Anyone see Buddy E. on Prarie Home Companion last night???

[Mark Eaton]

All Buddy content aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the beginning segment with Garrison and Vince Gill. I have never been to Nashville and got a little chunk of education there.

[Greg Simmons]

Yes, I would've liked to have seen Buddy featured exclusively on a tune or two; also it would've been cool to have the Big "E" instead of Vince Gill (and again, I do admire Vince's musical talents) do that intro interview/walkabout thing w/Garrison Keillor, as they made the rounds of Tootsie's, Broadway etc. that woulda been a great trip down memory lane:)

I figure any time the pedal steel is featured at all in any kind of network broadcast is a bonus

[Ron Whitfield]

Not enuf Emmy Lou!

But, being that it was mostly a blue grass show, I'd say the dobro/steel imbalance was about right.

[Charles Davidson]

Sorry I may have ruffeled some feathers by the statement[Not enough Buddy,too much Jerry]I'm a HUGE Jerry Douglas fan,have maybe 90 percent of his work,BUT you see him very often all over the tube. How often do you see Buddy?VERY SELDOM !

[Mark Treepaz]

Anyone know if this episode is slated for re-bradcast anytime? I was playing a gig and missed it!

[Herb Steiner]

What a loaded question! I refuse to answer anyway since I didn't see the show.

Neil Flanz called me yesterday and commented that Buddy didn't play much, but that Jerry Douglas is the Buddy Emmons of reso guitar. I agreed with him completely, since I've felt that way ever since 1979 when I first heard and met Jerry D.

BTW, bluegrass music... I'm a former 'grasser... is extremely difficult to perform well, and the level of professional bluegrass musicians' expertise on their instruments is very, very high. So high that I got out of bluegrass, in fact. IMHO, of course.

[Charles Davidson]

You are right Herb,Some of the greatest pickers in any style of music are the bluegrassers.That point is easy to make with guys like Jerry,Tony Rice,Sam Bush,Earl,etc.etc.

[Will Yardley]

Last night PBS had a live Prarie Home Companion show for New Years at the Ryman in Nashville. I saw this great looking Zum and when they panned up, none other than Buddy was sitting behind it. His tone was impeccable....the problem is that they never let him really play.

I heard Buddy play on another PHC (I think the Cleveland one), and he did several instrumentals, as well as some more prominant backup work. It just happened to be on in the car, and I remember being surprised that he was playing the show.

I believe it's this one:
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/prog ... ndex.shtml

you can hear the show online.

I only heard a little bit of the NYE show, but it sounded like they had a LOT of pretty big names on the show, so it's not surprising that a number of people (including Buddy) didn't get to play as much as they probably deserve to.

He was sitting right up front (though I don't think that one was televised) - a few of the pictures:

[Doug Beaumier]

Yes, Buddy was featured more on that earlier Prairie Home Companion show, and he played at least one instrumental. It's too bad he was not allowed to play as much on the 3-hour New Years Eve show. What he did play sounded great.

[Mike Wheeler]

Thanks for the great pics, Will. Buddy was lookin' pretty daper that day.

[Will Yardley]

Thanks for the great pics, Will. Buddy was lookin' pretty daper that day. :)

Just so it's clear, those pictures are just pics from the PHC site (the link I gave up above) - I didn't go to the show or take them myself or anything. But yeah - great pictures.