DUANE
Duane's take
The marker in Fannin County tells me this one, and I'm glad it does — because this is a story worth every mile of road between here and wherever you're headed. Charlie Christian was born on July 29, 1916, right here in Bonham, Texas. From the time he was small, music was already in the house.
His parents, Clarence and Willie Mae Christian, brought it with them — guitar artistry and soprano solos both. Charlie was taught in the guitar chord technique, the way most players learned it. But somewhere along the way, he set that aside and developed something nobody else was doing: a single-string style, clean and cutting and entirely his own.
That style made his reputation. And his reputation opened a door that not many doors could match. In 1939, Charlie Christian earned a place in Benny Goodman's band.
Now, if you know that name, you understand what that means. If you don't — Benny Goodman was one of the great figures in American music, full stop. And this young man from Bonham was playing alongside him.
He played with Count Basie. He played at Carnegie Hall. A jazz guitar prodigy out of Fannin County, standing on one of the most celebrated stages in the country.
And then — March 2, 1942. Charlie Christian died of tuberculosis. He was twenty-five years old.
That single-string style he built from the ground up, the sound that carried him from Bonham to Carnegie Hall — it didn't die with him. It went on ahead. That's the thing about music.
You can't really stop it.
What the marker says
(July 29, 1916 - March 2, 1942) As a child Bonham native Charles (Charlie) Christian was exposed to the guitar artistry and soprano solos of his parents Clarence and Willie Mae Christian. Though taught in the guitar chord technique, he developed a unique single-string style that made his reputation and earned him a place in music great Benny Goodman's band in 1939. A jazz guitar prodigy, he played with Goodman, Count Basie, and at Carnegie Hall before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 25. Recorded - 1994