Gage Brewer
Encyclopedia
Gage Kelso Brewer was an American musician.
He never recorded a commercially released record, published a hit song or performed at any length as part of a nationally famous musical organization. His only known recording was a direct-to-disk 78rpm record made in Denver, Colorado in the early 1930s. The record is of the Marion Harris
hit "A Good Man Is Hard To Find
" and contains what may be the earliest recording of an electric Spanish and electric Hawaiian guitar.
Brewer maintained a career in music lasting over five decades. He notably acquired two pre-production electric guitars from what would eventually become known as the Rickenbacker Electro Instrument Company; a "standard" Spanish guitar and a Hawaiian "steel" guitar from his friend George Beauchamp
late in the summer of 1932. Beauchamp, a talented guitarist himself, had long worked to develop a louder instrument, achieving marked success through the National resophonic guitar Company he helped form in 1927. On Oct. 15, 1931, George Beauchamp, Paul Barth and Adolph Rickenbacker formed the RO-PAT-IN Corporation, (elecktRO-PATent-INstruments) and within a year, from Beauchamp's designs created the first successful electrically amplified guitar. Brewer was one of a very few orchestra leaders to use the guitar as his primary instrument so an amplified guitar was a dream come true.
Brewer played primarily in the Hawaiian style with the guitar, face up, across the lap, intonated with a bar rather than fretted by hand. When he was born in Gage, Oklahoma Territory, Hawaiian music featuring the guitar would gain important public exposure at the 1904 Saint Louis World’s Fair. This music inspired musicians across the continent and eventually worldwide. Its influence on the music of the mainland would be profound through the mid 20th century.
By the age of 14 Brewer was entertaining the people of Shattuck, Oklahoma, giving lessons and working in the town’s theater. In 1920 he traveled to California for the first of what would be many visits. There he studied with Victor Recording artist Sam P. Moore, who was a well-known artist of the Hawaiian Style Guitar. Moore was one of the earliest mainlanders to apply the Hawaiian Style of playing to more traditional American folk songs foreshadowing the instrument’s prominence in country music. While in California, [according to “Who’s Who in the World of Music – 1936”], Brewer also studied under Sol Hoopii
, Jack Miller, and D. S. Delano. Brewer’s formal musical education continued when he returned to the mid-west and attended Northwestern Oklahoma Teachers College in Alva. At about this time Brewer also worked Vaudeville
, Lyceum
and Chautauqua
circuits.
By the mid 1920’s Brewer had relocated to Wichita, Kansas, where he would establish his home base and work into the 1960s. From Wichita he began touring with his own orchestra and broadcasting on radio to further promote his work.
It’s not known exactly when Brewer first met George Beauchamp. The purchase of National Resophonic Guitars for both his orchestra and his students likely led to Brewer’s patronage of Beauchamp’s new product, the electric guitar, made available through what would become the world’s first electric musical instrument company: Ro-Pat-In, later and more famously known as Rickenbacker
.
In California during the summer of 1932, Brewer took possession of two of the earliest electric guitars made by Beauchamp. In Wichita he contacted the local newspaper about his marvelous acquisitions. The Story ran in the October 2nd, 1932 edition of the Wichita Beacon announcing that the old guitar had been replaced with the new electric. The article states that Brewer was only the third person to play the amazing instrument (George Beauchamp, an accomplished guitarist himself, and Jack Miller, his friend presumably being the predecessors in research and development). The article went on to describe the new instrument, comparing it to the sound of a pipe organ or orthophonic speaker. A press release of the time promoted a series of Halloween themed Concerts and promised that the amazing new instrument was a “combination of natural personal technique and electrical perfection”.
He never recorded a commercially released record, published a hit song or performed at any length as part of a nationally famous musical organization. His only known recording was a direct-to-disk 78rpm record made in Denver, Colorado in the early 1930s. The record is of the Marion Harris
Marion Harris
Marion Harris was an American popular singer, most successful in the 1920s. She was the first widely known white singer to sing jazz and blues songs....
hit "A Good Man Is Hard To Find
A Good Man Is Hard To Find
A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by American author Flannery O'Connor. The collection was first published in 1955...
