Hearing Messer on radio

File: wightelliott-oh-donmesser_M.mp3

Speakers:

EW – Elliott Wight

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

EW That's right. At that time we had no electricity in our house and we used to have a battery radio. And we could only turn it on to hear the news and to hear Don Messer, that was the only two things you could turn it on for. So we used to always listen to Don Messer, and I think perhaps he had a big influence on my playing, too.

KP Did you learn his tunes?

EW I play quite a few Don Messer tunes.

KP It doesn't seem like you learned his style?

EW No, I didn't learn his style, because I never really was that keen on his style, but he was a marvelous player for all of it, even though a lot of people didn't like his playing. But he was a really fine player.