All language subtitles for Songbirds.2022.720p.WEB.H264-HYMN

[ebbing tone]

[soft instrumental
guitar music]

♪

Hey, I'm here at Songbirds
this morning,

uh, before anybody got here.
It's our last day and, uh...

I haven't really dealt with my
own emotions yet, I don't think.

I haven't spent a lot of time
crying, and I'm a crier.

♪

You know, COVID can go suck one,
as far as I'm concerned.

It has destroyed, not--
not just what we're doing here,

but it's destroyed lives
and it's a very real thing.

♪

It's been as busy as every
other day was this week.

This has been three times
busier than that,

and we started the day
with ten people

at the doorway
waiting to come in.

It's been nonstop
the whole day.

Uh, we were supposed to be
limited on our vault tours,

and we've had to not--
we've had to turn people away,

which stinks. We've had
a lot of people back there,

on the hour,
and now it's just sort of the--

grinding out
the last few minutes here.

It's, uh, hard to believe
that it's coming to a close.

Uh, but...

What a-- what a great day
to go out on.

What a great day to go out on.

I don't-- I can't imagine in
my wildest dreams that

there could possibly be
a collection of--

of the magnitude of what I saw.

And I know I only saw
the tip of the iceberg.

You know, the notion of like--
of trying to curate

the world's greatest
guitar collection...

I don't think there'll be
a collection like this

ever
publicly displayed again.

Every color of-- of Telecaster
and Firebirds, and...

of the whole collection
from the 1966 'Nam show,

of course,
and things like that.

You know, I mean, one of
the reasons we're shutting down,

obviously, is COVID.
We had a lease coming up.

We've got a lot of money
in this place

and we'd have to put a lot more
money in to keep it going.

And with the lease being
on the horizon, um,

you know, was the reason
that we just had to make

a decision to go ahead
and end it now, um.

We just couldn't afford
to go into it deeper

than what we already were.

Songbirds has been such
a huge part of my life

the past three years.

And especially through
the, uh, the Coronavirus,

and having this as a venue
to come

before we went into shutdown

and then when we opened up,
to be able to come here,

just...

There really aren't words.

Just cancel it all out.

Since you're our last customer,
that's a gift from us to you,

you can have it all.

[sniffling]

Just take it.
But you're our last customer.

[background chatter]

We wish everyone at Songbirds
well and we thank everyone,

all the artists
that we've seen,

because live music is just
so good for, um,

it's good for the soul.

Y'all love Songbirds.

The love that we've received
from the thousands

and tens of thousands
of people has just--

I didn't realize that
was even a thing.

I didn't realize that, um,

I didn't realize that this place
had reached that many people.

I mean I kind of did,
but I didn't really know.

You know, you don't--
you don't ever know.

[ebbing tone]

♪

Songbirds is a--
honestly, a labor of love,

that, uh, was kind of
a culmination of different

people's passions and ideals,

uh, to create an awesome place

for people to appreciate
music in a new light

in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Uh, Songbirds is, well,
it was probably

the largest vintage
guitar museum in the world.

It's the finest
collection of, mainly--

It's got all types of guitars

but the strong point
for Songbirds was truly

the solid body guitar, uh.

Guitars designed
between '48 and '65.

What's neat about
this collection is

it's not just about quantity.

What I've-- what I've been
really astounded by is

the quality of the pieces
they've collected

over the years.

You're seeing great examples
of, of great instruments,

not, not things that have had
things done to them.

They're, they're all in
pretty astounding condition.

♪

So many may ask, "When did
these guitars go from being

cheap, inexpensive,
used instruments

to suddenly becoming highly
collectible vintage guitars

that were going
for tens of thousands,

if not hundreds of thousands
of dollars,

some even hitting
the million dollar mark?"

These instruments
in the '40s, '50s

into the early '60s were
pretty much handmade guitars.

1964, The Beatles
go on Ed Sullivan,

and that's a huge turning point.

Ladies and gentlemen,
The Beatles!

[Irv] The day after
that performance,

every kid in America suddenly
wanted to play guitar

or get a drum set,
or be in a rock-and-roll band.

Everything changed
almost overnight.

So the demand
for an electric guitar

just suddenly went up,
like, tenfold,

and suddenly
the manufacturers had to

ramp up production
to meet those demands.

Fender would sell
his company to CBS,

a large corporation that knew
nothing about building guitars.

So Gibson was also sold in 1969
to a large corporation,

much like Fender.

And the trouble
with this was these companies

really knew nothing
about building guitars,

but again, had to show profits
to shareholders.

And so, now cost-cutting design
changes were being implemented.

By the early '70s, the quality
of an American guitar

was, was actually pretty poor.

And if you were
a guitar player in the know,

you knew better than
to go buy a new one,

and you went looking for
these older guitars.

They were cheap,
they were affordable.

It was just a used guitar.

They may have been scratched
up a little bit,

but they played great
and sounded great.

And what started to happen
by the late '70s is with--

As people became more
and more hip to this fact,

the demand for these used
guitars started to go up.

And suddenly, with the demand,
the price went up.

This sunburst Les Pauls
like Eric Clapton played

uh, Peter Green,
Mike Bloomfield,

those guitars
were the first ones

people really began to seek out.

And by the mid-'80s,
they were up to $5,000 already.

It was 1958 to 1960
Sunburst Les Paul.

They only made them
for three years.

Those guitars today start at
a quarter of a million dollars.

I started to build
the collection

for one of my clients.

I have a store in New York.

