Blanton Blue Darlin'

Roger Shackelton · Post by **Roger Shackelton** » 17 Aug 2001 1:03 pm

In 1970 a friend went to Nashville for a vacation. When he returned he told me that he saw Jimmy Day playing a Blue Blanton D-10 PSG. The chromed steel front apron had the word "PEACE" etched on it.

1 year later at the DJ convention I visited the Sho-Bud store on Broadway. Up stairs in the store I saw the same Blue Blanton PSG, with the Word "PEACE" on the front apron.

Does anyone remember seeing Jimmy play this Blanton guitar in 1970?

Roger

Smiley Roberts · Post by **Smiley Roberts** » 17 Aug 2001 1:37 pm

I don't remember "Peace" on it,but I remember a "powder blue" Blanton that he had. Would that be it?

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B Bailey Brown · Post by **B Bailey Brown** » 17 Aug 2001 1:48 pm

Roger,

I do not remember if I ever actually saw Jimmy play that guitar, but Jerry Blanton and I have been friends for many years. I remember seeing the guitar several times when Jerry was building it. I, as well as many other local San Antonio steel players, used to visit Jerry’s shop on a regular basis.

I believe that Jimmy played that guitar less than a year, maybe 6 to 8 months, but I really don’t know. If I remember what Jerry told me at the time, the story goes like this…

Jerry got a call from somebody in Nashville one day and they mentioned that they had seen the guitar he built for Jimmy at Sho-Bud. Apparently Jimmy hit town and needed some money, so he went to see Shot Jackson, or somebody at Sho-Bud. Obviously, they wanted Jimmy playing a Sho-Bud again, so they lent him some money, gave him a new Sho-Bud, and took the Blanton in trade. I think Jerry talked to Jimmy and he said the guitar was great, he like it a lot, but he happened to be hard up for money at the time so he did the deal!

I don’t know what ever happened to that guitar, and I am not sure if Jerry Blanton even knows.

Jerry, like many of us in this part of the country, knew Jimmy and loved the guy and his playing, so there were not any hard “feelings”. Just one of those things. I can tell you this. Jerry Blanton built many guitars over a period of probably 20 years. That guitar was the ONLY one he ever gave to anybody. I personally, being the owner of 2 Blanton guitars to this day, would like to know what ever happened to the “Blanton Blue Darlin’”. Maybe somebody here on the forum might shed some light on it’s later history.

B. Bailey Brown

Roger Shackelton · Post by **Roger Shackelton** » 18 Aug 2001 1:16 am

B. Bailey Brown,

Thank you for your response. I knew I could count on you to tell us, "The Rest of The Story", just like Paul Harvey.

Did Jerry Blanton build many S-12 guitars? Did you ever see one set up as a U12?

Roger

Frank Parish · Post by **Frank Parish** » 18 Aug 2001 4:23 am

I can't be for sure but the last time I seen Charlie Day (Jimmys nephew) he was playing a powder blue Blanton on lower Broadway here in Nashville. That was about 1995. That thing was beat up and had the back neck removed with no pad. Charlie had wire and all kinds of stuff holding that thing together but it still sounded pretty good. Charlie always reminded me of Jimmy when he played. His vibrato was identical to Jimmys. Does anybody know where Charlie is? He left Nashville around then and got a divorce and I haven't heard from him since.

B Bailey Brown · Post by **B Bailey Brown** » 18 Aug 2001 10:40 am

Roger,

Jerry Blanton built a few 12 string guitars, but I have no idea how many. I would guess not more than a handful. I remember one guy here in San Antonio (And his name completely escapes me at the moment!) who played one for years. It was not a U12 as far as I know, so I would assume it was what people refer to as an extended E 9th. Quite frankly, I am not very familiar with either of those tunings, or a 12 string guitar, so I probably would not know one if it stared me in the face.

There have only been a couple of players in this area I have ever run across that played a U12. Gib Wharton being the first, and more recently Butch Cornwell has gone to one. Butch has a new Fulawaka (sp?), or how ever you spell that!

I have actually played around with that guitar and it is a nice one! I guess because of the part of the country I live in (South Central Texas) most players use a D-10. I think that is mostly due to the heavy influence of “country” down here, as well as a lot of Western Swing. Secondly, I think most of us are creatures of habit. I started on a D-10, and have never really seen any reason to change. I really need to sit down with Butch and have him explain the tuning to me, just because I like to know new things.

The older I get, the more my brain resists the input of all new knowledge!

To me, that is a very bad thing and I do my best not to let it happen. I can’t stop my hair from getting Grey…But I can darned sure keep an open mind about stuff!!

B. Bailey Brown

B Bailey Brown · Post by **B Bailey Brown** » 18 Aug 2001 11:36 am

As an after thought, I have heard of Charlie Day but never seen him play. I remember Carson Wells telling me he could sound just like his Uncle Jimmy when he wanted to.

This brings up a question! There are lots of players out there that “sound” like Buddy, Lloyd, Hal, or whoever their “mentor” happened to be…or who ever grabbed their ear when they started.

The question is, how many have you ever heard that sounded like Jimmy Day?!

Personally, I have only heard two in my life. The first being my old high school buddy David Zettner. David spent several years on the road playing Bass with Willie Nelson and looking over Jimmy’s shoulder. I don’t think Jimmy ever “taught” him a thing, because that was just not Jimmy’s way, but David learned by watching. What a unique experience that must have been to play Bass behind Jimmy Day night after night for years!

The other would be Dicky Overby. Now that might sound strange, because Dicky is a very unique player in his own right, and one of a kind as far as I am concerned. However, when I watch Dicky play I see a lot of bar slants (Which Jimmy was the master of!), and a lot of that “soul” that Jimmy was known for. I would not go so far as to say Dicky “sounds” like Jimmy Day…but he is one of 2 that I have ever seen that could get the same feeling out of a steel guitar.

Interesting thoughts to ponder.

B. Bailey Brown

Frank Parish · Post by **Frank Parish** » 18 Aug 2001 3:56 pm

I worked with Charlie for about a year and then on and off for a couple more. He mostly played a Martin D-18 I think he lost in a pawn shop. Charlie carried the vocals for us and we did a lot of swing stuff. My son was about fifteen at the time and cut his teeth on the drums for that summer. I think we played 141 days in a row and 14 hours on Sunday so we understood each other. When somebody would come in to play guitar or sit in I'd get Charlie to play steel. He of course played the Day set-up(imagine that) but he could switch over and play my guitar fairly well even though mine was the Emmons set-up. It sounded like he learned directly from Jimmy and I believe I heard he did but it was nearly like Jimmy being there. That would have been around 1990 we played so much together. I think he left Nashville around five years ago or very close to it. I figure he went back to Texas back never heard from him again.

B J Cole · Post by **B J Cole** » 26 Aug 2001 12:01 pm

I remember seeing Jimmy play that Blanton guitar when he came to England in 1970. Jimmy was playing with Willie Nelson who was supporting Hank Snow (those were the days!) who had Chubby Wise on fiddle and Kayton Roberts on steel. I talked to Jimmy after the show at the London Palladium and he obviously rated that guitar at the time. It certainly sounded great.

BJ Cole

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