JAMES A. OLSON GUITARS

These vintage photos appeared full page in an accompanying book from Paul’s box set “Flaming Pie “. The photos were taken in the early 90’s by Paul’s wife Linda McCartney.

Jim was asked if he could provide an Olson to be used by Jimmy Fallon on the Late Show. Fallon was looking to do an impersonation of James Taylor’s performance at the DNC Convention and wanted it to be authentic from the “hat” down to the guitar.
Jim was able to next day air them a guitar to use for the show airing the next day.
Fallon performed “Romney and Bain” sung to the tune of “Fire and Rain”

Mac McAnally, a five time CMA Musician of the Year Award winner, Producer, and a long time member of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band has been seen in the last few years “occasionally” sporting an Olson SJ. Mac has a lot of great guitars and we are honored to see an Olson in his arsenal!

“Asked about his custom-made guitar, Taylor says, It has very low action. ( Jim ) makes a guitar that is very stable, very reliable. All of my Olson’s have lasted– I’ve played them on the road and they have stoodup well. I’ve abused them terribly, but he is around to fix them, so that’s a crucial relationship we have.“

One of James Taylor’s Olson guitars appeared (in cartoon form!) on The Simpsons TV show when James made a cameo appearance on that show (also in cartoon form). David Mirkin, writer and executive producer affiliated with the show is a guitarist and Olson owner, and made sure the trademark “O” appeared in James’s cartoon guitar! Astronaut Buzz Aldrin also appears on this episode titled “Deep Space Homer”, in which NASA chooses Homer Simpson to ride on the Space Shuttle Corvair. (Episode 1F13, fifth season; first aired February 24, 1994.)

Chet Atkins performed on an Olson guitar on a May 1996 broadcast of The Nashville Network’s Prime Time Country show. He played his famous solo acoustic arrangement of Don Maclean’s “Vincent.” Chet borrowed the guitar from Mark Thompson of The Judds for this performance. You can view the performance at the Video Vault.

Sting did a guest spot on a recent Chieftans album. The CD insert had a promotional photo taken with him holding his Olson as he sat among the Chieftans.

In April of 1996, the Bravo cable TV channel broadcast an interview with Sting, including footage of his house and of a rehearsal /recording session. In one scene, Sting’s guitar player (Dominic Miller) is playing Sting’s Olson, with Sting looking on.

Leo Kottke made a television appearance with his Olson on the popular PBS series “Austin City Limits”. It was recorded in August of 1992 and premiered season 18 of 1993. Kottke performed 6 songs using his Olson and 2 songs with his signature Taylor 12 string guitar. Also appearing on the program that evening was songwriter Mark Cohn. You can view some of the performance at the Video Vault.

On September 29th 2004, Jim witnessed the flight of SpaceShipOne as it made it’s first attempt at capturing the 10 million dollar Ansari X-Prize. You can read more about the historic flight at Scaled Composites. As Doug’s guest, Jim was able to get a first hand, close-up look at SpaceShipOne and tour Scaled composites where it was created. You can view some photos of his adventure at Jim’s Visit to Scaled. Jim was introduced to Doug when Leo Kottke brought him by Jim’s shop to talk about ordering a guitar. With the inlay expertise of Larry Robinson “A Tribute to Black Sky” guitar was created for Doug who is by the way a very accomplished player and current President of Richard Branson’s Space Ship Company.. Pictures of Doug’s Guitar.

People magazine (July 20th 2006) had a nice photo of the legendary David Crosby with his Olson guitar in hand. The feature story included an interview, and photos of David’s family. Mentioned in the article was a book of memoir titled “Since Then” as well as his soon to be released 52-song box set, “Voyage” featuring his work from 1966 to 2004 along with 16 previously unreleased tracks.