Dennis Mathes?

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 25 Aug 2002 10:42 pm

Does anyone have info or know if steel player Dennis Mathes is online?

I've seen an online bio:

Dennis Mathes
Birthdate - March 25, 1934
Birthplace - Jonesboro, Arkansas
Current Residence - Jonesboro, Arkansas

Dennis Mathes is an acomplished songwriter and musician. He spent his early
music career on the west coast where he did session work for Ion Records in
Hollywood, California. He worked with such notables as Freddie Hart, Eddy
Dean, Ray Coble, and Wynn Stewart.
On visits back home he also did studio work at the legendary Alley Records
studio in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He recorded with Rockabilly legends Larry
Donn Gillihan, Bobby Lee Trammel, and Leon Gambill to name a few.
After returning to Arkansas he worked with the Arkansas Opry playing steel
guitar and continued to do session work back in Arkansas. Dennis's talents
aren't limited to the steel guitar, he also plays bass, piano, and
harmonica. In the past few years he has teamed up with fellow Arkansas
musicians Sonny Ackerman, Dave Pearson, and Ray Dacus to form the Big Creek
Band.
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It seems that he was also involved with Valley band the Roustabouts in the 1960s, in California, the group later played the Nashville West and some recordings from a latter version of the group with Clarence White (Byrds, Kentucky Colonels, Muleskinner, etc) may show up on the upcoming CW box set.
Would like to contact Dennis about his time in California if possible.

Bob I. Williams · Post by **Bob I. Williams** » 26 Aug 2002 7:54 am

Jason I've been tring to contact him too. I was playing lead in a group in L.A. in the 60's when I bought my first steel. Denny asked me to come over to his house and tune it and show me the basics. I went there about 5 times. he got me pointed in the right direction. Last I heard,he went to arkansas. Wehad a mutuial friend, Glen Brown fine bass and singer. He may have moved to nebraska. I'd like to locate both of them. BOB

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 26 Aug 2002 9:46 am

Hey Jason,
I've got a CD of Tex Williams and the Western Caravan. Near the end of it there's a couple of tunes recorded live in Las Vegas in 1960. One of the tunes is "My Window Faces the South" in which he calls out the band members names. It's got Denny Mathes on steel and Glen Campbell on lead guitar. He was a cool player for sure.

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Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney tuning.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 26 Aug 2002 3:18 pm

Bob and Jerry, thanks for your input, I'd say thatr we all might have the same guy in mind, especially Bob.
Bob I'll email you seperate from this topic, I'm going to try and track down Dennis via the website I got his mini-biography from.

Jerry, that was a great call.
I know the Tex Williams LP of which you speak, I remembered Glen Campbell, but totally forgot about the steel player. I think some of those tracks are on a Williams' compilation, I haven't heard the full LP for a long time.

Thanks for the info, I will update you if and when I get more on Mr. Mathes.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 26 Aug 2002 3:54 pm

Check out Denny's fine playing on some of the tracks on Johnny Bush' "Green Snakes..." CD!

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Roger Rettig
Emmons LGIII(8+6), MCI (8+4) and Fender Stringmaster (0+0)

Louie Hallford · Post by **Louie Hallford** » 26 Aug 2002 4:16 pm

Jason,the Texas Steel Guitar Association placed a Denny Mathis in its Hall of Fame at its March 2002 show.A super player.

The fact that you mentioned him playing on a Johnny Bush CD made me think he might be the same player you are trying to locate, as Denny lives in San Antonio Texas which is near Johnny Bush's home.

I don't have an Email but his address is/was
1627 Basse Rd San Antonio Tx. 78213
I also have a phone number and will send it to you if you wish to email me.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 26 Aug 2002 4:18 pm

R.R. that might be another Denny Mathes?

Emmett Roch emailed me about a fellow Texan Denny Mathes who lives in San Antonio, and was recently inducted into the Texas Western
Swing Hall of Fame. According to Emmett, he's the house pedal steeler at "Fiesta Texas" and plays a 4-neck Fender StringMaster with an excellent neo-rockabilly group called "Two Tons of Steel.
I suspect that the Texas based Mr. Mathes is indeed another, but can't ay for sure yet.
Thankyou guys, and this group Two Tons of Steel sounds mighty interesting too!

