famous

Many people only know me from my association with the late, great Chet Atkins. The shot at the left was taken at his club in Nashville. The one above was taken at his office on Music Row. I helped him find parts for the D'Angelico he's playing.

One of the greatest and most humbling experiences I've ever had was playing a television show with virtuoso, Danny Gatton. I believe he was the best I've ever heard - and certainly the best I played with.

Talking with Blues great, Gregg Allman in his home town, Nashville. His brother, Duane Allman remains my greatest influence on guitar.
photo by Steve Rusin

Fellow Hoosier, Lonnie Mack at his Centerville, TN home.

All pictures below were taken and remain under copyrite by Dave Kyle unless otherwise stated.The quality
of some shots is less than perfect. Feel free to download them for your own personal use only.

Phil Everley at his home in Taluka Lake, CA playing his father, Ike's guitar.

One of my earliest influences, Scotty Moore, who played guitar for Elvis in the Sun Records years.

Founder of Sun Records, the late Sam Phillips in his Memphis, TN home. For those of you who don't know, he made the first recordings of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, B. B. King and many others. He also had Roy Orbison and Charlie Rich signed to his label. One of the most awe-inspiring people I ever met!!!

Another beautiful soul, Carl Perkins, taken in Nashville, TN. None better.

Buck Owens, taken in his office in Bakersfield, CA. I never thought I liked this guy until I met him. I was able to help return his red, white and blue Fender Telecaster, which now sits in his museum, the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield.

L to R, James Burton, (Elvis Presley) Duane Eddy, Marty Stuart, & Kenny Lovelace (Jerry Lee Lewis) at the grand opening of Chambers Guitars in Nashville. I had an office upstairs at this shop which is on West End Avenue. If you go, tell Joe Chambers I sent you!

L to R, yet another Hoosier, Steve Wariner, George Fullerton (the "G" in G&L) and my former employer, the dashing Del Reeves. This was taken in a dressing room at the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville. Del used to tell the crowd that I was Willie Nelson's brother. Special note to the IRS: I am not now and do not expect to be Mr. Nelson's brother or accountant. :-o)

Another of my former employers, Johnny Russell. This was taken backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. Among his many other accomplishments, Johnny wrote "Act Naturally," which was recorded not only by Buck Owens, but by none other than the Beatles. Hard to top that one! If you look at this picture just right, Johnny and I look like the number "10." :-o)

On television set with harmonica great, Charlie McCoy (in cowboy hat) at WSMV TV, Nashville, TN. Also pictured, Ed Glass & Don McGinnis, drummer & bass player on the Saturday Morning Show.

Harold Bradley, brother of famous producer Owen Bradley (Chet Atkins, Patsy Cline etc.) Harold has played on more master recordings than anyone living or dead. He also served as president of the Nashville Musician's Union.
A GREAT person and guitar player.

Nokie Edwards, formerly of the Ventures in the studio, Nashville,TN.

With music legend, Al Kooper, in Nashville. He told me he thought my article on Mike Bloomfield was not very good. OUCH! On the other hand, it was the most popular issue in the history of Vintage Guitar Magazine. What does that mean? I think it means you should do what YOU think is right and ignore the supposed experts. The experts in Nashville leave a lot to be desired in my opinion. :-o)

I have an admitted hatred for the instrument known as the banjo. What's the definition of perfect pitch? When you throw an accordian into a dumpster and it lands on a banjo. :-o) However, I couldn't turn down the chance to take this picture of Earl Scruggs at the Hermitage, home of former president, Andrew Jackson in Hermitage, TN.

And finally, crooner Ray Price and old Dave outside radio station WWVA, Capitol Music Hall, Wheeling, West Virginia. I think he liked my legs. Watch this space for future postings. BACK

GUITARS you say?
I always get asked about Waylon Jennings' trademark instruments, as well as some of the others I was involved in selling or brokering. Here are a couple:

Waylon's #1 '53 Telecaster,
Sold by Dave Kyle Guitars

Waylon's #2 Telecaster

Johnny Cash's Aria Pro II

Buck Owens' red, white & blue Telecaster, featured on Hee Haw.
I helped Buck get this guitar back, it is now featured in his
Crystal Palace Museum, Bakersfield, California.

Duane Allman's FIRST guitar, which I commissioned for Delaney Bramlett.

