So, Friday April 30 I made the pilgrimage to Dallas Market Hall for the 2021 Dallas International Guitar Show. My good friends Charlie Rondeau and Brad Allen taught me a couple of years back that it’s a good idea to get a VIP ticket, you get special up front seating for the concerts. So this year I copped for a 3 day VIP pass, money definitely well spent. I first made a cursory circuit thru the exhibitors to see what was on display and of course to grab any branded guitar picks to add to my collection, this year not so much on the picks, oh well. As I am constantly on the look out for a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, I made a quick stop at Fuller’s Guitar (Houston) to check out the wares. They had a couple of beauties that were priced to sell, if you have $2500+ pocket change, I don’t. Next it was on to Jimmy Wallace’s display, always a showstopper. Jimmy had a lovely 1959 Goldtop in a glass case, (never a good sign if you are curious about the price), and I was not disappointed to find out it could be mine for a mere $275K, won’t Chris be surprised. Speaking of Les Pauls, the majority of the performers were using the humble Gibson this year. A bunch more so than what I have seen in some past shows.
I made a speed run thru the exhibitors, then it was on the find the live music. Now this weekend promised rain a lot of the time so I completely understood why the main “Sweetwater” stage was inside, but it was disappointing because the sound was just bad. I mean you are basically in an empty metal warehouse, no acoustics, the echo was terrible. Now if you got up close to the stage, and by that I mean within 25 feet, the sound wasn’t that bad, but if you had to stand in the back it was a cacophony of noise. Again, something that could not be helped, I just wish the stage could have been outside like it usually is. Now the Category 5 stage was outside and it was great, I only got a few raindrops the whole weekend so that was cool.
Friday was Girls of Guitar day, so I was able to catch Ally Venable, Celisse, Joanna Connor and Ana Popovic. I was unfamiliar with Celisse, but I did catch about half her set and she tore it up. Really enjoyed Ally Venable, she ended with a beautiful version of SRV’s Lenny. Forgive me Joanna for not writing down some of your songs, they were really good and you can really play. Ana Popovic ended the evening with all her glory. Yes she’s gorgeous, but she has got the guitar chops to back it all up. She had a full band including a brass section. She put on a great show.
Saturday and Sunday will kinda run together as I don’t feel like splitting them up, bands listed will be in order, some of the guitar footage will just be mixed in. Fair enough. Good. Saturday 10am, starts on the outside Cat 5 stage with Texas Blues Trio, good stuff. Next was Tony Black, dual guitars (les pauls) for a nice touch. One thing about Tony, he was doing some ridiculously long Dickie Betts style runs. I must say I was impressed. He and his partner traded off solos and songs. I will have to watch for him again. Caught about ½ of Buddy Whittington’s set, most enjoyable. On to Larry Mitchell, for his fusion stylings. Nicely done. Rocky Athas was brilliant as usual.
Back inside we go to catch the last few songs of Ally Venable, Ally was followed by the amazing Mark Lettieri, 3 piece rock/fusion style, really dug Mark, this was the second time I’ve gotten to see him. Next was Randy Hansen, now I have heard talk of Randy for upwards of 30 thirty years but have never seen him. This was a treat, I never got to see Hendrix, so this is about as close as it gets. Forgive me this observation, Randy was really good, you just had to get past his incredibly overly white teeth! Which he played with numerous times. He was really a lot of fun. Enjoyed the South Austin Moonlighters. Frank Hannon (Tesla fame) was good for a couple of Tesla tunes. While not my favorite and I do like Tesla, Frank was infinitely more enjoyable than George Lynch, wow, there’s 20 minutes I can’t get back! Why did you even bother to come?
Sunday, got there at 11am, the 11 o clock act, I guess weren’t happy with the small crowd, decided to mail it in and announced they would just jam, nope, if I want to hear guitar noodling I will go to Guitar Center, and with that I went back inside to check out the exhibitors. Billy the Kid was next, a very tight 3 piece band. These guys pulled off the shocker of the whole festival, when they launched into an amazing version of the Allman’s Whipping Post! I was most impressed. They finished off with SRV’s Tin Pan Alley. Watch for these guys in the future. Went back outside for Jason Elmore, an excellent set. Back inside for the beating that was George Lynch, oh well Josh Smith is next, thank goodness. Josh proceeds to slaughter it. When one sees Josh, you have to remember to keep closing your mouth as your jaw tends to drop open, a lot.
Finished off the day / festival with the Masters of the Telecaster jam w/ Josh Smith, Chris Rodriguez, Chase Bryant, Robert Miller and Arnie Newman. After a bit of a rough, slow start, they did mesh together and produce some very good music.
The 2021 Dallas International Guitar Show was over, was it as good as shows in the past, probably not. But with Covid still running amuck, and some artists possibly not willing or ready to perform yet, I thought Jimmy Wallace and crew did a bang up job this year. I do hope that next year the main stage gets moved back outside, the artists deserve to get the best sound possible. Yes, we had a grand time and yes we will be back next year. Thanks again Jimmy.
Please take a bit of time and go over the Video / Pics page, there you will find all of my guitar show videos / pics.