Which ever way his name is spelt - Carlille, Carlisle, Carlyle, Carllile, Carlile - this guy crops up time and time again whenever the subject of guitar maestros is discussed.
His unique way of playing came about because, as a child, Thumbs used to sneak into his sister's bedroom and play on her lap steel with a slide bar even though she had banned him.
She caught him and hid the slide bar but he still sneaked in to play the guitar the only way he could.........using his thumb as a bar - hence the nickname Thumbs and the rest, as they say, is history.
Recently, by pure chance, he cropped up more than usual at Vintage Sixties Live.
First of all, Eric Whitehouse turned up at the club night with two of his LPs, which are like gold dust around here.
Secondly, I was delighted when, within a couple of days, I stumbled across the above video clip (Thumbs is on the left).
And thirdly, I was delighted to receive an email from Thumbs widow Ginny - who is a lovely lady and an old friend of VSL. She said how much she enjoyed looking at the pics on our Web site and how much she wished she could join us in one of our fun nights.
Who knows Ginny? - never say never. If you are ever in the UK we would love to see you.
BTW - The correct spelling is Carllile.
The reason it was spelt the way it was on this 45 cover was that Les Paul - who incidentally played bass on that 45, with Mary Ford playing rhythm guitar, and Les's son, Gene is playing drums. Thumbs and Ginny were living with them at th time and recording some stuff she had written.Les Paul is playing bass on that 45, and Mary is playing rhythm guitar, and Les's son, Gene is playing drums. They were living with them at the time and recording some stuff she had written.
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