One of my clients wanted
to build a collection,

and that started about
23 years ago,

and we started to build
a collection,

never thinking that it would
ever turn into anything

besides a private collection.

Uh, this collector basically
built up this collection

over 20 years of just amazing
pieces, one after the other.

And then I think-- just one day
he woke up and said,

"I got all this,
what do I do with it?" You know.

And he felt it would
be great to show it

and share it, you know,
instead of keeping it hidden.

I immediately started dedicating
a lot of my time

to trying to find what would be
a location that would be ideal

for something like a guitar
museum,

'cause that's what it was at the
beginning, was a guitar museum.

At one point, we had discussed
possibly putting

a kind of a storefront museum
in Manhattan, in New York,

but the $25,000 a month rent
was pretty scary,

and we didn't really want
to do that.

So we were looking at cities
that might be able to

accommodate this from a-- from
a business, economic standpoint.

And, you know, of course,
it was the usual suspects:

Nashville, um, Austin, Texas,
even Seattle, New York,

all the places that have

the density of tourism
that would make it make sense.

They started
a little scouting mission

and they bounced around
from city to city,

going from Austin to Seattle
to Nashville.

The investors
just said Chattanooga.

And then I started
kind of changing

my thought process about...

Chattanooga in terms
of being able to support it,

because I thought
'they need this.'

The opportunity presented
itself in Chattanooga

with this beautiful,
historic building,

and we just felt that it kind
of suited what we wanted to do.

And we figured that
if we came in here,

it may take the, the town
a little bit of time

to catch up
to what we were doing,

but we figured, within a few
years, we would be there.

And then,
at the end of the night,

around the 8:00 hour,
just so you know,

we're gonna take a visit
upstairs, and we've got

something very, very special
for you up there to see.

I'm not gonna tell you
what it is yet,

but trust me,
you'll want to stay and see

what we've got for you upstairs
which will be our space.

So we did a launch party
that was really--

I can say it now-- was really
more of a pseudo-launch party.

We didn't even have
any connections

to really make this thing an
announcement for real, for real,

but I thought if they started
making an announcement,

it went public,
we did some demo work,

then it was
going to be more real

than it had been in the past.

And, um-- and I was right.

It became very real.

I mean, we weren't
exactly kamikazes,

but we were darn near close
on what we were trying to do.

None of us had ever started
a guitar museum before.

I don't think what we did
has ever been done.

♪

I spent a lot of nights
in here sleeping on a cot,

for real, um,

and waking up
the next morning.

And, you know, I knew all the
workers' names that were here,

every contractor
that was on this place,

every subcontractor that was in
this place, I remember them.

I got to the point at that time
I knew their kids' names.

[clearing throat]
And, uh...

we built it.

♪

So we're coming to you
from my shop here

on Long Island in New York,

where all the guitars
that went over

to the Songbirds Museum made
their first stop.

We would go out
and procure them,

bring them here
to the shop to authenticate

and go through everything

to make sure
everything fit the bill,

and then we would, uh,
transport them en masse

to Chattanooga
to go to Songbirds.

♪

So this is the guitar
that started it all.

A 1954 Fender Stratocaster

that I sold on eBay
uh, for $25,000 at the time.

And, uh, what's cool
about the early ones is

this is a one-piece ash body

and, uh, it doesn't have
the vibrato arm,

or the whammy bar,
as some call it.

This is called a hardtail
and it's drilled through

the back of the guitar,
more like a Telecaster.

But you can see the beautiful
grain of the ash.

The other thing I love about
this particular guitar,

and that moved me about it,
was the size,

the sheer size of the neck.

It is-- it is absolutely huge,
but super comfortable.

Allows you to wrap your thumb
over the top when you play.

Uh, some people
love that style.

You know, the headstocks

on the early guitars
are super thin

and the logo that's up there
just says Fender Stratocaster,

usually would say
'with synchronized tremolo,'

but since there's no vibrato
arm built onto this bridge,

it simply just says
Fender Stratocaster.

And they call this
the Spaghetti logo,

basically, because it looks
like somebody laid spaghetti

on a table
to form the word Fender.

Uh, I happen to think it's just

the greatest looking logo
I've ever seen.

I wish they never got
away from it.

You know, one of the things
that makes this a vintage guitar

is that it was-- this is the
first year of production in 1954

and usually, uh,
we stick along that, uh,

pre-1970 line
for vintage guitars,

although
some people will say 1979.

Uh, pretty much anything made
before 1970

would be considered vintage
guitars in this store.

You know, interestingly enough,

there was a pretty good rivalry
between Gibson and Fender.

They were competitors.

You know, Gibson and Fender
are still competitors.

Not to slight Gibson,

but Leo Fender got it right
the first time a lot of times.

Fender had this advantage
of using, uh, lesser materials

and a bolt-on neck and, and, uh,
getting products out cheaply.

They, you know--

The fender was the craftsman
wrench, you know,

and Gibson was the dental tool,
the dental instrument,

that fine, delicate instrument.

Gibson really started to really
flourish on electric side

with Ted McCarty.

Um, it took Gibson
a few tries on the Les Paul

to get it to where
it's the classic Les Paul,

you know it was--

And all versions are classic
in their own way.

But the one that they ended up
with, the Sunburst Les Paul,

which is the flame top,
with the sunburst

and the, you know, finish,
and the humbucking pickups,

it took 'em literally
almost six years

and four, five different
variations of that.

Leo Fender came out
with the Stratocaster in '54,

and the Stratocaster
looks identical.

