February 26, 2012

Welcome to richzimmermann.com! After years of thinking about it, I now have a website for sharing some of my work with you.  Since 1971, I have been photographing a lot of rock 'n' roll, blues, and country music in and around Milwaukee Wisconsin.

My blog is going to feature a photograph with every entry.  Here in my first blog ever, we here have one of my favorite photographs of Clarence White of The Byrds, taken on April 30, 1972 at Cathage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  At that time, I was a music photographer for the "Bugle-American" newspaper in Milwaukee.  Clarence here is playing his original "B Bender" homemade guitar that is now being played and used by Marty Stuart.  The sound of this guitar in 1972 was amazing!  I will never forget that sound and this image of Clarence.  In 2008, when I took this photograph of Marty Stuart at Summerfest in Milwaukee, something clicked in my head when I saw that Frankfurt sticker on the guitar he was playing!  I knew that I had seen and heard that guitar before but it took a little searching in the archives and sure enough it was Clarence White's guitar!!  Clarence passed away in 1973 ending his fabulous career way too early.  Who knows what else he could have accomplished in his life.  He made a big impression on me that day  and I just love the fact that Marty Stuart is still playing Clarence's guitar.  The history of the "B Bender" is fascinating to me and I don't even play guitar!

Enjoy these images on my new website and please keep checking it for more photos and stories. 

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann