egroj world: Bert Weedon • Honky Tonk Guitar

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Bert Weedon • Honky Tonk Guitar

Biography
by Bruce Eder
One of the stumbling blocks to the growth of rock & roll in England during the 1950s, apart from the larger cultural differences with America, lay in the fact that the country had no popular guitar heroes, and no jazz or blues tradition to draw on from which one could easily emerge. The only exception to this rule was Bert Weedon, a guitar instrumentalist whose virtuoso playing on the electric instrument constituted just about the only socially acceptable incarnation of the instrument for many adults. His pop-instrumental music, for all of its virtuosity, was too tame to attract many teens who were listening to Lonnie Donegan, but the classically trained guitarist's command of the instrument and the offer of a guitar study course in his name was a way in for kids who weren't ready to start mimicking Scotty Moore or Buddy Holly, much less Les Paul, Charlie Christian, or Django Reinhardt, to get to know the instrument. Musically, he was the guitarist equivalent to Roger Williams or Ferrante & Teicher, and by the end of the 1950s, rock & roll had produced its own guitar heroes in the Shadows' Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, and other axemen in various bands who followed, not to mention session man Big Jim Sullivan. Weedon, however, remained a sentimental favorite and a perennially popular figure in England, and was still recording guitar-driven instrumental versions of Broadway and Hollywood hits in the 1990s. He died in April 2012 at home in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England; Bert Weedon was 91 years old.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bert-weedon-mn0000757817/biography

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Biografía
por Bruce Eder
Uno de los escollos para el crecimiento del rock & roll en Inglaterra durante la década de 1950, aparte de las grandes diferencias culturales con Estados Unidos, residía en el hecho de que el país no tenía héroes populares de la guitarra, ni una tradición de jazz o blues de la que surgir fácilmente. La única excepción a esta regla era Bert Weedon, un instrumentista de guitarra cuyo virtuosismo con el instrumento eléctrico constituía prácticamente la única encarnación socialmente aceptable del instrumento para muchos adultos. Su música pop-instrumental, a pesar de todo su virtuosismo, era demasiado sosa para atraer a muchos adolescentes que escuchaban a Lonnie Donegan, pero el dominio del instrumento por parte del guitarrista de formación clásica y la oferta de un curso de guitarra en su nombre era una vía de entrada para que los chavales que no estaban preparados para empezar a imitar a Scotty Moore o Buddy Holly, y mucho menos a Les Paul, Charlie Christian o Django Reinhardt, conocieran el instrumento. Musicalmente, era el guitarrista equivalente a Roger Williams o Ferrante & Teicher, y a finales de la década de 1950, el rock & roll había producido sus propios héroes de la guitarra en Hank Marvin y Bruce Welch de los Shadows, y otros guitarristas en varias bandas que le siguieron, por no mencionar al hombre de sesión Big Jim Sullivan. Weedon, sin embargo, siguió siendo un favorito sentimental y una figura perennemente popular en Inglaterra, y en la década de 1990 seguía grabando versiones instrumentales con guitarra de éxitos de Broadway y Hollywood. Murió en abril de 2012 en su casa de Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, Inglaterra; Bert Weedon tenía 91 años.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bert-weedon-mn0000757817/biography

Tracks:
A1 - I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight
A2 - Bye Bye Blackbird
A3 - Pretty Baby
A4 - The Varsity Drag
A5 - Elmer's Tune
A6 - Ma (He's Making Eyes At Me)
B1 - Charleston
B2 - Carolina In The Morning
B3 - Chicago
B4 - Jealous
B5 - Sweet Georgia Brown
B6 - In A Shanty In Old Shanty Town

Note:
Recording first published 1961

Label:    Top Rank International – 35-101, Top Rank (2) – 35-101
Country:    UK
Released:    1961
Genre:    Rock, Blues, Pop
https://www.discogs.com/release/5633083-Bert-Weedon-Honky-Tonk-Guitar