Tribute to "Boz" Bostwick's Page

Don't let us get sick
Don't let us get old
Don't let us get stupid, alright?
Just make us be brave
And Make us play nice
...an' we'll play some music tonight

Donald "Boz" Bostwick was in the audience at the first Cigar Box Guitar Festival in 2004. Although it was a dreary, rainy day with a light turnout of attendees, he said the scene hit him like a bomb and his life was forever changed. He had never heard or played a cigar box guitar prior to the fest, but he was immediately smitten. He drove home with a 3-string CBG purchased from one of the festival's performers, Cigar Box Slim. It was the first of over 20 cbgs he would commission, buy, collect and perform with for the next three years.

Boz was a regular on the original Cigar Box Guitar Yahoo!Group, always posting encouragements and sage advice. Somehow, he became everybody's godfather. He was our best friend and happiest supporter. If someone released a CBG cd, he bought it. If there was a CBG festival, Boz would be there. He became the true Godfather of the Cigar Box Guitar.

I once asked him if he ever released an album of his own (he had been playing guitar since his days in Viet Nam). He answered "no" and soon we were planning his first cd. Boz was always self-conscious of his playing and the original idea of a solo Boz album seemed absurd to him. I kept prodding him to record something...anything, just for shits and giggles. Finally, a cd showed up on my doorstep with the title "Boz: Raw Footage," and a note inside that said "I hope this'l do. CRUDE. I got drunk and went for it. -Boz". On it was a simple recording of a humble man playing primitive 3-chord folk blues on cigar box guitar and singing in hushed tones. I loved it.

I was piss poor at the time, so I scrounged whatever cd making materials I could find (bulk blank cds, old cases, sticker paper) and made 50 copies to sell. Boz finally released an album! He was so encouraged by this and sent me a few bootleg recordings of him from a CBG fest in Hinton WV. We ended up releasing another cd ("Dirty Life and Times") from those recordings. And then he went on to self-release five more albums, including duet albums with Kurt Schoen ("Drinking Coffee and Staying Up Late") and Gerry Thompson ("The Last Hard Men") and was included in Masters of the Cigar Box Guitar Vol. III cd and Masters Live. The Godfather had arrived.

Shortly after his initial exposure of the CBG world, Boz was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Word spread throughout the CBG community and soon, we were all sending him encouraging notes, letters, cds and phone calls. His illness had a way of banding us together. We became one.

He played his final concert in the early 2007 at the Pix Theater in Lapeer, Michigan. It was probably his greatest concert ever...his swan song. (Those archival recordings are on this tribute page. Hit play and turn up your speakers.) He spent the next couple months at home, playing cigar box guitar. The Godfather passed away on a Sunday morning, September 9, 2007.

May he be remembered forever as the great Godfather of the Cigar Box Guitar. His love and dedication turned this movement into a family.

-Shane Speal
October 2009