Oregon's Bob Sies Shines with Billy Champion's Western Swing

[Al Gershen]

Hi SGF:

The opening act to the Asleep at the Wheel concert last night (see my Jeremy Wakefield posting on this date) was our local western swing band, "Billy Champion and the Champions of Western Swing".

Their feature pedal steel player was Bob Sies, playing a Mullen double 10 thru a Peavey amp.

Here's a URL to a photo of Bob playing his pedal steel:

http://www.rvi.net/~aldg/Aldg's%20Photos/With%20JVC%20GC-S1U/Rogue%20Theater%20July%202000/Billy%20Champion's%20Band/The%20Show/Bob%20on%20Steel.JPG

Bob is a very good friend of mine and I always enjoy hearing him play pedal steel. He practices often on the instrument and it really shows in his playing.

During their part of the concert, Bob played twin lead harmony parts with lead guitarist, Earl Finley, a former member of the Bob Wills band from the 1950s.

Billy Champion's band was formed shortly after the Oregon Western Swing Association (OWSA) was organized, I believe in late 1999. It performs often at the OWSA monthly meetings that are held at the first Sunday of each month in Medford, Oregon.

My URL to all my photo of Billy's performance are at:

http://www.rvi.net/~aldg/Aldg's%20Photos/With%20JVC%20GC-S1U/Rogue%20Theater%20July%202000/Billy%20Champion's%20Band/

Enjoy the photos!

------------------
Regards,
Al Gershen
Grants Pass, Oregon. USA
Fender 1000 (1957),
Fender PS 210 (1972) &
Gibson Electraharp EH-820
(1962)
Pictures of PS 210 &
EH-820 at http://www.rvi.net/~aldg

[Al Gershen]

Hi SGF:

Here's a followup film photo I took of pedal steeler Bob Sies with Asleep at the Wheel's Ray Benson backstage at the July 2001 concert at the Rogue Theater in Grants Pass, OR.



Bob isn't online but maybe his photo on the SGF will induce him to go out and buy an MSN TV (fka WebTV) unit and join the 21th Century.

I hope that you SGF members who know Bob will contact him and tell him about his photos. (I don't get to see him that often as we live about 50 miles apart here in southern Oregon.)

Regards,
Al Gershen

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Al Gershen on 16 September 2001 at 09:22 PM.]</p></FONT>