Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Category: Merle Travis

Autoharp +/- harp
Zeroto180

Cecil Null & His “Gun-tar” Of 1968

I recently stumbled upon Ray Brack‘s “lost” piece of reporting about Cecil Null‘s handcrafted musical long gun (i.e., gun guitar – or is it guitar gun?) for Billboard ‘s June 22, 1968 edition: Billboard June 22, 1968 * “the guitar strings are attached near the mouth of the rifle barrel

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"Baby You Done Flubbed Your Dub With Me"
Zeroto180

Rare & Unissued King/Federal/DeLuxe

R  A  R  E    &    O  B  S  C  U  R  E     K  I  N  G Click on song titles below for streaming audio (where available) Merle Travis — along with Grandpa Jones — would inaugurate King Records in 1943 as the first two musical artists to

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"Squaws Along the Yukon"
Zeroto180

Hank Thompson: Western Swing’s Dean of Diction

In my prior post about the Nashville Chowdown LP, I mentioned that back in the early 70s jazz singer Blossom Dearie‘s  “exceptional annunciation” was being put to good use in the ‘Singing Rice-ipe’ radio ads.  If Blossom Dearie had a male counterpart, that person would undoubtedly be Hank Thompson, whose

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