Curly Chalker with Hank Thompson

Daniel Morris · Post by **Daniel Morris** » 7 Jan 2019 6:30 am

I'm trying to find out which of Hank Thompson's albums featured Curly Chalker on pedal steel.
Info I've found is inconclusive, so any of you who know for certain where to steer me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Craig A Davidson · Post by **Craig A Davidson** » 7 Jan 2019 6:59 am

The Thompson Touch, Back In The Swing Of Things, and I think the Cab Driver Album are three of them.

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 7 Jan 2019 7:05 am

Cab Driver album was Jim Murphy on pedal steel. Some of the tastiest C6 playing ever done!

Craig A Davidson · Post by **Craig A Davidson** » 7 Jan 2019 7:24 am

Thanks Greg for the correction. I always thought it was Curly.

Daniel Morris · Post by **Daniel Morris** » 7 Jan 2019 9:11 am

Thanks, guys.
Any other (confirmed) albums?

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 7 Jan 2019 2:02 pm

He was on 4 of the tracks from Capitol 2342 "Luckiest Heartache In Town". Bobby Garrett on the other tracks.

Twice As Much, Just To Ease The Pain, Reaching For The Moon, and Stirring Up The Ashes.

Bob Watson · Post by **Bob Watson** » 7 Jan 2019 3:12 pm

I'll have to keep my eye out for these, I'd love to hear all of them!

Tiny Olson · Post by **Tiny Olson** » 7 Jan 2019 3:57 pm

Curly played on several cuts of Hank's, "Next Time I Fall In Love, I Won't" LP. That LP came out around 1970. The title cut had a great, hot, E9th intro and ride by Curly.

Curly also did a cool E9th ride on Johnny Bush's great recording, "I'll Be There." He was also the player on "Paper Roses" by Marie Osmond.

We all love Curly's awesome, C6th stuff. The aforementioned songs show off just a small sample of his ability on the E9th tuning (aka... the back neck).

Chris "Tiny" O.

Daniel Morris · Post by **Daniel Morris** » 7 Jan 2019 5:36 pm

Thanks again, all.
I know Curly was also on Simon & Garfunkel's THE BOXER, and could play killer E9.
I was primarily looking for Curly's C6 work with Hank Thompson (aka, the front neck). Nice one, Tiny.

Joe Goldmark · Post by **Joe Goldmark** » 7 Jan 2019 8:42 pm

Hey Tiny,

I always thought it was Dickie Overby on "I'll Be There" by Johnny Bush. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91VnidPtugg

This has to be one of the greatest steel guitar performances ever, at least one of my favorites. However, you might be referring to a different version.

Joe

Casey Lowmiller · Post by **Casey Lowmiller** » 7 Jan 2019 9:04 pm

Enjoy!!!

http://hankthompson.com/discography/track-9/

Casey

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 7 Jan 2019 10:18 pm

Tiny
Joe is correct about Bush's "I'll Be There." Dicky Overbey was the soloist.

Bobby Nelson · Post by **Bobby Nelson** » 8 Jan 2019 1:49 am

Wasn't he playing on Wild Side Of Life. And i think that would put him on the Songs of the Brazos Valley? I thought I read that Chalker was very young when he did that somewhere.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 8 Jan 2019 4:31 am

Bobby Nelson wrote:Wasn't he playing on Wild Side Of Life. And i think that would put him on the Songs of the Brazos Valley? I thought I read that Chalker was very young when he did that somewhere.

Chalker was on an early version of Wild Side Of Life and several other songs, but that LP you refer to was recorded after Chalker left---it's Pee Wee Whitewing and Bob White, on their first session with Hank.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 8 Jan 2019 4:33 am

Bobby Nelson wrote:Wasn't he playing on Wild Side Of Life. And i think that would put him on the Songs of the Brazos Valley? I thought I read that Chalker was very young when he did that somewhere.

Chalker was on the earliest version of Wild Side Of Life and several other songs, but that LP you refer to was recorded after Chalker left---it's Pee Wee Whitewing and Bob White, on their first session with Hank.

