JIM SALESTROM WITH H I S 19 6 9 M A RT I N D -41
ne of Salestrom’s favorite stories, after having become friends with singer/songwriter John Denver, was being at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside of Denver, Colorado, in 1972. It was the first time the man, who had earlier hit the charts with “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” was performing there, and Jim was running sound. John’s lead guitarist at the time, Mike Taylor, played a 1966 D-18, one of Martin’s more popular Dreadnoughts. It was at that show that John performed “Rocky Mountain High” for the very first time to thunderous applause, and Mike’s lead work was all over the recording that was eventually released. When Mike passed away in 2010, that special Martin, which can also be heard on Denver’s signature recording of “Sunshine on My Shoulders,” ended up in the possession of Kris O’Connor, John’s former personal manager and concert producer, who gifted it to Salestrom in 1995. Jim fondly remembered John, when in the fall of 1973, he got a guitar lesson from the famous singer. “At the Cushing Coliseum in Kearney,” Salestrom recounted, “John showed me the drop D tuning that changed my life, and then he played the Buddy Holly classic “Everyday,” but he had a different way of playing it...his own cool groove. John was an incredible guitar player with a great sense of timing. Dick Kniss [Denver’s bass player] and Mike Taylor were, too.” Salestrom also spent a week with Denver and O’Connor singing background vocals and playing guitar and banjo when the recording of John’s Different Directions album was being produced. Since Denver’s untimely passing in 1997, Jim has been seen on the road all over the United States, as well as in other countries, conducting a troupe of musicians associated with the popular star of the 1970s. The multimedia production, with Denver videos being shown on a giant screen, features Salestrom leading the former star’s band musicians and supplying the instrumental and vocal accompaniment to many of the songs we all remember. Jim’s band Timberline also opened shows for country music’s Dolly Parton, which led to Jim playing in her band intermittently from 1979 on, once his band had broken up. Salestrom utilized a number of his prized Martins pl ay i n g for Par to n , esp e cially his Dreadnoughts, a CEO-4, and a 1987 J-40M jumbo acoustic.
52 | IF THESE GUITARS COULD TALK