Warren Ellis recalls Glen Hansard’s gifted guitar and lasting faith
Glen Hansard gave Warren Ellis a Gibson tenor guitar with a note that said, “If there’s a song in it you’ll find it.” Ellis says that faith is what he carries now.
Warren Ellis remembered Glen Hansard through a guitar gift that carried its own line of instruction and trust. Hansard had given Ellis a Gibson tenor guitar with a note that read, “If there’s a song in it you’ll find it,” turning the instrument into more than gear and into a reminder of one musician’s faith in another.
Ellis paired that memory with a blunt tribute of his own: “Everyone Glen crossed in life was richer for the experience.” The line landed against the news of Hansard’s death at 56 in a motorcycle crash in Dublin, a loss that rippled quickly through the guitar and songwriting world.
Hansard’s death prompted a wide wave of remembrances from artists who knew him, worked with him, or simply measured his reach from afar. Bruce Springsteen, Bono, and Wilco’s Nels Cline were among those who paid tribute, while Warren Ellis was also named among the many artists remembering him. Hansard was widely described as an Irish musician, singer-songwriter, and Once star, a résumé that only hints at the loyalty he inspired around him.
The grief around Hansard continued into the days that followed, with his family announcing details of a public wake and funeral. Bono, Eddie Vedder, and Markéta Irglová sang at the funeral, and Lisa O’Neill also performed, giving the farewell the kind of communal weight that matched the tributes already pouring in.
For guitar players, Ellis’s memory hits a familiar nerve. Instruments pick up meaning from the people who hand them over, the notes tucked into the case, and the moment in a career when they arrive. A Gibson tenor guitar can be identified by construction; Hansard’s gift was identified by belief. The line “If there’s a song in it you’ll find it” made the guitar feel less like a possession than a challenge and a vote of confidence.
That is why Ellis’s recollection lingers. Long after Hansard’s death at 56, the guitar remains tied to the person who gave it, the note that came with it, and the idea that some instruments carry a promise as much as a sound.
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