Buddy Cage has passed.

[JB Arnold]

Fare thee well my friend. we'll see you one the other side.

God this is hard. Buddy Cage has passed. I'll have a longer post tonight. But for now, let me just say that this guy was a friend and mentor like no other, and a ferocious musician. Bye Buddy, thanks for a lifetime of joy, and all the support while i was learning this freakish instrument. And the unbridled way you responded every time someone told me i was going the wrong direction. "bleep those assholes, there IS no wrong direction. " blessings on you brother. We'll meet again.. until then I'll just keep rocking in your memory.

[Jerry Overstreet]

So sad to hear JB. I have a lot of vinyl with Buddy. NRPS for one. One of my early influences.

[Gaylen James]

I do not admire very many people.
Buddy Cage was one of the few.

[Mike Bacciarini]

Oh no! So sad to hear... but his music will live on.

[scott murray]

very sad news indeed. he was and continues to be a huge influence on myself and so many others. very glad I got to see him several times and chat once or twice... he was a real sweetheart too. thank you for everything Buddy.

[Kevin Mincke]

Sad news, tried to copy his stuff and still have most the NRPS albums. I caught them in 1977 or so at the St Croix Boom Co in Stillwater. I had only been playing a couple years. Enjoyed the music & style!

[Fish]

I'm deeply sorry to hear this news.

Buddy was very kind to me when I started playing with the Moonlighters and later Commander Cody in the Bay Area in 1977. I was the new kid on the block while Buddy was a big star in NRPS, yet he invited me over to his house and we spent hours laughing, listening to music and talking "steel guitar." He was a great player and a wonderful human being, and I'm very lucky to have known him.

Rest in peace.

Steve Fishell

[Neil Flanz]

So sorry to hear of Buddy's passing. I've known him since he was in his teens in Toronto and he will be missed. He was very talented!

Neil

[Jack Stanton]

Thanks for all the great music and inspiration, Buddy. Rest well

[Mark Eaton]

Very sad day among us steel guitar players and New Riders fans.

Beginning in the early '70s after he took over for Garcia in the band, I saw Buddy a bunch of times. To those of us in the Bay Area, even though they toured a lot over the years, they were still one of our hometown bands and played locally quite often. When I'd go to a New Riders show and hear Buddy Cage on pedal steel I always felt right at home.

[Michael Kessel]

Garcia, Ben Keith, John Hughey, and Buddy. The ones that drew me in. RIP. A sad day.

[Mike Neer]

A hero to me. RIP Mr. Cage.

[Tony Prior]

RIP Buddy thx for the music !

I only met him one time, he was playing at local venue here in Charlotte with another travelin band. I went specifically to see him and meet him.

He was just hanging out before the show ( no green room per say) A few of us sat around and talked for a bit, he was very kind, very reserved. He showed us his Steel (before it was stolen) and he showed us a few tricks he had up his sleeve. Nice guy.

RIP Buddy

[Bob Bestor]

Darn. A fabulous, fun and unique musician. Definitely an inspiration. RIP Mr. Buddy Cage.

[Michael Johnstone]

An early influence for me too. I copped as many of his licks as I could and that fit right into the styles of the hippie outlaw country going on in California at the time. I never could get confident with those fast 16th note ostinatos on one string like in the solo on "She's No Angel". Saw him play up close 4 or 5 times including once at the Pal where I got to chat for a while. Tried to help him out when he got his ax stolen and needed another steel but he wouldnt hear of it. R.I.P. Buddy Cage

[gary pierce]

Sorry to hear this, I was a big fan of Buddy.

[Marc Muller]

My 1st concert was Grateful Dead Nassau Coliseum September 73. My 2nd was NRPS Capitol theater Passaic NJ October 73. Knocked this 13 year old's socks off. I got my 1st steel shortly thereafter. He inspired an army of steel players and will continue to do so. RIP Buddy.




Me and Buddy. Count Basie Theater Red Bank NJ October 2010.

[Wayne Franco]

My initial steel guitar influence. Went out and bought a single neck ShoBud. I listened so much to his music I memorized everything he played. Got to spend a day with Buddy in St Louis quite a while ago. RIP Buddy Cage.

[Bob Blair]

A sad day for so many of us. He inspired me for many years, and when I got to spend a bit of time with him he was kind and fun to be with.

[Stu Schulman]

Godspeed Buddy Cage,I've been a fan since Ian&Sylvia"Trucker's Cafe"I am heartbroken!

[Dave Magram]

I too am saddened to hear of Buddy Cage’s untimely passing.

Buddy literally convinced me to start playing pedal steel…

Back in the early 1970’s, David Nelson of the NRPS had the idea to form a bluegrass band with Frank Wakefield on mandolin (The Good Old Boys) that would open for the NRPS, and I got hired to play banjo for a 10-day tour trial run.

I had thought about learning to play pedal steel, but it appeared to be a rather daunting instrument.
One night, a few days into the tour, I asked Buddy if it was difficult to learn to play it.
Buddy laughed and said, “Not at all—it’s just like playing the banjo!”

So a few weeks later I bought one.

It was then that I realized that the only thing in common between the two instruments was that they both required a thumbpick and two fingerpicks!
But by then, it was too late—I was hooked.

Thanks, Buddy!
May you rest in peace.

-Dave

[Dana Blodgett]

A very sad day indeed. His style was a huge inspiration to me. RIP Buddy Cage.

[John Davis]

So sad to hear this news Buddy was truly one of the greats of the Steel Guitar world and Powerglide I wore my copy out.
they are gonna be rockin in Heaven tonight Rest in peace sir, and thank you for showing us the way.

[Bob Carlucci]

Oh man,, words fail me right now.. He was my mentor,, Well, my first one anyway.. A few others came later on , but his influence was always the first and the strongest.

To this day, I NEVER get tired of hearing the old NRPS songs. I have said it before- Buddy Cage's steel playing totally defined the sound of the New Riders after the first album. For years...


My Buddy Cage story is pretty cool.. I met him many years ago, when my band opened a concert for NRPS in Port Chester NY.. We talked for a while and then he looked at me very seriously and said, "Bob you REALLY should be playing an Emmons".. I was playing a white Mica MSA at the time, and you know, he was probably right considering the type of music I was playing at that time. Much of it copying the guy I was sitting there talking to that night.

I am just really sad right now..

I will always envision Buddy as that VERY cool looking hippy type dude, with the long dark straight hair, making that Emmons wail.

Sadly 1970 is long gone, youth fades, things change, and then its just memories.

Right now I am retired from work, retired from playing, selfishly pondering my own advancing age and pending mortality as those people that shaped my youthful dreams and aspirations pass on one by one.
So many of us will miss Buddy, and so many owe him a debt of gratitude for helping shape the players we became later in life.
Rest in peace Buddy... bob

[Paul Wade]

very sad news got to see him play in chicago back in the 80's great player great tone on the dekley d-12. made me go out and by a dekley d-10 ...
RIP Buddy prayers for the family


p.w