Nice article on Tommy Dodd

David Cutter · Post by **David Cutter** » 12 Sep 2004 9:56 am

There is a really nice article on Tommy Dodd, “Country gentleman's steel guitar hits all notes”, on the front page of the Arts and Entertainment section of the Atlanta Journal today. Way to go Tommy.
Hopefully this link will work.
David
http://www.accessatlanta.com/music/content/music/0904/12dodd.html

Donna Dodd · Post by **Donna Dodd** » 12 Sep 2004 5:25 pm

David,
Thanks for the link. Here's the text of the article for anyone who doesn't want to register with the AJC: (side note - not sure I like someone referring to my husband as a giant scoop of bubble-gum ice cream!

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Country gentleman's steel guitar hits all notes

By NICK MARINO
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/09/04

The loose network of bands, producers, record label brass, talent buyers, publicity mavens and other assorted scene-makers who constitute the Atlanta music community enjoy passing the time by sharing, in hipster whispers, the news about who's hot.

Lately, the name on their lips has been Tommy Dodd.

BILLY SMITH II/Staff
(ENLARGE)
Pedal steel guitarist Tommy Dodd has been heating up the scene at 10 High.

Dodd is 55 years old with white hair, a pink face and an ample midsection. He has played the pedal-steel guitar for 42 years, having learned the instrument as a boy in Alaska, and he has recently begun a regular gig Tuesday nights at the Virginia-Highland basement nightclub 10 High, a kind of home base for the industry crowd.

It is there that Dodd, along with a crack band of local ringers, leads the audience through an event called KaraOkeeDokee, a country karaoke night. The evening is a spinoff of 10 High's successful Metal-Some Mondays, which allow all comers to sing hard-rock songs in front of a live band. For KaraOkeeDokee, Dodd's band, the Best Westerns, plays traditional country by the genre's one-named heavyweights — Hank, Merle, Patsy, Loretta, Garth — and the patrons howl along.

"You know what's surprising about that," Dodd said one recent Tuesday afternoon, "is those kids — and I call them kids 'cause I'm the senior citizen down there — those guys and girls come down there and sing songs that are older than they are."

Another surprising thing is Dodd's pedigree, which is what has the clubgoers in a minor tizzy. Dodd is almost certainly the only musician in town who has played a Super Bowl (the 1994 halftime show at the Georgia Dome, with Clint Black, Travis Tritt, Tanya Tucker and the Judds), a watermelon festival (in the late 1970s, opening for Jerry Lee Lewis) and a 1973 Dove Awards ceremony featuring JD Sumner and the Stamps Quartet, with backup vocals by Elvis Presley.

"Look at the goose bumps," he said, holding out his arm. "They're still on me."

Dodd's arm, just then, was protruding from a fluorescent pink T-shirt, which made him look like a giant scoop of bubble-gum ice cream. He was standing in the basement of his 4,800-square-foot residence in Kennesaw, just down the hall from his home studio, where he recorded his most recent album, "In the Steel of the Night." (Dodd is a big believer in puns. At one point he presented a guest with a coffee mug depicting a pedal-steel and the words "Steelin Time.")

Dodd sat down at his instrument and began a brief tutorial. The pedal-steel guitar is, he said, "basically a mechanical nightmare." You almost need to have an engineering degree to play one, which is fortunate for Dodd, because he does.

His particular guitar has two necks with 10 strings each, which he plays with both hands; eight pedals at the bottom, which he plays with his feet; and eight levers residing in the instrument's undercarriage, which he plays with his knees.

Dodd and his wife — well, it was really his wife, he admitted when pressed — came up with a bumper sticker that says, "Pedal-steel players: the only people who can play with both hands, both feet, both knees and chew gum at the same time."

The pedal-steel is known for having a weepy sound, though Dodd tries to get more colors and tones from his instrument than the typical steel player. When he's not playing his Tuesday night gig, he likes to play the blues at Darwin's in Marietta.

He also occasionally sits in with the zydeco/funk band Zydefunk, and he has a band called Timeless Highway that can play pretty much anything. (In October, Timeless Highway will open for country veteran Ray Price at the Georgia Mountain Fair in Hiawassee.)

Dodd also does some work as a commercial real estate sales agent, though he says he doesn't work as hard at it as he could.

By this time, Dodd decided that he needed to head down to the club, so he hopped in his brown van and made the long drive into town. Upon arrival he and the rest of his band tried to learn three new songs — George Strait's "One Night at a Time," Sammy Kershaw's "She Don't Know She's Beautiful" and Travis Tritt's "Country Club" — well enough to add them to the 80-some already in their repertoire.

The patrons began to file in around 9 o'clock, and soon commenced the karaoke. After a woman in a tank top delivered a particularly memorable version of Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" while holding a glass of red wine, a bearded man calling himself Gordo the Bull took the stage.