Daniel Morris · Post by **Daniel Morris** » 8 Jan 2019 6:22 am

Thanks for that link, Casey.
I glanced at the site earlier, but didn't dig deep enough, so I appreciate such a comprehensive list.

Thanks again to everyone for chiming in!

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 8 Jan 2019 7:21 am

In that link that Casey shared, did anyone else notice that Merle Travis is listed as the steel guitar player on the session done on Jan 4 & 6 1956? Didn't know he played steel.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 8 Jan 2019 7:55 am

Richard Sinkler wrote:In that link that Casey shared, did anyone else notice that Merle Travis is listed as the steel guitar player on the session done on Jan 4 & 6 1956? Didn't know he played steel.

I did notice that, but I think it's simply an error.

I've seen other listings for those dates and Pee Wee is listed as the steel player, with Travis also on the session.

Alan Cannell · Post by **Alan Cannell** » 8 Jan 2019 8:36 am

Curly played a lot of nice Steel on Merle Travis songs , who I know Hank admired more than anyone and even copied the Travis picking style.

Tiny Olson · Post by **Tiny Olson** » 8 Jan 2019 3:20 pm

Joe & Herb:
That link was the very version I was talking about Joe. Here I've been the last 50 yrs. believing it was Curls on that cut. Thanks to you and Herb for clearing this up and setting me straight.

We did gigs with Johnny back when and I always enjoyed being around him. As much as Herb has worked with him and knows the history, I now have no doubt it's Dickie on that cut. Any idea what he was playing for a horn at that time..?? I know he had the "TMH, Wagon" for a while and a Blanton, if I recall correctly. What a great guy and player was Dickie..!!

It was great hearing it again... I always loved that cut too. It's cool that it was Dickie.

Hope you're well.

Chris "Tiny" O.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 8 Jan 2019 3:29 pm

Tiny
I'm totally sure that Jim Loessberg could tell you what guitar Dicky was playing on that cut. I just listened to it and I can't tell. Could be a Blanton, Jimmy Day played one for a while as well back in the 60s.

Jerry Blanton is still building guitars, I've been told. He's a quiet madman.

Tiny Olson · Post by **Tiny Olson** » 8 Jan 2019 3:41 pm

Thanks Herb. It sounds more like a Blanton than an Emmons, Wrap-Around... but who knows. I may have to get in touch with Jim to satisfy my curious mind.

The tone and attack on that cut always had me convinced it was Curly. I don't remember who had told me it was Curly many years ago.

Are you still bass-fishing..??

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 8 Jan 2019 3:57 pm

There's a guy in my neighborhood named Don Richmond who plays an older D-12 Blanton. The thing sounds awesome, but my back hurts just looking at it.

Per Berner · Post by **Per Berner** » 8 Jan 2019 11:39 pm

I bought this album for the equivalent of about 30 cents (!) at a flea market many years ago. It's a 1980 re-recording of old hits, and every single track is superb, better than any of the originals IMHO. You can really tell they were having fun in that studio!

Curly's playing on those tracks is as good as it gets. Other players include Roy Huskey Jr, Buddy Spicher (never heard him play better!), Pete Wade, DJ Fontana and Bunky Keels â€“ all A-listers.

It's simply the best HT album I've ever come across, easily one of the top 50 albums in my entire collection (over 2,000 in total). My favorite tracks are "Whoa, Sailor", "Humpty Dumpty Heart", "Wake Up Irene" and "The Older the Violin...". Very bouncy, easy-going, hard-swinging, joyful stuff. Highly recommended!

My copy is marked Gusto Records â€Žâ€“ GT 0060, also released by other labels as in the pic below (but I believe Gusto was the original label for this recording).

Bobby Nelson · Post by **Bobby Nelson** » 9 Jan 2019 6:53 am

Thanks for the clarification Mitch.

Per Berner: I believe I recently bought a CD with these recordings on them - they are obvious modern remakes of the old stuff. And, you are correct - they are as good or better than the originals, with some superb playing on them.