The Tele Town event at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium honoured the guitar that shaped modern music, with performances spanning country royalty, blues legends and the next generation of Tele players.
There aren’t many guitars that can fill the Ryman Auditorium with legends across six decades of music history, but the Telecaster is one of them. On 4 May, Fender marked 75 years of its most iconic instrument with Tele Town – a one-night event in Nashville that brought together Brad Paisley, Jack White, Billy Gibbons, James Burton, Tommy Emmanuel, Brothers Osborne, Larkin Poe and more for a night that spanned country, blues, rock and everything in between.
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Fender CEO Edward “Bud” Cole opened the evening with a nod to the guitar’s origins and enduring relevance. “75 years ago, Leo Fender had a pretty simple idea: to build a guitar that worked for players. Great tone. Reliable. Zero fuss. What came out of that was the Fender Telecaster. And it ended up shaping the sound of modern music.”
The evening moved through the Telecaster’s history in chapters. Rising players including Nate Gregory, Mateus Canteri and Luke McQueary opened proceedings, followed by a spotlight on the session and touring culture the Tele helped build – with acclaimed session guitarist Brent Mason performing “Blowing Smoke” and “Gator Bite.” Zach Top then joined Mason for a performance of Top’s hit “I Never Lie,” and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram brought his signature intensity to a set that included Prince’s “Cream.”
The night’s most significant moment came near the end, when host Zac Childs brought out James Burton’s iconic red Telecaster – originally a Butterscotch Blonde, later refinished at the Fender factory in a custom shade Burton called Coronado Red, matched to his red Cadillac. Burton purchased the guitar with his parents when he was 13 years old and played it as his primary instrument from 1952 to 1969. Brad Paisley closed the evening by welcoming Burton to the stage – Burton wearing the same jacket he wore performing with Elvis Presley on the icon’s final tour in 1977. Paisley then gifted Burton the 001 prototype of his 1967 “Lost Paisley” Telecaster, hand-built and painted by Paisley himself.
It was the kind of night Nashville does well – steeped in history, generous with surprises and anchored by players who love the instrument they were there to celebrate.
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