Vince Gordon has put his stamp on rockabilly with his intense knowledge of the genre.
His contribution to rockabilly consists among others of more than 250 rockabilly songs ranging from the most beautiful ballads to high energi (classic) rockabilly songs and to songs in quite a new “style”, in which he mixed the original rockabilly style with the modern version of rockabilly. Moreover, he created his own sound: The Vince Gordon Sound with inspiration from the original rockabilly style.
2004 – The Rockabilly Guitarpage
Vince Gordon was founder and editor of the legendary Rockabilly Guitar Page.
Vince was often contacted by other guitarists for advice and guidance, including specific questions about which guitars had been used with certain songs. Vince accepted the challenge right from his first article, listing and describing in detail the various guitar manufactures, brands, special features, the equipment used, Amps etc. soon regarded as an expert, Vince was contacted by people from all over the world. Read more
2006 – Grady Martin and Johnny and the Burnetts
Vince Gordon was, among other things, contacted concerning the rumors that Grady Martin and not Poul Burlison, the lead guitarist in the band Johnny and the Burnetts, had played the lead on many of the legendary recordings by Johnny and the Burnetts. (The Train Kept A-Rolling, Blues Stay Away from Me, All by Myself, Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee).
Vince accepted this challenge. He and his Dutch friend Peter Dijkema started researching how the two guitarists played and listened intensely to their albums. During this research, they contacted various specialists to check and evaluate their findings.
Vince Gordon and Peter Dijkema “proved” that it was indeed Grady Martin, who was the lead guitarist and the rock history about Johnny and the Burnetts had to be rewritten. Their research and the reasoning behind their conclusions can be found in the article: Grady Martin and Johnny and the Burnetts.
Vince and Peter wanted with their research to honor the correct guitarist (To set the score right). Vince Gordon wrote:
Poul Burlison (1929-2003) was a great guitarist and he definitely deserves his place in Rock’n Roll history, but Grady Martin (1929-2001) was a brilliant guitarist, and he should be credited for some of the best rockabilly guitar work ever, simply because he did it.
The findings by Vince Gordon and Peter Dijkema have been referred to in many books, one being the book “Before Elvis: The Prehistory of Rock N’ Roll”by Larry Birnbaum.
2010 – Recreation of the Legendary Scotty Moore Sound
Scotty Moore was Elvis Presley’s guitarist. The sound of Scotty Moore’s guitar has through many decades been regarded as legendary. Through research, experimentation, and a redesign of his Epiphone guitar, Vince Gordon managed in 2010 to recreate the legendary Scotty Moore sound. This feat brought him recognition from Scotty Moore himself.
Characteristically for Vince, he had recreated the sound using only reasonably priced materials. He wanted to share his knowledge with other guitarists, so they too could rebuild their guitars to produce the legendary Scotty Moore sound. Read more.
2011 – The Twang Heard Round the World, by Michael Dregni, ISBN
Because of Vince Gordons and Peter Dijkema’s article about Grady Martin, Vince Gordon was asked if they would like to contribute some pages about the rockabilly music to the book “The Twang Heard Round the World”. Their writing ended up being a chapter about Grady Martin.
Being a rockabilly expert, Vince ended up also contributing to the book in areas concerning the European rockabilly scene and its bands.
2012 – Carl Perkins and His Rockabilly Guitar
Carl Perkins is known as the guitarist with the many guitars. Vince Gordon identified the guitars used by Carl Perkins in his biggest hits “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Honey Don’t”, and “Matchbox”. Being a big Carl Perkins fan, Vince talked to other guitarists, but no one knew seemed to know for certain anything about the guitars, amps etc. used by Carl Perkins in the above songs, though all had looked for this information.
Vince Gordon managed to contact Stan Perkins, the oldest son of Carl and a member of his father’s band. Carl Perkins family contributed to the article with several photos of Carl Perkins’ many guitars read here.
The interesting and unique article and get answers to questions about the guitars and equipment used by Carl Perkins in his biggest hits. Vince Gordon was also contacted by Stan Perkins, when Stan Perkins sought Vince’s help selling one of Carl Perkins’ guitars.
Rock around the Clock
“Rock around the Clock” is a 50s classic. Danny Cedrone played rockabilly guitar in this song. Read this interesting interview of Danny Cedrone by Vince about his guitar and gear, also, download the “Rock around the Clock” Solo as a power tab here.
The Vince Gordon Rockabilly Style and Sound
Vince Gordon worked his whole career to develop the rockabilly genre and to develop the exact sound he was looking for. He listened to other instruments like the saxophone, he listened to the old masters from the 50s and he experimented with the sound. The result of this is an entirely new style and sound: The Vince Gordon Rockabilly sound. This appears clearly on the album “Mean Side of Town”. Listen to “A Man on March”, which could have been a Frank Sinatra or a Bobby Darin classic. Or listen to the beautiful pulp fiction-like ballad “Acting Dreams”.
The Special Customized Vince Gordon Epiphone Guitar
Photo: The Customized epiphone of Vince Gordon. He named it: Epiphone L5CES Custom.
Vince found the sound he had been looking for by customizing his Epiphone. Even though the goal had been to match Scotty Moore’s guitar sound, Vince went further in customization of his guitar to create the sound he would make his own. It was manifested in the legendary Epiphone L5CES Custom, which lends itself to his unique style: The Vince Gordon sound.
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