History

Smiley Burnett and the Musical Saw

March 3, 2020

   Gene Autry on guitar with Smiley Burnett on accordion Gene Autry was one of the most popular movie cowboys of all time, and one of the reasons for his success was his friendly sidekick, Smiley Burnett. Smiley was born Lester Alvin Burnett in 1911, and he died in 1967. Autry […]

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Hallelujah! It’s a Saw!

January 2, 2020

Charles Calvin Mourer was an evangelist during the 1920s-40s. He was an itinerant preacher who traveled and preached extensively in the Midwest, especially through Ohio and Michigan. He played the trombone, the guitar and the musical saw, which, for some reason, he sometimes called the saw-phone. The saw was a […]

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Gospel and the Sunday Morning Saw

November 30, 2019

The musical saw has always been a popular instrument in churches because saws are inexpensive and they have a beautiful other-worldly sound. In addition, saws are easy to carry from place to place for revivals. Rural churches have often been one of the most common places to hear a saw, […]

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Mother Machree

May 5, 2019

Last spring, guest author Brad Kay wrote a marvelous biography of saw player Sam Moore for our blog. You can read it here. In the post, you can here a recording of “The Last Rose Of Summer” played by Sam Moore. Here’s another beautiful song, “Mother Machree.” In this recording, […]

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Flexo Disc Saw Duet: Old Folks At Home

January 17, 2019

Mussehl and Westphal is one of the oldest musical saw makers in the United States. They have been making beautiful saws since 1921, and in the old days the company produced small records on the Flexo label to advertise their product. These records were small flexible plastic records, and they […]

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Towed in a Hole

January 6, 2019

I’ve always been a big fan of Laurel and Hardy, and Towed In A Hole is one of my favorite shorts. As is usual in many of their films, Stan gets in trouble with Ollie, and in this story, Stan is sent “to his room” where he ends up fooling […]

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