Jeff Newman...the musician

[Eric Philippsen]

I went to one of his weeklong courses where Buddy Emmons stopped in for a couple of full days. Oh, and wait a minute, did I forget Paul Franklin’s appearance that week, too?

Jeff was a GREAT player and teacher. I can still hear his voice in my head.

[George Seymour]

Me too must have been about the same time..remember him always saying at lunch ,“Time for a bowl of beans” we’d get in the van and usually go to the Cracker Barrel as I recall

[Roger Crawford]

Oh yeah, the infamous “bowl of beans”! I remember some of our classmates had never had Pinto beans and cornbread. It was a cultural enlightenment, to say the least.

[Larry Johnson]

Jeff Newman was an awesome player,YES. I was playing steel for Johnny Taylor's square dance in Lebanon Tn. It was back in the 80's. In walked Jeff Newman and Ralph Sloans brother. Jeff asked me If he could back Mr. Sloan on my steel. I told him only if he left the hot licks on there when he was done. Wow he was great! I thoroughly enjoyed him. He made my Sho-Bud sound great. Thank you , Jeff

[scott murray]

can anyone name some records that Jeff played on? I know he's on some of Lefty Frizzell's final recordings.

I always looked forward to his sets at the steel shows because he would include some unique selections. and aside from Buddy Emmons, I can't think of another steel player who appeared to be having as much fun as Jeff did.

check out his Slidin Smoke album with Mike Auldridge. that one blew me away when I was getting started and is also rather unique.

[Brendan Mitchell]

One of my favorites
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1s054PrC-o

One of the best steel guitar tunes ever

[Darrell Criswell]

I always wondered what the experience was of people going to his beginner weeklong course. The advertising made it sound like you could go for a week and be able to play, at least that was my impression. I thought about going but was a starving student and somewhat doubted the claim. I always wondered just how much you could learn with a week immersion.

[Bob Gondesen]

IN ABOUT THE LATE FIFTIES , JEFF LIVED IN TEXAS CITY TX.
WE LIVED 15 MILES APART AND NEVER KNEW EACH OTHER .MANUEL
PEDRAZA , WAS JEFF'S MUSIC TEACHER FOR 3 YRS.JEFF SOMETIMES
WAS UNABLE TO PAY FOR HIS LESSONS BUT MANUEL WOULD TELL HIM
'JUST TAKE THE TRASH OUT , SWEEP THE FLOORS AND GO GET THE
HAMBURGERS .
ONE YEAR THE DALLAS SHOW WAS COMING UP , I ASKED MANUEL IF HE WANTED ME TO TELL JEFF SOMETHING , HE TOLD ME TO SAY '' TAKE THE TRASH OUT , SWEEP THE FLOORS AND GO GET THE HAMBURGERS . JUST LIKE ROY ROSETTA AND HERB STEINER SAID ABOUT HAVING SUPPER AT TONY ROMA;S SUNDAY AFTER THE SHOW , I SAT CLOSE TO JEFF AND TOLD HIM WHAT MANUEL SAID '' TAKE OUT THE TRASH , SWEEP THE FLOORS AND GO GET THE HAMBURGERS ''JEFF REPLIED ''THAT DARN MANUEL , NOW EVERYBODY KNOWS , AND LAUGHED '' I TOLD HIM MANUEL WAS RETIRING AND THEY WERE HAVING A PARTY , JEFF SAID I WILL BE THERE , JUST TELL
ME WHEN ,I WILL EVEN BRING MY STEEL . BUT 2 WEEKS LATER JEFF HAD THE TRAGIC ACCIDENT . FRAN , SENT ME JEFF'S LAST CD TO GIVE TO MANUEL , I GAVE IT TO HIM AT THE PARTY , HE WAS VERY SADDENED .WE LOST ANOTHER GOOD ONE

[Joe Goldmark]

My guess is that Jeff is the most popular steeler ever among steelers, on a friend basis. He always acted like you were his personal friend, even when you (I) were just an acquaintance.

As related to what Jerry said to start this post. One of Jeff's examples of tone at his seminars, was to sit behind each of the 5-10 different brand steels that he'd have at the front of the room, and play for a minute. They would all almost sound alike, proving that for the most part, tone is in the hands and not the gear. And yes, he was a monster player. His C6 course pretty much taught me what little I know on the C6 neck.

Joe