Searchers Snippets Guitar Presentations Oct 2025
Hi again
I vaguely hinted in an earlier post that John and I were due to attend a presentation in Liverpool and that I would fill you in on the happenings as and when it happened. Well, the occasion finally took place yesterday (October 10th 2025) at the world famous Cavern Club in Mathew Street, Liverpool where he and I were presented with custom made guitars by the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation in recognition of The Searchers’ contribution to the world of popular music through the decades and also to celebrate the influence that the music of the late and very great Buddy Holly had on our recordings. Indeed the band has covered quite a few Holly hits and album tracks over the years and as you know our “supposedly ad lib” Buddy segment has featured constantly in our stage act, including that momentous show at Glastonbury in June this year, and John and I happily pay homage to one of the greatest rock and roll icons there has ever been.
The handover of the instruments was made by none other than Mike McCartney – yes, Paul’s big brother – who featured heavily in the charts of the late sixties with the group The Scaffold. Remember Lily The Pink and Today’s Monday? Along with John Gorman and Roger McGough. what a fun trio they were and it was so good to catch up with Mike again after such a long, long time. Back then he very properly avoided trading on the McCartney name by renaming himself as Mike McGear but he has long since reverted to his family moniker. He looked very well indeed and was so lively and affable. Such a nice bloke.
The guitars, by the way, were hand crafted by a master luthier Mick Johnson and were closely modelled on Buddy’s own acoustic instrument, a Gibson J45, one that he used to compose his songs on while traveling or at times when it was impractical to pick up his iconic Fender Stratocaster and plug into an amplifier. And like elvis he ordered a personalised leather protective cover with hand tooled decorations wand not just his name inscribed on the front but also names of his songs at other points in the decoration.
In a similar vein the instruments given to John and myself are each individualised with a song title. Mine is “Have You Ever Been Lonely”, not a hit by buddy but actually a demo made by him in 1956 of a popular song that was one of his mother’s favourites. John’s guitar is named “Gone”, yet another demo recorded at the same session and one that had been a hit for country star Ferlin Husky.
Do keep loggong on because I will be contributing more Searchers items and and when they occur or when I have the urge to dip into my collection of archive photos.
By the way, while we were waiting for the people to arrive for the ceremony we were treated to an afternoon appearance by Gary murphy who, I have to admit, I had never herd of but who apparently (I was informed by John McNally) has been one of the highest regarded Liverpool guitarists for years. And no wonder. With just an acoustic guitar (mic’d up of course) he played a set that may have been by one person but had the sound of an entire band. And there were no pre-recorded loops that I could spot. What a technique. Sheer talent that people should be aware of.
