"Halfway Down", Patty Loveless--Who's the steel player?

[Dave Magram]

Who's the steel player on Patty Loveless' studio recording of "Halfway Down"?

Praguefrank shows:
"Spring 1994 Woodland Sound Studio, Nashville, TN – Patty Loveless (Patty Loveless [vcl],... Paul Franklin/Sonny Garrish/Pete Finney [steel],"

Does anyone know which of these excellent players were on that cut with that very catchy intro and turnaround?

- Dave

[Pete Finney]

Who's the steel player on Patty Loveless' studio recording of "Halfway Down"?

Paul Franklin played on that track, I'm pretty sure. Though there was one little harmony phrase that the producer (Emory Gordy) wanted added after the initial session that I played when I was in the studio working on another track.

The "catchy intro and turnaround" on Patty's record was adapted from the original Jim Lauderdale demo where the parts were played by Bucky Baxter (RIP) on steel, and I think probably Kenny Vaughan on guitar. Knowing Jim and how creative he is, there's an excellent chance that he had some ideas for the intro and either sang or played them a rough version of what he had in mind. Or, they could easily have come up with it on their own.

Edited to add this:

Wow, I hadn't heard the record in a while, until now. And I need to correct what I wrote above:

I've been so used to playing that intro live (for many, many years!) as a guitar/steel twin that I forgot that Paul played both parts, double-tracked, on steel on the record, as did Bucky Baxter on Jim's original. Don't know how I'd forgotten that.

[Doug Earnest]

Both of those versions are standard listening fare here at the Stage One workshop. They are good material to make sure that all of the dust is blown off of the speakers! And I like to keep them clean.

Thanks for your contribution Pete!

[Brett Day]

It's definitely Paul Franklin.

[Daniel Stinnett]

Nice track. Back when country was actually country.

[Dave Magram]

Hi Pete,

Thanks for identifying Paul Franklin as who most likely played on Patty's recording.
And thanks also for the info on the differences between Patty's and Jim's version--fascinating!

I was hoping that one of the Nashville session cats who played on Patty's recording would chime in--and you did!
It's people like you that make the SGF so great!

Yes, Jim is very creative. I got to play with him a little bit before he moved to Nashville, and was very impressed with how talented (and wryly funny) he is.

- Dave

[Ron Funk]

Sooooo,
Shall we give it a listen?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe8dtmPKr7A

Great work!