Brad Paisley wasn't spared during the Nashville flood in May. Paisley was among the numerous entertainers who watched so much of their hard earned money go down the drain, literally, with the loss of their equipment. Paisley alone lost most of his guitars, as well as a lot of the stage sets for his H2O World Tour 2010.
While on the search for new guitars and lost personal items, Paisley paid a visit to Gruhn Guitars in Nashville and laid his eyes on a beautiful sight. He bought a 1938 Herringbone Martin D28 the day before he joined Little Jimmy Dickens and a host of Nashville dignitaries to reset the huge round oak piece in the stage of the Grand Ole Opry house. The wooden circle has seen numerous performances in its day, with the likes of Hank Williams, Minnie Pearl and Roy Acuff walking across it when they performed on the Opry.
In an interview with The Boot, Paisley stated, "I believe in the soul of things, like a piece of wood flooring, there's something about that; I think that comes from being a guitar player, I felt that after the flood with the deaths of those guitars of mine, as well as when I was acquiring new ones."
After doing a little research on his new guitar, Paisley found it had more history then ever expected, including ties to his grandfather. He told The Boot, "I didn't know it before I bought it, but this guitar was purchased from an old man from Colfax, W. Va., whose father worked on the D&L Railroad right alongside my grandfather. I didn't know that until after I was looking at the guitar."
Paisley to the opportunity to introduce his new guitar to the Opry stage when he replacted the wooden circle. He explained to The Boot, "I thought to myself, 'It has to be there today. This guitar was played on the radio in Fairmont, W. Va., but it's probably never been on this stage so I took it with me out there today. The journey of a guitar and the journey of this stage, this circle, it has seen so much. I think there is a living, breathing element of stuff like this."
To see the recovered guitar, look for Paisley's performance at the Grand Ole Opry house on Sept. 28. Trace Adkins, Dierks Bentley, Charlie Daniels and Montgomery Gentry will perform that night as well as they celebrate the return of the Opry to the Grand Old Opry house, previosly closed due to flood damage.
Source: TheBoot.com