That caused problems
at some point

between Gibson and Fender,

where Fenders were trying
to upscale their guitars

to be more like Gibson's

by adding things like binding
on the neck

and block marker inlays
made of pearl in the neck,

where Gibson was trying
to cheapen their guitars

to be more price competitive
with Fender.

So they took this great guitar,
the Gibson Firebird,

and they made a new version of
it starting in 1965

that became, basically, the
New Coke of the Gibson world.

And then,
throughout the '60s,

you'll see Firebirds come in,
SGs come in

in response to Strats,
and then Teles, and Jaguars,

and Offsets, you know.
Um, and, you know,

if you look at
Fender's custom color chart,

and Gibson's custom
color chart,

they kind of had the same--

different names for kind of
the same colors, you know.

They were constantly trying
to outdo each other.

So, you know,
one of the things that

I always look at is, you know,

which is better:
Gibson or Fender?

And honestly,
they're both amazing guitars,

but for completely different
reasons.

♪

In the late '50s,
Gibson's sales started to drop.

The Les Paul was not selling
as well as it did before,

partly 'cause rock-and-roll

had kind of killed
Les Paul's career.

He wasn't as popular anymore
on the radio

as he used to be, um,

and Gibson guitars, the Les
Paul, was an expensive guitar.

It was $250, $275 at that time.

And it was a heavy guitar,

weighed about nine pounds
around your neck.

There's a little weight there.

But your average Fender guitar
weighed seven pounds

and probably costs about $175,
give or take in that age.

These started to outsell
Gibson by the late '50s,

but the real key was
also Fender

had a very aggressive
marketing team.

Fender would advertise this as

the modern, hip,
youthful guitar,

and they would also

underneath that in their ads,
they would write,

"Gibson is
your old man's guitar."

Because if you looked
at a Sunburst Les Paul,

or a Goldtop Les Paul,

it look like an old
arch-top jazz guitar,

like, maybe, your dad played.

So Ted McCarty,

having enough of that,
figured he'd fight back.

In '58, he would design
three new models

he would refer to as
his modern series.

He designed a flying V,

The Explorer,

which have both become
very popular in recent years,

and there was a third model,
called the Moderne,

we don't have one.
As far as I know,

there was at least
one prototype made

that I believe was destroyed
by Gibson later on,

because it was never used.

So in 1958, he would show these
at the 1958 Trade Show

and start to p-- start
production on these Flying Vs.

Later on in '58, he would start
production on the Explorer.

By early '59,

feedback from the dealers
would inform them

that they couldn't give
these guitars away.

These guitars were so radical

in shape, design and look,
way ahead of their time,

they could not sell them.

They also found out
in '59

that anybody in a factory
working around these guitars

was having health issues,
breathing issues.

They discovered that when--
with this wood,

when you sanded it, or sawed
it and breathed in the dust,

it was almost carcinogenic.

So they immediately
halted production,

got rid of the wood.

Uh, the wood they used
on these guitars,

unlike most Gibsons,
which were mahogany and maple,

this is a wood called
limba wood.

[mellow guitar strumming]

[Bryan] So how I started off at
Songbirds was I was a member.

I came and did a Vault Tour
here with Irv Berner

uh, one week after we opened.

I'd heard
that we had this brand new

vintage guitar
museum in Chattanooga.

I live on the South Side,
very close to the museum,

and I came here on a Saturday
and did a Vault Tour

and then immediately
left from here

and went to the front desk

and bought an annual membership
for my entire family,

and then proceeded
to come back here

every free chance I got
for that first year that,

that I was around
here at the museum.

There's always that thing in
life, quantity versus quality.

And we've been fortunate
in that

we, we really have kind of both.

We've-- we've got an enormous
amount of wonderful guitars,

but the quality of this
collection and the uniqueness...

There are so many prototypes,
one-of-a-kinds,

again, that tell a story
from beginning to end.

You can see how certain
models would evolve over time.

I know how it is sometimes
when they come up with an idea

and you see it
for the first time,

and you hold a prototype
and, you know,

and the next thing you know,

thousands of them
are out there, you know?

And these ideas don't just
come from, you know, nowhere.

I think they were inspired.

And so when I see that,

it's-- it's kind of like
a spiritual experience.

It really was.

The Songbirds' collection
is my kind of stuff.

It's solid b--
a lot of solid bodies,

'50s and '60s
Gibsons and Fenders.

You know, I always tell people

I collect solid body electric
guitars

from about 1950 to about 1965.

Those are the 15 years
that I really like.

Yeah, it's, it's incredible.
I mean, it's just--

It was overwhelming,
and inspiring

because you just go,

You know, this--
somebody did this.

Somebody went out and said,

"I'm going to do this
and I'm going to commit to it."

You know, when we first started
to put this collection together,

it was a few Blackguard
Fender Telecasters

made from 1952 to 1954.

And the collection
started to grow,

and then it became
Stratocasters,

and the, all of a sudden,
it became ES335s,

and then Les Pauls,
and then one day,

when this idea
for a museum came up,

uh, I had to put a stop
to everything we were doing,

it was literally,
stop the presses.

Because now we're not just
buying for a collection,

we're buying for a museum,
which is very different.

And we had to make sure that
we scratched every itch.

So if you grew up
and you were a Beatles fan

and you played a Rickenbacker,
we suddenly realized, wow,

we didn't have
any Rickenbackers.

Or if you were a Gretsch player,

we didn't have any Gretschs,
and we didn't have

a whole bunch
of flattop guitars,

and we didn't have a whole
bunch of archtop guitars.

