Ray Price and Roger Miller's steel player on You Tube

Lyle Clary · Post by **Lyle Clary** » 20 Jun 2008 11:12 am

Who played steel on Ray and Rogers, Invitation to the blues on You Tube? It sounds like Jimmy Day but is not. And is that Tommy Jackson on fiddle?

Ben Rubright · Post by **Ben Rubright** » 20 Jun 2008 11:55 am

The steel player on the Ray Price recording in the 50's was Jack 'Curly' Evins.

Ben Rubright · Post by **Ben Rubright** » 20 Jun 2008 12:12 pm

I just looked at the video and it is certainly Jack Evins playing steel. Notice the cool bar slants.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS0q7RBHd3A

The above link is Ray Price and Van Howard singing Crazy Arms. It also shows Jack Evins on steel even though Jimmy Day was on Ray's Columbia recording. The two fiddlers are Tommy Jackson right and Dale Potter left.

Does anyone know the guitar player between Dale and Tommy? Could it be Pete Wade?

Ben Rubright · Post by **Ben Rubright** » 20 Jun 2008 12:19 pm

Just one more thing.......some years ago at ISGC I asked Buddy Emmons about Jack. As I remember, he said that Jack retired from playing steel and went into law enforcement somewhere in Tennessee. Recently I asked Bobbe about him and Bobbe said that he and Jack were friends (who isn't a friend of Bobbe's?), and that he sees him every now and then.

Bobbe: Do I remember correctly?

Ben Rubright · Post by **Ben Rubright** » 20 Jun 2008 12:59 pm

I lied....just one more thing...honestly!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAQtxZwE ... re=related

The above link is to a YouTube of Roger Miller singing his own version of his own 'Invitation to the Blues' with the Nashville Now band featuring Wimpy Sasser on steel.

Did anyone ever write a better shuffle than 'Invitation to the Blues'? I think not. Reba's version from the 80's is outstanding as well.

Did Jake Hooker ever record it? If he did, I can't wait to hear it.

The Best of Roger Miller vol 1 Country Tunesmith, Polygram. Eleven songs take from his Mercury album, 'A trip in the Country' from 1970. Roger singing his own compositions with Buddy Emmons on steel, Buddy Spicher and Tommy Jackson on fiddle, Pete Wade on guitar, Pig Robbins on piano, Bob Moore on bass, and Buddy Harmon on drums.

Boy, did this ever get me cranked up! The 'Dang Me' crowd have no clue what a great country music talent Mr. Miller was.

Buddy Castleberry · Post by **Buddy Castleberry** » 20 Jun 2008 1:57 pm

did anybody notice that if jack had
broke a string buddy emmons was on
the right side of ray i guess he was a spare

Ben Rubright · Post by **Ben Rubright** » 20 Jun 2008 3:14 pm

Yes....Buddy sitting behind his Bigsby. He played for Little Jimmy Dickens at the time.

Brendan Mitchell · Post by **Brendan Mitchell** » 20 Jun 2008 11:46 pm

Looks like Buddy was MD for the band , you see him count em in at the start . I believe he also played bass in a Ray Price band ? Maybe this is the band ?

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 21 Jun 2008 8:44 am

In the link of Crazy Arms that Ben posted, that's a lip synch to the original recording (IMHO). One way to tell is that the rhythm guitar player is playing different chords than Ray Price, the other is that the steel part sounds to me like Jimmy Days recorded version, but the steel player is playing a non-pedal steel.

John Vaughan · Post by **John Vaughan** » 21 Jun 2008 9:45 am

Dan Tyack wrote: One way to tell is that the rhythm guitar player is playing different chords than Ray Price

Actually both are playing in the key of F. Ray is using a capo on the 1st fret and playing E chord structure. The other guitar play is playing the F chord structure. I guess it could still be lip sync but not for that reason.

John Vaughan

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 21 Jun 2008 11:00 am

I really don't play guitar, so I'll accept that they are playing in the same key.

What I don't understand is how the steel player could be playing Jimmy's pedal steel part on a non-pedal steel.

I watched another Ray Price video from that same show You Done Me Wrong and you see the same thing (a non-pedal steel player pretending to play Jimmy Day's obviously pedal steel part). The funniest thing about that cut is when the camera comes back to Price, you can see Buddy Emmons sitting behind his steel with his hands in his lap. Now he could have played that part.

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 21 Jun 2008 11:07 am

Man there are some great videos on YouTube for vintage Price!

Here's one that has what looks to me like a young Jimmy Day playing a Bigsby pedal steel:

I Saw My Castles Fall Today

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 21 Jun 2008 11:15 am

Here's a wild one: a female steel player-

It's all your Fault

Joe Goldmark · Post by **Joe Goldmark** » 21 Jun 2008 12:24 pm

Hey Dan,

That's no woman, that's Marian Hall!

