My Tribute to Jimmy Day that passed Jan 21, 1999

[Ricky Davis]

"I still miss you Jimmy Day. This song you recorded; was played at your funeral; then I played it for you a few years after you passed, on my "Blue Darlin" and here is that rendition again 21 years later today. RIP
"Farewell Party" for one of my greatest Mentors.
Me playing my tribute to Jimmy Day at the St. Louis Steel guitar convention; on my "Blue Darlin" Fulawka.
https://youtu.be/IqmIKfL_VS4

I did Tab the greatest "Farewell Party" Solo played by Jimmy Day on the first Johnny Bush album from 1968.
Here's that song Jimmy Day made famous with the most emotional playing you could ever hear.
https://youtu.be/NEjnLKxo-BY
Here is my "Tribute Tab" I did shortly after we buried Jimmy Day. RIP.
[tab]
I have to say; this was very difficult for me, both emotionally
and mentally. How do you tab such emotion. Jimmy Day was known
for the best "feel" player and it is very hard to write down all
the inflections and emotion, he puts in playing around, and through
the measures of time, and song. As I, and all of Jimmys' family and
friends said our last goodbyes to this wonderful man; "Farewell Party"
played by "Jimmy Day"; was the last song we heard at his funeral.
I did shed tears on that very sad day. And I have to say; tears were
shed today as I listened along and tried to capture the most emotional
steel player in history. I miss you Jimmy Day.
Ricky Davis


Farewell party(Jimmy Day)steel break/key of F/E9th pedal steel


(F) (Bb)
1.___________|______________|_______________|__________6|
2.___________|______________|_______________|___________|
3.___________|______________|_______________|___________|
4.____6~~~7~~|~8____~10~~8~~|_______________|_______6___|
5._8a_6~a~7a~|~8~a__~10~~8~a|_6~~~8~a___6a~6|_6~~~~____6|
6._8b_6b~~7b~|~8b___________|_6b~~8b____6b~~|_6b~6~_6___|
7.___________|______________|_______________|___________|
8.___________|______________|_6L~~8_________|___________|
9.___________|______________|_______________|___________|
10.__________|______________|_______________|___________|
(F) (F)

1._____________|________________|_______________|__________|
2._____________|________________|_______________|__________|
3._6___________|________________|_______________|__________|
4._6__8~~~~~7R~|~8~~~~__________|_8~~~__~10~~8~~|_________8|
5._6__8a~~~~7a~|~8a~~~__8a~7a~8a|_8~a~__~10~~8~a|_____8~a~~|
6.____8~b~~~7b~|~8b~~~__8b~7b~8b|_8b~~__________|_8b_______|
7._____________|________________|_______________|__________|
8._____________|________________|_______________|_8___8~~~~|
9._____________|________________|_______________|__________|
10.____________|________________|_______________|_8a_______|
(D) (Daug) (G)

1.________________|________________|_________10______|
2.______8______8~~|________________|_________________|
3._____________8b~|________________|_________________|
4._______________8|______________10|_10~~~~______10~_|
5._8a~~___8a______|_10~~~_10~1/2a~~|_10a~~~______10~a|
6.___8~___8~8b____|_10~~~_10~~~~~~~|_10~b~~______10b~|
7.________________|________________|_________________|
8._8~~~___8_______|_10_____________|_________________|
9.________________|_______10~~~~~~~|_________________|
10._______________|________________|_________________|
(G7) (C) (G)

1.__________________|______________________|_______________________|
2._8~8~~6_________2_|_1~~~~~__15___________|_______________________|
3.__________________|______________________|_______________________|
4.________3~~__2____|________________15~~~~|_10~~_____10___________|
5._8~8a~6_3~3a_2a_2_|_1~~15~a_15a~15 15~15a|_10a~_____10~a_10a~8a~8|
6._8~8b~6_3~3b_2b_2b|_1b~15b_________15b~~~|_10~b_10b_10b__10b~8b~~|
7.__________________|______________________|_______________________|
8.__________________|______________________|_______________10~~8L~~|
9.__________________|______________________|_______________________|
10._________________|______________________|_______________________|
(D) (D7) (G)

