Vaya Con Dios Les Paul

[PJ Christie]

On the passing of Les Paul last week, I asked Vess if he would write a little something for the site. I knew that Les played a pivotal role in Vess' musical development and that there would be no person better to document his influence as a player and innovator on behalf of Indiana music. What follows are his words.

"Last Wednesday Les Paul died. The radio and TV stations said all the predictable facts about Les’ illustrious career as guitar hero, guitar innovator, inventor, and hit maker. To me, he was a liberator. I fell for Les and his music sometime in the early 90’s. My good friend Paul Mahern had a ‘how high the moon’ 45 and the magical sounds transfixed me. Soon I was listening to only Les and Mary.

Up to that point I had written songs but they always came out sounding a bit like whatever band I was listening to at the time. To fix this I decided to stop listening to all contemporary music and only listen to records that pre-dated rock and roll. This way, if I wanted to hear a new song, I had to write it. Les Paul made this experiment easy, as I began collecting his records and CDs I also started noticing his recording’s overt originality. He took the limited resources of his day and unwound them into limitless possibilities. Anything magnetic tape did, he mastered. So into the basement I went to create my own world too. Within a few months I had amassed a dozen new songs and was forming a new band with my own new improved material.

Around this time, my friend Laura Gordon and I went to New York to see Les play, He was amazing, We sat in the front right in front of Les. When he got passed a request he couldn’t read he asked to borrow my glasses. Reeling from my prescription, he declared, “you need to get you eyes examined!” He told me afterward, “I bet you are a good guitar player.” He wrote on the nearest paper I could find “Vess, keep pickin’, Les” To this day the only autograph I have ever asked for. Afterwards, Laura and I stayed up all night dreaming of the new band we would form when we got home. It would be called United States Three as though it was a secret society. Laura would be our manager, I would write the songs, and we would call our fan base the Neighborhood Association. This one night started the better half of my musical life, a reverberation I still feel to this day.

I went to see Les again only a year later, I had two of his low impedance pickups in tow, he signed one of them and began to describe how to wire them, insisting that I must use the correct schematic. We talked for what seemed like at least 30 minutes about wiring guitars. I went home, tore apart my guitar and rewired it until I had my own sound.

I don’t play like Les, no one does, but he liberated me. His singular vision inspired me, and let me know that between those headphones is the world you create for yourself. Les, wherever you are, keep pickin’ and thank you. Vaya con dios."

[Tim McDuff]

Les was one of the greats. Unique that he was both a great innovator and incredible musician. Nothing sounds like a Les Paul record, especially in contrast with other contemporary recordings of the time. Not an inventor like CL Fender or Laurens Hammond, but someone who uniquely uncovered the hidden potential of the equipment of the time. I bought the records “Hendrix in the West” and a double Les Paul EP at a garage sale in 1980 and that got me started with guitars and tinkering. I still have my Les Paul ‘inspired’ Masetro EP2 Echoplex. It’s been a rough year with the passing of Les Paul, George Fullerton and most recently Ted Weber.

[Jerry Hellmann]

Great story

[Kurt/Yukki]

Strangely, I had been listening to a lot of Les Paul recently. Weird how that sometimes happens. Great stories from Vess and Laura up there. Thanks for that and I'm glad that you got to have a memorable personal connection with someone that meant so much to you and had such a beneficial impact on your life. Again, weird how that sometimes happens.

It is safe to say that without the contributions that Les Paul made many of us would not be doing what we are. His contributions are among the very few that we can point to and say, "This man changed the world for the better", unequivocally. Even those that have never heard a lick of his music (pardon the pun).

R.I.P. Les. And thank you.

[Ryan Sprowles]

Thanks for this Vess. I now see the little sped-up instrumental coda to Neighborhood Association in a whole new light.

[mike whybark]

And YEAH this is the stuff, the real, gut-shaking, precision stuff. Damn!

[mike whybark]

"I kissed his old man lips."

He is among our fathers, Laura. I love that image.

[Laura Gordon]

I suppose he had to go sometime, but he already seemed so wizened- so beyond the concerns of mere artists- when we saw him that I sort of decided he would live forever. I only knew him through Vess, whose romance with his life and music was both giddy and sincere. I feel lucky to have seen him through those eyes, it makes up for the exhorbitant cost of the cocktails we were required by the club to purchase during each set! I felt I was finally meeting the old friend I had heard so much about. After the show, Les leaned in to speak to me, weepy-eyed and smiling, and I kissed his old man lips.
Vess and I had many adventures during the course of that short weekend, which we may or may not remember, and will always remember each in our independant way. There was a snow storm, and we bought jeans. We yelled at each other on the train. Whether or not we were abducted remains a mystery, but I am certain we shared a room with the cremated remains of a cocker spaniel. In any case, we left one Vess there and brought home another. From the moment the lights went down at Fat Tuesdays, he was changed. He was lost in his dreams and visions, his writing and his music. I think Les would have approved.

[Jen Eamon]

In early September 2006, Mark Schroeder, his parents and I made the trek to NYC to see Les Paul play. The Les Paul and Mary Ford albums were in heavy rotation in Mark's house when he was growing up. So, this was a well anticipated trip. The venue was intimate and Les was amazing, interactive and sassy. Les Paul was known for inviting any visiting musician to share the stage. Jimmy Buffet came up and after taking a real ribbing from Les about his lack of skills (and possession of only one key), they played. Les proved himself the master. Even in his 90s, he still had all of the intuition and precision in those long fingers that the younger Les had. He played for hours, sharing stories in between songs. After the show, he signed every autograph and spoke to every person who stood in line to see him. He was a true gentleman.

[Bill Zink]

Great stuff - this is the kind of stuff which makes this site.

[mike whybark]

Dude, this is among the most amazing birth narratives I've read. Great story. I'm stil pissed at myself for never checking that show out.