She's on all the Ranch Party videos, and a great player. You can also see another fine steeler, Les "Carrot Top" Anderson standing as part of the gang.

Ben Rubright · Post by **Ben Rubright** » 21 Jun 2008 3:59 pm

If you listen to Ray's Columbia recording of Crazy Arms, you will see there are many differences in the arrangement....Tommy Jackson alone started the Columbia recording and Jimmy Day's ending is quite different than that of the YouTube one. There were no twin fiddles on the Columbia recording....just Tommy Jackson (did I say JUST Tommy Jackson!!!) Even though Jack Evins is playing a non-pedal steel in the clip (it was manufactured as non-pedal)it has obviously had at least the Bud Isaacs E to A change put on it and it is really him playing. I have the original of that YouTube clip on a VHS tape and it is not a lip sync of the original recording. They played in F and Ray has a capo so that he could use the open strings provided by the key E. Van Howard needed no such aid. Buddy appears on the clip sitting behind his Bigsby but as a member of Jimmy Dickens band since Jimmy was on the same show as the show the clip comes from.

Obviously, I love this old stuff.

Ben Rubright · Post by **Ben Rubright** » 21 Jun 2008 4:38 pm

The 'You Done me Wrong' clip is from the same show as the 'Crazy Arms' clip.....it is really Jack Evins playing a modified Fender. No slight of hand. He is the best imitation of Jimmy Day I have ever heard but it is different than Ray's Columbia recording with Jimmy Day. Listen to Ray's Columbia recording of 'Invitation to the Blues'....I would swear that it is Jimmy Day but it is not, it is really Jack Evins.

What fun!

Ben Rubright · Post by **Ben Rubright** » 21 Jun 2008 4:40 pm

Smiley.......WHERE ARE YOU!!!!!

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 21 Jun 2008 4:49 pm

Smiley who?

He doesn't have internet anymore.

Ben Rubright · Post by **Ben Rubright** » 21 Jun 2008 5:53 pm

SIGH!!!

Lyle Clary · Post by **Lyle Clary** » 21 Jun 2008 6:08 pm

Relating to the album A trip in the country, my favorite cut is Tall Tall Trees in which Buddy takes a most innovative jazz sounding ride. I asked Buddy if Roger had production control over what went into the sessions, and he said yes. I told him that most modern producers would not allowed such an off the wall break like his. Thanks to all the replies to my question. I sure did get an education.

John McGuire · Post by **John McGuire** » 21 Jun 2008 6:17 pm

Check out this one Ray and Roger singing Invitation to the blues and a great steel shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pg1csk_PN0

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 21 Jun 2008 9:16 pm

Ben, I checked out those recordings and you are right, they are different.

My hat's off to Jack Evins, I was sure it was Day. And I sure didn't see any pedals on that fender.

Thanks for the information!

Ben Rubright · Post by **Ben Rubright** » 22 Jun 2008 2:27 am

I remember being 17 in 1956-7 and seeing these videos on TV. They were recorded as 1/2 hour programs with a different country star as MC each week. The Gannaway crowd repackaged them as a 'Tribute' series and mish-mashed clips from different shows together into hour long tapes. They even cut and pasted the middle break instrumentals such that sometimes what you see does not match what you are hearing. (This happens on a number of Marty Robbins clips with James Farmer playing steel). Sometimes Ray Price starts dressed one way and ends up wearing something else. I would have fired the whole d@*% bunch. Years ago I had an opportunity to buy some of the original tapes but didn't...ALAS!

The above Ray Price clips were mercifully, not altered from the original.

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 22 Jun 2008 7:49 am

Here's another one with Jimmy Day on a 4 neck Bigsby (I wonder what happened to that guitar?)

You'll Never Change

Ben Rubright · Post by **Ben Rubright** » 22 Jun 2008 10:38 am

I believe that the guitar in your clip is Jimmy Day's Wright Custom. I also do not know where it is today.

Other views of that guitar are in the 2 Jim Reeves links that follow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4iLQmw_ ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOqdAea0 ... re=related

The guitar being played by Jimmy in the following Ray Price clip is a 3-neck Bigsby which I believe belonged to Buddy Emmons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IyWDVG3 ... re=related

As an example of what I referred to above about the cut and paste hatchet job on the videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcdUUbWP7d8

At time 0:51 to 0:54, there is a cut to a steeler sitting behind a Bigsby who is obviously playing chimes which has no correlation to what Ray is singing.

At 1:41 to 1:52, Ray's steeler plays (notice the consistent uniform and that the music follows the hand movements). Then at 1:59 to 2:01, there is a cut to another steeler playing a Fender similar to the one before, but look at the uniform and the hand movements......no way that person is playing the song that Ray is singing.....the hand movements are all wrong...the uniform is wrong!!

How unobservant (dumb) did they think we were?

Can anyone identify the steelers referred to immediately above?