1.___________|_______________|____________|_______________
2._______8___|_______________|____________|_______________
3.___________|_______________|____________|_______________
4.__________8|_____________5~|_3~__3~~~~~~|_______________
5._8~8a~~~~~~|_10~a________5a|____________|_3~~3a~~5a~~6a~
6._8~~~~~~~~~|_10~~___5~5b~~~|_3~__3b~3~3b|_3b~~~~~5b~~6~~
7.___________|_______________|____________|_______________
8._8~~~~~~~~~|_______________|____________|_______________
9.___________|_10~~__________|____________|_______________
10.__________|_______________|_3~__3a~3~3a|_______________
[/tab]
Ricky Davis

[Herb Steiner]

Thanks for posting this, Ricky... It WAS an incredible funeral, truly. Twenty years later and I remember it well.

Pastor Dave Rich preached a eulogy free of judgmental rhetoric but full of love and compassion, knowing full-well who his audience was... musicians who loved God but struggled with the human frailties that plague those in our profession perhaps more than those in other lines of work, due to the environments so many of us labor in.

Lynn Owsley's bus was the family "limo," and I rode with Jimmy's siblings... his older brother and two sisters... from the chapel to the gravesite, and we had a good talk. One of his sisters knew how significant he was to the art of steel guitar, but his brother and other sister were totally unaware of just how influential Jimmy was. I tried to explain, as best I could, how many thousands of musicians were directly and indirectly taught by the work of their brother, how he contributed to the creation of a stylistic genre. I'd like to think that Pastor Rich's remembrances, our discussion, and the humongous overflow crowd that filled the very large chapel and the lobby hallway of the funeral home to overflowing showed his siblings just what a heavyweight the world had just lost.

[Ricky Davis]

OH thanks so much for that Herb; as you painting that beautiful picture of that memorable day. I believe that has still been one of the biggest if not the biggest Processions Austin, Tx has seen??
Ricky

[Herb Steiner]

It was a HUGE procession leaving the funeral parlor. And as I'm sure you remember, it was a rainy day and Congress Avenue was torn up down the center of the street for asphalt repairs and Austin traffic, lousy even 20 years ago, was held back by cops on motorcycles for what might have been over a MILE while Lynn's bus and all the cars from the attendees of the funeral filed slowly out of the parking lot that afternoon.

It was a traffic jam that Jimmy would have absolutely LOVED to have been the cause of. I'm sure he was smiling.

[Dave Diehl]

That's the kind of stuff that drew me to this instrument years ago. Great job Ricky.

[Larry Dering]

Jimmy played with such heart and soul and was a heavy influence on me. I was not able to attend the funeral but share in the heart felt love and respect for Jimmy.

[Herb Steiner]

BTW, the idea for the modulation from F to G mid-solo came from Jerry Reed, who was on guitar at the session. This from Johnny Bush.

[Jeff Keyton]

I took the day off from work for Jimmy's funeral, Herb I remember seeing you bring up the(a?)Blue Darlin' down the aisle, and the place was packed. This was years before I started playing pedal steel, and I didn't know him, but had been lucky to see him playing around town.

[Joe Krumel]

Rickey, you made jimmy proud. Like they say,"are there any questions" ? nice, very nice...
Your Blue darlin sounds like a million bucks.

[Ricky Davis]

Thanks ya'll on the kind words; I've had great mentors to look up to. Yeah Herb I remember Loessberg telling me Jerry Reed did all the guitar(basically acoustic lead) that album...that was very early and for him to come up with that cool Modulation; that's great history Bro.
Ricky

[Andy Sandoval]

Pretty damn sweet playin there Ricky.

[Keith Hilton]

I was a big fan of Jimmy Day. One of the true inventors of the modern E9th and C6th pedal guitars. I considered him a friend, and am still bothered by his passing.
Ricky you are a great player and you did a great job on the link you posted.
I don't know why, but I thought Dickey played on all those old Johnny Bush records. I started wondering what Johnny Bush records Jimmy was on and what records Dickey was on. By the way, I was a big fan of Dickey's playing.

[Jim McGinnis]

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.