Thumbs Carllile - Faded Love

I remember reading about Kenneth Ray "Thumbs" Carllile's first experience with music in an interview in Guitar Player magazine with him where he described his early encounter with guitar. According to his biography: "...he began playing music at the age of eight after his sister Evelyn won a dobro for selling balm. He used the new instrument so much that his irritated sister hid the steel bar, but the resourceful young man began using his thumbs to practice. When his father gave him a Silvertone guitar, Carllile's thumbs were too short and fat to make it around the neck, so he began playing it on his lap like a dobro."

That's right...he looked at his thumb and decided that it looked close enough to a slide and he began to play using his thumb.

That's a real musician.

Here's more from the Artist Biography by Sandra Brennan at AllMusic:

Kenneth Ray "Thumbs" Carllile was an innovative guitar player and songwriter. The son of an impoverished Illinois tenant farmer, he began playing music at the age of eight after his sister Evelyn won a Dobro for selling balm. He used the new instrument so much that his irritated sister hid the steel bar, but the resourceful young man began using his thumbs to practice. When his father gave him a Silvertone guitar, Carllile's thumbs were too short to make it around the neck, so he began playing it on his lap like a Dobro.

Carllile's family moved to Granite City, Missouri when he was ten. There he made his debut playing "Sweet Georgia Brown" during a Ferlin Husky performance. He was tossed out of high school at age 16 for refusing to shave and then began performing regularly with Husky until being discovered by Little Jimmy Dickens during a performance in St. Louis. Dickens was impressed and gave Carllile the nickname "Thumbs," a moniker Carllile never really liked.

Thumbs played the guitar like a fine pianist played a piano. With his left hand free to maneuver over the fretboard and all five fingers free to scale the neck, he could play anything. And he did.

Virtuoso is a word that should be used sparingly, like a seasoning in a fine meal, but Thumbs was a virtuoso in the best sense of the word. He added greatness to every track he played on.

Sometimes you only need a thumb to add the best things we need in the world.