So it was literally,
in many ways, like having to

start over again, but,
thankfully, we already had

the really good Fender
and Gibson stuff already,

so, we were in a good place.

[Bryan] I became fascinated
even more

than I already was
with guitar history.

And it occurred to me, like,

if I had been
an art history person

or somebody
who really enjoyed, um, art,

this was like living next door
to the Louvre in Paris.

This was, for me, Valhalla,

the most awesome place
that I could be around,

and it was right here
in my own backyard.

So I started getting books
on vintage guitar history,

and I would sit on the couch
right behind us, right here,

and bring those in
on Saturdays

and read those vintage guitar
history books right here

in the midst of the collection.

At about four guitars in,
I remember seeing

a guitar that looked like one
that we had on display here

and I thought, man,
that's really similar

to the one that I'm looking
at right here.

And as I walked up from
the couch, to the case

and looked at it,
realized it wasn't

a guitar that looked like
the one that was in the book.

It was the actual guitar
that was in the book,

and that kept happening over,
and over, and over again.

And my love for this place
kept growing.

[Irv] We had some great programs
where you could pay

a little extra,
and get to play them.

It was like getting
the keys to a Ferrari,

being able to drive around
the track a few times.

Uh, it's called
The Player's Experience.

We just did one this morning
where a young teenager came in

and he played
a 1959 Sunburst Les Paul.

Uh, it's considered the Holy
Grail of the electric guitar.

Most people in their lifetime
won't get a chance to play one.

Well, it's hard to get your head
around it, actually.

Uh, and everybody I ever try
to talk about it with,

I would say that you just
have to see it.

And not only was it because
they were worth so much,

you know,
in the value of 'em,

but it was the attention
to detail.

I mean, this is a labor of love.

These guys are into this.

It was like something
I'd never, ever seen before.

There is
a certain nostalgic feeling

whenever you can go back to
a simpler time.

And, uh, for a lot of teens,
growing up,

Fender and Gibson
was part of their lives,

and they went to go play in
a garage band after school.

And guitars made you popular
with the girls, you know,

it was a, uh--
it was an incredible time.

One of the great things
about Songbirds is

we have all these guitars

where people could walk in
and experience,

or maybe be brought back
to that very moment in time,

like we were just discussing,
where, uh--

Just like seeing an old car can
remind you of your honeymoon.

And the great thing
about it is that, you know,

although the guitars, many of
the guitars were behind glass,

it didn't mean you couldn't play
cool old guitars. You could.

We would literally
take guitars out of cases

and put it in people's hands.

That was one of the great things
about Songbirds,

was the fact that
as a guest there,

you could really be involved.

Once the idea of Songbirds
was announced to the public,

the first thing-- the first
response we started to get

from everybody was,
whose guitars do you have?

Do you have Elvis' guitars?

You have this guy's guitar?
That guy's guitar?

And that was really not what
Songbirds was about.

Songbirds-- the heroes of this,
of this museum are really

the guitars themselves
and the guys behind

the original classic designs.

People like Ted McCarty,
Leo Fender, George Fullerton,

uh,
Freddie Tavares, Don Randall.

These were guys that really
helped design these guitars,

get 'em out to the public,

and, of course, you know,
well, of course,

the great musicians
that played 'em,

but it was really about
the instruments themselves, uh.

It wasn't about who owned them.

That being said, we got
so many responses like that,

I think there was a little
sense of panic early on

and we went out and acquired
a bunch of guitars,

just to satisfy that need
for some people.

So we do have
one showcase here filled

with some celebrity-owned
guitars.

That being said,
we do have guitars

throughout this collection

that were owned
by famous guitar players

that we never advertise,
or put a sign up,

'cause when we bought them,

we didn't buy them
with that intention,

and we want to do the right
thing by the performers.

We weren't trying to make
money off their name.

So we did have instruments,
did not speak about it.

Uhh.

But over here,
we've got a guitar

owned by Roy Orbison
at one point,

a Strat that was owned
and signed by Buddy Guy.

One of my favorite bands
growing up was The Doors.

This was a Les Paul
owned by Robby Krieger,

early Les Paul
with the SG body style,

owned by Robby Krieger,
signed by him,

a Jazzmaster
signed by Bo Diddley.

And on the other side,

we've got some more
we could take a look at.

And on this side over here,

we've got one of our
prized possessions,

one of Chuck Berry's ES 355s,
father of rock-and-roll.

Uh, Paul Burlison was in a group
called the Rock and Roll Trio.

They did the original version
of Train Kept A-Rollin',

an early rockabilly group.

This was his '52 Les Paul,
signed by him.

Carl Wilson, The Beach Boys,
his Epiphone 12 string.

Now, again, earlier
we spoke about the influence

The Beatles had on everybody,

and the Beatles
using that electric 12.

And, shortly thereafter,
The Beach Boys

would use a 12 string
in many of their hits.

Carl Wilson would play
those parts.

A beautiful 1960 Faded 'Burst
that was owned by John Fogerty.

And one of the Dick Dale's
original Stratocasters,

is the father of surf rock,
the amazing Dick Dale.

♪

The notoriety, and probably

the thing most recognizable
about Songbirds was the museum.

But it doesn't put aside
the fact that

it was an amazing venue,
both upstairs and down.

The person behind booking

all the talent,
both nationally and locally,

was Chattanooga's unsung hero,

and that is my very good friend,
Mr. Mike Dougher.

My role at Songbirds
has been talent buyer.

Initially, it started out
putting some small shows

in, uh, the museum space,

uh, leaning towards...
great guitarists,

and then it sort of expanded
into other people

and other styles of music,

and then it expanded even more
to Songbirds South

where we could do
larger shows down there.

