Another who was the steel player

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 3 Dec 2001 10:26 pm

I was wathing a Bio on Buddy Holly tonight on A&E and in one photo of his "country music" days there was a steel player playing what looked like a Rickenbacker black and white on a folding stand. Does any one know who the player might have been? Jody.

Ray Montee · Post by **Ray Montee** » 3 Dec 2001 11:50 pm

Can't help you there....but on another similar program about six or eight months back, they featured Buck Owens! Lots of 8x10 photo's tacked to a board....one which showed a teenage Buck Owens, standing up and playing a Bakelite Rickenbacher. I wrote and asked him about it and surprisingly enough, Buck responded, and admitted he has no idea WHEN it got away from him and he sure wishes he had it back. Had no idea he had ever played steel guitar until then.

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 4 Dec 2001 12:50 am

Buck Owens played steel guitar? I'd heard that he had been a session guitar player and someone suggested to him that he'd make more money as a singer.[This message was edited by chas smith on 04 December 2001 at 12:50 AM.]

Jussi Huhtakangas · Post by **Jussi Huhtakangas** » 4 Dec 2001 2:36 am

Can't say about that bio, but the steel player, whose name I can connect with Buddy Holly ( at least some way ) is Weldon Myrick. At that time he played with a Lubbock DJ named Ben Hall and hung around with Buddy and Sonny Curtis. Ben Hall wrote "Blue Days, Black Nights" which Buddy Holly recorded for Coral in -56.
Jussi

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 4 Dec 2001 7:45 am

Yep, I have to say that it's most likely Weldon as Buddy often used to sit in with Ben Hall's band.

Jerry Brightman · Post by **Jerry Brightman** » 4 Dec 2001 7:51 am

Buck was a session player in LA before he started singing. I think this was one of the many reasons I enjoyed my time with him. Buck understood music, and always understood what it took to make hit records.

Ray, it doesn't surprise me that Buck would respond to you. That's just another reason
why he is one of the legend's of country
music....too bad the younger generation
doesn't always acknowledge it.

Chas, to my knowledge, he never played
steel, although he did sit down at mine a
couple of times in the studio. Jim Shaw
tells me he is now playing a steel guitar
in his office every once in a while.

Jerry http://www.slidestation.com [This message was edited by Jerry Brightman on 04 December 2001 at 07:53 AM.]

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 4 Dec 2001 10:08 am

As I understand, Buck played lead guitar on a lot of Tommy Collins' sessions. Tommy was no slouch himself, so Buck was probably even better! Also, I had heard that he played steel for awhile before Jay McDonald came into the band.

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 4 Dec 2001 4:05 pm

THE Tommy Collins of the famed "Opal You Asked Me"? Great song...

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 4 Dec 2001 6:44 pm

Yeah buck was one of Capitol's guitar slingers in the mid to late 1960s, especially with Jimmy Bryant losing his contract in '56.
Buck played guitar on sides by the Farmer Boys (I think), Gene Vincent, the aforementioned Tommy Collins, Wanda Jackson and some others that I can't think of just now.
Buck had a guitar album out on 1968 or so, I've never seen or heard a copy, so anyone who has it, please feel free to chime in on this topic.

Ben Hall still has a studio and is apparently still active from what I heard.

Aaron Schiff · Post by **Aaron Schiff** » 4 Dec 2001 11:09 pm

I don't know the steel player with Buddy Holly, but Buck Owens definitely played with Tommy Collins and I think he played on some of the Capitol recordings of Gene Vincent.

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 5 Dec 2001 10:58 pm

Thanks guys. Good info. Jody.

Bobbe Seymour · Post by **Bobbe Seymour** » 8 Dec 2001 1:24 pm

Cliff Gallop was the guitar player on the Gene Vincent Capitol recordings. The executive producer was Bill Davis, Father of a previously very active forum member. Tommy Collin's recording of "Peanut" was recorded with Buck Owens playing guitar and got to #1 in the charts of the time. Bill Davis also wrote "Be Bop-A Lou-La". Yep, facts, I went to school with Gene Vincent,(Gene Craddock then). He and I first played together in the high school auditorium for the school populus wearing blue berrets. From that point on the group was known as " The Blue Caps". Small triva , if anyone really cares.
bObbe, the historian
(the second letter is a zero)

Hey sMiley,think bOb is gonna' get me?

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 8 Dec 2001 5:33 pm

Bobbe, the 1950s Blue Caps on the Capitol sessions started with Cliff Gallup, (killer picker who cut a low key country album in 1966), then Johnny Meeks came in, and in 1959 Jerry Merritt (who passed away this year), was the studio guitarist.

Buck was the rhythm guy for a session, I think when Cliff G. was still with the group.
Hey Bobbe you knew Gene before he mashed up his leg, not a lot of people can say that!

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 8 Dec 2001 9:01 pm

Bobbe,,,,If anyone is out to get you,,he has to go through Smiley and myself first,,and that "aint" an easy chore my friend.

