buddy emmons wth steve young

Dave Campbell · Post by **Dave Campbell** » 22 Mar 2023 11:54 am

i've been checking out the albums renegade picker and no place to fall by steve young with buddy emmons on steel. in particular, i'm loving his tone on these records. any thoughts on his amp and steel combo? i'm imagining the push pull and a session 400 but i don't really know. i love the slight edge on the treble.

ps i know having the same amp won't make me sound like buddy emmons, i'm more just curious.

Norman Evans · Post by **Norman Evans** » 22 Mar 2023 1:44 pm

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=O ... fuj9cnP60A

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=O ... mNVFM3LN64

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 22 Mar 2023 4:28 pm

I have no idea what Buddy was using, but it's some of the most beautiful steel ever cut. Considering the time period, I think the Blade and Session 400 are a good guess. Maybe someone actually knows.

Steve was, IMO, one of the finest singer-songwriters that ever lived. Also startlingly under-the-radar, considering the level of talent and how many major stars used his material. His voice was magnificent.

Dave Campbell · Post by **Dave Campbell** » 23 Mar 2023 1:25 am

i'm amazed it took me this long to find him. the band is incredible. i've been on a big 70s buddy emmons kick lately. i did some transcribing of 'lonesome on'ry and mean' the other night, and it's remarkable that most of what he plays are pretty common licks, but the tone, touch and rhythmic placement are all so strong!

Chris Brooks · Post by **Chris Brooks** » 23 Mar 2023 5:14 am

Great stuff.

K Maul · Post by **K Maul** » 23 Mar 2023 5:59 am

Yes those two records have the GREATEST steel tones! I was lucky to have met and talked with Steve on two occasions. He came to see a gig of ours when I was with Robin + Linda Williams. Fantastic writer and singer, top of my list.

tom anderson · Post by **tom anderson** » 25 Mar 2023 2:24 pm

Two of my favorite singer songwriter/ steel albums! BTW i can replicate that tone with reverb and delay either through Quilter Steelaire or my Schroeder tube amp.

Ron Funk · Post by **Ron Funk** » 25 Mar 2023 2:32 pm

Really reminds me of my College Days searching out LPs with any 'back cover credits' listing Buddy Emmons on steel.....glad I found (and still have) the LP's by Steve Young

Ron

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 25 Mar 2023 3:02 pm

Dave Campbell wrote:...it's remarkable that most of what he plays are pretty common licks...

It's important to realize in retrospect that licks which may seem common in 2023 were not all that common in the 1960s and 1970s when Mr. Emmons (and others) were coming up with them. Everybody was paying close attention to the tracks that Buddy Emmons was laying down, and doing their best to replicate them. And most everybody is still doing likewise. It's nearly impossible to underestimate his influence on the pedal steel guitar.

Dave Campbell · Post by **Dave Campbell** » 26 Mar 2023 5:19 am

ha, i never thought of it that way. that's probably pretty true.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 26 Mar 2023 8:04 am

Been a Steve Young fan for decades. Renegade picker is one of the albums I would make sure I took with me if I was banished for life on a deserted island. Buddy killed it on that album.

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 26 Mar 2023 2:03 pm

Dave, Thanks so much for this thread, I knew of Steve Young as a song writer, but not much else and did'nt know his albums, but man I really love these two!

Buddy knocks it out of the park, as a few reviews I read they said Steve never go the credit he was due, hopefully his royalty checks proved otherwise, as Richard said, 'Renegade Picker' is a total desert island pick!

Thanks again!

Peter Dollard · Post by **Peter Dollard** » 18 Apr 2023 2:45 pm

I sent Buddy a pair of cassettes yes cassettes with those two albums i remember emailing him about whether he liked them he said they are riding around in my Mercedes. Of note too is the slide playing that duels with Buddy on many of the tunes.I cannot remember the guys name(Mac Gayden maybe) but he and buddy just rockeds on tha album

Doug Earnest · Post by **Doug Earnest** » 18 Apr 2023 6:27 pm

My goodness, how have I missed Steve Young???? I have much catching up to do.

Dave Magram · Post by **Dave Magram** » 19 Apr 2023 6:18 am

I Can't Be Myself · Steve Young
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ynGNIbIYwE

One of the most heart-wrenching steel guitar solos and fills that I've ever heard!

- Dave

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 19 Apr 2023 7:23 am

Dave Magram wrote:I Can't Be Myself · Steve Young
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ynGNIbIYwE

One of the most heart-wrenching steel guitar solos and fills that I've ever heard!