How do you have
the instruments and not have

music surrounding them?
Live music?

I, I have played thousands
of bars and venues

across the country
as a musician,

and there was
a lot of bad places

and a lot of good places.

That is made up
of a cool vibe in the venue,

but the staffs
treat you poorly.

Then there was other venues
that the venue was really poor,

but the staff treated
you great.

You know, there was
all these hybrids of those.

And I thought,
if we're going to do this,

based on my experience,
we're going to--

we're going to try and check
every box.

And that's how it got here.

♪

♪ Used to be you'd never
catch me on my knees♪

♪ Praying to anyone,
or praying for anything ♪

♪ I just figured
I was down here on my own ♪

♪ Just another lonely soul ♪

♪ Kicking dust
down a lonely road♪

♪ But you showed up
and made me a believer♪

♪ That there's something
bigger out there♪

♪ That's looking out for me♪

♪ 'Cause
without your love ♪

♪ I know I wouldn't
be here ♪

♪ Don't know what you see me♪

♪ That makes you want
to see this through ♪

♪ But thank God you do♪

♪ Thank God you do♪

Well, that's the other end
of this museum.

I mean, one thing was the--
was the guitars, the museum,

and what we were bringing
in that respect.

The other thing is
the live music scene

we brought to Chattanooga.

♪ Won't be hard to find ♪

♪ 'Cause it's right there
in your eyes♪

♪

Uh, all the showcases in
the middle of the room

we get moved over
into the timeline.

We would put 200 seats out
and it was like seeing

a show in a big living room.

♪ I know I can♪

♪ 'Cause you showed up
and made me a believer♪

There is no greater collection,
and to be able to work in

the middle of it, for artists
to come in and play

in the middle of it, they would
come offstage stage saying,

"I knew I had to bring
my A-game because I could feel

and sense the history
in the room,

and I had to step up,
to meet-- to meet the challenge

of all those guitars.
It's pretty cool.

♪ Want to see this through♪

♪ But thank God you do,
thank God you do♪

♪ I don't know what...♪

Playing at Songbirds,
knowing you're surrounded by

the single most impressive
collection of guitars, um,

in the world was
an amazing thing.

I am delighted to have
played on that stage,

played in that room,
played in that air.

♪ Thank God you do♪

♪

We've had everybody play here,
from Vince Gill, to Dick Dale,

to Tommy Emmanuel to John 5.

Keith Carlock, Dennis Chambers,
Billy Cobham, Dave Weckl.

We kept building up.

Uh, we would bring in an artist
and then that would give us

an idea to bring in a, maybe,
a better or more important

or more interesting artist.

We went from someone like,
oh, say, um, a Dick Dale

to having the courage
to bring in John 5

from Rob Zombie's band,

which terrified me
to no end.

♪

Uh, he was debating whether
to play Nashville,

which he normally would do,
or come here.

The reason he played here
was because of all of

the wonderful guitars
that are here.

Um, what a tool to have.

It's like, yeah,
do we have a green room?

Yeah, it's worth
about $4 million,

so don't spill
your beer on anything.

My impressions of Songbirds
is as an entity.

From the collection,
to the foundation,

to the venue is always been
music-friendly,

musician friendly, you know?

And the live venue was just
an extension of that.

Now, one of those things

about Songbirds that
always struck me was

the attention to detail,
and, like, they wanted

the audience
to have a great experience,

they wanted the artists
to have a great experience.

You know, when you see a guy
like Joe Bonamassa be impressed,

then you did something good.

And, uh, if there's ever
any affirmation needed,

I'll check that box off
a while back with Joe.

But I hate to mention too many
bands independently.

Jerry Douglas, I know he was
a big one, but you know,

there's-- to me,
I think the coolest part,

and I'm not saying this
to be correct,

I'm not saying this to, to
be anything other than truthful,

seeing all the local bands have
a place to play was cool.

♪

♪ You don't want to know that
I've been falling apart ♪

♪ Waking every day
with a broken heart ♪

♪ The kind that doesn't waste
any time cutting through you♪

♪ You don't want to know that
I've been feeling this bad♪

♪ It's all that I've known ♪

♪ It's all that I've had
for so long ♪

♪ It's something that
I'm starting to get used to ♪

♪ The longer I go,
the more numb I get ♪

♪ With all of the pain and all
the regret that I've got♪

♪ Everyone around me
thinks that I'm fine♪

♪ Nobody's asking me
to find out that I'm not♪

♪ And now I keep pretending
[unclear] ♪

♪ You're pitiful

♪ You know a little lovin'
and words so lovin' ♪

♪ That it's counterfeit♪

♪ And the city's breathing
and it's just me here ♪

♪ Alone in this fight♪

♪ I can't be the only one
this lonely tonight ♪

Working with the local musicians
is always important to me.

Um, I think it's part of our
mission to include them

in everything that we do here.

So we can bring in, um, Steve
Earle or someone like that,

and then also bring in
Campbell Station

or The Afternooners,

because they need to know
how to act professional,

dress professional,
how to do a soundcheck,

how to learn all of those steps,
to be a better band.

And we really believe
deeply in helping

the young bands learn
how to be better.

We can lead 'em all the way up,
at the end of the day,

they've got to do
their good work on stage.

