Jerry Byrd

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 6 Jun 2006 7:30 am

Absolutely agree, Bill. Django was Jethro's biggest inflluence and Django licks are all over his playing. JB has fabulous ideas, intonation, tone, etc. but to my ears, the way he almost invariably internalizes and reacts to the beat is skewed to the more more square and less swinging side of the continuum. I'm ready to stop talking about this now as I start to sound like a crumudgeon and though I have opinions and preferences, really, as a musician, I'm not fit to carry JB's guitar case.

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 6 Jun 2006 7:52 am

Jazz from the Hills - Sweet Georgia Brown

For Educational Purposes Only

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Slants of the Week
Hawaiian Steel Stuff
The Casteels

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 6 Jun 2006 8:02 am

JB has only one solo on the Sweet Georgia Brown cut, it starts at :38

Sounds swingy to me.

Jethro Burns is really in your face on his solo.

But what impresses me most on the cut is Chet Atkins. He really gets a lot of steel guitar sounds out of his whammy bar. What the hell happened to Chet Atkins? His stuff from the 1950's was so amazing. He got pretty white after that.

I'd pay a lot of money to hear this band live.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'

CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 06 June 2006 at 09:04 AM.]

Buck Dilly · Post by **Buck Dilly** » 6 Jun 2006 9:45 am

I am grateful for the introduction to Jethro Burns.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 6 Jun 2006 10:13 am

The cuts with George Barnes are way cool too. Jethro did some of his best work on Four Giants of Swing with Joe Venuti, Eldon Shamblin, and Curly Chalker. Back to Back with Jethro & Tiny Moore is essential too.

Agree, Gerald ...Chet's early electric records and Floyd Cramer's piano licks both showed a lot of steel guitar influences.

Re JB again, his very subtle use of the volume pedal (reverse-wired to get louder on the upstroke) is a key component of his sound. Except when he wanted a violin sound, he always kept the pick attack audible.[This message was edited by Andy Volk on 06 June 2006 at 11:14 AM.]

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 6 Jun 2006 10:47 am

Andy V. You have only expressed your opinion on your slant on Byrds' feel. Nothing wrong with that.

Gerald R. Atkins always said that his best playing was around that period. He was coming right out of the Django meets Merle Travis meets Les Paul meets George Barnes etc. bag and he had no record company geeks telling him what to do. He got fired on a regular basis for playing all that stuff with the hillbilly radio bands he worked with so that did not slow him down. What did stop him from all that cool playing was becoming savvy in the record biz under Steve Shoales from RCA. Chet seemed to begin to think like a record producer and not like a wannabe jazz guitarist in a country boys clothes. He finally ended up as VP for RCA and heading up the Nashville studio in charge of 30 or 40 artists careers and just sucking the adventure out of his playing. He attributes his illness on the stress of that job, but also said that he finally came to appreciate the accomplishments he had with so many artists as their producer. He dedicated his life to playing the guitar and you can really see what a fine player he was by how well he played on those early recordings. That period in the late 50s early 60s where he produced all those artists and still had an RCA recording contract that required him to sometimes put out 3 or 4 records a year caused the content of some of his recording to be very commercial.

No matter what he recorded, be it commercial or not, there is always the underlying genius of Atkins simmering in there and coming through one way or the other. There are some fabulous recordings by him such as "Progressive Pickin'" and then there are some very Muzak sounding ones like "The Most Popular Guitar". His playing never diminshed. It was more or less harnessed by the biz side of what he stuck with--selling records to the general public and not catering to the guitar crowd only.

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 6 Jun 2006 3:54 pm

GEORGE BARNES!

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 6 Jun 2006 4:18 pm

You bet! Barnes was way, way underrated. He comes out of 30s clarinet playing and had a unique sound and feel. A lot of his licks work wonderfully well on lap steel (see how I avoided topic drift (well kind of), Brad?

George Barnes: When Sunny Gets Blue[This message was edited by Andy Volk on 06 June 2006 at 05:19 PM.]

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 6 Jun 2006 6:04 pm

George Barnes! One of my favorite jazz guitarists of all time, if not my all time favorite.

I don't know why he is constantly passed over when lists of prominent jazz guitarists are drawn up. Too country? Too clarinety?

Chris Scruggs · Post by **Chris Scruggs** » 6 Jun 2006 6:11 pm

Andy,

I see your point.

Leon, Noel, Herb, Speedy and Joaquin are definitely "swing" players, they largely play with the voicing of a horn section (though not considered a "swing" player, Don Helms used this aproach, too), while Byrd (of this era) focused on slanting up and down the high three strings and avoided playing too much "on the fret".

