six string dream: come true.

the night before I left for the beach, my brother Josh and his fiance Christina came to town.

with a special delivery.

for drake.

a guitar he created with his own two hands.

he's been working on it since January and he and drake designed every single aspect of it.

nearly two years ago exactly, I talked about Josh's experience in Luthier school 

and the first guitar he built.

since then he has taught himself how to play the guitar

master the banjo

repair a variety of string intruments

and build custom banjos and guitars

and now, it's a business.

he's an organic farmer. and a luthier

it's an amazing process that is extremely tedious and requires boundless patience,

knowledge and passion.

i wish he even had a remote idea of how many hours he put into this guitar

hundreds.

no doubt.

everything from the shape of the body to the length of the neck...

the different woods used and the shape of the guitar head

was customized.

and the tuning keys....

they are made from the antlers of the first deer drake ever killed as a pre-teen.

kinda awesome, right?

it was like christmas morning at our house all day

drake anticipating their arrival

and it was love at first sight.

we all checked it out

then drake went to be by himself with it for a little while.

they picked on the porch for a few hours.
and couldn't wait to continue celebrating when we returned from 

dinner at family wash: shepherds pie and high gravity beer. that's right.

{josh made all three of these instruments}

and to finish off the weekend, they spent all day Saturday

recording.

six cuts for their

first cd.

"sourwood honey" is their name. {for now}

alex texted me pictures and updates all day of them in the studio

while i was on the way to the beach.

i was pumped that dw and al got to share it all with them

but the real awe & jealousy set it when i heard the rough cuts when i got home.

they are awesome, so raw and beautiful.

josh rips up the banjo and christina's vocals are rockin.

but drake + alex got to add a little vocal and creative contribution too.

and it's pretty darn special.

i just re-read what i wrote about josh's first guitar in October of 2009

and that pride and wonder comes back magnified in full.

i named that post "six string dream" as he was just starting this his little journey

with a new and foreign trade...

and now, to have watched him thrive & grow, create a workshop, mess up, take chances, maintain perfection and finally have his first commissioned piece...

it's safe to say his six string dream 

has come true.