♪ Out that I'm not♪

♪ Now I keep pretending
[unclear], you're pitiful ♪

♪ You don't even know
that [unclear] so looking ♪

♪ That its counterfeit ♪

♪ And the city's breathing
and it's just me here ♪

♪ Alone in this fight♪

♪ I can't be the only one
this lonely tonight ♪

The people in Chattanooga
were always aware that

they had a chance to come
play here, and it's a big deal.

I mean,
we're a professional outfit.

It's a big deal
to come play here.

♪ Just need time
to come around♪

I don't think it would be
a stretch for me to speak

for all the artists here in
Chattanooga by saying that

the opportunity that Mike and
Songbirds and the team gave us,

the platform,
the stage to perform on,

the things that
we were able to be around...

um, we will be eternally
grateful for that.

And this is a stamp
on the music scene

that won't ever go away.

♪ That it's counterfeit

♪ And the city's breathing
and it's just me here ♪

♪ Alone in this fight♪

♪ And I can't be the only one
this lonely tonight ♪

♪ I can't be
the only one this lonely♪

♪

So, we're out here
on Station Street.

We're about to close down our
final show here at Songbirds.

And we can't help but feel

an enormous amount
of gratitude to the fans,

and to the people that
supported us over the years,

and we're really grateful
for the opportunity

to be able
to meet new people.

And it's been an amazing ride,
we're very grateful

for everything that, uh,
everyone's done for us.

♪

Back in the late 1940s,
Leo Fender had a company

called Radio and Television
Equipment,

and he basically did radio
and TV repairs

and came out
with a lap steel guitar.

The electric Spanish guitar
would come later.

Starting in late 1949,

the development for what was
basically-- basically

the guitar I'm holding
right here,

which is the Telecaster started.

It started as
the Broadcaster,

until they received
a cease and desist letter

from the Fred Gretsch
Manufacturing Company

who made a drum kit
called the Broadcaster.

Leo was forced
to change the name.

At that time,

they took the broadcaster
decal off

and started to call the guitars
the Nocaster around the factory

until they came up with
a new name for the guitar.

When a new name
was decided upon,

it was called the Telecaster,

based on the fact
that television was now

the new rage
throughout the country.

These are wonderful
playing guitars.

They feature solid rock
maple necks, and ash bodies,

with...
truly unbelievable tone.

And although they made
thousands of these instruments,

they're still one of the most
sought-after instruments

that collectors look for today.

♪

When I hear guys like
Joe Bonamassa,

I mean I get it.
I get that.

And, uh, and John 5,
John Lowery's his name.

He's a good friend of mine.

But he genuinely loves,
loves the guitar.

And when you're there,
he's like,

"I can't wait to tell my friends
about this." And, uh--

When you walk into Songbirds,

it was packed
with premium Fender, Gibson,

a lot of, like, um,

like, interesting custom order
Gibsons that have somebody's

name in the fingerboard
and, you know,

strange colors and,
and very, very cool stuff.

And then,
you got to the back room.

That's when all
the funny-shaped guitars

start coming out:
The Flying Vs, the Explorers,

and stuff that
I'd only seen in books.

I mean, the Rosewood Strat,
you know?

That would've went to Hendrix.

♪

This is solid rosewood.

It's the only one Fender
ever made from 19--

It's dated 1969,

though they didn't finish
making this until 1970.

Uh, this came about
when they decided to do

a limited run of solid rosewood
Fender Telecasters.

In 1968, they would start
to build these Telecasters,

and the very first one would
go to

George Harrison of The Beatles.

If you've ever seen
a film clip of The Beatles

on the rooftop playing "Get
Back" from the movie Let It Be,

George is playing
his solid rosewood Telecaster.

They decided to make us
some Strats.

This was the only one
that was ever finished,

And this first one was intended
to go to Jimi Hendrix.

He passed away
before it was ever finished

so it never left the factory,
it stayed at the factory,

and it ended up in the--

I believe Fender had a guitar
museum for a short while

in the early 80s.

And then it was eventually
sold by Fender.

So this is a one of a kind,

initially intended for
the great Jimi Hendrix.

♪

What you get when you come here
that's different

than any other collection
in the world,

is you get to see the actual
building of history,

as far as the electric guitar
is concerned,

and the very first prototypes
of Leo Fender,

to many employee-built
guitars from Gibson

to see how their own takes
may have been on

certain instruments
that came into production.

We hold the prototypes,
and we hold the history

much more than
the manufacturers do.

They destroyed so many
of their records,

but we have
their living records here.

And, and the idea that when
you can walk through this place,

for most people, the main
reaction we get is, "wow,

we didn't even know they
ever did that before."

And it's like we have not just

a piece of paper saying
they did it,

we have the actual instrument.
That's important to us.

I always said-- I always told
everybody who was going to go

to Songbirds, they're like,
"what's it like?"

and I'd go, "They make me
look like a hobbyist."

And-- and it was--
it's the greatest collection

I've ever seen and I was just
happy to see it in my lifetime

because, you know, the fact
that it was so complete,

and so, like, absolutely 100%,
you know,

curated to the highest order,
spare no expense,

and nobody's
ever going to do that again.

That's a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to see that.

Well, I hope people
will remember it

and will be talking about it.

I think anybody who was--
who was, uh...

I don't know if that's
the right word to use--

but smart enough
to make it here early on

and get to experience it,

I think they'll be talking
about it forever.

Again, there's nothing else
like this anywhere in the world,

and I don't think that--
I hate to say never,

but it'll be, probably, a long
time before anything else

on this kind of level
pops up again,

though I hope it
does somewhere.

Well, this collection's
super special

because there's nothing
like it in the world.

Nobody's gonna be, probably,
dumb enough to put something

like this together again,
truth be known.

