Buddy Emmons - Steel Guitar Icon - Playlist

Wade Black · Post by **Wade Black** » 21 Nov 2022 12:27 pm

The new book on Buddy Emmons by Steve Fishell is one of my favorite biographies. (Thank you Fish!) The many references to the music that influenced Buddy during his formative years and then the stories behind the music that he later recorded are outstanding features of the book. Thus far, I have only made to Chapter 17 because I started making a Spotify playlist of the music mentioned. It is almost 3 hours of music and I did not include every title or artist mentioned.

Here is a link to the playlist up to Chapter 16:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0aogT ... 5XyLsXp25g

A few notes:

* I am planning to make another playlist of Chap 17 - last chapter. Maybe I should do a playlist for each Chapter moving forward? Let me know what you think.

* If Improvements can be made that you think are important, just let me know and I’ll add/change/delete songs.

* Unfortunately, the list is not currently in perfect chronological order….because lots of times I am turning pages backwards after I finish a paragraph….then finding the music and saving it to the playlist.

* Spotify is free if you don’t mind listening to the ads. It is my understanding that lots of folks listen to music on YouTube. There are probably live performances for several of these songs on YouTube. it might be cool to make a playlist there also and include live performances when they are available. If anyone else is interested, I would collaborate on a YouTube playlist.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 22 Nov 2022 6:40 am

Thanks for sharing a large part of the Emmons legacy. I know what a time consuming effort it is. I do use the YouTube app heavily. Commercials are creeping in there since Google now runs the show. I enjoyed hundreds of hours of content from YouTube for ages. It's my deterrent to television shows, and my comfort zone while the wife watches the junk they broadcast. Tablet, earbuds and steel guitar. Hog heaven for me.

Wade Black · Post by **Wade Black** » 22 Nov 2022 9:43 am

Larry Dering wrote:Thanks for sharing a large part of the Emmons legacy. I know what a time consuming effort it is. I do use the YouTube app heavily. Commercials are creeping in there since Google now runs the show. I enjoyed hundreds of hours of content from YouTube for ages. It's my deterrent to television shows, and my comfort zone while the wife watches the junk they broadcast. Tablet, earbuds and steel guitar. Hog heaven for me.

Thanks for the kind words. Very much appreciated. I looked this morning and Buddy Emmons has 500 credits on Discogs and it appears not everything is listed there. It is inspirational (and a bit overwhelming) to think that based on 27 chapters in the book and having ~3hours of music playlisted thus far (up to Chap 17), we’ll really just touch the surface of his influences and his own recordings.

I am a YT fan also. It is awesome (except for the crazy number of ads.)

Wade Black · Post by **Wade Black** » 22 Nov 2022 9:45 am

Music mentioned in Chapter 17:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0qyDb ... CErIVzUTLg

Bas Kapitein · Post by **Bas Kapitein** » 22 Nov 2022 2:19 pm

I thank you for your efforts. In the eighties I made cassettes with BE's recordings and exchange them with my BE-fan friends here in Holland. We had fun but this is so much better. It is obvious that Fish had to skip a lot of important songs to keep his fantastic book within the limits of one volume, or one lifetime. There is a goldmine of recordings, but if you have to keep it manageable, Steve’s book is a terrific way to use as a guide.

Wade Black · Post by **Wade Black** » 23 Nov 2022 5:47 am

Thank you, Bas. Indeed the book is a goldmine of music and a terrific guide. A soundtrack to an incredible life of music and invention.

Michael Moore · Post by **Michael Moore** » 24 Nov 2022 2:42 pm

Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to compile this. Great job - thanks!

Wade Black · Post by **Wade Black** » 25 Nov 2022 8:04 am

Michael Moore wrote:Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to compile this. Great job - thanks!

Thanks Michael. I am enjoying it. The book is so good. Also, thinking about writing a blog on the book; specifically, how the music is being chosen for this playlist because 1) I started the playlist as a reference a) to be reminded of these songs I had probably heard…and listen closer to the steel guitar parts b) familiarize myself with music and artists that I had not heard. 2) There is so much of this music missing from Spotify that sometimes I have to substitute a version of the song. For instance, Rose City Chimes on the Spotify playlist. I could not find the ET version. I subbed a Michael Nesmith version just to hear it. 3) I could outline these choices and the reasoning on the blog for each song by chapter.

