If there was ever somebody who didn’t need another guitar, it was Chet Atkins. He was, after all, Mister Guitar. He’s on every list of the greatest guitar players. He’s had guitars named after him, like the Chet Atkins Country Gentleman. He had a steady stream of free ones from his long associations with Gretsch, and later, Gibson guitars. He had rooms in his house filled with guitars.
So if you were going to give Atkins a thank-you present, a guitar might not be a good choice. That didn’t faze Gene MacLellan though. The P.E.I. singer-songwriter was a huge fan of Atkins since the 1950s and was thrilled when the guitar legend recorded a version of the hit song he wrote, “Snowbird.” Anne Murray had made the song famous, but Atkins’ version in 1971 won the Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Recording. MacLellan, a famously humble man, wasn’t big on praise or financial rewards, but to have a guitar hero record his song meant a lot to him.
In 1977, MacLellan got a chance to let Atkins know how much it had meant to him. Atkins was coming to Halifax to play a show, and he invited MacLellan to the concert. The shy MacLellan turned down an offer to join Atkins on stage, but happily came over from P.E.I. for the show, and to meet Atkins in person. But before that, he had some shopping to do.
The Halifax Folklore Centre has been a fixture of the city’s downtown since 1971. Located in a 150-year-old Victorian home, it’s still owned by founders Tom and Marla Dorward and is the place to go for new and vintage stringed instruments. Tom Dorward still does the repairs on beloved instruments, and he even has Gene’s daughter Catherine’s Gibson on his bench right now, getting a little tune-up.
He well remembers the day MacLellan showed up at the shop in ’77. He was immediately drawn to the oldest guitar in the store.
“A lot of people came in to look at new Martins, but they also came in to look at that 1845 Martin,” says Dorward. It had been on the wall at the store for years, not for sale, but as a conversation piece, since it was so rare.
“When we were going into business in 1971, we went to Toronto to introduce ourselves to some of the distributors and make contacts so we could get inventory,” says Dorward. “One of the contacts we made was the Toronto Folklore Centre with Eric Nagler. This guitar was hanging for sale at the Toronto Folklore Centre for $600, so we bought it. Not because we wanted to resell it, but we knew it would be a good talking piece for people when they came into our store.”
The guitar was something special. It was an 1845 Martin & Coupa 0-21, one of the earliest guitars hand-made by the company founder C.F. Martin, then in a brief partnership with John Coupa. That very model is historically significant, as it features Martin transitioning to a new style of interior bracing, an X-style, different from the normal European type. It’s the birth of the North American acoustic guitar, still standard today.
A similar guitar from that year, with a different headstock, was featured on Antiques Roadshow a few years back, and given an estimated value of $10,000. Dorward says it’s incredibly rare.
“I don’t know, try to find one. At that time, they were only making a few hundred per year. It was an awfully nice piece. It had the original pine box case with it as well.”
As much as Dorward loved having it in the store, and playing it, he did have a business to run.
“We had to get some cash flow,” he says. “Gene was in and he liked the guitar, and he was Gene, so we said okay, we’ll sell it to you. Having said that, I did not expect him to give it away. I was kind of shocked by that. He paid a thousand dollars for it.”
Dropping $1,000 for a guitar (in 1977 dollars) seems like an extravagant gift, but MacLellan probably didn’t think twice about it. His generosity was legendary, especially in P.E.I. Stories galore circulate on the Island. He’d pick up every hitchhiker and often bring them home for meals. If you were a musician, he’d buy you a new guitar if he felt yours wasn’t up to par, from little kids to adult pros. He’d give what was in his pockets to people on the street, and at Christmas time, he gave the local furniture store a list of people who he wanted to gift TVs, anonymously.
It wasn’t the value that impressed Atkins though, it was the rarity and craftsmanship. Soon after, he sent MacLellan a handwritten letter:
“Dear Gene: Well, I have had many guitars given to me but none as nice as the 1845 Martin. Such a nice gift and I will treasure it. I hope you and your father are well and happy. It was very nice to see you in Halifax. Please drop by when you are in these parts.”
Atkins wasn’t just being polite about the guitar. In the 1990s it showed up in a couple of important books. The first was called Acoustic Guitars and Other Fretted Instruments, and that’s when Dorward found out that MacLellan had given the guitar away.
“’There’s my guitar’ is what I said,” Dorward remembers. “I know that guitar, I played it for many years.” Shortly after, Atkins featured the instrument in his own book, Chet Atkins: Me and My Guitars, written with brother Russ and Michael Cochran.
Atkins said, “The oldest guitar I own is a little Martin 0-21. It was built in 1845 when the Martin company was still located in New York City. I have a letter from the Martin people verifying the date. It’s got its original ‘coffin’ case and is in remarkable condition for its age. This guitar was given to me by Gene MacLellan, who wrote the song ‘Snowbird,’ one of Anne Murray’s biggest hits. I recorded it too, and my record got a lot of airplay and probably did him some good. He found it in a pawnshop, bought it, and gave it to me. I had a luthier go over it, but they didn’t find much wrong with it. I haven’t played it that much, but I enjoy having it around. I’m still amazed that Gene felt moved to give it to me. I love it for the history it represents.
This guitar was serenading some young lass when everything west of the Mississippi River was considered unexplored territory. One of my heroes is Mark Twain. I like to imagine that he might have played this guitar.”
Of course, the Halifax Folklore Centre is no pawnshop, and its luthier Dorward could have told Atkins the guitar was in fabulous condition. $1,000 was a lot of money in 1977, but the guitar would be worth much more today, Dorward figures.
“Probably 10 or 15 thousand, as a guitar, although when you start attaching names to it, Chet Atkins and Gene MacLellan, who knows?”
And no, it’s not for sale. After Atkins died in 2001, many of the hundreds of guitars he owned ended up on loan to the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. They bring different ones out at various times to go along with the permanent exhibit honouring Atkins, the architect of the modern sound of country music.
