West Virginia Creeper - Reports Back

Steve Davis · Post by **Steve Davis** » 14 Mar 2009 9:17 pm

Well - I was cruising thru old haunts - 22nd st SF last night and passed by a place that used to be called the Transfer Club... and I met a nice fellow by the name of Tom and we were discussing that I used to play music in the vicinity and he asked me with whom and I said Commander Cody and he was interested
... and when I told him I was the West Virginia Creeper he told me about this forum and was real nice as we used to say.

So anyway I didn't know anything about this group and now I see that some people who I haven't seen in a long time still remember things about me and I have to say.. it feels nice to think that something I did so long ago is still remembered..

If anyone's interested I can clear up some of the questions about me and I would like to add some details about the early days of CCLPA.

Howdy Rick, Joe, Lucky and all the others. Nice to be here!

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 14 Mar 2009 9:20 pm

Steve,I'm a big fan of yours,Welcome,Stu

Steve Davis · Post by **Steve Davis** » 14 Mar 2009 9:24 pm

Feels like I just picked up a bunch of new friends - cool.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 14 Mar 2009 9:24 pm

Steve, welcome aboard! Please tell us whatchu been doin' all these years? We've missed ya, pal.

Rick Nicklas · Post by **Rick Nicklas** » 14 Mar 2009 9:37 pm

Steve, I don't know about The Commander but I do know we were lost a few times on this planet with Stoney Edwards. Good to see you on here. I went to work and retired from Chevron Oil. I now live on a farm in Missouri with a different wife than you remember. I was going to post some pictures but I can't get this "Upload Picture" to work for me. Are you still smoking those Bob Wills Specials?

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 14 Mar 2009 9:38 pm

Last time I saw you - you were playing with Country Thunder down at Mandrakes in Berkeley around 1974. Still got that ZB?

Steve Davis · Post by **Steve Davis** » 14 Mar 2009 9:43 pm

Man - I'm very humbled to have people interested especially people I don't even know first hand. I guess if I start telling all the things that happened to me since I left the LPA - it could take some time.

Right now let's just say - I put my heart into the recordings on Lost in the Ozone and took the $600 I made from the recording and bought a Chevy. One week later it needed a head job. Since then its been a bumpy ride sometimes. I played around the Bay Area with Billy Roberts who write "Hey Joe" recorded by Jimi Hendricks and toured with Rick Nicklas (hi Rick) when they got back from Viet Nam behind Stony Edwards.

Steve Davis · Post by **Steve Davis** » 14 Mar 2009 9:48 pm

I played with Dave Hurd and his group from San Jose for a while and I lost the ZB (or was it a Sho-Bud) somewhere along the way. What I still have (but it needs a lot of fixing) is a Vega double eight no pedal model that is the spitting image (if not the same guitar) that Don Helms used with Hank Williams. I'll post a picture of it.

Olaf van Roggen · Post by **Olaf van Roggen** » 14 Mar 2009 11:32 pm

I am a Commander Cody fan since my early teens,while my class mates listened to Madonna and Michael Jackson,I was crazy about Country Rock.
I started with the ones where Bobby Black played on,got to Ernie Hagar and than"Lost in the Ozone".
I always wondered who"The West Virginia Creeper'could be,as Sneaky Pete was Pete Kleinow....
Although You sound inexperienced and different from the pedal steels I have heard,I liked it very much.
A friend of mine has a record store and once mentioned"West Virginia Creeper" to my surprise.
Only through this forum I found it was you Steve,I recently bought CC & his LPA,The early years 1967-1970 which is full of your playing.It's a great time document of this famous group trying to spread their wings and fly...There it said you hocked everything you owned,went to Nashville, and scored a Sho-Bud pedal steel guitar.
When I was 15 I wrote a letter to George Frayne(The Commander) and he sent me a double live album"We've got a live one here"
It's good you found out that you're remebered as a steel player Steve,once things are recorded it's for the rest of your live.I frequently listen to "lost in the Ozone".....good to know you are not lost in the Ozone....

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 15 Mar 2009 5:06 am

Hey, Steve, thanks for signing my guestbook. No we never did meet back in those days. I've played several gigs with Bill Kirchen over the past 10-15 years, though. That's as close as we got! Hah!

Anyway, I assume you've done a Search and already found several threads on this Forum inquiring about you. Here's one: http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... r+virginia

So, let me be the first to ask: how did you come about your moniker?

Cheers and, again, welcome back,

Jimbeaux

Steve Hitsman · Post by **Steve Hitsman** » 15 Mar 2009 5:55 am

I remember reading an interview you did (it might have been Rolling Stone) where you compared steel guitar licks to horn licks... saying that they served the same function. I've never forgotten that and it's served me well.

Bob Blair · Post by **Bob Blair** » 15 Mar 2009 7:58 am

Creeper!!!!! The return of the prodigal son is what this feels like.

Welcome back from the Ozone. As Jimbeaux has already pointed out, your identity and whereabouts have been the subject of much speculation in these parts. CC and the LPA were part of the wave of hippie country music that drove a lot of us around the bend and onto the stages of low bars everywhere.

So thanks for that (I think).