"One of The Good Fellows"

Jussi Huhtakangas · Post by **Jussi Huhtakangas** » 10 Dec 2001 1:55 am

Jason, the rhythm player on Vincent's -56 sessions was first Willie Harris, then Paul Peek. Buck was in California then and these were recorded in Nashville in Owen Bradley's studio. In fact Ken Nelson had reserved a studio crew, including Buddy Harman and Grady Martin, to handle the session. But after hearing Gliff Gallup and the boys blast away, Ken Nelson realized he didn't have to use the studio musicians. Interesting thought though, how would Be Bop A Lula sound if it had been Grady Martin??!
Jussi

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 10 Dec 2001 6:30 pm

Buck was the rhythm guy on the June 19-20th, 1957 Blue Cap sessions at Capitol Studios Hollywood. As there were eight tracks recorded and Buck appeared on only four, I would assume he was there for only one of the dates.

Jussi, that's an interesting thought about Grady Martin, but there's many who argue that he wasn't really the guy who did the hot breaks with the Rock N' Roll Trio, while others insist that it was indeed him and Burlinson had to sit the session out.

Back to the main topic, I've done some checking and I reclon Jussi is right and it would most likely be Weldon on steel with Buddy.

------------------
The future ain't what it used to be

Jussi Huhtakangas · Post by **Jussi Huhtakangas** » 11 Dec 2001 5:07 am

Jason you picked my favorite topics here with Grady and those Johnny Burnette recordings. ( please bear with us, though we're getting off topic )I can assure you, that it was Grady doing those leads, even though Paul Burlison has been usually given credit on them. Paul played lead on the first NY session, which produced Tear It Up and Oh Baby Baby. Rest of the sessions were done in Nashville. You only have to hear Grady's solo recording of "When My Dreamboat Comes Home", it's pure Rock'n' roll Trio minus the vocals. Decca and Coral rockabilly recordings are full of other examples too, for example Don Woody and ( a bit back to the topic ) Buddy Holly's unreleased version of "Rock Around With Ollie Vee". More so, it can be said, that the so famous Rock'n'roll Trio sound was actually a Nashville A-teams rockabilly sound, Grady, Bob Moore and Buddy Harman. Most likely Dorsey Burnette wasn't playing bass on all tracks either. I don't think the producer would have let him sing ( Sweet Love On My Mind ) and play upright bass at the same time. Remember this was a big national record company doing a session with a bunch of troublemakin' young punks from Memphis

( Elvis used to call them The Dalton Brothers and change the side of the street if they walked by ). Then again, Paul was the Trios original guitar player and played on their biggest hit, so nothing can be taken away from him. And he is the sweetest guy too, always ready to hang out and talk to the fans at the rockabilly shows.

Chris DeBarge · Post by **Chris DeBarge** » 11 Dec 2001 10:45 am

Sorta back to topic...
Buck plays lead on his Rockabilly stuff, like "Rhythm and Booze" and "Hot Dog". Of course he was billed, as most of you probably know, as Corky Jones. He does some great picking on the Tommy Collins stuff too, like "All of the monkeys ain't in the zoo".

And Jussi, I can't believe some people still think it's Paul Burlison on all that stuff. Side by side comparisons make it so obvious which tracks are Burlison, which are Grady Martin(RIP).

Yeah, the Burnette brothers sure had a reputation for beating the crap out of just about anybody who looked at them sideways.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 11 Dec 2001 4:06 pm

Heh, yeah in one of the Roy Orbison bios there's a story about them sizing up Roy, but the Perkins brothers were on the same show with Carl, so there was somewhat of a stand-off.
It might sound a little strange, but I do like the Dorsey's pop material as well, but being a Rick Nelson fan I suppose I'm ready for it.

Regards to Coral, now there's a label that had some interesting material, despite the label's honchos having no idea of what rock or rockabilly really was.
Jussi, what I dig about Grady is that he could do hot jazz swing, then rock like a maniac, I mean this guy...... oh, what a loss!

Jussi Huhtakangas · Post by **Jussi Huhtakangas** » 11 Dec 2001 11:43 pm

One more for Grady; he was one of the most versatile guitar players of our time, just play "El Paso", "Rockabilly Boogie" and "Pork Chop Stomp" in a row and you'll get the idea. And since he was the actual producer on thousands of recordings coming out of Nashville, his influence to the music we love, goes far beyond his guitar playing.

Weldon Myrick · Post by **Weldon Myrick** » 29 Dec 2001 8:40 pm

Hi Jody, Buddy Holly loved Country Music and especially the Steel Guitar. I met Buddy through Sonny Curtis. Buddy would sit in with the Ben Hall Band and at times some of us would jam at Buddy's house. I didn't see the biography you asked about, but I did play a black Rickenbacher with white plates and a stand that I used occasionally.
Sonny & Buddy asked me to join them playing dates at school houses, etc. around the area, but I would have to move to Lubbock. I declined because I was still in high school.
Fun times, good memories. Thanks for asking.
Weldon Myrick

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 1 Jan 2002 4:04 pm

Hiya Weldon, thanks for dropping in on the topic, I've been mainly offline during the holiday period but when I saw that this topic was still around I figured someone must have posted recently.
Great to have your input on the topic, Buddy and your good self are some of my musical heroes (in all fairness though, I do have a lot of musical heroes here on the forum).