Monthly Archives: August 2011

Watch White Lies Perform “Death” at Lollapalooza

Posted: August 16, 2011

Watch below as British band White Lies perform “Death” at the 2011 Lollapalooza Festival. In the clip, bassist Charles Cave is yielding one of his Gretsch basses.

“They’ve done really well,” he said of his Gretsch basses. “We do get into gear but we don’t hoard gear like some bands do. I quite like to buy things, play them for a while and then sell them and use the money to buy something else as opposed to just keeping everything. I don’t need hundreds of different guitars or basses or effects pedals. You find really good ones and they just stay with you. At my small flat in London, I also have a really nice vintage electric six-string Gretsch that I found in a vintage guitar shop in London. They are very good looking instruments — really stunning. All of them, every single one.”

His bandmate, singer Harry McVeigh readily concurred.

“I have a White Falcon, and it’s one of the best looking guitars ever,” he said.

Tags: Death, Gretsch bass, Gretsch Guitars, White Lies
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Michelle Branch Returns to Pop with “Loud Music”

Posted: August 13, 2011

Grammy-award winning artist Michelle Branch has debuted her music video for “Loud Music,” the lead single off forthcoming album West Coast Time. The album is expected to be released this September by Reprise Records.

In recent years, Branch traded in her trademark poppy hooks to make country music with the Wreckers, but the new album sees the singer returning to her pop roots. “Loud Music” even references rock gods Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix.

Watch the video below as Branch rocks her brand new Gretsch G6136TLTV White Falcon.

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Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum Hosts Reception for New Chet Atkins Exhibit

Posted: August 12, 2011

Photos by Donn Jones Photography

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum celebrated the grand opening of the Chet Atkins: Certified Guitar Player exhibit on Wednesday night with a private reception. Approximately 200 guests, including Fred Gretsch, Atkins’ daughter Merle Russell, Duane Eddy and James Burton, were warmly greeted by museum director Kyle Young.

“Chet was always a supportive friend of this institution,” he said. “He was also one of country music’s ultimate renaissance men, one of the greatest instrumentalists in American music history, and a true musical savant. We are truly honored to tell his story, one we know will resonate with country fans old and new.”

The evening included memorable musical performances by award-winning thumbpicker Ben Hall and world-class guitar-slinger Steve Wariner, who received official “C.G.P.” status even from Atkins in 1997.

Gretsch Company president Fred Gretsch also addressed the crowd, sharing details of Atkins’ history with their guitar company. Gretsch also brought onstage Atkins’ teary-eyed friend, Paul Yandell.

At the conclusion of the program, guests were invited to take an exclusive advance tour of the Chet Atkins: Certified Guitar Player exhibition which officially opens to the public on Friday, August 12.

The Gretsch Company joins the Great American Country Television Network as proud supporters of the new exhibit, which is scheduled to run through June 11, 2012. The exhibition will be accompanied by an ongoing series of programs throughout its duration.

For details on this grand opening weekend events, click here.

Australian guitar legend, Troy Cassar-Daley enjoys the exhibit. Photos/Donn Jones Photography

Fred Gretsch and Kyle Young. Photos/Donn Jones Photography

Steve Wariner, Earl Klugh, Reggie Young, Duane Eddy, James Burton, Scotty Moore, Paul Yandell, Ben Hall and Mark Pritcher. Photos/Donn Jones Photography

Paul Yandell and Duane Eddy. Photos/Donn Jones Photography

Steve Wariner. Photos/Donn Jones Photography

Ben Hall performs. Photos/Donn Jones Photography

Fred & Dinah Gretsch. Photos/Donn Jones Photography

http://www.gretschguitars.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/freddinah.jpg DIna

Tags: Ben Hall, Chet Atkins, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Duane Eddy, Fred Gretsch, Steve Wariner
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Introducing the New 6120 Eddie Cochran Signature Hollow Body Guitar

Posted: August 11, 2011

Gretsch proudly honors the legacy of rock ‘n’ roll and rockabilly pioneer Eddie Cochran with the G6120 Eddie Cochran Signature Hollow Body guitar model. The instrument is a single-cutaway beauty with western motif and full, resonant sound that combines features based directly on Cochran’s main guitar, the orange Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins hollow body guitar. This signature model comes hot on the heels of the acclaimed, limited edition G6129EC Eddie Cochran Tribute Custom Shop guitar.

During his all-too brief life and career, Cochran (1938-1960) only ever played the Chet Atkins hollow-body he bought brand-new in 1955 at age 16 from the Bell Gardens Music Center in his hometown, Bell Gardens, Calif.

It was this guitar that Cochran played on hits such as “Summertime Blues,” “Twenty Flight Rock,” “C’mon Everybody,” “Somethin’ Else,” “Nervous Breakdown” and “Sittin’ in the Balcony,” which influenced generations of guitarists. And it was this guitar that was in the trunk of the car on the April 1960 night that Cochran met his tragic and untimely fate on a winding rural road in Chippenham, England.

The G6120’s elegant single-cutaway hollow body has an arched, three-ply maple back and sides with parallel bracing and double-bound f holes. The two-piece maple neck has black and white single-ply binding and a polished brass nut. Other features include a 9.5”-radius rosewood fingerboard with 22 standard frets and western-themed pearloid inlays (cacti, steer horns and fences); DynaSonic^™ single-coil bridge pickup and Lindy Fralin “Dog Ear” single-coil neck pickup with three-position switching; opaque plexi pickguard bearing Gretsch logo; aluminum bridge with rosewood base, Bigsby^® B6GBVF vibrato tailpiece; gold G-arrow control knobs and gold-plated, chrome and aluminum hardware; gold-plated Grover^® V98G Sta-Tite^™ tuners; elegant “Western Maple Stain” finish; and deluxe hard shell case.

View more product details here.

Tags: 6120 Eddie Cochran Signature Hollow Body Guitar, Eddie Cochran
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