I mean, this is like--
this is-- this is

vulnerability meets passion,
meets having a lot of money.

I mean, that's--
at the end of the day,

I don't know how
else to say it.

With all due respect,
it's-- it is those things.

And you will never see,
in my opinion,

anything like this again,
uh,

at least for the foreseeable
future.

It's-- it's just
a phenomenal collection

and the opportunity to be a
piece of letting it be seen,

and been responsible for
the home that it's living in

to a degree is, you know,
it's an overwhelming honor.

We were really hitting
our stride

to where I felt like
we were reaching

a level that had never been
reached before in Chattanooga.

Um, that's one of the sad parts
of, of leaving all this,

is because, um, my goal here
was to create this-- the--

the best small venue
in the country.

I had all these wonderful
guitars, all these amps,

all these wonderful tools.

And so with that, I was able
to bring in all these artists

and each time we brought in
a certain level artist,

it allowed us to go a little
higher, and a little higher,

and a little higher.

And, uh, I think as people
look back on us,

they'll realize just how
incredibly high we got

with the talent level
that we brought in.

It's really hard to do to get
that, that level to come in

on a consistent basis in a town
the size of Chattanooga,

it just is,

when they can play Nashville
if they want, or Atlanta.

So to kind of steal 'em away
was part of our goal.

I think we did
a, a good job with that.

I mean, their focus was,
was beyond a guitar collection.

But to be able to pass
that on to the generation--

not only, uh, the love
of the, of the instruments

that changed music,
like the Stratocaster

and the Les Paul,
all that type thing,

and some of the Gretsch guitars
that The Beatles played,

and all that kind of stuff,
but, uh...

it's one thing
to know the history of it,

it's another thing
how to play one.

And that's where
I was so impressed,

to put in the hands
of a young person

would never be able
to even touch a guitar.

We need to continue
to promote the guitars

so the next generation
understands that these are

more than just sticks of wood,

because if we fail,
they're just firewood.

And if we succeed,

then a whole new generation
goes forward

playing
these beautiful instruments,

and we always let people
play instruments here.

These-- they look like they're
all just locked up behind glass,

but we have always let people
play instruments here.

There is no thrill
better for me,

than having a young guy
who plays guitar,

and putting a half million
dollar guitar in his hands

and just seeing that photograph
when you--

when the wife is standing,
ready to take that iPhone pic,

and he's mugging for the camera
like he's Jimmy Page,

that is just the best thing,
I can tell you.

And that makes it all
worthwhile for me.

♪

So, earlier this year,

my father--
my dad passed away.

And, um, and it was a really
special time for our family

'cause I got to be with him,

um, got to hold his hand,
and, um, be with my family

whenever he passed,
and it went peacefully.

But I had to go away,
had to be away from here

for-- um, for several weeks.

And, uh, when
I came back to Chattanooga

after being there that whole
time, the first thing I did,

which didn't make
my wife very happy, um,

was I dropped her off
at the house,

hadn't even unpacked.

I dropped her off
and drove right over here.

Um, it was on
a Sunday afternoon,

the place is open
for ten more minutes.

But, um, I had to come here.

I had to come be here,
'cause this is just such

a special place that
I love so much.

And after losing,
having that great loss,

the first thing I wanted to do
when I got back,

just had to do it,
was come here.

And, uh, to know it's not going
to be here anymore,

um, man it sucks.

There was a young lady
that was in Siskin

that we worked with
quite a bit.

And she was terminal,
and we knew it.

But music and guitar brought
her a lot of joy and, uh,

she was released
from the hospital

so she could live her last days.

Uh, and she was turning 16,

and she chose to spend
a birthday here.

So we brought her in
and, uh--

and we kind of--
I don't remember how it worked,

but we all pitched in and bought
her an additional guitar,

like, an electric guitar
I think it was.

And we gave it to her as her
birthday present from Songbirds.

And it just so happened
the same day

that Marty Stuart
and Fabulous Superlatives

were playing in town,

and they came down
to check out the museum.

And so all the guys
came in and surrounded her

at her 16th birthday party
she was having here.

Um, and they, uh...

[exhaling]

They sang the song Let Us Have
a Little Talk with Jesus.

"Let us tell Him
all about our troubles,

He will hear our faintest cry,
and He answer by and by. "

So that was a good one.

♪ I may have doubts and fears,
my eyes be filled with tears♪

♪ But Jesus is a friend
who watches day and night ♪

♪ I go to him in prayer,
He knows my every care♪

♪ Just a little talk
with Jesus makes it right ♪

♪ Have a little talk
with Jesus ♪

♪ Tell Him all
about our troubles♪

♪ Hear our faintest cry ♪

♪ Answer by and by♪

♪ Feel a little prayer
wheel turnin' ♪

♪ Know a little fire
is burnin'♪

♪ Find a little talk
with Jesus makes it right ♪

♪ Have a little talk
with Jesus♪

♪ Tell Him all about
our troubles♪

♪ Hear our faintest cry ♪

♪ He will answer
by and by ♪

♪ Feel a little prayer
wheel turnin' ♪

♪ Know a little fire
is burnin'♪

♪ Find a little talk with
Jesus makes it right♪

♪ Find a little talk
with Jesus makes it right ♪

♪ All right ♪

All right!
I'll take a hug.

[applauding]

This place,
and I don't--

I don't say this with
any amount of hyperbole,

this place is the coolest
place in the universe.

Being the curator of something
like this,

being an officer here
is something that...

It's bigger than life to me,
you know?

