBS member stations nationwide.
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I’m psyched to watch the masters show. Did you hear about the ’59 Sunburst documentary that’s coming out as well? Les Pauls are awesome guitars with a great history.
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