“This city didn't just embrace the Telecaster, it helped define it”: Fender’s Telecaster 75th anniversary show might be the greatest assemblage of Tele talent ever

Back in March, Fender announced Tele Town, a star-studded concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Telecaster.

The vision of the show, which took place Monday night (May 4), was to bring Tele titans of every generation and genre together under one roof, with an emphasis – understandably, given the location – on the pioneering solidbody electric's massive role in the development of country music.

As announced, the lineup was already surely one of the greatest gatherings of country guitar virtuosity we've ever seen: Brad Paisley, Brent Mason, Brothers Osborne, Derek Wells, Guthrie Trapp, James Burton, Luke McQueary, Ricky Skaggs... Nashville Mount Rushmore, but you need room for a bunch more heads.

But the Tele has always been about much more than country, and the jaw-loosening caravan of special, unannounced guests that made their way onto the stage Monday night was a testament to that.

And most of these vaunted names all came together to close the show out with what we're confident in declaring as the greatest Tele jam of all time.

Of course, the concert made sure to highlight those who've been carrying the Tele torch for decades, but Fender also included on the bill a number of incendiary talents poised to bring the instrument into the future.

One of these, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, was reluctant to adopt the Tele at first, but now he's got two signature variations of the model. The reason he did take to the Telecaster at the end of the day was Prince, who he saluted with a funky cover of Cream.

First-call Nashville session titans like Guthrie Trapp and Brent Mason got some well-earned time in the spotlight during the show's middle section.

The household names in the building that were in the building that evening might have more Instagram followers, but it's players like Trapp and Mason whose Tele twang has reached the most ears – with appearances on thousands of records between the two of them – even if listeners didn't realize it.

Then came those marquee names. Billy Gibbons, for one, joined the sisters Lovell (Larkin Poe) to guide the proceedings into soulful territory with a salute to Steve Cropper in the form of a spirited take on Sam & Dave's classic shouter, Hold On, I'm Comin'.

Tommy Emmanuel, meanwhile, gave a lesson to those who didn't know already that he's just as much of a beast plugged in as he is on one of his signature Maton acoustics, with a stunningly lyrical version of his tune, Hearts Grow Fonder.

Jack White got a lot of attention, but country giga-star Brad Paisley was the show's anchor, reminding everyone that aside from his stadium-filling hooks, he's one of the greatest Tele slingers to ever walk the earth. He highlighted his brief solo set with some absolutely scorching, high-wire licks – just look at him go.

“75 years ago, Leo Fender had a pretty simple idea, and that idea was to build a guitar that worked for players – great tone, reliable, zero fuss,” Fender CEO Edward ‘Bud’ Cole said by way of an onstage introduction. “What came out of that was the Fender Telecaster, and it ended up shaping the sound of modern music.

“From James Burton to George Harrison to Sheryl Crow and to the incredible artists on this stage tonight, generations have picked it up and made it their own, and there's no better place to celebrate that than right here in Nashville. This city didn't just embrace the Telecaster. It helped define it.”

The concert is just the latest of the company's celebrations of the 75th birthday of its first marquee model. One of the most recent of these was the March release of five new Teles, including the return of a cult classic and some Tele firsts.