A woman named Judy Threet – a former University of Calgary and Mount Royal University professor – made her Grammy debut! Not literally her, but the guitar she crafted.
She had a friend in a band who built a guitar for her. She hung around while he was building it and she says that’s what got her interested in the building process.
Not long after, she quit academics and switched careers.
In 1999, she built a guitar and tried to sell it in Calgary but had no luck. She ended up shipping it to a music store in California.
A musician by the name of Tracy Chapman happened to walk into the store in 2001 in search of a smaller guitar. Apparently Tracy’s shoulder had been hurting because she’d been playing a big dreadnought guitar. The smaller guitar she ended up leaving the store with was the one Judy made.
Fast forward a few decades to February 2024…Judy got an email from a friend saying Tracy was playing the guitar SHE MADE on stage at THE GRAMMYS!
Judy says she’d seen photos of Tracy playing the guitar through the years, but was “astonished” to see she had it all this time.
So there ya go. Thanks to Judy and her guitar, all of us Calgarians have a little connection to Tracy Chapman.
If you want to re-live that amazing performance or happened to miss it, give it a watch. It’s AMAZING.
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