For now, the accompanying blog is just an idea. I am glad others are enjoying the playlist.

Wade Black · Post by **Wade Black** » 25 Nov 2022 8:17 am

Because Spotify does not have many of the songs in Chapter 18, I chose to use YouTube for this playlist. Bear in mind, I have not listened to this playlist as I post this. I will likely save it for a day that I work in the shop and I can stream 1-2 hours of music continuously. So, if you hear something that doesn’t belong or needs changing, just let me know.

You may have noticed, I sometimes include songs that do not include Buddy’s playing. It might be an artist Buddy or Fish mentions, someone that Buddy says influenced him, someone playing a version of a song that I have not heard, etc. For example, I included Albert Lee’s Country Boy on this playlist because it has been a while since I have heard that version.

Here is the link:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhSq ... Mt6NnwyOGB

Wade Black · Post by **Wade Black** » 27 Nov 2022 2:06 pm

Decided to use YouTube again for the Chapter 19 and Chapter 20 playlist because there was more music available:

Chapter 19

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhSq ... yQDEU7M_Ma

Chapter 20

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhSq ... CxvttDTyOH

And, I found this set of lessons by Pat Martino (TrueFire) discussing his methods and approach. On page 147, Fish quotes Buddy as saying, “…Pat’s scales seemed to open the door for me to a world that was already there and I didn’t know it.”

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2Tr ... 9-c7Sxe01P

Wade Black · Post by **Wade Black** » 4 Dec 2022 6:55 pm

Chap 21

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5EFrw ... A-R_iORvsg

Alternate playlist on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhSq ... jrCxog9Q5S (Added 12/14/2022)

Chap 22

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhSq ... E9I-IfKyhe

Chap 23

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhSq ... F_UgynVWLr

Chap 24

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhSq ... gNTbKrwnpZ

Wade Black · Post by **Wade Black** » 8 Dec 2022 7:30 pm

I always enjoy music more when there is a story that accompanies it. I could not ask for a better set of stories than those written in this book. A few notes/comments as I post the links to the music from the last chapters of the book:

- I originally perceived that more of this music would be available via Spotify. As I continued the process, it was clear that YouTube has many more of the tracks. As time permits, I’ll attempt to convert all of the music to YT so that the playlist are all in one place.

- It seems to me that Buddy Emmons’ music deserves an anthology. Does one already exist?

- Along with an Emmons anthology: a book (or a volume of books) detailing the history of the pedal steels that Buddy Emmons used, modified, invented, etc. It is not difficult to imagine a book on this subject that takes inspiration from Nacho’s Blackguard book, Babiuk’s Bigsby book and/or Pensa’s Archtop book. If these instruments can be located, maybe someone would be inspired to document them in photograph and even video…and provide history of each while there are folks still living that can share their first hand knowledge.

- It could be fun to have a playlist of just the live Buddy Emmons cuts from YT.

- I was already a Buddy Emmons fan but after listening to so much music that I had never heard…and better understanding the ways in which he modified his chosen instrument to find the riffs and harmonies he heard in his head….I think it is quite possible that future generations will look at Buddy Emmons as not just a steel guitar icon but a master of musical composition, phrasing, vocabulary, harmony, etc.

- Another item worth mentioning/discussing: Without Buddy Emmons’ inventiveness and drive, the pedal steel may still today be an instrument that is more standardized and less configurable. He wanted an instrument that could be configured relatively easy to new tunings, pedal setups, etc. He designed and inspired others to design instruments to be configurable, and at the same time, tighten tolerances. Who are the players pushing the game forward currently?

Chapter 25

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhSq ... Aq7Vk1Pr5g

Chapter 26

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhSq ... FCbgZkiqO0

Chapter 27

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhSq ... GPVEQaghQf

Epilogue:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhSq ... DQ9QZJXdnS

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