For nearly 30 years, the guitar hung on a wall. And etched to
its back twice was the name
”
C.B. Irwin.
”
The former guitar of America’s
”
Giant Cowboy
”
of the late 1800s and early 1900s has called Hollister home for
the past 30 years. That’s until later this month when its owner
will donate it back to the Irwin family after nearly 80 years.
For nearly 30 years, the guitar hung on a wall. And etched to its back twice was the name “C.B. Irwin.”
The former guitar of America’s “Giant Cowboy” of the late 1800s and early 1900s has called Hollister home for the past 30 years. That’s until later this month when its owner will donate it back to the Irwin family after nearly 80 years. The guitar’s owner found the family after taking it to the Music Tree in Morgan Hill, whose repair technician researched its history and found the relatives.
The Irwin family plans to donate the guitar to the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum. That museum is in the process of creating a 1,200-square-foot Irwin wing that will display 300 items and 500 photos.
Irwin’s guitar “fills all the gaps in the collection” and will be the highlight of the wing, said his great-grandson Keith Walters, who lives in Auburn.
The 100-year-old guitar found its way to Hollister in the early 1980s when it was given to J.R. Guthrie, a musician who came from Wyoming, by his father.
Guthrie hung the guitar out of respect for Irwin, one of the most historical characters in the state.
Born in 1875 in Cheyenne, Irwin is a legend. Even the state’s license plate design is based off Irwin’s horse, Steamboat. Irwin, whose first name is Charles, also is credited with creating the Wyoming Pioneer days and the Cheyenne rodeo, Walters said.
Irwin established the Y-6 ranch, which still runs today, and he died in 1934 in a car accident when his tire blew out.
If you grew up in Wyoming, you know who Irwin was, Walters said.
All Guthrie knew about the guitar, though, was that it belonged to Irwin and he played “Life is Like a Mountain Railroad” on it during the 1903 hanging of convicted murderer Tom Horn.
“I didn’t know too much about the guitar,” said Susanne Guthrie, J.R.’s widow and the guitar donor.
Her husband always kept it on the wall and referred to it as Irwin’s guitar when guest asked about it. Guthrie always was conscious of its history before he died, his wife said.
Guthrie was a musician himself, creating the band “J.R. Guthrie and the Code of the West” that toured through the Central Coast in the 70s.
The second cousin of Woody Guthrie, J.R. Guthrie always cherished the guitar’s history, but he never played it, Susanne Guthrie said.
Last November, Guthrie died of mesothelioma at the age of 67. With his passing, his wife knew she needed to find the guitar a new home.
“He didn’t just want to give it to anyone,” she said. “He would have wanted it to find a good home.”
She didn’t know where to start so her first thought was to look up a music store in the Yellow Pages, she said.
She found the address to Morgan Hill’s Music Tree and decided the shop would know what to do with it.
“I took it there to find out if it was really real,” she said. “I didn’t even know his name was on the back.”
And there, she got in contact with guitar repair technician Steve Wilson. He didn’t change the look of the guitar. He didn’t even change the strings.
“All I did was blow out the dust,” he said.
The eccentric repairman delved deep into research after hearing the story.
“After she told me about it, I was so interested,” said Wilson, of Morgan Hill. “Then I started doing some research.”
From there Wilson got into contact with the museum and curator Cathy Osterman. And Osterman gave Wilson the contact information of Walters in Auburn.
“None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for Steve,” Guthrie said.
Wilson only did what he was asked to do, he said.
“She said she wanted to find a good home for it,” said Wilson, who estimated the guitar has a value of about $1,000. “After looking up the history, I thought it had to go back to Cheyenne.”
