Mike Auldridge

[Mark Eaton]

I made the funeral. Dito Pete Finney. Mike's family is wonderful to boot. Quite a few famous folk made it I was pleased to see.

Great job to get there Jim (and Pete). Would have given about anything to be there, but coming from California it just wasn't in the cards.

[Jim Pitman]

Mark - perfectly understandable. The 9.5 hr drive was a stretch. Lost track of the highway on the way home in fact and added three hours unnecessarily, ouch!
But I also got the chance to catch up with my driving buddy and deer friend, John Braybant, who was also a friend of Mike's. Together we reminisced. The junket reminded me of something I wouldn't hesitate doing when I was younger and it kinda made me feel that way again.
No regrets.

[Mark Eaton]

One of my favorite CDs of the past few years is Masters Sessions by Eric Brace & Peter Cooper, with Lloyd Green and Mike Auldridge. The main motivation for the project was to feature Mike and Lloyd. The video linked below is about the making of the record. Mike and Lloyd really enjoyed playing on this one, and Mike particularly enjoyed the version of "Wait A Minute."

For anyone who is not aware of the project or has yet to get this one, do yourself a favor, purchase the CD and you can thank me later!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjZOlkWv4t8

[DeWitt Scott]

Mike attended the International Steel Guitar Convention several years. I couldn't get him to perform but it seems like I do remember him playing on stage with Hal Rugg and a couple more Dobro players and I may have it on VHS. I stocked his instruction material at one time and they were on a very professional level. We have lost another icon in our inductry. Scotty

[Jason Rumley]

I did not hear about this. It's too bad.. we lost a great player.

[Ariel Lobos]

Dont tell me ! Very sad news ...I was very lucky to meet him in an elevator in St Louis convention , i was in a hurry to my class with Doug Jearnigan when a kind gentleman said to me " Argentina ? cool ! " looking at my badge Imagine when i so his name ! i was shocked ,i'd only could said " wow i know who you are since i was a teenager !" after that he answered all my questions about steel guitar and Dobro. I so him again in Dallas convention, another lucky situation, mrs Benoit advice me , " he not come every year, if he play here in the room i will tell you, " so the next day she call me and he was sitting there playing some dobros and lap style Benoit's guitars , i told him if i could record with my camera and he said, " please , of course ". I play it in my tv sometimes, My father who is 91 loves to watch him playing and call him "the man who never move the hands" , i bought an Emmons and he test it a little. He said "is a good one, lubricate it a little and just play ! I´ll remember you forever Mr Auldrigde , great people, amayzing musician ,simply an Icon. Rest in peace , My condolences to your family .

[Bill L. Wilson]

While looking at 8string reso guitars in the Benoit room, at the Dallas show last March, I heard this fantastic dobro player, playing along with some music going on, across the hall from where we were. At the same time, I'm looking at a Mike Auldridge model 8string Benoit guitar. I told the young man standing next to me, that my old friend, Rudy Q. Jones, in Oklahoma had made Mike Auldridge, some 8string dobros. He looks at me kinda funny, and says, "that's him setting over there, playing that guitar." Well, I only knew the name, Mike Auldridge, but that day, I met, and heard the man! Boy, could he play! I'm sorry to hear about his passing, but I'll always remember, he was friendly, and a pleasure to talk to.

[Howard Parker]

That would have been a Mike Auldridge model Beard guitar, not a Benoit.

h

[Bill L. Wilson]

You are correct, I had been in the Benoit room, before I went in the Beard room. I've slept since then, and I am getting old, and remembering what I had for breakfast, is sometimes an all day thought process. Thanks for informing me, I might have driven myself crazy, trying to find the Benoit Mike Auldridge model.

[Howard Parker]

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it . Mike, Carroll and Paul are all buddies.

Speaking of which, I believe Carroll intends to host a "Remembering Mike Auldridge" session in Dallas this year. Gives us a chance to grieve a bit and swap yarns.

h

[Bill L. Wilson]

I am gonna try to make the Dallas show, it depends on my pickin' schedule that weekend. Hopefully, I can at least make one day.