Newman's Classes?

[Darrell Criswell]

Seeing the words "steel guitar camp" just reminded me of some of Jeff Newman's courses. Didn't he have a place where you stayed in cabins and had classes outdoors? I forget whether they were called workshops, boot camps or whatever.

Can anybody who attended these tell us a little more about what they were like, what kinds of interaction you had with other students, musicians, etc.

[Erv Niehaus]

I believe that was "Jeffran College".
Erv

[Jim Palenscar]

Jeff had two different venues. Jeffran College was just outside of town in Hermitage with other students in makeshift trailers where you stayed in a bunkhouse he and Fran had behind the school(early) or at the Days Inn next to the school(later)and the other was at his home where you stayed in and were taught in a trailer and was called Top Gun where it was a one-on-one deal.

[Pete Burak]

I spent a week at JefFran College back in July 1982.
Mike Daily sat next to me and was already playing with George Strait. Paddy Long was there from New Zealand. Also Steve Palousek was there. And a bunch of other guys. It was like a classroom. Everybody had a headset. Lots of note taking. We all went out to hear live music a few nights, with Jeff. Buddy Emmons gave a concert on Thursday night.
It was great!

[Jeff Peterson]

I was at Jeff's first intermediate class..'77 or '78?, seems I remember lots of guys who ended up with name acts, 'course I can't remember all, or even most. But one guy I do have in my mind was Pete Finney...who had a black and gold Sierra. I have to laugh now, because we were from absolutely different schools of thought. He was such a nice guy and I certainly think he was one of the best players there. I was pure 'southern rock' at the time..the only 'country' I could fathom at the time was Merle and all the 'outlaw' types as I was more into Allman Bros. and .38 Special. Jeff couldn't stand it and berated me to no end. Luckily for me he just gave up on me totally and said, 'only you and Doug Jernigan can make that grip work'. Jeff would laugh endlessly about the fact that I could play 'In Memory of Elizabeth Reed' but not any Tammy Wynette songs. I loved that guy and he treated me like a proud father when I landed the Clint Black gig.
Yes, I was there during the 'bunkhouse' days with lunches and all that included. Big fun and lots of learning. It would probably be nice if someone had the wherewithal to start something like that again....just a thought.

[Jon Jaffe]

Here is a group photo in 1980, I think. Jeff was an incredible teacher, and I came back a couple of times. If you are in the photo, reply. I am wearing a yellow shirt.



Buddy would hang around with Jeff and always would perform for the classes.

[Jerry Overstreet]

I was in this class in Apr. 1980. Nic du Toit of South Africa was in this class too. This was a week long class. Buddy Emmons was around some. Paul Franklin played a concert for us with Buddy on bass along with Nashville's other elite musicians. I remember Hal Rugg hanging around some too during the week.

Jeff did a short show downtown and we went to the GOO on Sat. nite. We also each did a recording at Bradley's Barn. The whole experience was just beyond any expectations and has stayed with me all these years.

The cost was $350 for the week of class instruction if you can believe that, which included Fran's daily home cooked lunch around the big table.
Can you imagine what something like that would cost today?

The cost for the bunkhouse was extra, but I don't know how much.

My little brother worked for the Benson Music company there in Nashville and he had an apartment on 18th avenue where I stayed with him while in class.

[Peter Dollard]

So now all this time has gone by: Does anybody have any of the instruction done at Jeffs that they would like to share.I know Jeff said he recorded it on VHs or DVD so somebody must have some. On the other hand I have no interest in profiting or using the material Im just lonely for hearing him talk or play something.There was a version on Utube of City of New Orleans which was really lovely from one of his cabin students.

[John Palumbo]

Went to Jeff's beginner class in the late 70's. Made arrangements to stay at a local motel for the week. Jeff picked me up at the airport, then met the other's who were attending for that week. At the school Jeff played his Zumsteel thru a Session 400 & a Webb amp, did a concert for us the first night. There were small Peavey amps along with headphones for all of us. What a Great Time it was. It was awesome me being a novice and being taught by a great teacher, talking and learning steel from morning to wee hours of the night. Doug Jernigan played one evening. Jeff took us to the Sho-Bud factory in Nashville. Jeff's wife Fran made the best lunches for us at the school. Was all just so awesome, I still think about those great times & great memories!

