I was introduced to Mickey at the Inn on the River by Cal Newman but first got to know him when he answered an ad I put somewhere. We spoke on the phone and he said he liked the idea of what I was doing, but at one point he said, in typically blunt M.G. fashion, “I hate harmonica players.” I decided it might not be the best idea to mention that I was actually a harmonica player.

The first time I played with him was at a last minute political club New Years Eve gig in Gwent somewhere. 1983 I think. We did it as a duo, no rehearsal. I just picked him up and off we went. I was really new to S. Wales and just starting to learn the way things are done. We arrived to a room full of people already fairly rat assed and pissed because apparently we were late. So Mickey and I quickly went and banged out a set. We then settled into this great conversation in the dressing room, interrupted occasionally to go play. At one point Micky said to me, “Steve don’t bother talking to them between songs. They’ll just think you’re some twat from Bristol pretending to be an American.” He was, sometimes frustratingly, almost always right and that was no exception.

One final thing, I did a session with legendary Texas guitar player Casper Rawls a couple of years ago. I asked him if he ever heard of Mickey Gee. Casper’s eyes lit up and he smiled large and replied, “Oh yeah. Dave Edmunds band. Great guitar player. Like him a lot.” So did I.

Its great to see your videos that you have been releasing on You Tube at your site tomgee001 ths has to be a great thing for the millions of fans around the world who may have only recognised the sounds from Micky’s guitar but will now be able to actually see who was Wales top guitar picker !

Phil