Musician's hats

[Richard Warren]

James,

I was thinking about getting a resonator. Is that a National Estralita? If so how do you like it?

 

[James71]

Hey guys.

Hatophile:- the hat is an akubra bogart.

Richard:- the guitar is a national M2, but I ordered it from the factory with a slotted headstock and custom paint. I love it. I had to take it back to america to get the neck rebuilt after the truss rd jammed, but since then it's been grouse.

 

[Richard Warren]

James, do you think that its possible to get a fairly low action on the M2? Most of the resonators I see are set up very high.

 

[hatophile]

[/IMG]

Robert Earl Keen, Texas musician. He wears a hat similar to the one worn by Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will be Blood".

 

[DesertDan]

Watermelon Slim:

This man plays and sings as if he's been down at the crossroads:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeMRIu43qjg

 

[JimC]

Watermelon Slim:

This man plays and sings as if he's been down at the crossroads:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeMRIu43qjg

Slim (Bill Homans) has an interesting story!

"Slim has been a truck driver, forklift operator, sawmiller (where he lost part of his finger), firewood salesman, collection agent, and even officiated funerals. At times he got by as a small time criminal. At one point he was forced to flee Boston where he played peace rallies, sit-ins and rabbleroused musically with the likes of Bonnie Raitt.

He ended up farming watermelons in Oklahoma - hence his stage name and current home base. Somewhere in those decades Slim completed two undergrad degrees in history and journalism.

While roommates, buddies and musical partner with the heavy drinking Henry 'Sunflower' Vestine of Canned Heat, Slim was able to finish a masters degree and member of Mensa, the social networking group reserved for members with certified genius IQs.

Throughout his storied past, it has always been truck driving that Slim returned to. While trucking and hauling industrial waste for thankless bosses at hourly wages to support himself and his family, his id yearned for release of the musician inside. Many of Slim's current songs began a cappella in his rig keeping him awake and entertained.

In 2002 Slim suffered a near fatal heart attack. His brush with death gave him a new perspective on mortality, direction and life ambitions. He says, "Everything I do now has a sharper pleasure to it. I've lived a fuller life than most people could in two. If I go now, I've got a good education, I've lived on three continents, and I've played music with a bunch of immortal blues players. I've fought in a war and against a war. I've seen an awful lot and I've done an awful lot. If my plane went down tomorrow, I'd go out on top."

 

[JimC]

For my money, Neil Young has the best body of work of any North American rock music artist. He's my current favorite. Emotional power near that of John Lennon; one of the continent's best lone-man singers along with Johnny Cash. I'm much more a Neil Young guy than a Dylan guy, even though I'm from Minnesota. What makes Neil my favorite? I like his songs a lot, but the most remarkable thing is that I hardly get tired of them playing over and over,for some reason. He has a quality that is "not annoying." I couldn't do that with anyone else's CDs. Oh, his hat's OK too.

The Keith Richards line caught my attention, then I saw Richards, Lennon, Dylan, and Cash in the same conversation....quite a mix!! I saw Cash in TX a few years before he passed and his command of the performance was amazing. On another note both Ronnie Wood and Tom Petty have new CDs out and both are GOOD.....never thought I'd be saying that about Ronnie! For grins, Google up Guy Clark, he's one of my favorite "rootsy" songwriters.

 

[JimC]

The Great Merle Haggard wears a fedora often. Plus he looks fantastic in them!

That he does! Hag is one of my all time favorite C&W guys. He did a song titled "I Wear My Own Kind Of Hat" written by Red Lane who played guitar with Merle at one time.

 

[James71]

James, do you think that its possible to get a fairly low action on the M2? Most of the resonators I see are set up very high.

Gday Richard,

The action from the factory on the National Resonators is set pretty high because most people play bottleneck slide on them. Personally, I play fingerstyle, fast picking notes and the high action didnt suit me. When I sent it back for the neck job I asked them to set it up for finger style and it came back just perfect.

Its just a matter of lowering the bridge a little, and maybe the nut if need be. A little adjustment on the truss rod and away you go. In that regard they are no different to any acoustic guitar.

If you are ordering it, talk to Don at National Resophonic and tell him how you play and they will set it up to suit in the factory.

 

[theinterchange]

The Temper Trap's Dougy Mandagi:

 

[frussell]

That's a nice old school ska look. The Specials used to all wear the same type of stingy trilby hats, with skinny suits. I wish I could fit in one, I love that style. Frank

 

[Richard Warren]

Gday Richard,

The action from the factory on the National Resonators is set pretty high because most people play bottleneck slide on them. Personally, I play fingerstyle, fast picking notes and the high action didnt suit me. When I sent it back for the neck job I asked them to set it up for finger style and it came back just perfect.

Its just a matter of lowering the bridge a little, and maybe the nut if need be. A little adjustment on the truss rod and away you go. In that regard they are no different to any acoustic guitar.

If you are ordering it, talk to Don at National Resophonic and tell him how you play and they will set it up to suit in the factory.

Thanks James.

 

[theinterchange]

John Hiatt:

Liam Finn [son of Crowded House's Neil Finn]:

Rachael Yamagata:

 

[theinterchange]

The Avett Brothers:

Band of Horses' Ben Bridwell:

 

[WolfeMan]

Dylan

 

[Yeps]

Tita Ruffo

 

[mayserwegener]

Enrico Caruso

 

[T Rick]

First up Detroit represent, I've got to mention Kid Rock. He's a lot of things, most of all a true Showman.

I wasn't a fan of his music for the most part until more recent times. He's shown a lot of versatility in more recent releases, and that led me to explore and develop an appreciation for his earlier stuff as well. And his public persona be damned, he's actually a very down to Earth, good guy. I met him on Christmas Day 2006, in the IZ, Baghdad Iraq. Gave up his Christmas to go entertain the troops (I was there working construction on the US Embassy).

When I met him mid day at a military DFAC (dining facility), he was wearing a Santa hat, and had just stood behind the counter serving lunch to hundreds of US Soldiers. He's a huge hat fan, often wearing a turned up stingy snap brim. A regular Customer down at Detroit's Henry The Hatter (if you saw him with Jimmy Kimmel, they limo'ed around Detroit hitting the clubs and "tipping a few"- commented to Jimmy, "you need a hat!" and off they went to Henry's).

He was quite surprised and pleased to hear that the contracted tradesmen there to work on the classified portion of the embassy were mostly from Metro Detroit. And this was not the last Christmas he's given up to head off to a combat zone and be with our troops.

My all time favorite performer, SRV has been mentioned plenty here already. I'll echo that of the 5 times I saw him perform live (all nearer the end of his career), he wore the wide brimmed flat topped hat he's become associated with all but once, where he joined Eric Clapton on stage as a guest for three songs (no hat at all that time, I was quite surprised).

But let's not forget one of his many influences (perhaps even on mode of dress), Jimi Hendrix. And Jimi was semi big on hats in what was perhaps the hat's most "un-cool" era.

And though I've seen a couple of references to him in this thread, no pics or discussion of his hats. Who did it better than 'Ol Blue Eyes himself? Even his stamp rocked a great hat...

 

[mayserwegener]

Enrico Caruso Cont.

 

[mayserwegener]

Enrico Caruso Cont.