[Darrell Criswell]

Went to Jeff's beginner class in the late 70's. Made arrangements to stay at a local motel for the week. Jeff picked me up at the airport, then met the other's who were attending for that week. What a Great Time it was. It was awesome me being a novice and being taught by a great teacher, talking and learning steel from morning to wee hours of the night. Doug Jernigan played one evening. Jeff took us to the Sho-Bud factory in Nashville. Jeff's wife Fran made the best lunches for us at the school. Was all just so awesome, I still think about those great times & memories!

Very interesting hearing from a person who was a beginner for those classes. How much progress did you make in that week?

[John Palumbo]

Went to Jeff's beginner class in the late 70's. Made arrangements to stay at a local motel for the week. Jeff picked me up at the airport, then met the other's who were attending for that week. What a Great Time it was. It was awesome me being a novice and being taught by a great teacher, talking and learning steel from morning to wee hours of the night. Doug Jernigan played one evening. Jeff took us to the Sho-Bud factory in Nashville. Jeff's wife Fran made the best lunches for us at the school. Was all just so awesome, I still think about those great times & memories!

Very interesting hearing from a person who was a beginner for those classes. How much progress did you make in that week?

I must say we were given a ton of information over that week but Jeff kept it simple, he was really big on right hand technique and getting good tone. I felt that after that week I had something now to build on that I could not get anywhere. It was now a matter of here's how to do it guy's, now take it from here. I felt it gave me a good foundation to build on.

[Darrell Criswell]

I think I remember pictures of a Pavilion with people outside, does anyone else remember that? And what year did he start the classes?

Thanks so much for the pictures and description, please send more pictures and stories if you have them.

[Jim Palenscar]

I was there in 77, 79, and in Buddy's uni class in 81 where there were only 4 or us and Jeff and Buddy- we played a lot of horseshoes . You might say I'm a slow learner~~

[John Palumbo]

If I remember, right next to the school itself was a small separate bldg with a steep 'A' frame roof. Where you could buy Jeffran College shirts & Jeff's courses etc.
Perhaps this is what you are picturing as a pavilion.

Another thing I remember were the lunch room walls being lined with 33-1/3 LP steel guitar album covers!

[Werner Friedrich]

Seeing the words "steel guitar camp" just reminded me of some of Jeff Newman's courses. Didn't he have a place where you stayed in cabins and had classes outdoors? I forget whether they were called workshops, boot camps or whatever.

Can anybody who attended these tell us a little more about what they were like, what kinds of interaction you had with other students, musicians, etc.

I spend also a Week at "Top Of The Hill" in 2002, never vergot this in my Live. Greetings to all the Students of Jeffran College from Germany!

[Peter Dollard]

I also wanted to hear from you because you went to the cabin school on the hill. Did he come over every morning and help you or did you get him to play some stuff that he had recorded... He had a version of steel guitar rag that came out in 1976 which was really unique.I had heard he had a weird thumbpick that he used on that... this is the kind of stuff I was trying to find out about Peter

[Gene Tani]

This was my favorite vid from Top Gun, City of Neworleans which was also a Woodshed workshop and VERY tricky to play single string barred and the next string open

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY53zX4D9ik

[Peter Dollard]

Are there any other videos he played on peoples visits to the cabin I love the city one but there must be more...

[Pete Finney]

Hey Jeff! Good to see your take on that week. I remember feeling simpatico with you and hanging out a lot 'cause I sorta came from the "hippie" world, but I'd also spent the previous 3 years playing 5 nights a week with a house gig in a hard-core country band and was totally into Emmons/Green/Myrick/Rugg etc.. I'd also been taking lessons for a few years with Buddy Charleton and was obsessed with C6th, so we might have been in kinda different musical worlds (though I wore out some Allman Brothers records along the way too!). I remember asking you a lot about the Texas scene and a year or so later I moved to Austin.

