Talking to two guys this evening
Posted by jaybeacham on 28 Jul 2012 at 11:26 pm | Tagged as: blog
I was talking to two guys tonight at a barbeque.
One of them had heard one of my music cds and said I could carry a tune. We started talking about musicians we knew. That guy said he knew a man who’d had a hugh guitar collection stolen from him.
I told of my friend Oregon Willie (Arthur Phillips) and his prize guitar that was stolen when he rode a bus. What made the guitar so valuable was that he had signatures of many of the great country western and pop artists on it. I remember the Sons of the Pioneers had signed it.
Then I started to tell about him being from Minnesota and that he went to high school with …
I couldn’t remember the guy’s name and though the two I spoke to mentioned many rock and pop names, we never hit on the right guy.
So I went home and got on the net to do a search and quickly found Bob Dylan. I had to call the guys and tell them. I felt dumb.
It was harder finding Oregon Willie as there are several well know Arthur Phillips. But I finally found him in a book I remembered featured him. Musicians of Southern Utah is the book title. It is out of print but you can find it online and down load page 38 to see the short write up on Willie. (You’ll need to scroll down to page 38)
http://wchsutah.org/documents/Liston-1-51.pdf
The BOOK
“Musicians of Southern Utah”
Compiled by Doug Liston with H.C. & Kay Hunt and Carol Liston
Oregon Willie-Arthur Phillips
From Hibbing, Minnesota, born May 26 1939.
Guitar from age eleven.
When a teenager, he knew and jammed with “Bobby” Zimmerman (Dylan) and had fun.
Took the name Oregon Willie Octber 1974.
“I have a great love of country music and many unforgettable memories.
My advise to newcomers is to follow your dream and don’t give up.”
If you want to know about my friend, follow the link above and ddownload it and read it.
I have audio recordings of his when he Jammed with me and others in St. Geroge.
A great guitar player who can make any guitar sound good.
We also made several VHS tape recording of him singing and playing.
If interested contact me. Call 435-628-7809 or write 85East Center, Ivins, Utah 84738.
Do you know if Oregon Willie is still alive. He would be 76 now. We are old friends from Provo, UT. I’m probably one of the few people that have seen him clean shaven wearing a suit and tie.