McCabe's Guitar Shop
Musical instrument store and live music venue in Santa Monica, California, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
McCabe's Guitar Shop is a musical instrument store and live music venue on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California, United States. Opened in 1958 by Gerald L. McCabe, a well-known furniture designer. McCabe's specializes in acoustic and folk instruments, including guitars, banjos, mandolins, dulcimers, fiddles, ukuleles, psaltries, bouzoukis, sitars, ouds, and ethnic percussion. Since 1969, McCabe's has also been a noted forum for folk concerts.
 The store in 2008 | |
| Industry | Musical instruments |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1958 |
| Founders | Gerald McCabe |
| Headquarters | 3101 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Website | https://www.mccabes.com |
The decor at McCabe's is stripped down, with concerts being given in a back room with folding chairs and walls covered with vintage guitars, banjos, ukuleles and other instruments. A poll by Los Angeles Magazine in 2008 ranked McCabe's as one of the 32 greatest things about Los Angeles, with McCabe's defeating the Hollywood Bowl in a direct face-off.[1] In The Guide prepared by the Los Angeles Times, McCabe's is described as "an achingly intimate room" with a "bare-bones setting" featuring "the best guitar music west of the 405 Freeway."[2] The Guide continues: "Legends, traveling minstrels and local talent—they all seem to pass through McCabe's at some point. They may be there to get their guitars fixed; the club has a day job as one of the oldest stringed instrument stores in the city."[2] Frommer's describes the McCabe's experience as "intimate in the extreme; the gig would have to be in your living room to get any cozier."[3] The Metromix guide to Los Angeles calls McCabe's "a mild-mannered guitar/stringed instrument shop by day" that "opens up as a world-class concert venue by night."[4] At full capacity the concert room holds 150.
The first concert was held in 1969, a benefit concert to help Elizabeth Cotton with travel fare to get her back home after a concert engagement elsewhere was cancelled, leaving her stranded in the area. That first concert was organized by Mike Seeger and the line-up featured Bryndle, Karla Bonoff, Andrew Gold, and Kenny Edwards.[5] The opening act was Jackson Browne.[6][7]
McCabe's is owned by Robert and Esperanza Riskin. Robert is the son of actress Fay Wray and screenwriter Robert Riskin ("It Happened One Night"). The Riskins retired from running the store in 2020, citing COVID.[8] McCabe's Guitar Shop is now run by the Riskin's daughter Nora McGraw and her husband Walt McGraw. Concerts returned to McCabe's in 2022 after the COVID hiatus.[9]
The list of past performers[10] includes:
- Mose Allison
- Altan
- Dave Alvin
- The Aman Folk Orchestra
- Alistair Anderson
- Chet Atkins
- Ginger Baker
- Battlefield Band
- Beck
- Pierre Bensusan
- Byron Berline and Sundance
- Krishna Bhatt
- The Blind Boys of Alabama
- Frank Black
- Norman Blake
- Blanche
- Michael Bloomfield
- Eric Bogle
- Boys of the Lough
- Paul Brady
- David Bromberg
- Jackson Browne
- Kevin Burke & Michael O'Domhnaill
- T Bone Burnett
- J. J. Cale
- John Cale
- Capercaillie
- Liz Carroll & John Doyle
- Lori Carson
- Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
- Martin Carthy
- Peter Case
- Exene Cervenka
- Alex Chilton
- Clannad
- Gene Clark
- Shawn Colvin
- Elizabeth Cotten
- Cowboy Junkies
- Marshall Crenshaw
- Evan Dando
- De Dannan
- John Densmore
- The Dillards
- John Doe
- Hamza El Din
- Steve Earle
- Joe Ely
- Fairport Convention
- Archie Fisher
- Black Francis
- Glenn Frey
- Bill Frisell
- Dick Gaughan
- Giant Sand
- Vince Gill
- Steve Gillette
- Jimmie Dale Gilmore
- Allen Ginsberg
- Tracy Grammer
- Arlo Guthrie
- Dirk Hamilton
- John Wesley Harding
- PJ Harvey
- Richie Havens
- John Hiatt
- Dan Hicks
- Chris Hillman
- Robyn Hitchcock
- Camper Van Beethoven
- John Lee Hooker
- Hot Tuna
- Andy Irvine
- Jefferson Starship
- Paul Kantner
- Bobby Kimmel
- Klezmorim
- Neil Innes
- The Incredible String Band
- I See Hawks In LA
- Bert Jansch
- Jorma Kaukonen
- Dolores Keane
- Paul Kelly
- Steve Kilbey
- Al Kooper
- Krysia Krystianne
- Timothy Leary
- David Lindley
- Mance Lipscomb
- Nils Lofgren
- Long Ryders
- Longbranch Pennywhistle
- Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger
- Taj Mahal
- Ray Manzarek
- Aimee Mann
- John Martyn
- J Mascis
- Mary Lee and Nancy
- Mary McCaslin
- The Del McCoury Band
- Joe & Antoinette McKenna
- Paula McMath
- James McMurtry
- Minutemen
- Joni Mitchell
- Mick Moloney
- Bob Mould
- Maria Muldaur
- Muzsikas
- Michael Nesmith
- Tracy Newman
- The Nields
- Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
- Mojo Nixon
- Laura Nyro
- Maura O’Connell
- Odetta
- Liam O’Flynn & Donal Lunny
- Herb Ohta
- Old Blind Dogs
- Carla Olson
- Van Dyke Parks
- Patrick Street
- Tom Paxton
- Pentangle
- Liz Phair
- Sam Phillips
- Utah Phillips
- Plimsouls
- Maddy Prior
- Kenny Rankin
- R.E.M.
