Murphy & Co.
A NOTE FROM JOE MURPHY
A young man found the Martin he wanted in Nashville. His agricultural teacher helped him bring it home. That is where this guitar’s family story begins.
Vernon Ray Rhodes had made the trip with his father and his teacher. As his grandson Shane tells it, the teacher paid for the new guitar and let Vernon’s father pay him back over time. I like that detail. Someone saw how much a guitar could mean to a young musician and helped make it possible.
The family says the Martin stayed with them from that first purchase until it came to Murphy & Co. Vernon’s musical life grew around it: the Rhodes Brothers, Rhodes Music Center in Lexington, Tennessee, and the people who came by to play.
One of those young musicians was Buddy Cannon. Shane remembers the family’s stories of Buddy skipping school to hang around the store. Cannon’s own published recollection confirms that he sang with the Rhodes Brothers as a boy. Long before the records he would produce, there were people back home making room for him in the music.
Look at the Martin now and you see a guitar that was played. The top has been refinished. The pickguard is larger than the original. The tuners were changed. Those details belong with the photographs and the service history when we talk about this particular instrument.
We have acquired the Martin from Vernon’s grandson, Brandon Shane Rhodes. Shane is also gathering photographs, recordings and newspaper articles. He wants the guitar to introduce people to his granddaddy, the musician and the man behind Rhodes Music Center.
That is a good reason to bring a guitar into Murphy & Co. You can look inside and read D-28 and 100951. Then you can look at the Rhodes Brothers photograph and begin to learn whose guitar it was. The teacher’s kindness, the family’s care and Vernon’s life in music are all part of the story we get to share.
A little help getting the right guitar can last a lifetime.
Sources and evidence.
Collection identity: Martin D-28, serial 100951, shown in the dossier’s neck-block photograph. Martin’s year-end serial chart places that number in 1947. Acquisition from Brandon Shane Rhodes is confirmed by Joe Murphy. The Nashville purchase and continuous family custody remain attributed family accounts. Proposed repairs are not represented as completed; specific recording-session use remains undocumented.
- Martin Guitar — serial-number dating reference
Manufacturer dating context; compare the guitar’s model and serial stamp.
- Robert Doerschuk — Buddy Cannon interview
Cannon’s recollections corroborate the Rhodes Brothers connection, not the ownership chain or session use of serial 100951.
Source edition: The Guitar He Truly Wanted, October 28, 2026, pages 5–8. Instrument, neck-block and family photographs exist in the dossier. Family captions, dates and reproduction permissions remain to be confirmed. Private acquisition, estate, payment and contract records are not public supporting exhibits.
The record behind the story.
- Identity
- 1947 Martin D-28, serial 100951, visible in the supplied neck-block photograph.
- Acquisition
- Acquired from Brandon Shane Rhodes in October 2026, as confirmed by Joe Murphy.
- Family account
- The Nashville purchase, teacher’s help and continuous family custody are attributed to the Rhodes family.
- Condition
- Refinished top, enlarged pickguard and changed tuners. Recommended repair work is not confirmed complete in this edition.
Current condition, service status and availability must be confirmed separately from this family account. This story is not an offer for sale.
From the Murphy & Co. collection journal · October 28, 2026. Provenance statements and open questions are distinguished in the record above.