Mark Lehmann’s Autographed Guitar Has Musical History Written All Over It

Lehmann’s Amazing Piece of History Here is a list of the signatures on the guitar, not in any particular order: Vernon Drozd-Local sax player, has played with many regional artists Renee Olstead-Young singer at the time, now an actress in Hollywood Janie Fricke-Singer from the 1980’s Johnny Lee-Singer from Urban Cowboy era George W. Bush-Governor, President Bill Dowdy-GREAT Western Swing guitarist Kitty Wells-Needs no introduction Claude Gray-Had some regional hit’s in the ‘60’s-’70’s Floyd Tillman-CLASSIC singer and songwriter Johnny Bush-Writer of “Whiskey River” with many dancehall hits to his credit. Willie Nelson-Tommy Overstreet-Had some hits in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s Frenchie Burke-Fiddler extraordinaire Darrell McCall-Had MANY GREAT dance hall favorites Johnny Wright-Husband of Kitty Wells, part of the duo “Johnny and Jack.” Recorded “Ashes Of Love.” Stonewall Jackson (he just signed “Stonewall”)-Numerous classic hits, like “Don’t Be Angry” Mark Chesnutt-Current country artist Jack Greene-Played drums with Ernest Tubb, then started his solo career. Biggest hit was “Statue Of A Fool” Hank Locklin-Numerous hits in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. Wanda Jackson-Was one of the early women pioneers in the rockabilly genre Johnny Rodriguez-Lots of hits in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s Frank Juricek-Local session steel guitarist Bill Anderson-Lots of hits, TV personality, songwriter Hank Thompson-MANY hits spanning almost seven decades Ray Price-Numerous hits spanning almost seven decades Randy Corner-Fabulous guitar player, session man Faron Young-Numerous hits over the years Leon Rausch-Lead singer for Bob Wills at various times Tony Booth-Had many dancehall favorites hits Bobby Wright-Son of Kitty Wells, singer, actor on McHale’s Navy Marty Stuart-Fantastic multi instrumentalist, singer, and TV host.

At first glance, my personal “Autograph Guitar” resembles the famous guitar belonging to Texas’most famous singer, Willie Nelson. Willie Nelson named his guitar “Trigger,” but I have no name for mine. And I assure you, mine is worth millions of dollars less than his. But I would think that both guitars share a few of the same names.

I have been slowly acquiring the autographs on this old Martin 000-18 guitar since the mid to late 1980’s.

A bit over thirty-five years ago, an older gentleman brought this old Martin guitar into my music store here in La Grange one day and wanted new strings put on it. The neck joint on the guitar had given some, which is very common for these old guitars. This made the strings rather high off of the neck and made it very difficult to play. It was in really bad condition, it had holes in the sides, and it looked like it had skated across a hard floor, perhaps a dance floor, a few times. The gentleman brought it by one or two more times, and he finally asked me if he could trade it in on something new. Old Martin’s are really neat items, even if in horrible condition like this one. So I traded him a nice new Fender acoustic guitar and case for it, even trade. He was happy with the deal.

So then I thought, “Now what do I do with it.” The guitar was older than me, dating from the early 1950’s. It would probably cost quite a few hundred dollars to get the neck professionally reset. It could be played with really light gauge strings on it, and so I used it for a while for giving lessons. But this guitar really needed to serve a better purpose than that.