He writes songs and plays a little pedal-steel himself, it turns out, and is a major fan of Dodd's. On this night, he sang an impassioned version of the erotic Charlie Rich song "Behind Closed Doors."

During the 10:30 p.m. set break, Dodd, a teetotaler, was nursing his sweet tea by the bar when Gordo the Bull approached.

"I Googled you," he said. "I found a picture of you with Buddy Emmons," the legendary pedal-steel player.

Dodd confirmed that Emmons was indeed a friend.

"He's awesome," Gordo said with volcanic enthusiasm. "But you're awesome."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Mike Bagwell · Post by **Mike Bagwell** » 13 Sep 2004 6:46 am

Congrats Tommy, I hope your boss doesn't read the part about "not working as hard at it as he could".

I would love to hear you play with Zydefunk, if I ever get caught up around here I'm gonna make the drive.

Mike

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 13 Sep 2004 7:08 am

Those of us lucky enough to know T. Dodd know that it would take the entire newspaper to fully do justice to what kind of great person he is.

Very nice article.

Wade Medlock · Post by **Wade Medlock** » 13 Sep 2004 7:12 am

I think the article was a great tribute to a great steel guitarist and entertainer. Tommy, you were already an Atlanta legend, and this article just memorializes it! Great pictures, too! Way to go, Tommy! We're all proud to know ya.

Charlie Vaughn · Post by **Charlie Vaughn** » 13 Sep 2004 7:17 am

Nice article Tommy and Donna. I enjoyed reading it and you are deserving of the nice things they said. Hope to see you soon

Chuck S. Lettes · Post by **Chuck S. Lettes** » 13 Sep 2004 9:36 am

What a nice article! Congratulations, Tommy. I hope to see you in Dallas.
Chuck

Tommy Dodd · Post by **Tommy Dodd** » 13 Sep 2004 4:27 pm

My thanks to all of you for your kind words concerning this article. But,I would like to explain a little bit about how this writing came about.

I have been very fortunate to be very busy this summer season. Playing with 3 different bands and doing some session work has kept me really hopping! One of the venues I've been doing for a couple months is the classic country karakoe night at a club called Ten High here in downtown Atlanta. The promoters had contacted the AJC newspaper to come out and have a listen to the band and singers that were having a great time pretending to be Conway, Loretta, Willie, etc. for the few minutes they were on stage. Well, evidently the writer chose to go in a different direction with the piece, henceforth, the article about yours truly. Maybe he just thought that I should be in a retirement home or something close to that and was surprised to see me relating to the younger crowd we seem to be drawing for the karakoe nite. (Maybe that's why Donna is always having to tell me to act my age. No fun in that!)

At any rate, I hope the article brings attention to the venue and more people will come out for a fun nite of country music. I am very humbled by the article and my friends above comments and feel extremely blessed to be getting to play as much as I am. At any age.

Thanks again.[This message was edited by Tommy Dodd on 15 September 2004 at 10:38 AM.]

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 14 Sep 2004 6:05 pm

Hi Tommy, great article. You deserve it. Was nice to see you and your beautiful Donna in St. Louis. Jody.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 15 Sep 2004 2:03 am

A really nice artical Tommy, congratulations on the recognition!

......and btw, I sure hope that IVAN is "tamed" before he reaches Atlanta!

www.genejones.com

JAMES BANKS · Post by **JAMES BANKS** » 15 Sep 2004 5:38 am

Nice article Tommy. Thanks Donna for sharing. Hey Tommy, if the writer had gone at that angle, you and the steel guitar wouldn't have gotten such good publicity. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to seeing you guys in Dallas.

James

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 15 Sep 2004 9:59 am

Way to go, guy. The 10 High is cool, isn't it? Kind of like playing a loud party in somebody's basement!

------------------
Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 15 Sep 2004 10:46 am

Hey, Tommy, I read the article. Way to go, buddy! Brett, Emmons S-10, Morrell lapsteel

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 15 Sep 2004 1:55 pm

Hey Tommy, cool article!

After jammin with you in St Louis, I am not surprised the writer focused in on you.
You are an uncommonly strong and versatile player, and all around fun guy.

Bill Cunningham · Post by **Bill Cunningham** » 15 Sep 2004 5:53 pm

Very Nice! Congratulations on your exposure TD.

------------------
"Gimme a steel guitar, 2 or 3 fiddles and a Texas rhythm section that can swing"..W. Nelson

Bob Strum · Post by **Bob Strum** » 16 Sep 2004 3:55 am

Hey Tommy, ain't it great to have a wife that pushed you into this business!! God bless you, you have worked hard and deserve all the accolades. I love to see your energy as you attack the steel.
Your friend, Bob

Roger Crawford · Post by **Roger Crawford** » 17 Sep 2004 11:53 am

"a large scoop of bubble-gum ice cream"....you gotta love it! Way to go TD.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 17 Sep 2004 2:12 pm

Bubble gum .... hhhmmmm
explains why he plays those "POP" tunes so well LOL