Much to the chagrin of my business partner, I've been listening to new Country music lately. You guys know what that is, right? That's kinda like Lynyrd Skynyrd playing behind Porter Waggoner. The licks sound just like Southern rock, but with the band putting a guy out front that sounds just like I do- Southern. I just love this new strain of Rock meets Country and conversely, my short business partner does not. If, on a long road trip his yapping becomes taxing to my ears, I slyly throw on Jason Aldean's "Dirt Road Anthem". As the familiar chord structures of B#, A, and D fill the confines of the van, Ray drifts gently off into the halls of sleepytown. As a result, I've recently gained a great appreciation of all things acoustic. As a young guitarist, I would practice, at great lengths the acoustic stylings of Rick Emmett and Steve Howe. I loved the finger style technique of these guitar greats but as I got older, I began to listen to Tommy Emmanuel and then just wanted to burn my guitar. Now, I really love the hooks in this new Frankenstein music they call "Country". I just sit around and work on figuring these licks out, note for note and it's just another way I can torture my business partner to even greater lengths (well, some people mangle cats for a hobby). I sit at my desk and when Ray is least expecting it, here I go with my own rendition of "She's Country". You see, the trick of it is to befuddled him with the drop D tuning because remember, he too is a musician (if you wanna call a bass player that- I call them pizza delivery boys). So I start playing the intro to Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" and that's the brilliance of it all because Mongo over there doesn't realize that I can mix two songs into one. Mongo thinks (and I use that term loosely) that he's hearing one song when it's actually another. You see friends, that is where we guitarists rule supreme. We all have our "Mongos" and they all fall for the same trick over and over again. Kinda like Charlie Brown always did with the football. In the South, it's called the Mongo Okey-Doke.... As to this Martin Hank Williams, it sounds like a guitar off of the best acoustic album you've ever heard. I've played it for hours and as God is my witness, this guitar is right next to me in the event I need to lull Mongo to sleep again but don't be fooled. Mongo will have his revenge-  He's ordered a rare, German import version of Between the Buried and Me's "Alaska" to just make me pull my hair from my scalp. Whatever- all's fair in love and Mongo....