Among the highlights of the Castle Rock Firefighter's Benefit Concert, held last Saturday, Sept. 29, was the presentation by Steve Miller of two custom-made guitars to Ketchum Fire Department Chief Mike Elle and Castle Rock Fire Incident Commander Jeanne Pincha-Tulley.
The guitars, airbrush painted by Christy Griffith of Boise, were designed by Steve Miller and John Bolin, a renowned luthier who is also based in Boise.
Bolin and his family have steadfastly remained Boiseans, despite the clients who flock to his doors and have suggested they move to a more music-centric locale. He got his first big break in 1980, when he made an acoustic instrument for bluegrass guitarist Doc Watson. A year later he was asked to build his first electric guitar. From there his reputation grew. Each guitar is totally unique and custom created in his studio. Miller has known him for more than 15 years.
"John is a very famous guitar maker," Miller said. "He makes all of Billy Gibbons' (of ZZ Top), and all those funny, fuzzy guitars. He's made guitars for Pete Townsend, Jimmy Page, the Stones. He's a real guitar maker. John's son works on my crew. We probably design about 20 guitars together a year."
After the Castle Rock Fire, Bolin caught wind of Miller's involvement in the benefit concert.
"He called me and said, 'Steve, I know you're going to do this for the firefighters,'" Miller said. "'I want to make them.' That was a really fun thing. I said I'd pay for parts and pieces. You get the material. He knocked those out in a couple weeks. These are real collectors' pieces, even without the fire aspect, and they were played at the benefit, so they're one-of-a-kind."
Miller was on tour when the fire started but had an opening when a gig in Wisconsin was rained out.
"The concert was canceled, so we flew home on Sunday, right as the fire had just gotten started," Miller said. "We drove up, and Dave Neidrich, my property manager, said 'you've got to evacuate.' So I go into studio, thought, I'll take my first guitar, and those four, and hard drives. The firefighters were there, and everything was on fire. Then we were gone for 12 days, and when we got back it had just been contained."
Being away, however, didn't mean Miller wasn't keeping track of the fire. He set up a camera that he was able to watch on-line while on the road.
"I e-mailed (Bolin) a bunch of pictures that I had taken. I though it'd be great if we could get blue sky, Baldy, the helicopters, fire trucks.
"We made the guitars right away and then were trying to decide whether to give them to the firefighters so they could hang them up," he said. "Then I thought, I'll play them, get interest up and have an auction. It's an opportunity to raise more money for the fire departments. We'll probably set up a Web site since there are lots of images. They're really special guitars. It's the same electronics, what I use on stage, so it's basically my custom-made guitar. When you see me play Fenders, they're really Bolins. They're much better than a stock guitar."
Although the annual Firefighter's Ball was previously announced as the site to auction the guitars, auction organizers have instead set their sights on the December holidays as a more likely time.
Miller is charmingly sanguine considering he's been a working musician for nearly four decades. His songs are considered classics. He knows everyone and has played with everyone in the business. Singer-songwriter Carole King, who owns a ranch near Challis, came on board for the concert and Miller loved it.
"She's been working with me all summer," he said. "She was great and really jumped right into it with such wonderful energy. When you look at her catalog of songs, it is incredible."
And when Miller says Bolin makes special guitars, it's not just the words of a fellow Idahoan. Miller still loves the life of a rock 'n' roller.
"I never thought I'd spend my entire life with Mick Jagger," he said laughing.
He talked about Jagger's new CD, which includes a duet with the late John Lennon that was cut but never released in the 1970s.
Miller, King, Jagger, Lennon—they're names that conjure up the timeless nature of rock 'n' roll. And we like it.
John Bolin and Steve Miller unveil two custom guitars early Saturday evening before the Castle Rock Firefighters Benefit Concert. Photos courtesy Tim Brown