Billy Byrd's personal, one-of-a-kind Gibson Byrdland
featured in the Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville, Tennessee

John Lennon's Melotron, used on the song, "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" and commissioned by
Dave Kyle Guitars for Wayne Moss of the group, Barefoot Jerry, Nashville.

Elvis Presley's rosewood Fender Telecaster, sister guitar to the George Harrison instrument featured on the front page of this web site. The main difference is that the gold foile from the factory was not removed from this one.

This is a VERY rare triple-pickup Mosrite Ventures Model which I had autographed by some of the many great guitar players I came into contact with during my time in Nashville. Chet Atkins was the first to sign it. I also got Waylon, Nokie Edwards, Duane Eddy, Danny Gatton, Billy Byrd, Lonnie Mack, Scotty Moore and a host of others to do me the honor. I was going to keep it until my dying day but by the miracle of our great barter system, it turned into a 1983 BMW 320i, one-owner in the best condition you've ever seen one. I used this guitar on a Blues album done for an American, now living in Japan. It sounded great but just wasn't my cup of coffee. I'm not one who likes to see guitars in a glass case. That may be where it is now but I will guarantee you, every time I get behind the wheel of the 320i, I smile and thank my lucky stars!

One of the greatest honors I was granted was my interview with this man. If there was a better writer, player, singer or PERSON in the music business, I have not been made aware of it.
This was one of the finest examples of God's creation ever shown to man. If that sounds over the top, you obviously never met him - Carl that is, not God! :-o)

In a different time and a different place with longer hair & a Brian Paul guitar.
Taken outside my home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Check back for more pictures later. Like my pal Jerry Mounts says,
"I got a million of 'em!"
KEEP CHECKING BACK!

Special made by the Gibson Custom Shop for
Fred Newell, guitar player on TNN's
television program, Nashville Now!
All of the pictures are precious and semi-precious stones inlaid on mother-of-toilet-seat.
The hardware was gold plated and neck inlays were hand-carved depictions of people and scenes from Nashville. The pickups, though they look like P-100's were hollowed out covers and had Fender Telecaster pickups concealed so it would still look like a Gibson yet sound like a Fender.
Johm Jorgenson has a similar guitar also made by the Custom Shop on an Epiphone, depicting the Beatles and scenes from their career.

Read about these and more in the book. Yeah, this is shameless self-promotion but you know, I'm not getting rich by any means. Every now & then I receive a check either from the publisher of this book or from some old songwriting royalties. It's not much, but it's like finding money in an old pair of jeans you had forgotten about. If I was doing this to make money, I would be on social welfare. Thank heaven, I'm not. But I feel my riches come from things like my wife, my dogs, my cars, my job and my life in general. I hope this can help you share a little bit of what I've been so blessed to have. I'm happy - that's what I want YOU to get out of this book as well. A lofty goal? NO DOUBT!
He who aims low is most likely to miss the target completely!

Duane Allman's reported first guitar, hiding from me in Delaney Bramlett's yard like an Easter Egg. :-)

Duane's '64 Strat (has been reported to be a '61 but my research found it to be a '64 - still Pre-CBS)

Duane/Delaney's Strat basking in the sun of Southern California at Bramlett's Ranch.

This is a guitar Delaney claims he was given by Eric Clapton. It looked like a '68 re-issue to me and I can't imagine those two guys having kept this guitar in such fine shape all these years. Having heard many stories from Delaney, I have become a bit jaded and am convinced that drugs and alchol made things seem like they were a lot better back then to everyone. Don't believe me? Put on an old Grateful Dead album. Hey, if you're into that, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. But if you're like me you cringe at that "style" as much as you do when Randy Bachman plays that out-of-tune solo in "Takin' Care of Busniess." It's all objective and if you want to believe this guitar or any other is more magic because someone else owned (or supposedly owned) it, you should buy my '68 Karmann Ghia Volkwagen. By the time you get here I can have proof that Jimi Hendrix died in it and drove it to Monterey with his Strat in the back seat (before he burned it of course.). Thanks for letting an old Scots-Irish grouch vent. Hope it got a grin or two from you somewhere along the line. These guitars are all cool, but take my advice: buy something YOU like, something that brings out your style. Eric doesn't live here any more . Hell, maybe he never did! :-o)