The Steel Guitar Forum

Let's not forget about Freddy Tavares. Plenty of early of roadwork, and he recorded with everyone from Bing Crosby to Elvis Presley, The Sons Of The Pioneers to Tennessee Ernie, Henry Mancini and Lawrence Welk! And his intro on Looney Tunes may be the only steel guitar that some people have ever heard. Oh yeah, he also worked for Leo Fender.

Dickey Overby too?

And Bert Rivera

Before we go any farther maybe we should better define "unknown" as it relates to this thread.
I'm an "unknown" player. Freddy Tavares, Dickey Overby, and Bert Rivera are "known."
If we are talking only general public here, then we are all virtually unknown, even the Franklins and the Greens, etc.

Barry, you are not totally unknown. I'd say I've known of you for somewhere around 40 years. Been a while since I heard you play, but I was always very impressed. I've been in Nashville for over ten years now, and I'd rank you up with all but a very select few that I've heard around town. But San Jose was a pretty hot place for pickers back in those days. Hope you still get to gig every now and then.

Shorty, as always, you're much too kind. If you don't mind my asking, how are you finding Nashville?

Barry, I've kinda got burned out, but that is as much because of health issues as anything else. I've been contemplating a move to a dryer clime, but I will have to wait another year. Just got a new hip, so maybe this winter will be better. Have not played out for about 4 years, but really came to be a song writer instead of a picker, so what playing I did was a plus. Traditional country does not happen much in town. I talked to Pete Grant and was considering the Auburn area, but I need to get more $ out of my house in order to afford moving there. My brother wants me to come to Lodi, but I may go back to Redding. Time will tell. For what it's worth I loved seeing Carlos and Jernigan work their gig downtown. Truly great twin stuff but he said he had trouble keeping up at times. I got some good video which Carco said he would put on his upcoming web site, but I haven't checked back since I got out of the hospital. Hit me with a PM with your email address and I will tell you more. My PM isn't sending correctly right now.

Shorty, check your PMs..

Diane Diekman, in answer to your question, Doug Campbell died of cancer a few years ago. He can still be seen occasionally on re-runs of Jude and Jody Furniture store television commercials.

Doug originally came to Oklahoma City in 1964 after hitching a ride on our bus after we did a series of shows in Nebraska. At the time he was primarily a guitar player but later became a fine steel player.

Doug is another of the good guys I remember from the past who have passed on.

A list as this is a forever evolving thread and never complete because I could point out many that you steel pickers know by now but failed to get mentioned. I don't think a complete list is possible but I think the public quit seeing steel players names and fewer steel players played on records about 1972 when RCA, Columbia and Decca/MCA bowed out of the recording business and just handled paper work and money. They all bowed out mainly due to one album that was recorded in Garland, Tx by Willie Nelson and mixed dry as bone by Texas engineer Phil York and broke every Nashville rule but yet it went triple platinum. The outlaw era had begun. Nothing has been the same since. BTW, the late Tom Morrell played the steel on that album. They recorded a second album at Autumn Studio in Garland,Tx that also went platinum. Only a handful of Country artist like George Strait and Alan Jackson have kept steel guitar alive in mainstream music. They have just about retired now. Any record now with a steel guitar kickoff, turnaround and takeout is sold out of the trunks of musicians cars or from a bus if they can afford one.
For that reason there is no more idols of steel guitar. With that said guys like Tommy White, Paul Franklin and Mike Johnson are solid gold in my book and just as great as the old masters.

Charles Curtis wrote:Didn't Sonny Curtis make in the "Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame".

Different Sonny Curtis.

Mr. J.W. Adams, What a great post. I so much enjoyed reading the names of pickers my Dad used to talk about. Some of them I met when I was a kid. Did not make any sense then but has as the years have gone on. My Dad was a fiddle player and a very good vocalist. He was born in 1920 and did WWII and so in the 40's and 50's was doing music of that period. A lot of the guys and bands that you named he knew. One name that I did not see was Keith Coleman. Fiddle player that Dad hung out with. Another steel player from my area was Ben Jack. A great picker and a nice guy. Thank you very much for your time and efforts for this post. J.R. Rose

Dave Knight should be on the list. Played in Southern California, the Twin Cities, and the Missouri area.

Anyone know what ever happened to Dave?

Jess Hurt from Toledo, Ohio. He has been gone now for a few years. He rubbed elbows with the best. Performed at ISGC. Was big friends with Scotty.

My good friend Dave Ristrim. Plays for a not-exactly-unknown major artist now, but he has admirably managed to retain his privacy and humility. Another friend, Mike Hoaglin, is an excellent steeler and Tele picker who I worked with back in the 90’s. Dave Wren is a great steeler who plays for a very good California band called Random Strangers.

There have been and still are so many! Duane Wong (rip), maybe not so unknown Joe Goldmark - still going strong, Chris Ivey (rip)...and a few who are so unknown even I didn’t know who they were when I was jamming with them.

Anybody remember Harley Brendal? I may have the spelling wrong, but he was from the Billings Montana area, if I'm not mistaken.