William Clark Green Managed To Track Down His First Guitar, Which Was Stolen From Him 17 Years Ago: “Hate A Thief, But I Love This Story”

It’s been a long and winding road, but the path finally led to William Clark Green being reunited with a special guitar that was stolen from him years ago.

Back in October of last year, we had the Texas artist on the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast, and at one point in the conversation, Green spoke about how his father gifted him his very first guitar. The “Still Think About You” singer spoke on how special that was, and how sad it was to think about because it had been stolen from his house over 15 years ago:

“Dad bought me my first guitar, which I’d love to get back. It got stolen. I’ll have to find that someday. I have a picture of it. I need to get the model number and put a ransom on it. It’d be awesome to have y’alls help. That’d be amazing. Because my dad passed away about six months ago, and it’d be really special to get that guitar back.”

As you can hear in the clip, we encouraged him to put the word out there about the stolen guitar, just to see if the internet could work its magic and return the instrument to its rightful owner.

So Green gathered up as much information as he could about the six-string and put out this post, and offered up a big chunk of change for anyone that was able to help him get the guitar back in his possession:

“$3000 REWARD. Stolen Guitar. It’s a Martin Jumbo Cutaway JC16. This guitar was stolen from me 15 years ago in Tyler Texas. This is the first and only guitar my dad ever bought me. I always chalked it up as a loss, but about 6 months ago my dad died so now I really want it back. Im throwing it out into the universe hoping to get lucky.

The guitar has a dime sized battle scar between the bridge and the input jack. I don’t have the serial number but I know exactly what it looks like. It should be around a 1999-2002 model. $3000 dollars on top of what you paid for the guitar. Send a picture in the comments or direct message me a picture. Cheers, thanks for helping, and thank you Whiskey Riff for the idea to post it and see what happens.”

Then he waited.

Months went by, and the case of the missing, stolen guitar was still cold. But then in January, a spark reignited the search. The country artist got wind that someone may have tracked down the Martin Jumbo Cutaway he had been looking for and thinking of for years.

As it turns out, the guitar wasn’t too far from home, and William Clark Green was ecstatic to be reunited with the instrument that means so much to him:

“UNBELIEVABLE STORY! On October 14th 2024, I made a social media post about a guitar that had been stolen from me back in 2007. The guitar was special because my dad bought it as my first guitar. After his passing in early 2024, I was encouraged by Whiskey Riff during an interview to put it out on the internet with a reward and just see what happens. I didn’t have the serial number, I just knew the model number and that it was stolen from my parents house in Tyler, Texas back in 2007.

On January 17th 2025, the day before my dad’s birthday, and 17 years after it had been stolen, I got a phone call from my childhood friend Hunter Sanders saying he thinks he has the guitar. His family owns A-Plus Pawn in Tyler, Texas. Sure enough, he sent me a picture and it was mine! It even had my old capo with my initials carved in it.

The guitar has been in his father’s private guitar collection at the pawn shop all these years. Nine miles from my parents house in Tyler, Texas. Thank you for all the kind comments and help trying to find it. Huge thanks to A-Plus pawn and the Sanders family for only charging me what they bought the guitar for. They refused to accept the $3000 dollar reward. I hate a thief, but I love this story. I cried like a baby.”

Talk about a happy ending.

Shoutout to William Clark Green for not giving up hope and tracking down the guitar that meant so much to him, and we here at Whiskey Riff are happy to know that we played even the smallest role in such a full circle, against-all-odds story in the Texas artist’s life.The post William Clark Green Managed To Track Down His First Guitar, Which Was Stolen From Him 17 Years Ago: “Hate A Thief, But I Love This Story” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.