Either Way (unreleased alternate version)

plus: GEAR TALKIN’™️: #9 Decar JMP Electric Guitar

Hey! While Jeff's away, Mark's here to play. Below, read the latest GEAR TALKIN’™️, about Jeff's Decar JMP Electric Guitar. If you don't happen to care about guitars, I encourage you to read on anyway, because Mark also mentions pepperoni rolls, which means this post has something for everyone.

Further down behind the paywall, Jeff's offering up an unreleased version of "Either Way," a track originally released on Wilco's Sky Blue Sky. 

Also, this is your FINAL REMINDER to upgrade to the Captain's Club. The deadline has been extended to Monday. After Monday the membership tier will be unavailable for the foreseeable future. - Crystal o/b/o Jeffy 

Today, GEAR TALKIN'™️ takes aim at one of Jeff's super fun small-brand rarities, selected from his ever-expanding collection of guitars and guitar accessories.

Jen-Co Musical Products (a subsidiary of the GC Jenkins company) was a good-size manufacturer in Decatur, Illinois from the mid 40s up through the mid 70s. Though they were mostly a manufacturer of percussion-based instruments like xylophones, marimbas, vibraphones, and the like, for about a two-year run in the late 50s they tried their hand at making guitars under the branding Decar, perhaps an abbreviation for Decatur? I mean, what else could it be? Could it have been a screwup at the printers? Dunno.

Photo Credit: Mark Greenberg

I just love the look of this guy, but I can't ignore the familiar overall aesthetic. Decatur's proximity to Chicago unquestionably had a lot to do with the look-and-feel. If this company had been in California or New York or near Kalamazoo at the time, I'm sure their guitars would have come out differently in each case. This guy falls right in line, design-wise, with Chicago makers at the time like Harmony, Kay, Supro, and Silvertone, and embodies the spirit of a time where regionalism was king, and music and barbecue and furniture and architecture and pottery and candy bars and musical instruments all would take on qualities and characteristics as a reflection of the places they were from.

And sure, I love modern times, where I have the ability with a very few clicks to be able to see ALL of art and ALL of architecture without lifting my pimply pale posterior from its perch. But I wonder sometimes if we tend to lose sight of our hometown ways of doing things and making things our own uniquely weird way. As I travel this great land of ours, looking to be dazzled with new horizons and experience unseen dimensions in our great culture and country, and instead am met with an army of teenagers in plus-sized Puddle of Mudd t-shirts at EVERY stop in EVERY town in EVERY state, it can often feel like we're all sipping from the same Big Gulp™️. 

So in light of this wonderfully regional guitar oddity, let's take a moment to celebrate regionalism. Drop what you're doing and go find a West Virginian pepperoni roll if you can, or fix a plate of vinegar-y North Carolina barbecue, or pour salted peanuts into your bottle of Coca-Cola... or call me and we'll go eat some Chicago-style Italian beefs, dry and sweet.