I don't know if it had anything to do with RJE's choice of strings, but I'll tell you a short tale about him and his guitar that may possibly have a connection.

A few years ago Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion were performing at the Common Ground on the Hill folk festival in Westminster, Maryland. It had rained and was still misty when they began their show from under the sparse protection of a small roof. The audience braved wet benches and the threat of rain while Sarah and Johnny waited for some sort of electrical and sound system issues to be rectified by the stage staff. After a lengthy wait, Sarah and Johnny started their first song. They had sung only a few bars when Johnny called a halt. His guitar had gone out of tune. Johnny struggled and struggled with retuning and made one other false start with the intro to the song; but the moist air was taking its toll on every effort he made.

Ramblin' Jack suddenly appeared under the stage shelter. He had already finished his first show of the day and had come to watch theirs. RJE offered his guitar to Johnny. Johnny gave its tuning a quick tweak and the show began almost without further incident. I said: almost. Although the guitar held its tuning throughout the show, the sound system failed once again. Troopers that they are, Sarah and Johnny stepped closer to the audience and continued the performance without mikes until the problem was fixed.

Now, I don't know if it was Ramblin' Jack's guitar or his choice of strings or both. I do know that Sarah and Johnny were extremely grateful that at least the tuning issue was not a problem for the rest of the show.