The Steel Guitar Forum

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I read or heard somewhere, I think on the Forum, that Catfish had passed away.

It's a coincidence that I recently found two tapes of steel lessons I took from him in the mid-70's. I remember him bumming lots of cigarettes from me. If I'm not mistaken, I think I gave him cash and beer as payment for the lesson. He was, or hopefully still is, a character.

That Bobby Pierce thing on KSEY is a bit eerie Buddy, especially given that Bobby wasn't that well known on a national basis.

Hi Paul... You're right about the Wilmington/Braidwood area. We've had two unsolved murders down here in the last several years, one in each city, and a number of armed robberies lately. That's got to be some pretty nasty stats given that the population of each town is only about 6000. I'll have to try to make it up to Palos one of these Wednesdays if I get a chance. Who is Ernie playing with now? I remember him when he was just a kid.

Those are some great album cover pix Michael. Brings back a lot of memories. I remember JJ Dickens when he played out in the Ottawa area. He also played here in Braidwood at Doc Wheatley's club (aka Sword's Inn). He had an all white band by then though. Do you know whatever happened to him? And anybody know what happened to Bobbie Thomas?

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Whoa ... feels like I've had a few drinks...

From the April 18, 2013 edition of the "Chicago Reader:"

Very cool, thanks for posting that picture from the Reader. My step-father Arthur Brown ran the Double R Ranch. I have very fond memories of that place. A bar that served drinks from 7 AM to 3 AM 5 days a week, and 7 AM to 5 AM the other 2 nights. I think they had roughly 30 chili-mac combo's on their menu; probably less, but it seemed like a lot back then. I used to hand out lunch coupons there in the loop when I was a kid.

I don't remember much about the Sundowners as I was a teenager/metal-head and didn't get country music at the time. I do remember Joel Daley the newsman sitting with them on several occasions, and they always treated me very nicely. Parts of the Patrick Swayze movie "Next of Kin" were filmed in there, and they wound up having the cast party there when the film was completed. The Sundowners played it, and Swayze actually sat in and sang and I think he might've played a little harmonica too. The Double R Ranch wasn't the same once it moved to Franklin Park.

I wish I had found this thread earlier. I played a few gigs in Harvey IL in the summer of 1979 with Neeld Counts. That led to a few gigs at Bert's Pinto Lounge in Tinley Park in 1980. I met Mike Rio, Paul Warnick, and others there. Mike is a fabulous steel player IMO, but one night there, I was asked to play steel and Mike was asked to play lead electric guitar instead. Glen Shelton played bass that night, Paul Marquardt played drums. Neeld, of course, sawed fiddle and sang with his guitar....fine musician. These were my "fledgling" years and I am forever in debt to those who helped me along the way in those days. Yes, Paul, that's where you and I first met...Bert's Pinto Lounge. You asked to play my steel as I recall, and I let you play it. You had just played a gig somewhere nearby, then stopped in to Bert's to watch us.
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Don Barnett was playing out in Hampshire IL at the Opry House in 1978 as part of the house band...Friday and Saturday nights every week. One Friday night in February 1979 (just before Valentine's Day) I approached the 4-piece band when they took a break, and told them what a fine sound they had, but thought that they would sound better if they had a steel guitar. Jimmy Morrow,who was singer/bass player/owner of the club, giggled and asked where he could find a steel player. I told him that I played steel. He asked me to bring it out and "play a few" with them on Saturday. I did. Don told me how he wanted to do 'Rainy Day Woman' and we did it. That was my first steel gig in public!!! I was invited back on Sunday for a jam session where local DJ, Bill Blough, took my name and phone number. He contacted Neeld Counts....Neeld Counts contacted me in summer 1979. My steel "career" was launched.
I bought a Sho-Bud Maverick in November 1978, added a new pulling system to it over the holiday months, and I wound up with a 3-pedal, 5 KL guitar. I worked very hard with it over the holidays, then Jimmy Morrow invited me to play in February 1979. It happened just that fast.
PRR

Catfish John Geer used to play in the house band....Dave Gibson and Hackenbush...at Archie and Marlene's Nashville North on Irving Park Road (Rt. 19) at the south end of O'Hare Field in Chicago. He was the first steel player in the entire region to adopt the 12-string Universal tuning....AND he could play that sucker!!!
He called me one time to ask me to play a gig in his place in Fox River Grove IL as his night vision was now very bad and he didn't want to drive at night. He had gotten slam-dunked with diabetes at the time. A year or so later, he told me he was shooting insulin four times a day. He apparently moved to California and that's when I lost contact with him.
PRR

Don Barnett did indeed write and record the "Shower of Stars" show theme. Stan Scott, a DJ at then-country WJJD, was the producer of these shows and Don was the leader of the group who backed each star who performed on these shows. The idea was to be able to put a show/concert together without the "star" having to bring his/her entire entourage along. Butch Butler played steel on many of those shows. He is retired now and living in Birmingham AL. His steel playing was a mainstay on Chicago-area country recordings of the era. Don Barnett was a studio engineer for Medallion Records out of Arkansas. They had a studio in Libertyville IL and Don was the man in charge. Don recorded four albums back then. I am fortunate to have acquired two of them. Don died of leukemia in 1998. He was a tremendous talent and loved music and creativity. He "threw" me my very first lead part on steel in public, and I remember that moment as if it happened five minutes ago.
PRR

From the July 11, 2013 edition of the "Chicago Reader."

Wow, this post is bringing back memories. I remember jamming at the Lake n Park Inn. They always had great bands. Sorry to hear about Eddie Hutchins. I heard Butch Butler moved to Florida. I think I still have his Steelin' for Jesus album. I haven't heard anything on Russ since I moved out of Chicago. I think Duane West used to play at OB's Lounge in Stone Park. He was talking about moving to Brownsville.

Hurry Sundown at The Pinto Lounge ca. 1986

Wow, all the sudden I'm feeling really, really old!

Hey there, Mr. Flaherty. If I'm not mistaken, my dad took some steel lessons from you circa 1982-3. I think I still have an instructional cassette he got from you.

...and the world keeps getting smaller...

Well, lookie here what I finally found - taking this thread back to my original post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW2UwNSoUYQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyfvsxZf2As

Pretty depressing Buddy.

C'mon, Glenn. It's a country song - there are no survivors.

Buddy Carter wrote:Hey there, Mr. Flaherty. If I'm not mistaken, my dad took some steel lessons from you circa 1982-3. I think I still have an instructional cassette he got from you.

...and the world keeps getting smaller...

Hey Jim, you thought you felt old before!

Here's a shot in front of the Pinto Lounge ca. 1985:

Geez Frank, where did you dig this up? I must have been about 5 years old back then. lolol. The Pinto Lounge was a real land mark.

Hi Bud, I was still in Chicago back then. Looks like you got hooked on steel too. Must run in family. It can be real addicting once you get started. Does your dad still play? I quit for quite a while but got back to it again.

Buddy Carter wrote:Well, lookie here what I finally found - taking this thread back to my original post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW2UwNSoUYQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyfvsxZf2As

Thanks for digging those up, Buddy! George Rozak says it's Jeff Newman on the Eddie Clatterbuck version: cool.

Unfortunately, my dad passed in 1993. I started playing around with his old Sho-Bud in the late 90's, then bought a Carter SD-10 in '02. Haven't actually done much on steel for several years; I get more calls to play bass, so that's what I do. Still fire up the steel now and then, just to make sure it still recognizes me when I open the case...