After my post on Linda Rondstadt and Different Drum, I started trawling youtube and found this clip of Neil Young’s After the Goldrush, sung by Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda.
This is a gorgeous version of a great song, but what I want to draw your attention to is an instrument being played behind Linda: it seems to be a glass harmonica, invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761 and premiered in London the following year by Marianne Davis, so predating the modern harmonica by 60 years. For most of its history it seems to have been something of a novelty instrument, so for girlies, but the one here looks like it might be an early one, and definitely not being played by a girl.
texthistory 