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Mike Eldred and Big Blue
In 1993 Mike Eldred, at the time working for Yamaha guitars and the lead guitar player with Lee Rocker's new band Big Blue got a hold of Scotty's number from his friend Gary Burnett. Gary met Gail Pollock, called Mike and left the message "Call me as soon as you can, I met this lady who knows Scotty Moore, and she gave me an autographed picture for you, and she has all these stories, and,...just call me as soon as you get this!"
He had always been a big fan of Scotty's and had composed a letter he intended to fax him. When he called the number to fax the letter Scotty answered the phone. Caught by surprise and too nervous to speak he just pushed the button. He had almost no expectation that Scotty would reply but merely wanted to express his admiration for his inspiration.
Strangely enough Scotty did reply and at Mike's invitation traveled to Memphis to meet with him and to record with Big Blue on their new album. Mike recalls the first time they met and they went to dinner. He asked Scotty what he wanted to drink and he replied Johnny Walker. Mike said "We'll have the same". When Scotty ordered Prime Rib mike said "We'll have the same". This apparently was to be the beginnings of a deep and long friendship.
Gail Pollock has said that there are only a few people she's known that Scotty has taken an immediate liking to and Mike is one of them. Through the years they've recorded and performed together. While Mike was employed at Yamaha he knew that Scotty was a fan of Martin Taylor who had collaborated on the design of the AEX 1500 guitar so he gave him one. Later when he went to work in the Fender Custom Shop, eventually becoming the Manager and finally the Marketing Manager, he built Scotty a replica of his first 1952 Fender Esquire guitar (Scotty actually had a Telecaster but the misidentification has been propagated through the years).
Today Mike Eldred is married with a family of his own, lives in Long Beach, CA and is still at the Fender Custom Shop. No longer a guitarist with Lee Rocker he has since formed his own band, The Mike Eldred Trio with Blasters rhythm section John Bazz and Jerry Angel. They perform regularly up and down the West Coast and Scotty has been know to sit in on occasion.
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All photos on this site (that we didn't borrow) unless otherwise indicated are the property of either Scotty Moore or James V. Roy and unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited. |
