An all-time great country music story.
Vince Gill recently sat down with American Songwriter, where he told an amazing story about making the late, great Merle Haggard cry.
It all really started back when Vince purchased the guitar of the late Jabo Arrington, who was one of the original twin guitar players for Little Jimmy Dickens when he first started playing at the Grand Ole Opry, many decades ago. Jabo’s family saw that Vince was using a guitar similar to one that had belonged to Jabo, and they asked if he wanted to purchase it.
The Fender Broadcaster was from the first year Fender started making electric guitars, and is still very rare. Jabo’s had sat under a bed for 60 years, and of course, Vince wanted to buy it:
“There’s a Fender over there that I got from the family of a gentleman named Jabo Arrington. Jabo was the first guitar players for Little Jimmy Dickens, when Jimmy came to the Opry. Jabo died back then, back in the early 50’s, and that guitar sat under a bed for 60 years.
And his family tracked me down, they saw I play a guitar like it, they said, ‘Do you know who our relative was? He played with Little Jimmy,’ and I knew who he was. They said, ‘Would you be interested in buying his guitar?’ It’s a really rare guitar, the first year of Fender electric guitars, made in 1950. It’s called a Broadcaster.
I said, ‘Of course I would,’ you know. So they came to the Opry, we met at the Opry, made a deal and and paid them and it was a good bit of money. And they said, ‘Our dream is to see that guitar played at the Opry one more time.’ I said, ‘Well, I can make that happen.’”
Jimmy was still around at this time, and wanted to buy the guitar from Vince when he found out he had bought it, though after hearing how much Vince paid for it, he realized he didn’t actually want it that badly.
Vince played the guitar that night at the Opry for Jabo’s family, and he remembers them all being very emotional, understandably. Well, flash forward a few years later, and Vince was asked to play at Jimmy’s memorial service at the Opry House in 2015.
He played “Go Rest High on That Mountain,” and of course, brought along that guitar to do it with:
“Of course I took that guitar, and played ‘go rest’ and told the story of the guitar and how I acquired it and that it was it was Jimmy’s guitar player Jabo‘s guitar when Jimmie first came to the Opry.
And I said ‘This is the guitar that brought him here, should be the guitar that takes him out of here.’ Beautiful moment to have at the Opry house at Jimmy’s service.”
He gets home, and right as he walked in the door, his phone rang. He answered it, and it was his hero, Merle Haggard. Of course, Vince was excited to hear from him, and got emotional as he recalled their conversation:
“So I get home, I had just walked in the door, and the phone rings. I pick it up, ‘Hello?’ He said ‘Vince, this is Merle Haggard.’ I said, ‘Hi Merle.’ He said, ‘Listen, what I just watched you do for that man was unbelievable. One of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.’ Merle’s my hero, you know?
And he said, ‘I don’t cry… but what you did, I can’t quit crying. And I don’t cry. Do you hear me? I don’t cry. I can’t quit crying. I want that guitar.’ I said, ‘You can’t have it either.’ I said ‘You can borrow it anytime you want, but it’s kind of special to me now.’”
What a story… it’s so cool that Merle took the time to call Vince and tell him that, which clearly meant the world to him and still does to this day. To have had such a profound impact on your own hero through such a powerful, important moment in music had to have been beyond incredible.
If you can get to Merle Haggard and make him cry, then have him eagerly call you and tell you about it… you’ve done something very special, indeed.
Here’s the Opry performance from Jimmy’s memorial service, where Vince played that beautiful guitar:
You can listen to him tell the story here: