1938 Gibson L- 5
This guitar has an unusually rich and significant
musical history. You heard it on Hank Williams’
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Lovesick
Blues,” and “Cold, Cold Heart.” It was used
to record “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” one
of Chet Atkins’ earliest recordings for Bullet
Records. And it was featured all over Patsy
Cline’s debut album, Patsy Cline. It even
toured the Pacific with Frank Tennille—yes,
that Tennille’s father—and Bob Crosby’s band
during WWII. The battered and bruised guitar
showcased here is a 1938 Gibson L- 5 used
extensively by Nashville session and radio guitarist Jack Shook.
Shook was a pioneer of the Nashville session
scene. He was one of the first to make playing
the guitar in the studio—on both radio and
record dates—a full-time and decent paying
job. Besides having his mainstay gig as WSM’s
acoustic guitarist—which included playing on
the Grand Ole Opry weekly program—for 45
years, Shook used his L- 5 in his singing group
the Missouri Mountaineers, on the Teddy Bart
