GEAR TALKIN’™️: #11: Tommy Cash's Signature Micro-Frets Guitar

+ Chit-Chat Check-in #61: Manhattan

Checking in from Manhattan, where I’ve got my hands pretty full. So Mark Greenberg is sharing a pretty spectacular GEAR TALKIN’ for you. Enjoy!

Welcome back to Gear Talkin’™️! Are you ready for this one? Maybe you should sit down. I feel a long wind coming (or maybe that's the SugarZero fruit gummies talkin'). 

Photo credit: The Loft

The great Johnny Cash had a younger brother named Tommy. Tommy Cash. Like his brother, Tommy had rich, commanding baritone pipes and a knack for writing and/or styling some fantastic pick-me-up country blues. Yeah, OK, most of Tommy’s early breaks were appearances on his brother’s TV show. And a duet now and again with his famous brother didn’t hurt either. He went on to put out many records on many labels for many years, hitting Country’s top 100 almost 20 times. That’s pretty damn good for anyone! But living in the shadow of a true American icon and exalted musical hero must have had its challenges. No matter how fantastically talented you are or how hard you work or how lucky you are, the biggest uphill battle will surely be striving to exist as an artist outside of your relation's mention. A blessing and a curse. Few have been able to break through that obstacle. Arlo Guthrie comes to mind as someone who paved his own path somewhat apart from his father… and I’m sure others will come to mind the moment after this is posted. There’s also a related (heh!) subcategory of siblings that find success together (the Brothers Gibb, Karen and Richard, Phil and Don, Billie and Finneas, Curt and Cris, Ann and Nancy, Angus and Malcom, Ray and Dave, Eddie and Alex… DEVO had two sets of brothers!) which would be a fun subject to explore at another time.

But back to Tommy! He had his own band called Tommy Cash and the Tomcats (not to be confused with Tommy McConnell & HIS Tom Cats or Tommy Wills and his TWISTING Tomcats… or all the other Tomcats bands including an early version of the Stray Cats and a 60’s UK group featuring the young future Virgin billionaire Richard Branson). Tommy and his crew looked cool as hell, often all donned in black with matching instruments, sorta reminiscent of the GI proto-punk band the Monks minus that ill-conceived Monks-style doo (or don’t). Remember Johnny’s hit “I Walk the Line”? Of course you do. There’s no way you, as a living human on this earth, could have maneuvered yourself in a way to escape hearing and knowing that song. It’s part of our collective DNA. It’s part of the fabric of our existence. The verses and chorus are written in the gooey pink matter of our white blood cells. Well, Tommy had an uncharted single called “I Didn’t Walk the Line.” Seriously. Was he poking fun at himself or was it an attempt to cash in (yup) on his brother's stardom? Hard to say. It's a pretty nice record in its own right… and just MAYBE not quite as memorable as Johnny’s hit. Again, that long shadow.

Here’s why I bring him up. Tommy and his band were endorsees of a legendary yet small regional guitar company and the pride of Frederick, Maryland, Micro-Frets, who manufactured only about 3,000 guitars from their start in the late 60’s until closing their doors in the mid 70’s. The band often played matching black Micro-Frets instruments and sometimes Tommy would play a reversed model, white with a black pickguard to, you know, stand out. Which left lead guitarist Wayne Gray to play a Micro-Frets Signature model custom made for Tommy. It was a sharp double cutaway, sorta Rickenbacker-thru-the-lookinglass with a Fender-like neck, and this one had an image of a white tomcat silhouette on the body right near the output jack so when plugged in, the cable would become the cat’s tail. Hilarious! And it’s not a sticker, but actually a cutout of three-ply pickguard material to match the guitar’s own pickguard, probably created for Tommy by Micro-Frets themselves. Amazing! 

This guitar came up on eBay years ago, catching Tommy’s son Mark’s attention, who verified its authenticity. It seemed to have bounced in and out of a few collections over the years, was seen on a few stages, had seemingly lived a few lives (nine?) until it landed gently in the hands of our new buddy Amy, who somehow found the will to part with it to help fund another purchase. Now it resides here at the Loft in Jeff’s loving custody. I hope he takes it out on tour so you can see it in person. We can’t tell yet if it’s an indoor cat or an outdoor cat, but either way, it's just purrrrrrfect! 

This Week In Wilco, Etc.

1995 / March 28: Wilco's first album, A.M., is released on Reprise Records. 

2023 / March 29: Jeff chats with Seth and Wilco performs “Tired of Taking It Out on You” from Cruel Country on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

2020 / March 31: Jeff, Spencer, and Sammy appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and perform “Evergreen” from their bathroom at home—"Live from the Lavatory", as it's billed on Kimmel's show.