artists
55 years ago tonight, February 9, 1964! It was a Sunday night, at 8:00 PM, on The Ed Sullivan Show. In just one hour everything changed! America met John, Paul, George and Ringo. While over 700 fans screamed inside the Ed Sullivan Theater, 73 million viewers watched the broadcast Read more…
This page is dedicated to the traditional American folk song ‘This Train,’ also know as, ‘This Train Is Bound for Glory.’ Origins of this song are unknown, but it has been sung and handed down in the American South for over 100 years. Read more…
SOLD! This Beatles-signed ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ album sold at auction today for $290,500.00. This copy of the 1967 ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ album, acclaimed by most as the greatest of all Beatles’ albums, was signed by all four Beatles. Today’s final bid exceeded the original estimated value by more Read more…
The Beatles – February 23, 1964 Forty-nine years ago today, The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for the third consecutive Sunday night. They performed Twist and Shout, Please Please Me, and I Want to Hold Your Hand.
We enjoy receiving blog comments and emails from readers who are as passionate about music and guitars as we are here at Tone Gems. Recently, Ray Clearwater – who incidentally publishes 25 Years of Sears Musical Instruments on CD – shared a old photograph of his 1961 Junior High talent Read more…
Eli “Paperboy” Reed blasts out his song Pick a Number, on his amplified 1960′s Silvertone 604 acoustic guitar. Check out the vintage DeArmond Hershey Bar pickup. Looks like he grabbed it off an old Harmony, Kay, or Silvertone electric.
Clarence Clemons, the great saxophone player synonymous with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band passed away today at age 69. He had suffered a massive stroke on June 12. He played with Springsteen and the band for 40 years, and was described by Springsteen as the soul of the band. Read more…
The Beatles album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released on this day in 1967, forever changing rock and roll, and music as a whole. Tracks like A Little Help from My Friends, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Lovely Rita, When I’m Sixty-Four, Good Morning Good Morning, A Day in the Life, Read more…
Long before iPods, CD’s and Walkmans there was the transistor radio. The advent of the transistor radio is integral to the history of rock and roll. The first transistor radio, the American-made Regency TR-1, arrived on the scene in 1954 about one year before the Sony transistor. In this video Roger McGuinn, founding member Read more…