SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – A man who donated an acoustic guitar played by Elvis Presley to a South Dakota museum said his attorney is to blame for not responding to a federal lawsuit alleging the guitar wasn’t his to give.
Blues guitarist Robert A. Johnson has yet to answer a lawsuit filed in July in Sioux Falls by the museum to settle whether he had the legal right to donate the guitar. The museum has asked the judge for permission to publish ads in a newspaper in hopes of prompting a response.
“I responded to my attorney, and I don’t know what he’s done with it,” Johnson told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “I haven’t spoken to him in, you know, quite some time. So, I don’t know. The last I heard, this is going to be a long and drawn-out process.”
Elvis played the Martin D-35 during his final tour in 1977, and gave it to a fan in St. Petersburg, Florida, after a strap and string snapped. Johnson eventually acquired the guitar, and in April 2013 donated it to the National Music Museum in Vermillion, where it’s on display.
Memorabilia collector Larry Moss later contacted the museum, saying Johnson didn’t have the right to donate the guitar, and court fights ensued.
A Tennessee judge declared Moss the instrument’s owner last month, citing 2008 records showing that Moss agreed to pay Johnson $120,000 for several guitars – including the one in dispute – and wrote Johnson a check for $70,000.
Johnson has said Moss had the opportunity to buy the guitar in 2007 but didn’t pay for it in full.
After not hearing from Johnson or his attorney, the museum asked U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier to allow the publication of a newspaper ad in Memphis, Tennessee – where Johnson last lived – notifying Johnson of his obligation to answer the lawsuit.
Johnson said he is now in Washington state. He said the museum hasn’t made any attempt to reach him by phone or email and that he responded to the complaint through his Memphis-based lawyer, Ted Jones, who didn’t respond to messages seeking comment from AP.
The museum declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.
Johnson, who played with singer Isaac Hayes and the band John Entwistle’s Ox in the 1970s, donated several items to the museum, including a 1966 custom Grammer guitar made for Johnny Cash and one of Bob Dylan’s Hohner Marine Band harmonicas.
In a separate deal, he received $250,000 for a 1967 Gibson Explorer Korina wood guitar, formerly owned by John Entwistle, best known as a member of The Who.