The Fender Telecaster!!!

The most American of guitars. 6 great Telecaster tracks

Leo Fender brought The Fender Telecaster into the world in 1951. Retail at that time was $189.50. Rock and roll was in its infancy, so the market for these guitars was mostly western swing players. One of the first of many greats to use a Telecaster was Jimmy Bryant. His records from the early 50s are a marvel of ingenuity and dexterity, and he’s still considered one of the greatest players of all time. This is good time music.

Tele’s use the simplest of designs. Truly a working man’s guitar. Or at least it was. Recently I saw an all -original 1952 “black guard” Telecaster selling for $100,000. This would’ve made Danny Gatton clutch his sides with amusement. He had no interest in keeping his guitars original, he constantly tinkered with them. I guess Jimmy Bryant would be amazed too.

Muddy Waters, Steve Cropper, Jimmy Wyble, Ted Green, Ed Bickert, Vince Gill, Robbie Robertson, Roy Buchanan and so many more used a Telecaster. Jeff Beck and Robben Ford were visitors. Bill Frisell has favored various Tele’s for years, and of course it’s still the go- to amongst most country and rock pickers in Nashville.

It is truly the most American of guitars. This inspires a certain passion amongst its users.

Says my partner in organizing the inaugural Masters of the Telecaster camp, Jim Weider, “It kind of makes you your own man playing it," he expands. ‘You gotta figure it out. Somebody will hear if you make a mistake or go out of pitch. I’ve always liked that.”

Meaning, to me, it’s not as easy to play as one of those fancy Gibsons! It fights you a little.

We took the most open approach possible at the camp, celebrating the instrument in many ways. We had Joe Louis Walker and Carolyn Wonderland playing the blues, Jim Weider and GE Smith rocking out, Bill Frisell playing country -soaked jazz, Redd Volkaert playing Western swing. Jon Herington played jazz, rock n roll fusion and standards, Adam Levy slid between styles, as did Larry Campbell and Guthrie Trapp. Bill Kirchen was Bill Kirchen.

By the end, what we had was a full- on celebration. Turns out there’s an avid community of players who love this instrument who want to be around each other! We had players all across the stylistic spectrum in our student body. It was unbelievably fun. Each night featured some new surprise, with different players connecting with each other, sometimes for the first time, making uproarious music.

My reference points for this instrument lead back to my upbringing in Washington DC, where Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan held forth. But Roy Nichols, who played with Merle Haggard for many years, has always been an iconic sound in my mind, too. Discovering the wild range of Redd Volkert was one of the great pleasures of this camp. Though I’ve heard him before, he revealed depths of ingenuity in his playing that were truly amazing.