Welcome to craigthatcher.com

Sunday, April 19th, 2026

Hey there and welcome to my blog (or rant) page! This is where I’ll be sharing/updating information about our band, my work with C.F. Martin & Co., Inc. and general information that you may find helpful/interesting. Please stop by from time to time and if you have any questions, please use the contact page to get in touch.

Last week we played two sold-out shows: Thursday night at Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem, PA and Friday night at the Bell Tower Arts & Cultural Center in Bangor/Martin’s Creek, PA. Audiences for both shows were just wonderful.

We’d like to extend our thanks to the great folks who run (and volunteers) at both venues. Of course, sincere thanks to all of you who attended, you were awesome! Looking forward to returning to both venues in the coming year!

This show featured our quartet with Chico Huff, Cliff Starkey, Billy Wear and yours truly.

Link to a performance clip at the Bell Tower:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17arBJoeEa/

https://www.godfreydaniels.org
https://belltowerculturalcenter.org

Monday, April 20th, 2026

My new guitar which I purchased last week from Emerald City Guitars in Seattle, Washington, https://EmeraldCityGuitars.com should be arriving today. It is a 1970 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Goldtop, exactly what I had purchased new in December, 1969 from Sine’s Music Center, in Quakertown, PA. This was my very first, really good guitar when I was a kid. My dad and I saw it in the shop window display at Christmas time. It was the prettiest guitar I’d ever seen at that time…I had to have it. So we went into the store spoke with the owner, Dale Sine, and he said I could put it away and pay weekly on it until it was paid off. It cost $380 brand new, with the case, a rather large sum of money for a 13 year-old kid at that time. Considering I had a daily paper route (7 days per week, mornings), along with a Saturday job as a busboy at a local Quakertown restaurant (Mr. D’s) it was still going to take a while for me to pay off the guitar, but I did it.

Tuesday, April 21st, 2026

I wrote a new song for Earth Day last night. Here are the lyrics:

EVERY DAY IS EARTH DAY–
Craig Thatcher-copyright Thatchmo Music, 2026

Every day is earth day, we all must do our share
Try and save our planet, show the world we care

Rivers overflowing, with garbage and debris
Plastic in the ocean, killing dolphins in the sea

Refrain:
We only have one planet, but we just can’t agree
Climate change is real, but there’s a remedy

Gather up your cardboard, plastic, tin and glass
Don’t toss it in a landfill, where it will forever last

You can do your own part, we all must lend a hand
Recycle for the water, and the beauty of the land

Refrain:
It’s a legacy we’re building, day by day its getting worse
Situation’s critical, we gotta set this in reverse

Every day is earth day, we all must do our share
Try and save our planet, show the world we care

Thursday, April 23rd

I posted on Facebook re: the passing of Dave Mason. He left us on Sunday, April 19th. Dave, as many of you know, was the co-founder of, “Traffic,” with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood. Traffic has been one of my top fav bands since I first heard, “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” in 1967. Though Dave did speak with an American accent (having lived in America for so long), he was in fact born in Worcester, England, in 1946.

Dave played acoustic 12-string guitar on Jimi Hendrix’s recording of, “All Along The Watchtower,” which was recorded in 1968. I have studio outtakes of Jimi teaching Dave the rhythm guitar part. It was tricky–not the part, per se, but the timing. Listen to the intro and you’ll hear what I mean (try and count it…it’s challenging).

Of course DM had wonderfully long and lasting solo career. “Only You Know And I Know,” and “We Just Disagree,” were just two of his huge hit 70’s songs.

As I grow older and witness many of my musical “mentors” passing away, I’m reminded of the ones who never made it this long: Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jim Croce, Nick Drake and many others being some of the earliest. How young they were to have created such iconic, lasting music (soundtrack of my life). We do have their musical legacies which will remain to influence new generations for years to come. Now Dave Mason has joined that fraternity. Rest peacefully, Dave Mason.

On a lighter note, last evening, Chris Martin IV and I presented our Martin Experience at George’s Music in North Wales, PA. The enthusiastic and warm crowd of over 100 people filled the shop and made us feel right at home. It was really nice to do this close to home and not experience jet lag as we’re often far across the country or in Europe, UK, or Asia doing these events. I made it home in 30 minutes! I’ll post some pics here when I receive.

One of my fav guitars from last night’s event was the Johnny Cash 1956 Martin D-21, which Chris recently acquired from the Jim Irsay auction. What a wonderful sounding/playing instrument! I played 3 songs on it last night (normally I just play one song on each guitar)!

I also played the Martin Jim Croce D-21 which is a reminder of all the great music he wrote/performed, another artist gone way too early. And I debuted my song, “Every Day Is Earth Day,” on a Martin 00L which features a beautiful art design painted top, by our friend & colleague, Robert Goetzl. I’ll try to get a pic of it and post here.

Thanks to those of you who took the time to attend, and thanks also to George and crew for hosting our event.

Have a wonderful day!