Ogden Music Festival smokin’ with maker of cigar box guitars
Tim Greenhalgh, of Salt lake City, makes cigar box guitars and has them on display and for sale at the Ogden Music Festival at Fort Buenaventura on Saturday. (NICHOlAS DRANEY/Standard-Examiner)
Tim Greenhalgh, of Salt lake City, plays his slide guitar in front of a display of cigar box guitars he made and that are for sale at his booth at the Ogden Music Festival at Fort Buenaventura on Saturday. (NICHOlAS DRANEY/Standard-Examiner)
Zoe Muth and The lost High Rollers perform during the Ogden Music Festival at Fort Buenaventura on Saturday. (NICHOlAS DRANEY/Standard-Examiner)
West Shaddox and brother Brooks play a tin drum during the Ogden Music Festival at Fort Buenaventura on Saturday. (NICHOlAS DRANEY/Standard-Examiner)
OGDEN — Tim Greenhalgh plucked away at his own homemade cigar box guitar as bluegrass music howled in the background — a perfect scene for any music-lover.
Greenhalgh and his collection of guitars were one of the many attractions found Saturday at the 2012 Ogden Music Festival at Fort Buenaventura.
This is the fourth year that Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music have put on a three-day festival, expanding from the original single-day event.
Attractions included music workshops, plus folk, Americana and western music, including regional and national acts, and even a musical petting zoo where showgoers could test out all kinds of instruments.
Michelle Tanner, founder and executive director of the nonprofit OFOAM, said approximately 700 people attended the event Friday and another 2,000 were expected to roll through the gates throughout the day Saturday.
“We’ve had a great couple of days so far,” Tanner said Saturday. “We’re exposing a lot of people to some great music and some things that you can’t find everywhere.”
Greenhalgh’s guitars definitely fall into that category.
The Salt Lake City resident hand-crafts custom guitars from antique cigar boxes. Building one guitar takes about a week.
He’s inspired by old Delta bluesmen who were poor and forced to be creative to play.
“A lot of those old blues guys were poor as dirt and they built instruments with whatever they had,” Greenhalgh said. “Sometimes it was just a cigar box and a broomstick.”
Ogden resident Amelia Henderson said the festival is a good alternative to much of what she hears on popular Top 40 radio.
“This is real music right here,” she said. “There’s no fancy studio tricks or lip syncing, just real people playing real music.”
The festival continues today beginning at 8:30 a.m., with the last act of the day, Elephant Revival, hitting the stage at 6:30 p.m.
As a continuation of the festival, Elephant Revival will play a free show Monday at the Ogden Amphitheater, 343 E. 25th St. The movie “August Rush” will play at dusk.
Click here for more information on the festival.
Click here for information about Greenhalgh’s guitars.
