
His spirited renditions of “Handsome Johnny” and “Freedom” united the sounds of folk and soul music in a way no one had heard before and literally brought the Woodstock crowd to its feet.
Jersey City, New Jersey (April 22, 2013) — Like so many in the Premier Guitar community, we’re deeply saddened to hear that the great singer and performer Richie Havens has died at age 72 from a heart attack.
The 1969 Woodstock Festival brought music lovers many memorable moments. One of the most enduring was that of Havens strumming his Guild D-40 flattop like a man possessed while singing protest songs with his gravelly, soulful voice. His spirited renditions of “Handsome Johnny” and “Freedom” united the sounds of folk and soul music in a way no one had heard before and literally brought the Woodstock crowd to its feet.
It was through Havens that most guitarists coming of age in the ’60s first learned about open tunings. At the time, those of us who, armed with our Les Pauls and Strats, were attempting to follow in the footsteps of Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix, and Pete Townshend simply had no idea you could play guitar the way Havens did. His strumming was so intense that by the time he opened the Woodstock Festival, he’d almost worn through his D-40’s soundboard.
But beyond his powerful rhythm chops and unique approach of using his fretting hand’s thumb to barre chords was a musician who had a message of freedom and harmony to convey at a time when the country was seething with political and social upheaval. Havens spoke to the Woodstock generation in our language, but in his songs we also heard the wisdom of an elder—someone who had lived a bit longer than we teenagers and whose music had a depth and substance we had yet to acquire.
The eldest of nine children, Richard Pierce Havens was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1941. As a kid he learned traditional music from his mom—including Irish ballads and Jewish folk songs—and later sang gospel before moving to Greenwich Village in his 20s to join the burgeoning folk scene.
In the autobiographical section of his website, Havens says, “I saw the Village as a place to escape to in order to express yourself. I had first gone there during the beatnik days of the 1950s to perform poetry, then I drew portraits for two years and stayed up all night listening to folk music in the clubs. It took a while before I thought of picking up a guitar.”
Yet once he did, he quickly became an integral part of the Greenwich Village scene, bringing a gospel fervor to a genre that was sometimes in need of a little rock ’n’ roll. After recording two albums on a small independent label, Havens had a breakthrough in 1967 with Mixed Bag, which was released on Verve, one of the most vital major labels of the day. His interpretation of George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun,” from the 1971 album Alarm Clock, became one of his best-known songs. Havens typically played in open D tuning, sometimes dropping the 3rd string from F# to F, resulting in open D minor tuning.
Havens played and toured until retiring from the road three years ago. He released 21 studio albums, toured the world playing many major festivals, helped produce the 25th Anniversary Woodstock Festival, appeared in the stage production of the Who’s Tommy, had lead roles in several films, and in 1991 won the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award for his charity work.
Rest in peace, Richie Havens, and thank you for your inspirational music.
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Learn about this iconic guitar's journey, its mods done by Frank, and hear how it sounds in the hands of his son Dweezil.
Neil Young’s ’70s hits are some of the most recognizable radio rock jams of all time. But Neil’s guitar playing continued to grow over the ensuing decades, as he traversed styles from blues to country to electronic to rockabilly and beyond, eventually developing one of the most tonally decadent, fully formed improvisational voices in the entire guitar universe.
Neil Young’s ’70s hits are some of the most recognizable radio rock jams of all time. But Neil’s guitar playing continued to grow over the ensuing decades, as he traversed styles from blues to country to electronic to rockabilly and beyond, eventually developing one of the most tonally decadent, fully formed improvisational voices in the entire guitar universe.
Like any discography that’s been growing over the course of more than half a century, it can be hard to decode Young’s work. And with such an adventurous spirit, it could be easy to make some missteps and miss out on his best guitar works. In this episode, Nick guides Jason through some of his hero’s finest moments.
More news from Neil always seems to be on the horizon, so here’s your chance to catch up.
This episode is sponsored by Gibson.
This Japan-made Guyatone brings back memories of hitchin’ rides around the U.S.
This oddball vintage Guyatone has a streak of Jack Kerouac’s adventurous, thumbing spirit.
The other day, I saw something I hadn’t noticed in quite some time. Driving home from work, I saw an interesting-looking fellow hitchhiking. When I was a kid, “hitchers” seemed much more common, but, then again, the world didn’t seem as dangerous as today. Heck, I can remember hitching to my uncle’s cabin in Bradford, Pennsylvania—home of Zippo lighters—and riding almost 200 miles while I sat in a spare tire in the open bed of a pickup truck! Yes, safety wasn’t a big concern for kids back in the day.
So, as I’m prone to do, I started digging around hitchhiking culture and stories. Surprisingly, there are organized groups that embrace the hitching life, but the practice remains on the fringe in the U.S. Back in the 1950s, writer Jack Kerouac wrote the novel On the Road, which celebrated hitchhiking and exposed readers to the thrill of maverick travel. Heck, even Mike Dugan (the guitarist in all my videos) hitched his way to California in the 1960s. But seeing that fellow on the side of the road also sparked another image in my brain: Yep, it always comes back to guitars.
Let me present to you a guitar that’s ready to go hitching: the Guyatone LG-180T, hailing from 1966. The “thumbs-up” headstock and the big “thumb” on the upper bout always made me think of thumbing a ride, and I bought and sold this guitar so long ago that I had forgotten about it, until I saw that hitchhiking dude. Guyatone was an interesting Japanese company because they were primarily an electronics company, and most of their guitars had their wooden parts produced by other factories. In the case of the LG-180T, the bodies were made by Yamaha in Hamamatsu, Japan. At that time, Yamaha was arguably making the finest Japanese guitars, and the wood on this Guyatone model is outstanding. We don’t often see Guyatone-branded guitars here in the U.S., but a lot of players recognize the early ’60s label Kent—a brand name used by an American importer for Guyatone guitars.
With a bit of imagination, the LG-180T’s “thumbs up” headstock seems to be looking for a roadside ride.
Kent guitars were extremely popular from the early ’60s until around 1966. The U.S. importer B&J fed the American need for electric guitars with several nice Kent models, but when the Guyatone contract ended, so did most of the Kent guitars. After that, Guyatone primarily sold guitars in Japan, so this example is a rare model in the U.S.
“Unless you are a master at guitar setups, this would be a difficult player.”
This headstock is either the ugliest or the coolest of the Guyatone designs. I can’t decide which. I will say, no other Japanese guitar company ever put out anything like this. You have to give the Guyatone designers a thumbs up for trying to stand out in the crowd! Guyatone decided to forgo an adjustable truss rod in this model, opting instead for a light alloy non-adjustable core to reinforce the neck. Speaking of the neck, this instrument features the most odd-feeling neck. It’s very thin but has a deep shoulder (if that makes any sense). Totally strange!
Another strange feature is the bridge, which offers very little adjustment because of the three large saddles, which sort of rock back and forth with the tremolo. It’s a shame because these pickups sound great! They’re very crisp and have plenty of zing, but unless you are a master at guitar set-ups, this would be a difficult player.
This could be why the LG-180T only appeared in the 1966 and 1967 catalogs. After that, it disappeared along with all the other Yamaha-made Guyatone electrics. By 1969, Guyatone had gone bankrupt for the first time, and thus ended guitar production for a few decades. At least we were blessed with some wacky guitar designs we can marvel at while remembering the days when you could play in the back end of an explosive 1973 AMC Gremlin while your mom raced around town. Two thumbs up for surviving our childhoods! PG