- Dave

I first heard that song on the radio (I think KFAT) wgen that album first came out. It didn't rake me long to get tge album and become a die-hard fan.

Glenn Suchan · Post by **Glenn Suchan** » 24 Apr 2023 9:06 pm

I've been a Steve Young fan for about fifty years; I've seen him perform live as a solo performer numerous times. It was a shock to me when a few years ago I learned that he passed away due to a sever head injury from a fall in his home.

Many big-name artists have covered his songs, IMO his versions are still the best.

One example is "Seven Bridges Road" from his 1991 live, solo album,:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMhtirKYY00

Other favorites of mine are:
His tribute to God from the perspective of (as he once said) a Native American, "Many Rivers" from his 1972 album, 'Seven Bridges Road':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBllkpv ... SH&index=8

From his 1975 album, 'Honky Tonk Man', his song, "Alabama Highway":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQvN9OKA1ro

From his 1991 live, solo album, his song "White Trash Song":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB4GA1pX7f4

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn

Jeff Evans · Post by **Jeff Evans** » 25 Apr 2023 7:22 am

Dave:

Thanks for the great thread.

Buddy's playing sounds a bit like what he did on Darrel McCall circa 1975.

Note the phase shifter on some cuts. You might be hearing a push-pull through a Peavey Session 500.

Get you some.

Dave Campbell · Post by **Dave Campbell** » 26 Apr 2023 1:28 am

i love this era of emmons!

[/img]

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 26 Apr 2023 6:16 am

Note the phase shifter on some cuts. You might be hearing a push-pull through a Peavey Session 500

The Renegade Picker album came out in 1976. What year the the Session 500 debut?

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 26 Apr 2023 6:39 am

I believe the Session 500 came out in 1980. Pretty sure 1976 couldn't be a Session 500. But phaser boxes/pedals were very prominent by 1976.

robert kramer · Post by **robert kramer** » 26 Apr 2023 7:00 am

For folks getting into Steve Young, I highly recommend: "Steve Young - Seven Bridges Road" (Reprise MS 2081), from 1972. Not only is it a "perfect" LP, I think it marks the beginning of what was to be called "The Outlaw Movement." Many songwriters write about the South in stereotypes and clichés. This LP is like actually motoring through the South.

The steel players are Weldon and Pete Drake. On the subject of tone, and push-pull tone, here is Weldon Myrick on "Steve Bridges Road."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1C7cUubI5o

re: "Renegade Picker" and E: it sounds Bladeish to me, and he was playing a Session 400 at this time. He also had Bolt-Ons around this time, so who knows?

w/ Fret Carter. Jr. - Emmons with Bolt-On, Session 400, Echoplex & possibly the Furman EQ.

David Wren · Post by **David Wren** » 26 Apr 2023 6:36 pm

Dave, no doubt the talent of the players.... you mentioned a "treble" sort of add-on to the amp tone....

I can tell you, as a young player back in the day, the Emmons had a slight treble boost, over the MSA's and Sho~Buds of the day... could be what you are trying to replicate today, with new amps, is not the amp tone, but rather the PUs Buddy used in the session.

FWIT

Dave Campbell · Post by **Dave Campbell** » 27 Apr 2023 1:25 am

ha, i'm not fool enough to be trying to replicate emmon's tone on anything!

my rig is a push pull through a tonemaster twin with an empress para EQ and UA golden reverberator...pretty good gear. i've been learning licks off of steve young's version of 'lonesome, on'ry and mean". if i play one lick 100 times in a row so that it becomes automatic i can get a pretty similar tone going to buddy's, but playing the whole thing (or anything) at speed and consistently getting that tone? not me.

i think it's also interesting that the tone on the aforementioned darrel mccall stuff of the same era is similar but not quite the same, while there are some of the same ideas and licks. this hints at the elephant in the room when we talk about chasing somebody's tone; the studio's reverb/compression and eq gear.

i have to say that since reading steve fishell's buddy emmons biography about 8 months ago i've been living on a diet of pure emmons, and i love finding new gems. the steve young stuff is so much fun to listen to.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 27 Apr 2023 6:30 am

i think it's also interesting that the tone on the aforementioned darrel mccall stuff of the same era is similar but not quite the same, while there are some of the same ideas and licks. this hints at the elephant in the room when we talk about chasing somebody's tone; the studio's reverb/compression and eq gear.

BINGO!

The Steel Guitar Forum

buddy emmons wth steve young

buddy emmons wth steve young

Wow

Buddy liked it too.....

Steve Young