Maroon 5 guitarist leaves Lincoln with greater than reminiscences

Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine, who grew up in Lincoln, left the Capital City with greater than reminiscences after Tuesday night time’s live performance at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Valentine headed onto the subsequent leg of the tour in Minneapolis with a brand new guitar produced from wooden from outdated Memorial Stadium bleachers, courtesy of Phil Whitmarsh, proprietor of Old Market Guitarworks.

Whitmarsh mentioned the concept to construct the guitar got here from Tim Clare, Lincoln’s consultant on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.

“Well, I’m working on a book project with Regent Tim Clare, and he had heard that I build guitars from historic wood, and he was just kind of riffing in the moment and said, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be cool to give James Valentine a guitar built from the bleacher wood from Memorial Stadium?’,” Whitmarsh mentioned. “And I said, ‘sure, when’s the concert,’ and he said, Oct. 28.”

That was again in mid-September, leaving Whitmarsh about six weeks to get the job performed.

Whitmarsh has made different guitars out of wooden from the Memorial Stadium bleachers in addition to from a World War II-era battleship, however he mentioned this mission had particular that means.

“In a sense, it’s kind of a full-circle project,” he mentioned, noting that native musician Benjamin Kushner, who helped him with a few of his first prototypes earlier than dying of most cancers final yr, was a buddy and colleague of Valentine’s.

“His passing from cancer was really hard on Lincoln’s music community, but also musicians around the country that knew him and have played with him, and James knew him well enough that I heard that that had an effect on him as well,” Whitmarsh mentioned. “So I think, presenting a guitar to him that has some of the DNA from Benji and, and Nebraska, where he studied guitar for a while and with professors there … I think it’s a nice moment to just remind him that he is still beloved of our state.”

In a video he posted to social media whereas strolling round downtown Lincoln and on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus Tuesday, Valentine joked about his degree of movie star in Lincoln.

“The one place in the United States where I get to feel like (Maroon 5 lead singer) Adam Levine for a second, you know,” he mentioned within the video. “I get that kind of attention.”

That consideration additionally included Valentine getting a avenue quickly named after him by town of Lincoln.

Whitmarsh gave Valentine the guitar backstage earlier than the live performance, and whereas he strummed it a bit beforehand, he didn’t play it in the course of the live performance.

You can be taught extra about Whitmarsh’s guitar-making abilities on a future episode of “What If… Nebraska,” Nebraska Public Media’s award-winning collection about innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.