[milomom]

I was scanning through the music magazine racks yesterday when I saw Keith Urban on the front of Guitar Aficionado. It's the January/February 2011 issue, so it must have just hit the newsstands. Much of the article deals with the guitars that he lost during the May 2010 flood in Nashville. Here's a pic that I found at the time of the flood. These are Urban's instruments drying out after the flood:



A few of his guitars have been salvaged, but most couldn't be saved. Unlike a lot of musicians who lost instruments to the flood, Urban's were insured. This is from the Guitar Aficionado article:

"That should have been an exciting opportunity, but at first I didn't have the heart to do it," he admits. "It seemed too disrespectful to do it too fast, especially when I didn't know if some of the guitars that got damaged were going to be salvageable or not. I didn't want to just race out and get duplicate versions of things I already had. It was a weird feeling. Guitars mean so much to musicians and we're responsible for them. They're like children--they're fully dependent on us to take care of them, and if we're negligent in the slightest they can be destroyed in a heartbeat. It's an awful feeling to think that a guitar has survived for 50-odd years and I drowned the damn thing. Even though it wasn't my fault that the river flooded, I can't shake the feeling that this happened on my watch. I went through a period of grief, shame, and guilt. Only another guitar player could understand that. Those guitars were good to me.

"It left me with mixed feelings," he continues. "Spiritually, I try not to cling to my guitars, but in my human form I really miss them emotionally. I've developed a positive attitude about the experience, however, I want to get a T-shirt made that says, 'Jesus says do not cling to earthly things,' and on the back it will say, 'But Jesus never owned a '57 Strat.' When I remembered that I've made records in the past where I've owned nothing, I decided to make the most of the situation. I borrowed some guitars from my tech, Chris Miller, and eventually went out to find some new guitars."

All in all, a very interesting article. A couple of pics of Urban in the grand old lady known as The Ryman Auditorium are a really nice addition, too.


P.S. to Becky - Clarence was in the flood. I thought I heard at the time that it wasn't, but that must not have been accurate. According to the article, though, Clarence was saved.

[Kathleen]

Wow - that gave me chills. How could anyone, who ever loved their instrument (no snickers here please) not mourn something such as that.

And what a quote - 'But Jesus never owned a '57 Strat.'

That's t-shirt material

[KathleenV]

CMT or GAC had a special about it too. The video might even be on his official website. It's kind of emotional to hear him talk about the flood.

[milomom]

Originally Posted by KathleenV

CMT or GAC had a special about it too. The video might even be on his official website. It's kind of emotional to hear him talk about the flood.

Thanks, I'll have to check it out.

[Becky]

Originally Posted by milomom

P.S. to Becky - Clarence was in the flood. I thought I heard at the time that it wasn't, but that must not have been accurate. According to the article, though, Clarence was saved.

Thank God Clarence was saved. I love that guitar! I'd heard the same at the time. I'll have to look for the magazine.

[Jim Bon Jovi]

Ouch a lot of those will never play or sound the same again even if they have been saved

I hate any instruments getting banged up, accidentally or otherwise.