Finally – A Band I like is Playing a Reverend Guitar!

Looks like the Henry Clay People are going to be a common thread on p90noir. I saw a post yesterday from “What’s That Dude Play” showing the Henry Clay People with a Reverend Roundhouse RT. This blog doesn’t really show it yet, but anyone I have discussed gear with will tell you that I am a Reverend Devotee.

Rather than get sidetracked in professing my love for Reverend (I’ll do it in subsequent post), I’ll rant about how I think more indie rock and Alt.Country bands should be playing Revs.

If you’ve been watching indie bands in the last 15-20 years, you know that Jazzmasters and Jaguars were the de rigueur indie rock guitars of the 90’s. More recently it seems that P90 equipped LP Specials and 70’s Tele Deluxes are all the rage. If these are vintage guitars, this is great. But if these are re-issues (made in the 2000’s) they are crap. I played tons of Gibsons and Fenders in the sub-$1,500 range when buying my US Reverend (birthday present a few years ago). Holy crap were these guitars steaming piles of trash!

My US Reverend is great. My import Reverend is stupidly awesome for the $600 it cost. It sounds great, it plays great. The fit and finish are near flawless. The only flaws some visible filling materials around the inlays on the neck.

So here is my top five list of bands/players that I think should switch to Reverend and the models they should play.

1. Jim James, My Morning Jacket – Jim favors a Gibson V and a 335. I’m not convinced that the Reverend Manta Ray is a replacement for a 335, but Jim should have a signature model of the Reverend Volcano!
2. Carl Newman, New Pornographers - Carl plays what looks to be a reissue LP Special. He should ditch it for a Sensei. Silver sparkle would suit the NP's very well.
3. Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams is also seen frequently with a Tele Deluxe. I can see RA playing Jetstream HB, a Buckshot, and a Manta Ray HB.
4. Chris Walla and Ben Gibbard, Death Cab for Cutie - Ben Gibbard seems to play mostly a Tele Deluxe. He should make the switch to a Jetstream HB. Chris Walla mixes it up with a few guitars, but he should replace his Fender Starcaster with a Club King HB.
   
5. Sam Beam, Iron & Wine - Sam started off as mainly acoustic but has been slowly going more electric. The main electrics I have seen him play are an old Harmony hollow-body, an old Danelectro, and an SG. The Pete Anderson would be a nice upgrade for the Harmony, a Sensei would replace the SG, and for that Dano, he might need to find a US Reverend...
   

*Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys has a Flatroc and Chris Funk of the Decemberists has a Club King.