And I do remember you being one Jeff liked to pick on!

That was in the Hermitage location; I remember staying at the motel next-door. Emmons played a private concert for us, we all went to the Opry together and the Sho-bud factory, and Jeff had set it up where we all went to Bradley's Barn and each got to overdub a steel part onto some tracks he had, which was a very cool experience. Between that week and some earlier seminars I owe Jeff more than I could ever express.

[Chris Bauer]

I took an Emmons C6th course in Hermitage with Jody Cameron, Kerry Johnson, Rick (whose last name I'm not currently recalling), and a couple of others whose faces I can recall but have no recollection what their names were.

I was in way over my head - as I might even still be today - but it was the most exciting, energizing, and motivating steel instruction I ever had.

I guess if there was one among us in that class, I was the one that Jeff didn't really 'get' but that didn't stop me from learning a ton. I'll always be glad I had that experience.

[Peter Dollard]

No matter where he taught Jeff always had one person who bore the brunt of his sarcasm in a class.I myself walked into the lions den one day when he asked how many chords Jambalaya had. I asserted that there were two and away we went. Jeff postulated that you could add every diminished augmented or flat ninth chord and still play the song. it reminded me of Used car dealer Cal Worthington sales pitch "I could sell you a car for a dollar a month, if I wanted to". Never the less it was a way of getting his attention. The last time I saw him he looked at me and gave me a big hug I now realize maybe i realized this was the last time i would see him...

[Jim Palenscar]

My 1st class in N'ville was in July 1977 and I was in heaven- so much to learn at that time. I'd been toiling for 5 years w picking up needles on records, etc. Lottsa great classmates and we also went to the ShoBud factory(they put a couple of knee levers on Jay Leach's Pro1)- then to Bradley's barn for a lil' recording session for each of us later to be critiqued in class(oy vey) and then to the GOO backstage. Wow- what an experience for a left coast still new-be! Truly mind bending and priceless. Took in a few classes in later years as well. I remember looking around the classroom and calculating the weekly income and asking him how he figured this out and he replied that he looked around and saw his future as a player and decided to change courses- who woulda thunk it? I consider myself to be so very lucky to have had those experiences culminating w a stop in his Top Gun class in the trailer on his property and watched him fly around in his ultra-lite and listened to him talk about his new one that was on the way that ultimately took his life. What a way to go~~~~

[Jim Eaton]

About 1974/75 (?) I did a one day seminar at a motel by LAX airport and when Jeff brought the "1 week" school to Valley Arts Music in Studio City a few years later, I signed up for the first week of the two. It was full 8hr days with a lunch break for the week. I took Jeff out for dinner the 1st night after class and thought I was just dropping him off back at Valley Arts where his rental car was. Jeff looked at me and said "Let's get back to work". Class was 8-5 but the store was open until 9:00 each night. So I followed him back to the classroom and he worked with me ,one on one until the store closed at 9:00. We did dinner and "extra" teaching every night that week! When I ask him why he was giving me all the extra lesson time, his answer was "I think you get it". I still stumble across things that make me think "Oh...that was what Jeff ment"! JE:-)>

[Joe Goldmark]

Never went to his college, but did a few seminars in the Bay Area. What I remember most, besides what a great guy he was, was how he would sit down at 5-6 different steels to show that tone is in the hands and not the gear. Of course he'd sound great and pretty much the same on each axe.

Joe

[Peter Dollard]

I remember in those early seminars where he would have five steels on stage and play all of them I was so impressed. It was his way of demonstrating will over mechanics: for years no one would play someone elses streel without the warning this isnt my ax...the optics of watching him go through every major brand set up with either Day or Emmons was inspiring. You go to a jam and everybody would be running to the parking lot to pick their steel with their amp and their effects and even then there would be excuses.He kind of though that out the window and liberated a lot of players... I believe in that City of New orleans video he dropped in to play his students video with his setup no problem... man i miss that guy!!!!