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I found this in the online Guardian Newspaper today

Three strings and the truth: Warrington's own cigar box guitarist Hollowbelly speaks out

The 56-year-old is one of the champions of Europe’s emerging cigar box guitar scene which has recently been popularised by Seasick Steve in the United States.

Hundreds of people recently saw Hollowbelly – or John Farr to his friends – perform at Glastonbury when he demonstrated the three-string instrument at a stall alongside his friend ‘Chickenbone John’, who pioneered the use of cigar box guitars in the UK.

So after making waves at the renowned festival, Weekend caught up with John, who grew up in Park Road, Great Sankey, before making a name for himself as an international musician.

“I was just playing and doing a few things to gather people in like an old fashioned American snake oil salesman,” said John, a former Penketh High School head boy.

“We were lucky that we were between the Pyramid stage and quite a few other stages and so it was really easy to strike up a thing. Seasick Steve has popularised the instrument a little bit but it’s still quite unusual so to see me freaking out on this thing drew quite a crowd which was nice.”

But John’s life in music began long before the cigar box guitar movement.

Inspired by Top of the Pops, he originally learnt to play a ukulele that his granddad brought him back from America.

John started performing at working men’s clubs in Warrington when he was just eight. He had to get a special licence to do so because of his age. Then when he was at the influential age of 16 punk hit and changed everything.

John, whose twin brother Graham still lives in Warrington, added: “It was just brilliant seeing The Ramones and The Clash and The Undertones and all that stuff.

“That’s why when you listen to my music today it’s punk blues. That’s why it’s got that manic energy.”

It was about a decade ago that John stumbled across a cigar box guitar on the internet and bought it out of curiosity.

Chickenbone John was selling one on eBay for about £50.

John said: “I was looking for something new and I thought: ‘What have I got to lose?’

“The tone was just incredible. I instantly loved it. So that’s how I met Chickenbone John.

“He’s given up his day job and actually makes cigar box guitars for a living and we go touring around Europe together.

“It was just a really organic thing. I found the cigar box guitar and then I wrote a song and I thought I’d put in on YouTube.

“Then some guy rang up and said: ‘I want you to play in London’ and I said: ‘I’ve not practiced enough’ so he said he’d ring me back in three months. So he rang me back and told me I was playing The 100 Club. I couldn’t believe it.

“That led on to somebody inviting me to Belgium and then people were emailing me from Holland and Germany.

“Before you know where you are you’ve got a tour going.

“That’s the great thing about the internet – you’ve got all these connections without having a manager or anything like that. It’s been cool.

“The best thing is the people you meet. Before that I was watching the news on the TV and you just think the world is full of hideous people who blow each other up.

“But when you go out and you go to all these places around the world you find that people are really nice.

“They put you up in their houses, wash your clothes and drive you to gigs and you’ve just met them. The world is full of lovely people.”

Many of those lovely people even make cigar box guitars for John.

The dad-of-two, who now lives in Exmouth, added: “I got my first one from Chickenbone John and I thought: ‘These are easy. It’s just like a stick in a box. Even I could do it’.

“So I shoved a stick through an old face painting tin my kids had left in the garden with a bannister rail from B&Q for the neck.

“I ended up playing that which was pretty mental. These days I don’t make my own because very often the doorbell will go and it’s a package from California or West Virginia and somebody’s made me a cigar box guitar as a gift.

“That’s happened to me about six or seven times and they’re all hung up in the hall.

"I always go back to this one that this guy made for me. It was really touching because he said he saw me on YouTube and it got him interested in music again so to say thanks he made this guitar in his cellar in Pennsylvania and painted my name on it.”

Here is the link

http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/leisure/interviews/15391608.Three_strings_and_truth/

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