Remembering Maurice Anderson

David Wright · Post by **David Wright** » 4 Jul 2018 3:09 am

Today marks 5 years of his passing. I think of him most everyday, Maurice always had a positive out look on everything. Anytime you asked him , How are you doing, answer was always...Wonderfull..Miss you Maurice, A Great Friend, and Steel guitar master & Hero.. Maurice Loved his family...and Teaching ...R.I.P ..

Dave Grothusen · Post by **Dave Grothusen** » 4 Jul 2018 3:42 am

Sad day indeed. He was a good friend and great musician and teacher.

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 4 Jul 2018 5:07 am

I miss Reece as well. My first lap steel teacher and had the pleasure, along with HowardR of hosting him in Manhattan when he came to teach at class Howard organized at his store. I still remember taking him to central park and he telling me it was the first time he's been back to manhattan since the old Bob Wills days.

I took him to lunch and he was surprised they didn't serve mayonnaise with hamburgers here.

Eddie Freeman · Post by **Eddie Freeman** » 4 Jul 2018 5:50 am

He was always ready to help and easy to talk to, He was one of my heros.

Wayne Franco · Post by **Wayne Franco** » 4 Jul 2018 5:02 pm

I do think of Reece a lot. We did lessons over the phone for 6 1/2 years. Neither of us were ever late or ever canceled in all that time. One of the best friends I've ever had and definitely the best teacher I've ever had period. I miss you my dear friend.

David Wright · Post by **David Wright** » 6 Jul 2018 2:50 am

Here is a video of Maurice...Great playing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4_jnMDvIDE&t=22s

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 6 Jul 2018 8:07 am

Great vid and pics, David!
I miss seeing him at Shows. 'Love his Honeysuckle Rose.
And of course I recognize him as one of The Fathers and Masters Of The Universal Tuning!!!

Spencer Scott · Post by **Spencer Scott** » 7 Jul 2018 3:47 am

I have very fond memories of Reece and his mother.
Going out to dinner a voice called out hang on I am coming too, he was great company also he was well respected hear in England, yes a lot of us miss him.
Spence

Chris Boyd · Post by **Chris Boyd** » 8 Jul 2018 4:43 am

I only met Reese once at a steel show in Meriden,Ct. in 1979. We started talking while standing side by side in the men's room while taking a leak! I told him my Sho-Bud was so heavy I couldn't believe it. He said: "Put some damn wheels on it son" ! Next day I did just that....Thanks Reese !

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 9 Jul 2018 7:42 am

Maurice was a gentleman....it was a pleasure and privilege to get to know him and become friends....he was a strong supporter of The Rick Alexander Non Pedal Room in Dallas every year and always very giving of his talents....I miss him greatly.....

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 9 Jul 2018 9:12 am

Getting to know Maurice and talk music with him was a highlight of my life! A truly good man and brilliant musician!

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 9 Jul 2018 9:59 am

I wish I would have gotten to know him. I foolishly, or shyly, never even exchanged greetings.

Dan Chambers · Post by **Dan Chambers** » 10 Jul 2018 1:43 pm

The first time I saw Mr. Anderson was at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St Louis playing a pre-show cocktail party upstairs from the ballroom using just a rhythm section playing some of the smoothest jazz music I ever heard on a green MSA single neck. My life was changed forever.......

Tommy White · Post by **Tommy White** » 10 Jul 2018 7:46 pm

Thank you so much for reminding us David! Reece was and still thru his recordings is one of the major influences on my playing to this day. Reece was always encouraging, kind, understanding and patient. He was the epitome of a world class musician, gentleman, mentor and friend.

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 11 Jul 2018 9:30 am

I brought Maurice, along with Jess Hudson and Mark Jaco over to England in the 1970's to do a series of seminars. He just knocked us out with his musicianship and easy going personality. After I spent a lot of time in his company I realised just what a special human being he was. We were firm friends for over 40 years, and visiting Dallas to see Maurice at Johnny High's theater on a Saturday night was a real pleasure for my wife and I. The last time I saw him at the Theatre I was a little shocked to see that he had grown somewhat frail. He was still playing brilliantly, but he wasn't the man he was. It was a very sad day when I learned that he had passed on.

Many of today's top pros were influenced by him, Buddy Emmons and Curly Chalker, and we will never see the likes of these three giants ever again.

Ray Harrison · Post by **Ray Harrison** » 13 Jul 2018 10:29 am

One of the very best shows I ever got to see at the TSGA was Reese and Paul Franklin doing a non-pedal show together. It was absolutely fantastic and I wish that someone would show up with a video of it...
He was a true Master and Gentleman..

