Walt Wilkins’ guitar is home!

Photo: Austin PD

In short, Walt Wilkins owned a really cool, custom Gibson Americana that was given to him in 2006. The guitar was stolen in 2009, then 5 and a half years later it made it back to Walt’s very grateful hands. Walt was gracious enough to answer a few questions about the guitar and its journey.Me:What’s the story on this guitar, and how did it end up in your hands?Walt:It is a Gibson Americana model, which never went into full production by Gibson. Gibson made 3 of them for a benefit in conjunction with the public radio station in Marfa, TX. Willie played one at the show; there’s pictures of him with one of the guitars. It’s cool. The other guitar was given to Dan Rather, I don’t know why. I do know that one of my life-long friends found a way to contact Mr. Rather with a request to buy his for me after mine was stolen. His email in response was brief & definitive; not interested. The band began calling the guitar ‘Merica, because during a soundcheck somewhere I hit a big G chord through the house PA & my amp, and it sounded huge. I told the drummer Ray Rodriguez “that’s a big AMerican G chord, man.” He started calling the guitar ‘Merica. It was that goofy & simple.note: The guitar was made from wood from an old Army Base in Marfa where Willie performed to raise money for the station (from Gibson.com)Me:Tell me about when the guitar was taken.

Continue reading at musicofnewbraunfels.com…