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 15 Mar 2009 8:03 am

Hi Steve. Welcome to the forum. Glad you can join us! I think we have a mutual friend. Her name is Sylvia Murphy and she plays keyboards. She said you stopped by to see her in Duncan's Mills (Russian River area) a few years back. Unfortunately that was one of the few gigs I called in sick for, or subbed out. Would have great to meet you and hear some tales from the Ozone!
Dave

steve takacs · Post by **steve takacs** » 15 Mar 2009 8:44 am

Steve, "Lost in the Ozone" gets lots and lots of playing time here in Beijing, China. Great job on steel and happy you are on b0b's Forum. steve t

Steve Davis · Post by **Steve Davis** » 15 Mar 2009 10:44 am

By the sense of community I am feeling in a very short period. I saw a post about "walking away" and I guess I have to say - I may be the poster boy for that one. My steel guitar playing was more like surfing... on a wave that I didn't fully understand. I was a serious student of music I went to Nashville, worked at a car wash, rented a room and sat at Ryman Auditorium in the side of the balcony where I could watch the Opry steel players. Billy C came and visited me there one time there.
The West Virginia Creeper name came from the basement museum of the Charleston, WV state capitol where I took Billy C one time. There was a green motorcycle there that had belonged to a local guy who showed up and blew everybodies minds. C said - You are the new Creeper. I used to watch Lloyd Green and Curly Chalker and once asked Curly to play bossa nova - he did! I was blown away.
I racked up a lot of stories over the years with CCLPA - I was lucky I guess to be there during a stormy period.

Don Drummer · Post by **Don Drummer** » 15 Mar 2009 10:57 am

Please elaborate. Where in West Virginia did you reside. How did you get started playing PSG? Don D.

Steve Davis · Post by **Steve Davis** » 15 Mar 2009 11:45 am

Don I was born and raised in Charleston and went to CHS. I started playing guitar at the age of 14 and studied with Bobby Whitlock for a while. I started too late to play much in Charleston - it was when I went to college that I met other guitar players and started playing. And there it was rock and roll first. I switched to bass because there were a lot of guitar players there. My family eventually left WVa and I have been back a couple of times to see my CHS friends at High School reunions.

Cal Sharp · Post by **Cal Sharp** » 15 Mar 2009 12:46 pm

Hiya Steve,

Used to listen to you on the CC records way back before I ever started on steel. Nice to see you here.

steve takacs · Post by **steve takacs** » 15 Mar 2009 2:26 pm

Steve, I need to make an edit; when I said "Lost in the Ozone" gets a lot of playing time in Beijing, I meant in my appartment. But I will be doing my best to get the locals who make the bar scene more familiar with your work.

In our new band, I'm only playing my red, six-string guitar, but will soon be hauling out the pedal steel. The Chinese will get a dose of some of some West Virginia Creeper music including "Down to Seeds and Stems", "Wine,Wine, Wine Do Your Stuff", and the Hank Williams-like anthem, "What's the Matter Now?". Only hope I can do them justice. Go Airmen and West Virginai Creeper!. steve t

Howard Kalish · Post by **Howard Kalish** » 15 Mar 2009 7:21 pm

Wow, the West Virginia Creeper! Great to see you on this forum. I saw you and the whole Commander Cody show when I was 15 and snuck into Mr. Flood’s Party in Ann Arbor in about 1970. All of you crammed on that L-shaped stage way up in the air. And what a splendid sound. I also saw you at a White Panther Rally in downtown Detroit in the same time period. And at the Paladium in Birmmingham, Michigan. I was always impressed that Billy C didn’t plug in his guitar. Used it as a prop. What a performer! One bill had you, the Stooges and Alice Cooper. You guys stole the show.

I’m now the fiddle player in the Cornell Hurd Band. Cornell, of course, is the Dave Hurd you mention. He talks about you often. I’ll tell him you’ve shown up on the Steel Guitar Forum. Just so happens that Bill Kirchen will be joining us this coming Saturday for a South By South Austin show we do every year when they have the big SxSW shindig here in Austin. I’ll tell him too. In some ways, the Cornell Hurd Band is the torch-bearer for the CCLPA approach to western swing. We roll a lot of R&B into it and swing for the bleachers.

Again, great to see on here. You’ve got lots of friends you didn’t even know about.

Olaf van Roggen · Post by **Olaf van Roggen** » 16 Mar 2009 11:19 am

Well Howard,how are you doing? remember me,Neil's friend from The Netherlands?...surely The Cornell Hurt band reminded me a lot of Commander Cody & the LPA...Hope to see you soon again.

Cal Sharp · Post by **Cal Sharp** » 16 Mar 2009 11:54 am

Just been browsing around in the Nashville library and there it was - "Lost In The Ozone Again". I vaguely remember cutting "Seeds & Stems" with a band back in Indiana in the middle 70's.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 16 Mar 2009 11:56 am

"Well, my dog died yesterday and left me all alone,
The finance company just called and took away my home
But that's just a drop in the bucket compared to losing you
And I'm down to seeds and stems again, too."

Steve Hitsman · Post by **Steve Hitsman** » 16 Mar 2009 12:41 pm

What does that mean... seeds and stems?

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 16 Mar 2009 1:38 pm

It's a composting term...

The Steel Guitar Forum

West Virginia Creeper - Reports Back

West Virginia Creeper - Reports Back

Thanks Stu

All these years ------

Mandrakes - 1974?

I'm overwhelmed

wv. creeper

Charleston