I suppose part of it can be atrributed to a difference in A6 and C6 playing (Helms and Murph don't fit this generalization). In my opinion, Byrd swings, but it's the difference between playing "hot" and "cool". I surely don't think Byrd was "stiff" (especially in this period), but coming from Ohio and living in Nashville there was no need for him to be a "horn' player. Roy Wiggins didn't really "swing", but such is regional music.

I mean no disrespect to Noel Boggs or any other A6 players, but Noel Boggs' early work with Bob Wills (Tiffany era) usually sounds a bit "same" to me. You know, that sound of playing alot on the one fret? His post Wills work is great, but his early approach is just a little repetitive. I guess that's why I left A6 for C6/A7...

CS

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 7 Jun 2006 2:30 am

Well, Chris, I listened carefully again and I see your point too ...it's not consistent, but JB get's some real swing feeling going - especially at the end. As I think about it, you nailed it with the regional differnces aspect. The players from the Southwest and especially, those who were California-based, were exposed to a different aesthetic based out of horn bands that valued hot soloing. Byrd came out of Hawaiian music and imposed that aesthetic on early country music creating a new hybrid. He played radio and record dates where there was a lot of pressure to be perfect on the first take.

As he himself said, he never played live dances night after night with the expectation that he would experiment and learn to hold the attention of the crowd with his solos as Bob Wills' steelers had to learn to do. If they had a bad night, heck, there was always the next date plus they had a number of players to help spur them on. You'd better take a damn good solo if you have to follow Junior Barnard!

Your point about Boggs is also well taken. He tended to play first position licks based out of the straight bar in the early years though he was a master at glissing in and out of those chords in a way that really dug into the time. Leon McAuliffe was very stiff in his early recordings and only developed a looser feel later, after the war IMHO. Herb Remington's early background in Hawaiian music also tempered some of the swing feel in his playing but the big band horn section was definitely his muse. Joaquin was in a class by himself. Benny Goodman, Django, and George Shearing's block chord piano were his key influences but you can't discount his early exposure to Sol Ho'opi'i and the other Hawaiian players. You can really hear it in the slower tunes.

Many Hawaiian players, like Jules Ah Se and Billy Hew Len really swung in a very appealing and natural way. You can hear this beat in Hawaiian vocal music so again - regional musical culture tells the tale. Swing all comes back to how you react to the beat ... are you ahead, on, or behind the beat and in what fractions? Billy Hew Len felt that JB over-sustained at times - like a singer singing without breathing. I think that was a hallmark of Byrd's originality that, while it didn't swing, it created this unique and profound thing of perfect intonation and lush feeling that was very beautiful. What a cool instrument we play!

Buck Dilly · Post by **Buck Dilly** » 7 Jun 2006 7:26 am

To Swing...or not to Swing...that is the question. I wish we could ask Lord Buckley.

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 7 Jun 2006 7:38 am

Another must have recording by Homer & Jethro....."Playing It Straight"

Dave Giegerich · Post by **Dave Giegerich** » 7 Jun 2006 9:06 am

Howard,
I agree about Playing It Straight. Swinging mandolin and great rhythm guitar by Homer. I got it on an import double cd a few years ago along with It Ain't Necessarily Square.
I don't have my copy of Jazz From the Hills here, but I think the liner notes imply that they included an alternate take of Indiana March just to prove that Jerry Byrd did in fact hit a bad note once.

Ray Montee · Post by **Ray Montee** » 7 Jun 2006 11:48 am

For those of you who love SWING and the steel guitar artistry of Slim Whitman's original steel player.....(can't recall his name and I do apologize!)...you might want to give a listen to the latest tune on Jerry Byrd's web site on the Jerry's Music Page.
http://www.jerrybyrdfanclub.com/JerrysMusic.htm [This message was edited by Ray Montee on 07 June 2006 at 12:52 PM.]

J D Sauser · Post by **J D Sauser** » 9 Jun 2006 9:14 am

Actually I must confess that Byrd Of Paradise has become one of my preferred albums... but it took some time and resetting my mind... and lot's a listening.
It is a 1-0-1 of how to make a commercial record with (yes, just "with") a steel guitar.
It (the album) is short enough not to bore me.
The steel guitar music is not only well recorded but while appearing simple playing (at first) it is still showing JB's musical genious, taste and style.
It is a great record to pick things off.
Other people (non-steel guitar people) like it too... so you don't have to hide to listen.
The cheesy doo... doo singers? Brother Ray had'em... so what.

... J-D.

Buck Dilly · Post by **Buck Dilly** » 10 Jun 2006 12:27 pm

Nothing Cheesy about the Raylettes.