It is always a tough thing when a music community loses one of its own. But when the Pittsburgh music community lost guitarist Glenn Pavone in August, it lost a lot more than just the man who was considered the best guitarist in town. It lost a good man.
Every story written about Glenn, including several written during his bout with cancer in 2008-2009, always included testimony to the fact that he was simply a great guy – a quiet, unassuming man with a special talent for making music that spoke volumes to friends and strangers alike.
For example, there’s a tribute page on Facebook that’s filled with praise from more than 200 friends and fans. Here’s just one thought that caught my eye: “Your music was the soundtrack for my courtship with my husband. Such a great gift in such a humble vessel.” And you can go to Legacy.com on the web and find even more kind words for Glenn, both as a musician and as a man.
Not that you needed a newspaper story to tell you that. Anyone who knew Glenn would gladly tell you the same thing. But it’s still amazing to sort through the articles and quotes and feel the love and respect that pour off the pages. He battled his cancer valiantly and with considerable grace, and by all accounts, summoned enough strength to make beautiful music while he was very ill.
Glenn’s Pittsburgh story began when he came to town from Virginia in 1982 to join Billy Price and the Keystone Rhythm Band. He played there for eight years before leaving the KRB to form his own band, the Cyclones. He immediately established himself at the top of the list of guitar-men in the region, and helped push the KRB even farther into best-band territory in those days. And Glenn’s talents pushed the Cyclones into that rare atmosphere of fine Burgh bands.
Glenn came recommended by Jimmy Thackery, then of the Nighthawks – the same Nighthawks who later wanted to recruit Glenn for themselves, but he would not leave Pittsburgh for possible national acclaim. And it wasn’t enough that he found respect here for his work – Glenn also found his wife, Nancy, after she showed up at a KRB show with a friend who was there to check out the new guitar player in the band.
I was going to ask a lot of people about Glenn for this article, and gather a lot of quotes to make the obvious points about his talents for music and life. One of the first I asked was Billy Price, who brought Glenn into town and worked closely with him for years. Once I got Billy’s reply, I decided that his thoughtful and personal reminiscence was really all that was needed to pay tribute to Glenn and his multiple gifts.
“Sometime around 1981 or 1982, Keith Grimes, my guitar player at the time in Billy Price and the Keystone Rhythm Band, decided to move back to his home in Maryland near Washington, DC and leave the band. We held a lot of auditions for a replacement, and we never really found anyone who would obviously be able to fill the position. At the time that Glenn auditioned, we had decided to hire a guy from Pittsburgh, a versatile and skillful guitar player, but we weren't really sold on him. Still, Keith was anxious to move back to Maryland, his patience was running out, we had grown tired of the search, and we were ready to get started working with our new guitar player.
“In the meantime, though, Jimmy Thackery of the Nighthawks had sent another recommendation our way, a guy who had played in the Bill Blue Band from Richmond named Glenn Pavone. What we had heard about him was that he was a good guitar player, but also that he was young and wild and potentially unreliable. So we were a little lukewarm on the audition, which took place at Desperado's on M Street in Washington, DC; more than anything, we were doing the audition as a favor and courtesy to Jimmy. We fully expected that we would say, "Thank you very much," and move ahead with hiring the other guy.
“We were unprepared for what happened that night. Glenn plugged in, and in a matter of seconds--literally--there was no question that he could be our new guitar player if he wanted to be. It was the first of many times that I experienced that sense of awe at his natural talent that so many of us felt just about every time we heard him play. We did persuade Glenn to move to Pittsburgh and join the band, and between 1982 and 1990, I had the privilege to bear witness to his extraordinary gift firsthand. They were great years for that band.
“People who have been reminiscing about Glenn over the past month have talked, of course, about his amazing talent and facility on the guitar, and about what a sweet, gentle, kind, and humble guy he was--all true. But the one thing about Glenn that I do not hear too many people talk about and that may have been the most unique thing about him was his irrepressible enthusiasm and exuberance for so many things in life: playing guitar, sure; but also golf, baseball, fishing...I could go on and on. And he approached everything with the same focused energy that he applied to playing guitar. ~Jim White
“There was simply nothing that he didn't think he could do, and most of the time, I believed him. I remember a couple of weeks, for example, in which he was seriously considering trying out for the Pirates or some other major league team, absolutely convinced that he could make it to the big leagues if he dedicated himself to it. This kind of thing could make Glenn exasperating to a bandleader with a file cabinet full of contracts and calendar full of commitments. You could never be sure what he was going to do next. But the non-bandleader part of me -- which I'd like to think, is the better part--never stopped admiring and yes, envying the little boy in Glenn who always went where his heart led him, regardless of the risks or consequences.
“It is still hard for me to believe that anything ever could have stopped him. He never became as famous as many other lesser guitar players, but being famous was pretty low on the list of things that he cared about. Regardless of what the rest of the world knows or doesn't know, though, I know that I had the opportunity to work with one of the most uniquely talented musicians ever during the years when I sang with Glenn. And, maybe more importantly, I got to know and love an extraordinary guy during the years when I knew him.”
