Description
Sometimes you know how a guitar is going to sound just by looking at it. So what kind of noise do you expect from this Joe Doe Gas Jockey, with its classic 50’s car styling and gas pump colours? Rumbling low end? Muscular chug in the rhythm position? Screeching highs, like a teen blowing donuts in his dad’s ’59 Chevy El Camino in the grocery store car park? All that and more. So whether you choose the gas pump red or the sparkling gold sand model, the Joe Doe Gas Jockey sets up a musical expectation of thumping, humping and pumping rock n roll and delivers it with ease.
So what’s the origin story behind the Joe Doe Gas Jockey? Well, it all began on a gas station forecourt in 1960…
Wally ‘Songman’ Saban is a living, breathing, human jukebox. Pull up into his New Jersey gas station on Fellowship Road and he’ll not only fill your car with gas, but will play any song you can think of on his electric guitar. How is it possible? Well, for the sixty three years Wally has worked on the station forecourt, he’s been accompanied by music from his AM radio playing Billboard hits of the day. He only needs to hear a song once before the notes become transcribed and etched into his musical DNA. There’s a weathered sign hanging over the entrance to the station – Challenge Wally for 5 dollars. If he can’t play your song, then gas is on him. Locals know not to take the bait but if you’re new to town, you’ll try your luck, suggest something obscure from the 70s… and end up 5 bucks worse off.
Wally has only lost the challenge once, when he failed to play a request from Loretta Marshall in 1982. She left with a free tank full of gas, and Wally got her number. They’ve been together ever since.
