The year is 2004. I am nineteen years old. I walk to my mailbox and open it up. I finally receive month whatever of the latest Guitar World magazine. I open it up and within the first few pages, I see an advertisement for the Ebow. What is this Ebow? The shape is weird and it isn't exactly that special looking. In fact, I can't even imagine how this would produce anything musical at all. What does it do? How does it work? apparently, it can make your guitar produce all sorts of different sounds. These thoughts and questions ran through my head for a couple seconds and it wasn't long before I flipped to the back of the magazine to see what songs I could learn.
Fast forward a couple of years or so and I find myself at guitar center staring at a box with the words Ebow on it. Wondering if that advertisement I've come across several times since then was actually legit. I took a chance and reluctantly bought the damn thing. Was I excited? Not really. Besides, I was more interested in the next guitar purchase anyway. I get home, open the sum' bitch up, read how to use it and try to figure it out. it was awkward and discouraging but once it clicked, I was astounded by the fact that my guitar just somehow turned into a violin. After messing around with it for about a week, I put it inside my box of many forgotten(Gimmicky)gadgets and continued learning my next metal song(probably Megadeth or Metallica lol). It was cool, but I just wasn't that interested in it and really didn't care to continue with it.
Years go by and I never threw it away. I just kept it in my box of gadgets. After years of playing in metal bands and writing metal songs, I decided it was time to venture outside of that genre and visit the sounds I grew up with. Classic country and outlaw country were embedded in me at a young age and it took years of heartache to realize the realness behind those songs that I took for granted growing up. Suddenly, I found myself obsessing over Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. Just falling in love with the songwriting and storytelling aspects of those raw emotions put into that style of music.
Going through a divorce and a complete life change, I had this need to start finding ways to write my own songs with my own sound that I could truly use as therapy and help me live a more meaningful life. It took a few years after that realization, but eventually I made my way back to that Ebow. After replacing the really old battery and turning it on, it hit me that this was the missing piece to the sound I was searching for. I had it stowed away for years and luckily never threw it away. I never imagined that it would have the impact on me that it did. Especially, knowing that so many years ago, It didn't do anything for me and I lost interest. What I took away from that moment was the desire to always experiment and try different things. For me, songwriting and composing music comes down to the marriage of muscle memory and a lot of randomness. The more you learn, the more ammunition you have to use to create. I hope this encourages everyone to get that box of forgotten gadgets out of your closet and start making your own beautiful sounds. Below are a few of the songs I've featured the Ebow. Stay tuned for my next EP, which will showcase the Ebow a lot more!!!
-Tommy Cro:
**Video of me playing the solo to "Hey, Darlin'"
-Wildli:
