Bob May
“I don’t teach music, I share it.”
This is the mantra of Bob May, a retired architect who performs live music at Uptown Friday Nights outside the historic bank on State Street.
For May, music isn’t all about numerals and technique; it’s about what sounds good, not what is “correct.”
May’s unique approach is hardly surprising given how his playing days began.
While studying at the University of Illinois School of Architecture, May was a “gandy dancer,” a slang term for someone who lays railroad tracks. He saved up $200 to buy a 12-string Gibson guitar he saw an ad for in the paper, thus beginning his hard-to-believe origin story playing music.
“I was trying to learn how to play it, taught myself two or three chords and one morning a janitor came by…He pushed my door open of the dorm room, took the guitar and tuned it – which it’s very difficult to tune a 12-string – and he took out these finger picks,” May says, showing off the metal tips on his index and middle fingers, plus a plastic one on his thumb.
“He put these in my hand,” May says. “He says can you play a D chord? Do this. (May starts picking up and down, alternating fingers.) Then he left.”
During the next few mornings, May received micro-lessons in guitar picking from the janitor.
When May asked him how long he’d need to practice each chord, the janitor replied, “Until you can talk to your mother on the phone and do that.”
May has a rare eye condition called Central Serous Retinopathy, which makes his ability to play so sharply even more impressive. It also means he never uses sheet music or notes, only his memory.
“I have these blind spots and I have a very difficult time reading,” May says.
His visual impairment came about gradually. He previously watched other guitarists’ fingers to see which chords they were using, but now he exclusively learns songs by ear.
He says there is one song he’s still figuring out after 50 years.
“My primary care physician asked me about that. I said ‘I memorize everything,’ and she said ‘Well how many songs do you know?’ I said ‘300, maybe 400,” May says. “She said ‘Don’t ever quit. That’s poetry, mathematics and dexterity.”
A couple of years ago May asked to play open mics at Java Central and was given a time slot.
After Debbie Bennati, president of the Westerville Uptown Merchants Association, heard him play at Java Central, she offered him a gig during Uptown Friday Nights at his now signature sidewalk stage outside the bank.
He didn’t perform to earn money. The first time someone opened his guitar case to drop in some change, he thought they were trying to steal his equipment. Now he uses patrons’ money for his granddaughter’s piano lessons.
It’s the human connection that keeps May playing. From Mennonite church fundraisers to Java Central on Friday nights, the audience tends to find May more than he seeks out the spotlight.He and a friend, Ken Parson – who also plays Java Central and Uptown Friday Nights – say that Westerville is their favorite place to play because everyone is easygoing, friendly and attentive.
During an Uptown Friday Night in May 2024, I witnessed May in action as the warm heart on his sleeve attracts visitors of all kinds. He greets new spectators after each song, often offering them the chance to play his guitar a little bit just so he can watch their faces light up.
After a boy rolled up on his skateboard and watched May play a song, he told May that he also plays guitar. May quickly offered up his mic and his prized guitar and let the boy play several songs.
“This is what it’s all about,” May says.
Polished Player
Bob May uses a French-polished Martin kit guitar with a “softer aged look to it.”
“The only thing that it didn’t come with was the decal and my son found two online and gave them to me,” May says. “I thought, this isn’t really a Martin, so I took the ‘I’ from the second one so it’s the world’s only Martini. No one’s ever noticed.”
Dean Gledhill
At 10 years old, Dean Gledhill’s passion for guitar was cemented for life, as he shares his inspiration as a musician with countless icons such as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, George Thorogood, Billy Joel and many others who all started playing guitar after The Beatles redefined “cool” on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964.
He doesn’t remember how he got it, but he remembers every detail of his first guitar.
“It was this big old monster acoustic guitar and the strings, they felt like bridge girders,” Gledhill says. “It’s a wonder I could even play it at all; it wasn’t a little kid’s guitar.”
A “mail-order guitar from JCPenney” was his first foray into playing electric.
Dave Holtzapple
His history of shows in garages and basements through his adolescence kept his playing abilities sharp, and his repertoire of songs is always growing. While May was originally interested in classic rock, once he was introduced to blues music his focus completely shifted.
“Some friends said, ‘You need to listen to this (Eric) Clapton guy and that was real cool; I was a huge Clapton fan for many years,” Gledhill says.
Now a retired architect – a purely coincidental parallel with Bob May – Gledhill assembled the Juke Jammers with his friends, bassist Mark Henry and drummer John Addison. They met over the last few years in various musical contexts, and their tagline states their mission: “Keepin’ the Blues Alive.”
The Juke Jammers perform shows all over Columbus, and Gledhill says they play whatever their audience responds to. If they play a retirement community, they will play Elvis and other “oldies,” he says. If they play the Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival© in Gahanna, they lean harder into a blues setlist.
They often take requests and ride the wave, staying aware of the audience’s response and tastes.
On select Fridays, you can find the Juke Jammers at Rotary Park across from the Church of the Messiah on the corner of State and Home Street.
“We’ve got a big huge list of songs and we’ll just pick one and just mix it up with no real strict setlist,” Gledhill says. “We’ll play Uptown Westerville and anytime that people are sitting and actually listening, then you want to kind of have a setlist so you don’t slow down and stall out.”
A Little of This, a Little of That
Gledhill enjoys the collecting aspect of being a musician, as well.
“I buy and trade and sell. I’m still kicking myself about some of the things I’ve let go over the years,” he says. “In high school, I had an ES-330 Gibson like what B.B. King plays and I traded it for an amplifier or something.”
He says at one time he had about 30 instruments, from banjo to dobro. His instrument collection is down to about 20 instruments, which Gledhill reluctantly says is enough
A New Generation
To read the story of another Uptown Friday Nights musician, 17-year-old Caitlin Van Auken, click here.
Tyler Kirkendall is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at tkirkendall@cityscenemediagroup.com.
