Fender is closing out its year-long celebration of 75 years of the Telecaster with the launch of The One That Started It All., a new celebration film honoring the guitar that helped shape modern music and the artists who continue to redefine what it can sound like.
Featuring interviews with Keith Richards, Bruce Springsteen, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Andy Summers, Joe Bonamassa, John 5, Julien Baker and more, the film brings together generations of artists who have each made the Telecaster entirely their own. From the raw edge of Jack White and Julien Baker to the rock legacy of Bruce Springsteen and Keith Richards and the country and Americana voices of Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow and Zach Top, the film captures the remarkable range of sounds and styles that have come from one essential design.
“Jeff Beck played one. Pete Townsend played one. Steve Cropper played one. James Burton played one. That covered everything from rock music to soul music to rockabilly. And it was just the guitar for me,” says Bruce Springsteen in the film.
The film also looks beyond the artists to the people and craftsmanship behind the instrument, including Abigail Ybarra, Fender’s legendary master pickup winder who worked directly with Leo Fender and helped shape the sound of countless iconic instruments.
The One That Started It All. is a celebration not simply of where the Telecaster has been, but of the artists continuing to take it somewhere new.