At some point after that, I had a gig coming up with Floyd Tillman, an older country music artist whose career began in the late 1930’s. So I took the guitar with me to the private event, and asked Mr. Tillman to sign it after we were finished performing. Then a couple of years after that, the band that I was working with at the time “opened” shows for both Faron Young and Janie Fricke, so I got their signatures on it as well. I even got to go on both of their buses. A number of years after that, Allison Crowson from Brenham started up the Bluebonnet Opry there and she asked me to do the sound system and FOH audio engineering for it. This was going to be a once a month show. On occasion, she would book an older country music entertainer to be a featured guest on the show. That is when many of the signatures were added: Hank Thompson, Jack Green, Johnny Rodriguez, Kitty Wells, Ray Price, Darrell Mc-Call, Johnny Bush, and many others over the dozen or so years that I worked that show. A year or two after the start of the Brenham Opry, Patsy Zbranek and her group started the Fayette County Country Music Opry here in La Grange, and I was asked to be the guitarist for the house band for that Opry. This was a once a month show as well. Patsy would also book occasional special guests on the show, so I kept adding names now and then. We are now in about our 22nd year with this show.

While still working both Opry shows, I started a thirteen year stint in the Austin Music Scene. The first band that I worked with there opened some shows for people like Johnny Lee, Cory Morrow, Pat Green, Billy Joe Shaver, Mark Chesnutt, and a few others. I did not always remember to bring the guitar with me, so I got some of them to autograph my hat.

There is one person’s autograph on the guitar that is not in the music business. My longtime musical colleague and GREAT friend from Brenham, John “The Professor” Dujka once called me up to ask if I wanted to play a gig with him where then Governor of Texas, George W. Bush was going to be the guest speaker. Of course I JUMPED at that opportunity, and Mr. Bush happily signed the guitar for me after the engagement.

There are only two signatures on the guitar that I did not officially “work with” in some capacity. One is Marty Stuart. He was performing on one stage at a multistage outdoor event that I was doing a sound system at for a different stage. But I am a big fan of his, so I went behind his stage to his bus and got him to sign it. And then of all people that I have NEVER met, Willie Nelson. Willie and The Family were playing a show in Brenham. But I had a gig that night somewhere else. So I sent the guitar with one of my adult guitar students that was attending the show, and she got him to autograph it.

Almost EVERY person that has signed this guitar, actually HELD the guitar in their hands, and had their hands on the strings, some even strumming it; even George W. Bush.

What is so wonderful about 95% of ALL of these famous people in the music business, is that they are all nice normal people backstage, just like any of us. This is true whether it is talking about deer hunting with Darrell McCall, or listening to Hank Thompson tell how he and Hank Williams would sing each other’s songs at dual bookings, because they were tired of singing their own songs. On stage, these entertainers do their “star” thing/ persona. But backstage, sidestage, or outside, these stars were never “above” any of us with the band or the crew, they stayed on our level. Oh, and the stories and jokes they would tell ...

Now that I am in the twilight of my local career, I thought that it was time to let this guitar “get out” to where a few other people can look at it and all of the names. I got in contact with a musician/ writer/collector from West Austin that currently has it in his collection. We have been going back and forth with emails identifying EVERY autograph, and we now have them all identified. They are mostly stars from yesteryear. But those are the “classics” that I like, the music that I enjoy playing. The new owner has already had the guitar restored with the autographs intact. I could probably tell him a story from each autograph. In going over possible names on the guitar, I sadly realized that I did NOT get a few other entertainers to sign it. I often forgot to bring the guitar to the show, or the opportunity just did not arise to ask the entertainer to sign it. But that is just the way it goes. I think that at some point, this guitar WILL make it’s way back into my hands.

There are a few other “stars” that I have not mentioned that have not autographed it. These would be some of the FINEST local musicians that I have had the opportunity and HONOR to work with over the years since I started out in the business 48 years ago at the age of fifteen. From some of the older musicians that put up with me when I knew nothing when I was a rookie, on to all of my contemporary colleagues; from Austin to Taylor, through Giddings to Brenham to Bellville, back to Schulenburg to Flatonia to Bastrop and then back to La Grange. Truly GREAT players and singers that have been sharing their talents with all of the people in the area for many decades. Without being with and working with these GREAT players, I NEVER would have had the opportunity to have worked with the entertainers whose names are on the guitar. Central Texas has produced some of best musicians in the business. So go out and hear some local LIVE music when you can and always support your local musicians.