A small friend weighing less than a newborn infant,
            ever responsive to all sincere efforts
            aimed at mutual respect, depth of affection
            or love gone off the deep end.

       --"The Guitar: Some Definitions by Carl Sandburg" Guitar Review, 1951

In 1910, Sandburg acquired his first guitar at the age of thirty-two, six years before publishing his first book of poetry, Chicago Poems. He documented his acquisition in a letter to his wife, Lilian Steichen Sandburg, whom he called Paula. He wrote, "I forgot to tell you that the S-S [Sandburg - Steichen] now have a guitar and there will be songs warbled and melodies whistled to the low Mexican thrumming of Paula-and-Cully's new stringed instrument."

Throughout the rest of his prolific and long life he warbled songs and whistled melodies to the thrumming of various guitars at home, on stages across the country, at gatherings with friends, and on phonograph recordings. Even though Sandburg knew only a few simple chords and his baritone voice was untrained, he could mesmerize an audience with his rendition of a folk song. According to Chicago Daily News colleague and author Lloyd Lewis, "Sandburg may not be a great singer, but his singing is great. He is the last of the troubadours.the last of the nomad artists who hunted out the songs people made up, and then sang them back to the people like a revelation. Both his singing and his search for songs are part of his belief in the essential merit of the common man."

Although Carl Sandburg often gave his guitars to friends, Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site has several of his guitars as well as his collected songs.