George Vinton Graham with guitar, seated, right profile, looking downwards, portrait, photograph

Photograph caption: "He is recording 'The Bridgewater' from his own typed 'ballet' [sheet of lyrics]."
Sidney Robertson Cowell inscription on verso of copy of photograph in Music Division, Library of Congress: "Mr. G.'s guitar playing was as original as everything else about him. He spent a long time tuning the instrument to pitches never heard on land nor sea, and thereafter he strummed vigorously across the strings, occasionally even fingering a string here or there. There was absolutely no relationship in key nor pitch (except a rhythmic one as from a drum) against (literally) his equally vigorous singing. After this first session, I arranged the mike differently--nearer his mouth and farther from his fingers. Despite the cacaphony, he could not sing without the guitar: 'Otherwise, what would I do with my hands?'."
Forms part of a group of field materials documenting George Vinton Graham performing Anglo-American songs on October 12, 1938, December 3 and 7, 1938, July 9, 1939, and August 16, 1939, collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in San Jose, California.