playing for Do and Bo 2006

playing for Do and Bo
Originally published 6/1/2006

I was on the schedule at the Northwest Folklife Festival this past weekend in Seattle, but decided to try a little busking besides. I was singing and playing my friend Thomas Corlett’s metal guitar, with Thomas playing clarinet and my sweetie Taizz Medalia on spoons. We were doing fine, attracting and holding a little crowd (which is an accomplishment at that festival, with so much music to compete with) and even making a few bucks. But the big thrill, for me, was when a woman walked up and asked if the guitar was a National. Yes, it is, I said. A newish one. “I have an old one,” she said. I asked her about it and how she acquired it. “My grandfather is the inventor of these guitars,” she said. Sure enough! She is Teresa Dopyera, granddaughter of John Dopyera, inventor of resonator guitars. (The family name became part of “Do-bro,” short for “Dopyera Brothers.”) Very cool to meet and play a National for her. Reminds me of about five years ago when I was playing at a ice-cream parlor/coffeehouse in Newport News, Va., and a woman started singing along, quite musically. She offered to sing a few alone if I’d back her. She was good, although the songs were kind of jazzy for me to follow! I asked her if she played guitar and she said, “My father does, but he never had time to teach me, he was always on the road.” I asked his name and she told me: Bo Diddley!