- Jean Redpath
- Redwood
- John Renbourn
- Stan Ridgway
- Stan Rogers
- Roy Rogers
- Linda Ronstadt
- Tom Rush
- Rick Ruskin
- Martin Sexton
- Billy Joe Shaver
- Michelle Shocked
- Jane Siberry
- Silly Wizard
- Spinal Tap
- Jody Stecher
- Al Stewart
- Andy Stewart & Gerry O’Beirne
- Sun Ra
- Lyle Ritz
- John David Souther
- June Tabor
- Tannahill Weavers
- Jack Tempchin
- They Might Be Giants
- Richard Thompson
- Russ Tolman
- Train to Sligo
- Venice
- Tom Verlaine
- Loudon Wainwright III
- Tom Waits
- M. Ward
- Jennifer Warnes
- The Watersons
- Doc Watson
- Lucinda Williams
- Robin Williamson
- Nancy Wilson
- George Winston
- Gabriel Yacoub
- J. D. Crowe & The New South
- Dream Syndicate
In the mid-1970s Takoma Records had offices two doors east of McCabes and built a recording studio, with audio and video cables going from the sound booth at McCabes to the control room of the studio, which allowed easy recording of concerts. These master live recordings now reside within the McCabe's Guitar Shop Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Southern Folklife Collection.[11] Numerous artists have also recorded live albums at McCabe's (some of which were recorded using Takoma Studios from the mid-1970s to early 1980s) including:
- Norman Blake: Live at McCabe's released in 1976[12]
- Mike Bloomfield: I'm With You Always (Recorded 1977, Benchmark Recordings)
- Byron Berline: Live at McCabe's released in 1978[13]
- Maria Muldaur Gospel Nights (with the Chambers Brothers) (1980, Takoma Records, TAK-7084)
- Ted Hawkins: The Final Tour (1998, Evidence Music)
- Townes Van Zandt: Live at McCabe's recorded in 1995[14]
- Ralph Stanley: Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop 2-11-01[15]
- Tom Paxton: Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop recorded in 1991[16]
- Henry Rollins: Live at McCabe's recorded June 1990[17]
- Robin Williamson: Merry Band's Farewell Concert at McCabe's recorded in 1979[18]
- Nancy Wilson (from Heart): Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop released in 1999[19]
- Freedy Johnston: Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop released in 1998[20]
- John Stewart: Deep in the Neon: Live at McCabe's released in 1991[21]
- Chris Smither: Chris Smither Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop 3/14/03[22]
- David Hatfield: David Hatfield Live at McCabe's released in 2003[23]
- Lyle Ritz & Herb Ohta: A Night of Ukulele Jazz Live at McCabe's recorded in 2000 [24]
- Paul Siebel: Live at McCabe's released in 1981[25]
- Batdorf & Rodney: Live at McCabe's 1975[26]
- Gene Clark & Carla Olson - Silhouetted In Light
Pianist George Winston recorded a song, "Blues in G," at McCabe's in 1975. It was later released as a bonus track of the expanded edition of his first album, Piano Solos (George Winston album).
A bootleg recording was also made of R.E.M.: Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop in 1987,[27] some of which have appeared as legitimate B-sides.
Bruce Springsteen joined John Wesley Harding onstage at a show to help sing Springsteen's "Wreck on the Highway," which later turned up on a Harding release.
Numerous audience tapes circulate of McCabe's performances, and several soundboards, including a set by T Bone Burnett in December 1993 that featured the Williams Brothers, Maria McKee and a cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You." It also featured "My Life and the Women Who Lived It." Days later, Burnett performed at Rockpalast in Europe and claimed that "My Life..." was written on the flight to Europe. That was clearly not true.
John Hiatt sang many of his songs from "Bring the Family" at several McCabe's shows just prior to recording that album. Those songs included "Memphis in the Meantime," "Your Dad Did" and "Lipstick Sunset," among others. McCabe's booker at the time, John Chelew, produced "Bring the Family," which was recorded in four days and became Hiatt's best-known album.
Gerald McCabe was born in Long Beach, California, in 1927. He graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School, and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He studied at UCLA, earning a bachelor's degree, then at Cal State Long Beach, where he earned a master's.[28]
McCabe established his guitar shop in 1958. After deciding to focus on furniture design, he sold the business in 1986.[28]
He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2004, shortly after which he moved to Eugene, Oregon, to be nearer his daughters. He married four times, each ending in divorce.[28]
McCabe died in 2010, aged 82, after suffering a cardiac arrest.[28]
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