David Wright · Post by **David Wright** » 18 Jul 2018 2:00 am

Thank you guys for sharing your memories of Maurice..He touched so-many players in his life..Here is another clip of his playing, one of my favorites...hope ya all enjoy it too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTHjpQ3CkfY

john buffington · Post by **john buffington** » 18 Jul 2018 8:42 am

I saw Reese in Ft. Smith, Ar., at a small steel show Jim Boen was hosting. He played a 12 string non-pedal steel Jim had made him. One of the numbers he played was Touch My Heart, if you closed your eyes, you would have sworn he played it on a pedal steel. Then as a joke the fret board slid off the neck of the guitar (intentional of course) he never missed a note or a beat. He had the greatest tone, all he used was the 12 string Boen, a Goodrich pot pedal and a small cabinet Evans amp! He didn't need anything else, and he kept the crowd literally spellbound. We couldn't get enough of him.

Gary Walker · Post by **Gary Walker** » 22 Jul 2018 3:04 pm

In May of 1968, Tom Bradshaw put on a great Steel Show in a Ballroom in the Napa/Sonoma area in No/Cal. Noel Boggs, and a few others, but the main attraction was a player from Dallas; Maurice Anderson. I drove from the Visalia area at the recommendation of my dear Friend, Chuck Wright, also a fine player and builder of the Sierra guitars.
All great players all play D-10s and when I saw this Texan with his green single neck; I just started walking away from the stage, almost chuckling. When Reece struck his first line of his tune; I not only stopped in my tracks, but I became an instant Maurice Anderson fan. In my following encounters with him; I not only loved his playing, but heart of the man. He is on my hero list of players, yet today.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 22 Jul 2018 4:49 pm

I met Reece in St. Louis, but I can't say I knew him. He had a couple of quotes that have stayed with me through the years.

1. Practice does not make perfect, but "perfect practice makes perfect".

2. The two most important aspects that make you play your best under pressure are "relaxation and concentration".

I was always a big admirer or his playing. One particular example is on an old Dave Burley production with the giants of jazz guitar and pedal steel. Reece's delivery of Body and Soul is superb. There's a special ascending line of phrasing deep in the performance that just gets me every time, no matter how many times I listen.

I'd have to say Reece was a highly influential figure in the steel guitar manufacturing field as well as a steel guitar artist and instructor.

His presence was very important and sorely missed.

John McClung · Post by **John McClung** » 22 Jul 2018 7:18 pm

Reece was such a kind gentleman, and so talented and helpful, he's truly missed.

George Redmon · Post by **George Redmon** » 28 Jul 2018 6:33 pm

Such a wealth of knowledge, he sure helped me out, and knew how to calm me down when i got frustrated, trying to play this crazy instrument. It meant alot to me to share our deep religious beliefs together.

Weldon Hargraves · Post by **Weldon Hargraves** » 30 Jul 2018 12:51 pm

I purchased one of MSA's frst steel guitars so long ago I cannot remember the year! Maurice came to our area in promotion of mSA products and wuld gladly play request. Grat guy and fine musician.

Weldon Hargraves

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 1 Aug 2018 3:38 pm

Some of you SoCal guys might remember this... Sometime in the late sixties or so Maurice and Phil Baugh were doing a tour for MSA when Phil was still living in Dallas. This stop was at Blackie Taylor's Music Store in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif. Blackie has set up a bass player and had me operating an electronic drummer for the event which seemed like a good way to go for the lack of space...

Anyway, a few tunes went all right and then after one fast one Maurice commented that the drum machine was dragging and I didn't comment on it. After a couple more tunes Maurice and Phil both were saying that the machine was dragging to which I couldn't help saying "The machine doesn't drag, you guys keep rushing the beat!" which went over like a (foo foo) in church. Maurice then asked if there was a drummer in the house so we got a guy who used a snare drum only with a stick and a brush and it went OK for the rest of the show... I reminded him about it later one year at Scotty's and we had a good laugh about it.... But I still contend that the machine didn't drag... All that said I still consider Reece to be one of the greatest players that ever lived or will live. A true master picker and innovator.........JH in Va.

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 4 Aug 2018 2:29 pm

David, thanks for that YouTube link. What great playing, and as one comment said if Reese had lived up north, he could have kept up with all the Jazzers in New York.

Thanks again!

The Steel Guitar Forum

Remembering Maurice Anderson

Remembering Maurice Anderson

Reese

Very great musician and friend