courtney_musicology :
George’s sister lived 25 minutes away from me in a small town called Benton, Illinois. Her husband was a coal miner and they left Liverpool for the booming mining industry that was happening in Southern Illinois at the time. George visited in 1963 and he became the first Beatle to visit the the United States before Ed Sullivan made them world famous! They were already big in Germany and the UK, but in the United States, they were still pretty unknown! While he was here, he bought his famous Rickenbacker guitar in a town called Mt. Vernon. He bought so many records and 45s because Liverpool had to have records imported so they didn’t have the latest and greatest songs like they did in America (and if they did, they were all sold out and picked over). He ended up buying James Ray’s 45 of “Got My Mind Set On You” while in Illinois, and in the 1980s, his cover of the song would give him a massive hit! He didn’t realize how different pounds to dollars was, so he was amazed at how many albums he could buy while he was here. He played with a group in the town next to mine, Eldorado, at the local VFW. They called him the Elvis of England and he played songs with the group there and he sang. He also was interviewed by a high schooler in a small town called West Frankfort and it was there that The Beatles made their second appearance on American radio! We have a few murals and art pieces commemorating his visit, and there is a small section of a museum in Benton. Also, someone just bought his sister, Louise’s house as it was going to be torn down. However, the buyer is restoring it back to how it was in the 1960s and it is going to be a museum! Here is a picture of the current museum section at the Franklin County Historical Society with the og microphone and sound system that George was at! The crazy thing is most people in my area don’t even know this. But several people got to meet him!
2026-11-02 22:25:29