Ed Stilley in his studio, from ‘Gifted: The Instruments of Ed Stille’ (all images by and courtesy of Tim Hawley)
One evening in 1979, Ed Stilley, a preacher and homesteader in Hogscald Hollow, Arkansas, found himself feeling he had “no way out” after a deeply troubled period in his life. He fell asleep with a gun in his lap. He claims God then spoke to him in a dream, promising to “take care of the matter” as long as Stilley obeyed a strange command: make guitars and give them away to children for free.
When he awoke, Stilley put the gun away. Despite having none of the training or supplies needed for instrument-building, he began what would become a 30-year practice of hand-making guitars, ukuleles, violins, and dulcimers from scrap wood and found objects. He carved most of them with the words “True Faith True Light Have Faith in God” and, as he was instructed, gave them away free of charge. His spiritual despair — the exact cause of which he’s never made public — subsided.
X-ray revealing the insides of Stilley’s “Butterfly Guitar,” with a circular saw blade used to create harmonics
In 2011, after hearing about Stilley on a local TV station in Missouri, photographer Tim Hawley became enthralled with his story and eventually befriended him. By placing ads in newspapers, he also tracked down dozens of the recipients of Stilley’s divinely inspired guitars. A new book, Gifted: The Instruments of Ed Stilley, compiles the striking photographs Hawley took of the Ozarkian craftsman’s world: His hand-built barn and chicken coop; the creeks of rural Hogscald Hollow; 40 of his 200 handmade instruments; and the 85-year-old Stilley himself.
Each of Stilley’s sculptural creations is “a piece of interactive art that is a cross between a banjo, an old barn, and a well-worn bible,” as Hawley, an LA-based commercial photographer, writes in the book. Each instrument takes about 100 hours to make, and they sound as unique as they look. They’re examples of folk art at its purest; the products of an imagination childlike in its innocence, and creativity untainted by self-interest, formal training, financial pressures, or any of the other usual trappings of an artist’s life.
Detail of a dulcimer Stilley adorned with marbles
When he was six, during the height of the Great Depression, Stilley’s father left him, along with his mother and six siblings, giving them a brutal farewell: “You can just root, hog, or die“ (an old idiom about self-reliance). The resourcefulness Stilley was forced to learn shines in his cobbled-together guitars. In X-rays of these instruments, Hawley reveals their intricate inner workings: internal reverb systems made from screen door springs; pot lids and valve springs attached to metal truss rods, making for wild, oscillating tonalities. Stilley made the instruments from thick slabs of hard wood not usually used for string instruments and sawed them into strange, jagged shapes like butterfly wings and lopsided trapezoids.
Stilley’s Butterfly Guitar
When Stilley told the story of his epiphanic dream to Kelly Mulhollan, of the folk duo Still on the Hill, she wrote a song about it, capturing Stilley’s Ozarkian twang:
… One day I heard the Lord confide, ‘Shed your vanity, shed your pride, and I’ll see you make it to the other side.’ / Pork chop bone whittled for a bridge / tail piece made from a rusty ole hinge. / Door springs, saw blades mounted in the middle,/Lord loves the sound when them ole parts jiggle, / sawed off frets from a braising rod, carved on the top … True Faith True Light Have Faith in God. / Well, I built a guitar and hundreds would follow, for nearly every child in Hogscald Hollow.
An X-ray revealing the intricate inner workings of one of Stilley’s guitars
Ed Stilley’s hand-built barn, chicken coop, and workshop in Hogscald Hollow, Arkansas
One of Stilley’s early works
The creek at Hogscald Hollow, Arkansas
A 12-string guitar Stilley created with materials he found
A fiddle Stilley made for his wife, Eliza
Gifted: The Instruments of Ed Stilley, out from Press Syndication Group, is available from Amazon and other online booksellers.
AR=Arkansas. AK=Alaska. Got confused by those captions for a moment! Thanks for this great piece.
It would be so nice if authors took the few moments to learn their state abbreviations. It’s 3rd grade stuff, folks.
In which grade are you supposed to learn courtesy?
All of them.
There’s a really wonderful book about Stilley and his instruments by University of Arkansas Press: http://www.uapress.com/dd-product/true-faith-true-light/
It is a truly remarkable book, written by Kelly Mulhollan, with photographs by Kirk Lanier, which PRECEDED the one mentioned in the above article, and is based upon Mulhollan’s – and his wife, Donna’s – enduring friendship with Ed Stilley and his family.
Mr. Hawley is being disingenuous when he states, “By placing ads in newspapers, he also tracked down dozens of the recipients of Stilley’s divinely inspired guitars.”
In fact, the discovery, research, and personal connection that led to Stilley’s work being captured in a beautiful book and photos solely that of Mulhollan, who initially invited Hawley to collaborate as photographer. But Hawley abandoned the project suddenly and unexpectedly, claiming the idea and research as his own, taking the photos he had shot for Mulhollan’s project to begin creating his own book, using the fruits of Mulhollan’s research and labor of love to guide him.
For 3 years I worked on this project with Kelly and Donna Mulholland and fully credit them in the Acknowledgements of my book. Without their devoted assistance, GIFTED would not have been possible. They also gave me permission to reprint the lyrics of their stirring ballad about Mr. Stilley. However, when it came time to publish, we had some differences of opinion on the design and content. Rather than resolve those differences Kelly wanted to have creative control and so asked his friend, Kirk Lanier, to re-shoot the photographs I had made. I did not abandon the project, quite the opposite in fact. Nor do I claim the idea as my own. I believe that honor should go to Mr. Ed Stilley, although Ed would say the glory is God’s alone. Jack, I commend your loyalty to the Mulhollans but your information is incorrect. I do not believe Kelly or Donna would want you to disparage the book GIFTED either publicly or privately and it is certain that the Stilley family feels the same.
People like this guy are absolute national treasures.
And the best part, he is a Living Treasure!
Jack White would love this.
Amazing man who serves an amazing God.
Is there somewhere you can hear any of these?
Yep! http://www.edstilley.com Click on the Video section. The instruments you hear are those of Ed’s.
Here is The Old Rugged Cross as background music played by Still on the Hill using the Butterfly Guitar and Donna’s Fiddle: http://www.edstilley.com/video.php
Amasing man, may God keep watching you my man
Ed is an amazing man and is a great example of the wonderful things one’s faith can inspire them to accomplish. I am proud to publish the book “GIFTED : The Instruments of Ed Stilley” by Tim Hawley and I’d be honored if you might visit our website. http://www.edstilley.com