Viral videos bring singer/songwriter, guitar builder together
Published 6:23 pm Friday, August 10, 2012
Lichty announces three guitar-building workshops
Though they live just a stone’s throw apart, S.C. singer/songwriter Noah Guthrie and N.C. luthier Jay Lichty had never met until Guthrie’s YouTube videos went viral.
Guthrie is a South Carolina singer/songwriter who is rapidly making a name for himself. His music has been featured on the “Ellen DeGeneres Show,” he has been on the set and in front of millions of viewers as a guest of NBC’s “Today Show” and his video has been featured on Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show.” While he is best known for his creative renditions of cover tunes (his version of LMAFO’s song “Sexy and I Know It” has had more than 11 million views), Guthrie’s original music is a mixture of Americana pop with a touch of blues and it’s often described as smoky, rich and romantic.
Jay Lichty, who happens to live just minutes up the road from Guthrie, is a luthier who builds custom handmade acoustic guitars and ukuleles in his Tryon shop. Lichty built his first guitar under the guidance of world-renowned luthier and musician Wayne Henderson. Since that time Lichty has handcrafted more than 90 instruments, in addition to teaching guitar-building courses.
Lichty said he saw immediately the extent of Guthrie’s talents after watching one of his videos and he joined millions who were already fans of the S.C. musician. At current count the videos on Guthrie’s YouTube Channel, Only1Noah, have been viewed more than 21,000,000 times.
Within a few days of their initial contact, Guthrie visited to test-drive Lichty’s handcrafted guitars, and he is now the owner of a one-of-a-kind Lichty guitar.
Guthrie joins the ranks of professional musicians who play Lichty’s guitars from Japan to Los Angeles. These musicians include internationally acclaimed Australian guitarist Geoff Achison; the winner of Japan’s National Fingerstyle Playing Competition in 2012, Shohei Toyoda; brothers Mike and Tom Gossin of top country band Gloriana and others.