Kinloch Plays Tunnel 13 and other Petros Guitars

I met Bruce and Matt Petros on a promotion TV shoot just prior to the 2008 Newport Guitar Festival. I was the demo guy playing his guitars while the TV crew interviewed the festival promoter. Bruce and I got talking about a recording project I was thinking about doing involving handmade guitars, and I asked him about including Petros Guitars.

One thing lead to another and as of this writing, three years later, I have recorded eighteen songs on ten different Petros guitars built during that period. Some can be heard (or seen) on the Petros website or my website, some are on Youtube and some of them are only on this CD. Most are solo recordings, some are multitracked.

Most of the tunes on this project were recorded on the Tunnel 13 Redwood guitars mentioned in the title. Some of the tunes were chosen because the song titles or subject matter had some relation, at least in my mind, to the colorful story behind the T-13 Guitars and the vanishing Old West. Others were chosen for more personal reasons or because they seemed to fit musically or thematically in the collection. Most of the songs are ballads, since what I wanted to do was let the sustaining notes be heard.

— Kinloch, May 2011

Afterthoughts — A little prayer of thanks for life with the guitar. Sometimes one forgets how lucky one is to have a gift.

Haste To The Wedding — A few years ago a friend of mine and great all around musician, Dennis Monroe passed away unexpectedly. He played guitar, banjo, mandolin, violin, and lute. Dennis loved a glass of wine and good conversation...a real Renaissance man. A student of mine came in one day with this piece that Dennis had notated and wondered if I might like to play it. I ended up learning it and then jazzing it up a bit. This one is for Dennis who kept me going one day when I was contemplating quitting the often frustrating music scene.

Tennessee Waltz — When I was a kid Les Paul and Mary Ford were everywhere. We heard their hits on the radio, in the elevator, at the skating rink, the Dr.'s office, briefly on TV (they had a short weekly show), and even on those hip Robert Hall commercials I heard growing up near Boston: “When the values go up up up, and the prices go down down down... ♫ ” This was one of their many hits.

A Rose In Spanish Harlem — One of Phil Spector's dozens of “miniature symphonies”, this has been a favorite of mine since I can remember.

Sunflower River Blues — John Fayhe was an early pioneer of the fingerstyle guitar playing that fills this record. That isn’t to say he invented the thing, far from it. But I think it is accurate to say that his 1960’s era fingerstyle guitar explorations and improvisations paved the way for much of today's non-lyric-driven steel string fingerstyle guitar playing. I heard this tune, one of Fayhe's many inventions being played on WBZ radio in Boston on the “Sunday Hootenanny” back in the day.

Cast Your Fate To the Wind/Circle Game — “Cast your Fate...” In the 1960's vocal tunes pretty much ruled the charts, and instrumentals were usually lead-ins for the news breaks. Now and then an instrumental would make the charts and get played in its entirety. Most of them were catchy and had a good beat. This one had a swinging bridge but a melancholy verse, kind of a yin and yang (or yang and yin). Its theme of uncertainty seemed a good pairing with “Circle Game” ... a coming of age anthem for a generation.

Great Dreams From Heaven — Considering the title I decided to add an Amen at the end. I have also composed and added a bridge to the tune.

Danny Boy/ Road Home — While I was in the middle of working on this project a good friend of mine, Kerry Peterson, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and was gone in only a few months. At the time I was working on this arrangement for this CD and couldn't help feeling a connection between these songs, the process of watching Kerry leave us, and my own efforts to say goodbye. Kerry played bass with me on many a rock and roll show over the years and we had a lot of laughs together. These are for Kerry...

Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie — Based on an old sailor’s song this ballad has become the most famous of cowboy songs of the American Old West. It seemed the logical choice after Danny Boy and Road Home.

Oh! Susannah — The original lyrics to this song are pretty dark, and these days politically incorrect. (Look them up sometime.) Truth is it's a pretty weird little story. It is full of conflict: “It rained all night the day I left the weather was bone dry … sun was so hot I froze to death.” Considering the lyric’s depiction of a difficult if not harrowing journey set against a jaunty optimistic melody I decided to dig a little deeper. So the arrangement follows a narrative: a journey that starts off well, encounters difficulties, there is a moment of conflict and uncertainty, then resolution, rebirth and hope.

You Only Live Twice — Pun intended, I am thinking about The Tunnel 13 Guitars and their life line: from tree, to train tunnel, to musical instrument.

Wichita Lineman — The Old West, with its train robberies, cowboys and Indians, gold rushes and pioneers has long faded into memory and legend. For a while it survived in songs, the movies and TV shows. By and large society has moved on. Still with us though is a character from that time: the loner, far from home, yearning for connection to family and land whether it by telephone or telegraph, or letter delivered by ship, pony or train.


  1. Afterthoughts [MP3]
  2. Haste To The Wedding [MP3]
  3. Tennessee Waltz [MP3]
  4. A Rose In Spanish Harlem [YouTube]
  5. Sunflower River Blues [MP3]
  6. Cast Your Fate To the Wind/Circle Game [MP3]
  7. Great Dreams From Heaven [MP3]
  8. Danny Boy/Road Home [MP3]
  9. Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie [MP3]
  10. Oh! Susannah [MP3]
  11. You Only Live Twice [MP3]
  12. Wichita Lineman [MP3]

$15.00 + $3.50 s/h

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Kinloch Plays Tunnel 13 and other Petros Guitars
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