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 26 Aug 2002 4:21 pm

Louie, I think we posted at the same time there, but like you said.. probably a case of two D. Mathes.

Louie Hallford · Post by **Louie Hallford** » 26 Aug 2002 5:03 pm

I noted on our earlier posts that we have different spellings on the last names which probably indicates we are talking about different people.

Oh well I am glad we tried.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 26 Aug 2002 5:44 pm

The "Tex Williams At The Mint" vinyl features KENNY Mathis on steel & Glen Campbell guitar..... www.genejones.com

B Bailey Brown · Post by **B Bailey Brown** » 26 Aug 2002 6:30 pm

Jason,

I think Louie Hallford may be right on this one. Denny Mathis is defiantly one of the legendary steel guitar players in Texas, and he has been in San Antonio for many years. If my memory serves me correctly he did spend some time on the road with Ray Price, and maybe Hank Thompson (I am not sure about that one) many years ago. He was inducted into the Texas Steel Guitar Hall Of Fame last year, and rightly so! He is one of the players in San Antonio that the rest of us look at, shake our heads, and go …”WOW!!”

As to your original question, the spelling of the name is different, so maybe there is another player with a similar name. Denny has been in San Antonio so long I just assumed he was FROM here, but it might be the same guy. I don’t associate any of the credits you mentioned with “Denny”, but he has been a lot of places and done a lot of things. Sorry, it wasn’t my week to watch him back then!

I know that Denny’s wife occasionally monitors the forum and maybe she can clear this up. I think we are probably talking about two different players…but then I have been wrong more than I have been right!

B. Bailey Brown

Bob I. Williams · Post by **Bob I. Williams** » 27 Aug 2002 8:40 am

There are two Dennis Mathis, One in San Antonio is much younger I called him as I thought it was the Calif. DEnny. So I guess we have to look around in Ark. I am sure when he finds out about these posts,he will be on here. BOB

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 27 Aug 2002 6:40 pm

Hey Gene,
My CD which has the live cuts from Las Vegas credits Denny Mathes not "Kenny" Mathes on steel. Denny was active on the west coast at that time and Tex was a west coast artist so you probably have a misprint on your album.

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Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney tuning.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 28 Aug 2002 3:06 am

Jerry....thanks for the correction. I have it on a "reel to reel "without credits" (remember those), and I was going by the names given during the live performance. It has always sounded like Kenny to me, but I was hearing it through too many years of a 15" JBL at close range.

Gene

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 28 Aug 2002 7:31 am

At the time of the Tex Williams recording, Denny was on Billy Gray's band, and did the TW album as a one-shot deal. He was about 19 years old at the time. Johnny Bush got Denny the job with Billy Gray, since he and Denny were bandmates in the Texas Tophands band out of San Antonio.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 28 Aug 2002 7:54 am

A big hats off to Herb Steiner, nice post Herb.

David Farlow · Post by **David Farlow** » 28 Aug 2002 9:41 am

I am a new member to the forum and haven't played for several years. Hope to get another pedal steel again soon. Anyway, back in the early 70's I took some Pedal steel lessons from a Denny Mathis in San Antonio TX. Have always wondered if he was still playing and where he was located.Remember that he had played with Ray Price at some point in his career as already stated.

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Jim Bob Sedgwick · Post by **Jim Bob Sedgwick** » 31 Aug 2002 6:12 pm

I saw Denny playing at George's Roundup in Long Beach in the mid sixties. Killer player then and I'm sure he's better now. He was with Billy Gray at the time for a one nighter there. It's a shame that the public hasn't a clue as to who Billy Gray was. The comment from the IP (ignorant public) in the club was: He just plays Hank Thompson music. It was Billy's arrangements that had one heck of a lot to do with Hank's Band Sound.

Carl West · Post by **Carl West** » 1 Sep 2002 12:17 pm

Right on James . . about the Thompson stuff.
and seems I remember selling a Fender 1000 to
Dennis a long time ago when I went to the Fender 2000.