I, I really looked
at my life simply

as pedaling sticks
of wood for the last,

you know, 35 years and, um,
having something like this is

just the cherry on top for me.

Everybody in the community
and the, you know,

the local cities that would
come here on a regular basis,

people that traveled from
around the world,

everybody that came here
for shows, to see the museum

or for whatever, we,
we couldn't thank you enough

for your support
and, uh, for the praise

and the great reviews
we would get all the time.

We can't thank you enough.

Yeah, I wanna, you know,
obviously thank everybody

that came through Songbirds,
anybody that dropped

one nickel here or, you know,

made one post on Facebook
or made one post on Instagram.

I mean, you guys made us.

The fans are who made us.
We built it for you.

We had a great team
and we did great work.

Uh, I walk away from this

extremely proud of what we've
accomplished. Extremely proud.

It's only three years,

we were knockin' 'em dead.
Pretty happy with that.

[ebbing tone]

♪

[man]
Okay, are you ready?

I got the thumbs up!

[door thuds]

♪

[door squeaks]

[keys jangling]

[door latch clicks]

♪

[lock click]

[voices fading into distance]

[ebbing tone]

♪

Hey, Irv Berner.
How ya' been?

Dave Davidson, good to see you.

Good to see you, too.

What's been going on
in Chattanooga

over the past few months?

The cases are all empty.

All the guitars have been
shipped out, as you know.

And, uh, yeah,
it's kind of strange.

Yeah, it's hard to know--
you don't even know

that it happened that way,
you know? [sighs]

But, you know,
mounting expenses,

it costs a tremendous amount
of money to run

a place like that every month.

I mean, when you think
about everything

from the security,
to the electrical,

to all the employees,
and all the health care costs,

and everything else-- the rent,
when you're done,

you're spending probably
$20,000, $25,000 a month

just to keep
the place open.

♪

So let me ask a question.
Now that the museum's closed,

what's the process
with these guitars?

You know, some of them are
being shipped now over here

to New York where you get 'em.

Where does it go from there?

When the decision
was made that

the museum was going to close,

one of the biggest questions
we had to answer is what

happens to all the guitars?

This was not an easy decision
for anyone.

I mean, for me, personally,
my personal involvement

of putting this collection
together for more than 20 years

really came into play,

and could I really even fathom
the idea of breaking it up?

Initially, we drove out,

brought home 300-and-something
guitars in one trip.

-Yeah.
-But then we decided

to get down to a fact
where, um, you know,

now we ship
several guitars a week,

either through different
carriers to keep it, you know,

spread out a little bit, and we
receive the guitars here, uh,

and then once the guitars are
set up and out on the wall,

we decide, you know, through
our social media, mostly,

we get the word out about

which guitars
are available for sale

and people
come through and, you know,

call about
what they're interested in.

It's a pretty smooth process.

So, every guitar you get,

you basically set up,
re-strung and, uh...

Every single guitar
goes through

a re-authentication process and
I'm going to tell you why.

[Irv] Okay.

Certain standards have changed
within our business

over the past 20-some-odd years,
okay?

And it makes us always
want to go back, now, where

we take everything apart
and photograph every--

all the internal components
of every guitar, okay?

That was something that really
wasn't done back then.

We kind of took a look,
and we put it back together.

But the customers have
become more savvy,

and they want more proof,
which is totally fine.

So, what we're going to do now
is we're going to look here

and we're going to
see a body date.

And then, if you look closely,
you'll see TG for Tadeo Gomez,

okay, who did a lot of early
production work for Fender,

and you'll see the date:
10/31/51.

So October 31st, so this is
a Halloween special right here.

Okay?
On the neck,

we look at the neck date,
and the neck date,

usually very close by, says TG,
for Tadeo Gomez, 11/7/51.

Now I'm going to try and give
you an angle of that...

so you can see it.

Hopefully you can get
that on the camera.

Okay. So that
is your neck date.

[ebbing tone]

Now, some might think that
this was a sad story.

It's, in fact, anything but.

This was the story of something

that probably
never should have been,

something far beyond
most people's imagination.

This museum was one of those
rare moments in time.

For a short, short while, we had
something truly special here.

The guitars spoke to you,
they took you on a journey

to a more
innocent time in music,

American history, and for many,
their own life.

Though it was cut short,
the life of this museum

is something that should be
celebrated and remembered.

Though the museum itself
will not reopen,

the space is being taken over
by the Songbirds Foundation,

where it will reopen later this
year as an educational center.

The classic instruments
that were on display here

have once again gone back
to their owners

where they continue
to be maintained,

restrung and set up.

At that point,
they are once again ready

to be played and appreciated

as they were intended to be
from the beginning.

At the end of the day, these
instruments were the tools

that let guitar players
sing through their fingers.

You could say, in the right
hands, these were songbirds.

♪

♪

I wrote a song that I call
"Guitar Poor".

♪ I've got flat tops, archups
steel string, gut string♪

♪ Solid body, hollow body,
6 string, 12 string, acoustic ♪

♪ Electric and resonators,
and more♪

♪ Cutaways, non-cutaways,
open-cutaways ♪

♪ Flametops, sculltops,
[unclear] ♪

♪ Man, I'm guitar poor♪

♪ Guitar poor,
guitar poor ♪

♪ Oh, Lord won't ya' help me
I'm guitar poor, guitar poor♪

♪ Lord have mercy on
a guitar poor ♪

♪

And I thought about Songbird
so many times

when I play that song,
I thought, boy, talk about

being guitar poor,
we're actually guitar rich.

♪

♪

♪