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Topic: Songwriting Steel Guitarists |
Robert Jette
From:
Dallas, Tx.
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Posted 4 Feb 2011 6:26 pm |
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| Please pardon my ignorance, but I'd like to learn about non-pedal guys who were/are songwriters. I'm not really interested in instrumental songs. I'm primarily interested in classic country players who wrote lyrics, melody, etc. Who should I check out? Thanks... |
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Peter Lindelauf
From:
Penticton, BC
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Posted 4 Feb 2011 7:47 pm
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Rusty Young - Poco. Pedal steel and dobro. "He began playing lap steel guitar at age 6..." Not to mention guitar, banjo, etc.
_________________
...but you are the music / while the music lasts (TS Eliot) |
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Rich Sullivan
From:
Nelson, NH 03457
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Posted 4 Feb 2011 8:14 pm
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| Ted Daffan - non-pedal steel, bandleader, songwriter. Some of his songs include "Born to Lose", "No Letter Today", "Worried Mind", "I've Got Five Dollars and It's Saturday Night", "I'm A Fool to Care", "Truck Drivers' Blues". |
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David Soreff
From:
North Las Vegas, NV
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Posted 4 Feb 2011 10:40 pm
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| Andy Iona |
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Billy Tonnesen
From:
R.I.P., Buena Park, California
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Posted 4 Feb 2011 11:07 pm
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Don't forget "Crazy Arms" co-written by Ralph Mooney !
Also, Billy Mize wrote a lot of Songs in addition to being a great Steel Guitar player. |
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Ben Rubright
From:
Punta Gorda, Florida, USA
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Posted 5 Feb 2011 3:55 am
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| Billy Mize.......Who Will Buy the Wine |
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John McClung
From:
Olympia WA, USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2011 12:30 am
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Pedal steeler Hank DeVito, who played in Emmylou Harris' Hot Band, also wrote some big hits: Queen of Hearts (Dave Edmunds, Juice Newton); Small Town Saturday Night (Hal Ketchum); Blue Side of Town (Patty Loveless, Rosie Flores); and many others. Probably made more income from song royalties than all his great steel playing!
_________________
E9 INSTRUCTION
▪️ If you want to have an ongoing discussion, please email me, don't use the Forum messaging which I detest! steelguitarlessons@earthlink.net |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 10 Feb 2011 6:06 am
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| He played pedal steel... Jimmy Day also wrote songs. At least I know two. One for Roy Head and another for Hermann Lammers Meyer. |
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Billy Tonnesen
From:
R.I.P., Buena Park, California
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Posted 10 Feb 2011 3:16 pm
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A Steel Guitar player named Paul Westmoreland wrote a song which became a huge hit in the 40's and became a "standard" named "DETOUR" (there's a muddy road ahead ") etc.
I don't know if he wrote any other Songs, but this one was a Classic. |
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George Rozak
From:
Braidwood, Illinois USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2011 8:06 pm
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Dickie Overby wrote "You Had a Call" recorded by Faron Young.
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Sho-Bud: Professional & Fingertip |
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Herb Steiner
From:
Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064
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Posted 13 Feb 2011 8:14 am
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Bill Johnson wrote "A Wound Time Can't Erase."
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My rig: Infinity and Telonics.
Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? |
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Mitch Drumm
From:
Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake
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Posted 13 Feb 2011 9:03 am
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Charlie Mitchell, the original steel player for Jimmie Davis, is usually given half credit for "You Are My Sunshine", but that song's true history is a bit clouded.
As far as I know, Billy Bowman wrote both words and music for "Midnight In Old Amarillo".
I think Billy Mize also wrote "Terrible Tangled Web" as well as several songs done by Tommy Duncan in the early 50s.
Who can forget Billy Briggs, who wrote "Chew Tobacco Rag", "Dip Snuff Stomp", and other minor Texas classics.
At the top of my personal list is Jimmy Day--for writing the Gene Watson/Jimmy Dickens classic "My Eyes Are Jealous". I always like Day's singing voice too and wish he had recorded this song.
Hawaiian music has to be littered with steel guitarists who were also lyricists. |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 13 Feb 2011 2:55 pm Re: Songwriting Steel Guitarists
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| Robert Jette wrote: |
| Please pardon my ignorance, but I'd like to learn about non-pedal guys who were/are songwriters. I'm not really interested in instrumental songs. I'm primarily interested in classic country players who wrote lyrics, melody, etc. Who should I check out? Thanks... |
I think that most of the top-notch country studio musicians of all types were better at playing than writing songs if you are looking specifically for top-notch lyrics and melodies. Can you think of a such a song that Chet Atkins wrote? I do know that a lot of the country studio musicians worked extensively on arrangements and collaborations with songwriters. This is probably just a stereotype but I think of the great country songwriters as being able hold their own playing guitar or maybe piano, but I doubt that they would be hired as studio musicians. (Yes, Merle Travis is one exception that comes to mind- a great picker, a great singer and a great songwriter!)
On the other hand I would surmise that quite a few of the classic country songwriters were familiar with lap steel. In the 40's I think that there were more people learning how to play lap steel (called Hawaiian guitar back then) than regular guitar. You had salesmen going door to door selling Hawaiian guitars and instruction courses.
So I think a better question might be whether any of the classic country songwriters of the 50's and 60's had never played Hawaiian guitar. 
Steve Ahola
_________________
www.blueguitar.org
Recordings on electric guitar:
http://www.box.net/blue-diamonds
http://www.box.net/the-culprits |
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Jerry Hayes
From:
Virginia Beach, Va.
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Posted 17 Feb 2011 10:39 am
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I've heard the Curley Putnam who wrote such classics as "My Elusive Dreams" and others was a steel player. And then there's Red Simpson who wrote a bunch of Buck Owens hits, ol' Red plays steel as does Johnny Paycheck!........JH in Va.
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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!! |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 17 Feb 2011 10:56 am
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Bruce Bouton has written a number of songs which have enjoyed commercial success.
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Mark |
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Mitch Drumm
From:
Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake
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Posted 17 Feb 2011 1:53 pm
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Don't know how I forgot Fuzzy Owen, pictured below on the right at the Blackboard in Bakersfield, mid 50s, with Tex Butler's band.
He wrote a pile of songs, the best known being "Dear John".
Here is his file at BMI:
http://tinyurl.com/66vj2vp
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Ben Rubright
From:
Punta Gorda, Florida, USA
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Posted 17 Feb 2011 3:34 pm
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Way to go Herb.....you beat me to it.....
See you in Dallas. |
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