A TRIBUTE TO GUITAR LEGEND DANNY GATTON

January 8 & 9 at the Birchmere Club in Alexandria, VA
Tickets On Sale Now

"All my life I've tried to play a variety of music that I have enjoyed."

- the late Danny Gatton

SCOTTSDALE, AZ - Vince Gill, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Radney Foster, Albert Lee, Brent Mason & the Nashville All Stars, John Jorgenson, and other special guests will honor the memory of the late Grammy-nominated guitarist Danny Gatton during a star-studded tribute concert on January 8 and 9, 1998. The event will be held at 7:30 p.m. each night at the Birchmere Club, 3701 Mt. Vernon Avenue in Alexandria, Virginia.

Gatton passed away on October 4, 1994. He was 49.

The event, presented and sponsored by Fender Musical Instruments Corp., is designed to help raise funds for Gatton's daughter, Holly to help her continue her college education.

Additional tribute sponsors include Guitar Player magazine, country station WMZQ-98.7 FM, BASF Tape, Big Mo Studios, and Gorospe Associates, Inc.

Gorospe maintains the official Danny Gatton web site - www.bandpages.com/gatton/.

Fender will donate two guitars to the two-day event-a special edition Danny Gatton Signature Telecaster" for a silent auction and a Fender Deluxe Nashville Tele" to be auctioned on-air at WMZQ-FM. Proceeds from the radio auction also will benefit the Holly Gatton Scholarship Fund and the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Located in Memphis, Tennessee, St. Jude was founded in 1962 by the late actor Danny Thomas. For four consecutive years, WMZQ has been one of the largest fundraising country stations for St. Jude. In 1997, WMZQ raised more than $600,000 for the Center.

The format of the show will reflect a wide variety of musical styles-rock, blues, bluegrass, country, jazz, and rockabilly-all of which Gatton mastered. He lent his guitar skills to the late Roger Miller and rockabilly great Robert Gordon and is revered posthumously by guitar players worldwide.

Fender began working with Danny Gatton in the late '80s to develop the Signature Series Telecaster guitar that bears his name and is reflective of his eclectic approach to playing. It's based on a '54 Tele but features zirconian side dots, Joe Barden pickups, and a special bridge design and neck finish.

"Before we started working with Danny on the development of his Signature Series instrument, we knew that he was a uniquely talented artist," says Dan Smith, Fender Vice President of Guitar Products Research and Development.

"Only after we began working together did the depth of that talent become fully apparent."

"Our relationship with Danny is one that we will always cherish," Smith continues. "Fender is proud that it can aid in seeing that his unique spirit lives on, not only in his music and the instrument he played but most importantly with his daughter Holly, for whom he cared so much."

"I knew Gatton as a friend and a musician," says tribute producer Mac Wilson of Harmony Hollow Productions in Nashville. "I am pleased to assist Danny's daughter Holly in furthering her education, and honor her father's memory, generosity, and musical skills."

Tickets are $65.00 per night and may be purchased at area Ticketmaster outlets or at the Birchmere Club, which seats 500.

Contributions to the Holly Gatton Scholarship Fund can be sent to
Maryland Bank & Trust Co., P.O. Box 429, La Plata, MD 20646.

For more information, please contact Mac Wilson of Harmony Hollow
Productions at 615-248-3850 or the Birchmere Club at 703-549-7500.