Hartin, John 2012-04-06
John Hartin talks about his childhood, How he got started in music, and the different, Jobs/careers he had
General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: John Hartin
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: April 06, 2012
Location:
Interviewer: Andy Wilkinson
Length: 01:56:45
Abstract
Instruments, He played electric and acoustic guitars, Growing up, Wichita, Kansas, Missed being born in Houston by 18 hours, Mom went to visit her mom in Kansas, Parents lived around the Katy area, He lived there probably a couple of years, Dad worked on power plants, Redding, California, Remembers a tiny town in Iowa, Dad was a projectionist, in the late 30’s, For a movie theater, Good at electrical work, Dad’s dream- to have his own movie theater, John and his brother would spend the whole day at the movies, Interest in playing music, Theater, At noon would listen to a radio station, Timberoosions- on the radio, He liked the cowboy songs, That was his introduction to the music, About 6 years old, Guitar, About 13 years old, Town, It was so small, Had a small pharmacy, Rack of harmonicas, 4 or 5 sheets of music, Guitar strings, And picks, “Play the guitar in 5 minutes” a book that, He remembers reading, It had cord frames, He would write down songs he thought he heard in the cowboy, Movies, It’s interesting because he actually learned how to play out of a book, Early 50’s, Collaboration, Sometime in high school, About sophomore year, Dad at the time was a journeyman, Master electrician, He met a guy from one of the other high schools in his town, He sang, Took private vocal lessons at the YMCA in the town, Buddy Holly, The first guy who really grasped his attention musically, And he had songs that John could grasp and learn, He had an awakening about not wanting to do anything else, The satellite rock- he came up with, The revolution, Gary Banks, Lived in Big Springs, Lloyd Maines, Lived in Lubbock, Incredible history, Those guys had musical “models”, It was not that way for John and Andy, John said the reason why he started writing his own songs, Is because he could not figure out how the other songs are played, To John, Lubbock was one of the coolest places to go, There were all sorts of music, Rock, Country, and Western Swing, Pickers, Early on, the only one who figured out that songs were, Played in particular keys, He had essentially been teaching since forever, Retired from the college, Steve Williams, Rusty Huddleston, Ted Marsh, Etc, Lists, They were going through a list of private students, Who he teaches, His youngest is 6 years old, Oldest is 84 years old, Methodology, Teaching young children, He figured it out, Lonnie Joe Howell, The evolution is simple, The better you could play an instrument, The better band you could be in, The better places you could get gigs in, Better traveling, food, etc, College, Norfolk Junior College, Norfolk, Nebraska, Had an active music scene in the 60’s, Music store, Tom- the owner, walked past the store because the window, Was so clean, Tom told him he would give him 10 percent of each instrument, That he could sell, He ended up selling 1300 dollars worth of instruments in, One day, He had a month to put a class together, Sales manager- good high paying job, Quit and came back to work for Tom at the music stores, Tom Hughes, When he came back he had a chain of music stores and, A chain of restaurants, Tom’s Music Store, 2 in Nebraska, one in Kansas, Guitar Dayze Headquarters, Norfolk, Had a beautiful home on the lake, But at the job, did not like the insincere, People, who just wanted a pay check, He tried to teach them how to present the merchandise, Tried to teach them how to be friendly, Conclusion: you cannot take a dumb person and make them average, He got tired of it and decided to quit, Lyrics, I’m talkin basic to you girl, Someone told him to write about girls, trucks, and having fun, Jobs, Worked the road off and on- playing music, Navy reserves for a little bit, Rodney Morris – he backed him up, The restaurant chain- looked like a cuckoo bird’s clock, A hamburger joint, People were hired and fired everyday, Subscription, Country music magazine, Learned a valuable tip, Never pay money up front for anything, If they want you, they will pay you, Employment, Guys were not finding jobs, so they started going back, To teaching instead, Experience over degrees, Joe Ely, John told his wife, that it felt like he just saw something, Amazing, as big as the Beatles, Respect, because he played what he liked to play, Knew his market, and played to that, Maines Brothers, He was convinced that they were going to be the next, Big thing, 25 years ahead of Alabama, so far ahead of their time, Video Construction, His company, Started in his kitchen table, Grew too big, started working on it at the school, He would give the lawyers a hard time when discussing, Contracts
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