" and contains what may be the earliest recording of an electric Spanish and electric Hawaiian guitar.
Brewer maintained a career in music lasting over five decades. He notably acquired two pre-production electric guitars from what would eventually become known as the Rickenbacker Electro Instrument Company; a "standard" Spanish guitar and a Hawaiian "steel" guitar from his friend George Beauchamp
George Beauchamp
George Delmetia Beauchamp was an inventor of musical instruments and a co-founder of National Stringed Instrument Corporation and Rickenbacker guitars....
late in the summer of 1932. Beauchamp, a talented guitarist himself, had long worked to develop a louder instrument, achieving marked success through the National resophonic guitar Company he helped form in 1927. On Oct. 15, 1931, George Beauchamp, Paul Barth and Adolph Rickenbacker formed the RO-PAT-IN Corporation, (elecktRO-PATent-INstruments) and within a year, from Beauchamp's designs created the first successful electrically amplified guitar. Brewer was one of a very few orchestra leaders to use the guitar as his primary instrument so an amplified guitar was a dream come true.
Brewer played primarily in the Hawaiian style with the guitar, face up, across the lap, intonated with a bar rather than fretted by hand. When he was born in Gage, Oklahoma Territory, Hawaiian music featuring the guitar would gain important public exposure at the 1904 Saint Louis World’s Fair. This music inspired musicians across the continent and eventually worldwide. Its influence on the music of the mainland would be profound through the mid 20th century.
By the age of 14 Brewer was entertaining the people of Shattuck, Oklahoma, giving lessons and working in the town’s theater. In 1920 he traveled to California for the first of what would be many visits. There he studied with Victor Recording artist Sam P. Moore, who was a well-known artist of the Hawaiian Style Guitar. Moore was one of the earliest mainlanders to apply the Hawaiian Style of playing to more traditional American folk songs foreshadowing the instrument’s prominence in country music. While in California, [according to “Who’s Who in the World of Music – 1936”], Brewer also studied under Sol Hoopii
Sol Hoopii
Sol Hoʻopiʻi was born Solomon Hoʻopiʻi Kaʻaiʻai in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was a Native Hawaiian guitarist, claimed by many as the all-time best lap steel guitar virtuoso, and he is one the most famous original Hawaiian steel guitarists, along with Joseph Kekuku, Frank Ferera, Sam Ku West and "King"...
, Jack Miller, and D. S. Delano. Brewer’s formal musical education continued when he returned to the mid-west and attended Northwestern Oklahoma Teachers College in Alva. At about this time Brewer also worked Vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
, Lyceum
Lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies between countries; usually it is a type of secondary school.-History:...
and Chautauqua
Chautauqua
Chautauqua was an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with...
circuits.
By the mid 1920’s Brewer had relocated to Wichita, Kansas, where he would establish his home base and work into the 1960s. From Wichita he began touring with his own orchestra and broadcasting on radio to further promote his work.
It’s not known exactly when Brewer first met George Beauchamp. The purchase of National Resophonic Guitars for both his orchestra and his students likely led to Brewer’s patronage of Beauchamp’s new product, the electric guitar, made available through what would become the world’s first electric musical instrument company: Ro-Pat-In, later and more famously known as Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
.
In California during the summer of 1932, Brewer took possession of two of the earliest electric guitars made by Beauchamp. In Wichita he contacted the local newspaper about his marvelous acquisitions. The Story ran in the October 2nd, 1932 edition of the Wichita Beacon announcing that the old guitar had been replaced with the new electric. The article states that Brewer was only the third person to play the amazing instrument (George Beauchamp, an accomplished guitarist himself, and Jack Miller, his friend presumably being the predecessors in research and development). The article went on to describe the new instrument, comparing it to the sound of a pipe organ or orthophonic speaker. A press release of the time promoted a series of Halloween themed Concerts and promised that the amazing new instrument was a “combination of natural personal technique and electrical perfection”.