GEAR TALKIN'™️ #17: The Harmony Buck Owens American H169
And an announcement about our next Wilco Loft Sale
Mark asked that I write “one of my intros” for this post. Though—like many of you—I'm here for his humor, not my Live Journal-esque ramblings. So as we all come down from the high of Solid Sound, enjoy this holiday-appropriate GEAR TALKIN'.
The Wilcos have one more show tonight before they can melt into a summer break. We're happy to step in to take this week’s post off Jeffy’s plate. Especially since it gives me a sneaky opportunity to say: I am in awe of our small and truly mighty team. The mightiest. — Crystal
ps. Listen to Hot Sun Cool Shroud! Out now and SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD.
The color combination of red, white, and blue looks fantastic. Think bomb-pops, sparkly motorcycle helmets, and firework packaging. France really knew what they were doing when they designed their red, white, and blue flag. So did Thailand. And the UK. And Norway and Slovakia. And the Netherlands, Iceland, Cambodia, and Luxembourg. Not a lot of people know this, but the United States of America’s flag is also red, white, and blue. Yep! But unlike those previously mentioned countries, we totally stole our look from Evel Knievel. It’s true. Look it up.
Buck Owens was a huge Billboard country star way before he was cast as the co-host of Hee-Haw, the backwoods mashup of the Lawrence Welk Show, Laugh-In, and a cartoon spittoon. Together with his co-host, the great Roy Clark, the show championed AND poked fun in equal measure at the simple southern-fried country life with skits, pre-recorded laugh tracks, and cleavage while sneaking huge amounts of amazing live country music performances into the households of middle America though their television sets. The show started airing in 1969 and was on the air for twenty-five years. Owens was a part of it for most of those years, all the while sporting a red, white, and blue lacquer-finish flattop acoustic guitar built for him by Mosrite Guitars founder Semie Moseley.
It was said that this patriotic-painted plucker was Buck’s personal rebuking of the flag burnings at Vietnam War protests around that time… though he, too, may have just been an Evel Knievel fan.
Never missing a chance to make a “buck” (ha! saluuuute!), Owens licensed the look and feel of this guitar to Sears, Roebuck and Co. who had Harmony produce the “Buck Owens American” Harmony H169 model from 1969-1971. There was also a Silvertone-branded version carried in the Sears catalog as model 1219L… probably part of the licensing deal he made with Sears. Both came with that fantastic multicolored lacquer paint job, a Harmony Sovereign-type construction, as well as a handy under-saddle pickup. Jeff has owned a few of these over the years. They don’t get used as much as some other acoustics he tends to favor, but they remain in their cases patiently waiting for go-time.
Whoops, I’ve buried the lede. We are prepping another big Wilco Loft Reverb Sale that will launch on July 18 only on Reverb.com. Every couple of years Jeff will walk the long hallways of the Loft pulling things off the shelves and making a pile of items that have ceased to bring him and the other guys joy. And really it’s a nice way to free up some space for new toys. You know what the Sugarcubes said about old toys! So yes, as wonderful as this Buck Owens American is, it’s time for it to be loved more often by someone new. It will be amongst over thirty guitars and a bunch of other fun Loft goodies priced to move. Watch the Wilco and Loft socials for exact time and link and see a preview here!
And if you want to see and/or read more about Loft gear related jabberings, visit us on Instagram at @theloftchicago.
This Week in Wilco, Etc.
2009 / July 3: Wilco appears at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and turns in a 28-song set. Evening openers Okkervil River join them on “California Stars.”
2023 / July 4: On Starship Casual, Jeff shares his cover of “America” by Simon & Garfunkel, now Starship Casual’s second-most popular post.
1999 / July 7: Wilco are in Stuttgart, Germany playing Die Rohre with Hazeldine opening. The 29-song set includes The Beatles’ “Come Together.”
Nice! I have a request for Solid Sound 2026 - Mark Greenberg Gear Talkin sessions. Can we make that happen?
And Solid Sound was amazing, Wilco played two of the best sets I've ever seen and so many amazing bands. And they were on fire in Toronto on Wednesday as well! Can't wait for the next time.
Truly mighty team, indeed, indeed!!! Thank you for all of your mightiness!
Thank you for this awesome post Crystal and Mark. It was great getting to briefly chat with you at SS, Mark. I know my comments aren’t related to your post but all I keep talking about is SS and my family is kind of over hearing about it at this point. I can’t stop though until it tires from my system.
Abounding beauty. At one point during Friday night’s show, I honestly thought my body was going to explode out of pure joy. After Saturday’s show, I was intoxicated. Not one sip of alcohol, not one mind-altering substance had been taken. Only the music had been devoured, leaving me stumbling around, shaking and incapable of forming any coherent communication after the show. I was as high as the sun; as full as the Strawberry Moon during summer solstice. Satiated. Sunday’s show, once again, was the only way to close the electric weekend. Joe’s tribute. Thank you. Thank you.
The collective experiences Solid Sound provides across varying platforms in a multitude of creative pathways are unparalleled. I am eternally grateful to share these experiences with so many friends of old, friends of new, friends for life, and strangers too.
Wilco and Wilcrew are fiercely loved.
However, I do wish I could’ve changed something this year. Susie. I wish Susie could’ve been there with all of us. Her presence was deeply missed, but her light, tenderness and strength was still deeply felt. I still felt her connection. Sunday’s final performance always fills me with warmth, inspiration and the strongest desire to try even harder to be a better person. My first priority in life is to be the best mom I can be for my daughters. I learned from the absolute best mom. Sundays at SS always kick my maternal everything into overdrive, which always connects my thoughts and my heart to Susie. As I watched her heart beating up on stage on Sunday with tears in my eyes, I felt her in every word sang and I thanked her in every note played. Thank you, Susie.
Thank you Jeff, Wilco and Wilcrew for another beautiful, magical and cathartic SS weekend. OxO