Gary Brewer Shares His Favorite Version Of 'Sourwood Ridge'

04-30-2023

Album art

(IVPR) With a brand new concept album, long-loved six-string master Gary Brewer is letting fans into his instrumental inner circle, one guitar at a time. Announced today, during International Guitar Month and out on June 30th, Gary Brewer's House Of Axes opens fans up to his collection, catalog, and process, with each new solo acoustic track being played on a different guitar from Brewer's impressive-sounding stable of rare and unique guitars.

All nine instrumental songs were done in one take with no overdubs on a swath of acoustic instruments spanning three centuries of production, each with a video accompaniment-because they're pretty to look at too!

Today, Brewer shared the first taste of Gary Brewer's House Of Axes, with his version of the old mountain ballad "Sourwood Ridge" played on his first ever Martin guitar: a 1968 D-28 given to him by his father. "This guitar here is a very very special one to me," says Brewer in the song's introduction. My dad bought it for me when I was just a young lad; about 14 or 15 years old. I gave this guitar to my son Wayne on his 25th birthday."

He goes on to describe how 1968 was the last year of full production with Brazilian rosewood at Martin Guitar and how there were about 1959 of these particular models made that year. All of the intros and in-betweens of Gary Brewer's House Of Axes are full of tidbits and anecdotes from Brewer's encyclopedic knowledge of Martin guitars and all of the manufacturers they influenced, leaving listeners and viewers both entertained and educated in an all-new concept album experience.

Gary Brewer's House Of Axes Tracklist (along with each featured guitar):
Old Brown Case - 1941 Martin D-28 Herringbone
Southern Flavor - 2007 Martin D-41 Porter Wagoner Custom Signature
Sourwood Ridge - 1968 Martin D-28
White Horse Breakdown - 1992 Mossman Texas Plains Model
Old Minor Joe Clark - 1948 Martin D-28
Little Rosewood Casket - 1959 Martin D-28 E
Tom Rock Twist - 1997 Stelling RHD-125
Foggy Mountain Top - Lonesome Road Blues - 1899 Martin 0-28 Herringbone
Little Brown Jug - 1957 Silvertone