Sometimes, life takes you to unexpected places, and that’s certainly the case for a guitar made by Calgary artist Judy Threet.
Its journey from the hands of a passionate local to the Grammys stage is a roundabout one, full of serendipity. Like any good yarn, its backstory began long, long ago. In this case, back in the 1980s.
Back then, Threet taught philosophy at the University of Calgary and Mount Royal University while playing in a local folk band.
There, she met Michael Heiden, the band’s violinist and a talented instrument maker.
“A friend of mine that I was in a band with built a guitar for me, and I started hanging around at his studio,” Judy reminisced fondly to Global News.
Threet loved the entire process, “The designing and the playing them [guitars], the first stringing them up.”
It was a hobby Judy couldn’t get enough of.
In 1990, she made a life-changing decision. She walked into the university department office and quit.
A New Path
Recalling the choice, it was almost straightforward for her.
“I think I’m going to take some time off and build some guitars,” she remembers saying to the secretary.
“So that’s what I did.”
Fast forward to 1999, Judy had crafted many unique instruments. One was a relatively simple piece, destined for a journey she couldn’t have imagined.
“It’s the smallest guitar I made; the back and sides are Koa, a Hawaiian tree, and the rest is spruce. That guitar is just plain Jane. It’s just a guitar. But even when I was making it, I liked it a lot.”
The guitar set off to find an owner in a music shop in Calgary, but selling it proved to be a challenge.
“It sat in that shop for about a year.”
Fate had other plans.
Small but Mighty
Through a private seller, the guitar reached Gryphon Stringed Instruments in California. Again, collecting dust in a corner.
Then, In 2001, the ever-iconic musician Tracy Chapman wandered into the store.
“She said, ‘My shoulder has been hurting because I’ve been playing this great big dreadnought guitar. I’m looking for something smaller,’” Judy recalled the store owner calling to tell her.
“He just reached over and handed her that one,” Judy said, beaming.
Chapman took it home. Her much-talked-about performance at the Grammy Awards showed that she’s hung onto the guitar for almost 23 years.
Chapman’s rendition of her most beloved song, “Fast Car,” alongside Luke Combs at Grammy Award TV broadcast stunned audiences worldwide.
And there, on that prestigious stage, was Judy’s guitar, strummed by Chapman herself.
“I got an email from a friend of mine out on the coast…he sent me a link [to the performance] and said, look what I saw last night,” she told CBC Radio.
“I was astonished. She’s had it all this time. I’ve seen pictures every once in a while of her playing it, but she has sort of dropped out of performing so I didn’t know if she still had it. So it was a lovely thing to see that she has it and she’s playing it,” Threet said.
Still in Strings
Judy’s guitar-making days are behind her now. Health issues led her to close her studio in Inglewood, Calgary.
But she’s found new avenues for her musical talents. These days, she plays viola in the Calgary Community String Orchestra and rhythm guitar in a swing band, entertaining seniors at the Kerby Centre every Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s really a riot. I just love it.”
Judy still reflected on the bond between a musician and her instrument.
“I hope Tracy has held onto it because, in a way, it’s become a trusted friend. And if that’s the case, then that’s just wonderful. It’s what every guitar maker hopes for.”
It’s a heck of a story for a small guitar. After all that time, it truly got to finally see what it means to be living.
It is a lovely reminder of both the unexpected paths life can take and the lasting connections forged through music.
