The Steel Guitar Forum

Back in RI in the 70's:
Bernie playing with Hank Walters was the first live steel player I ever came in contact with. Billy Marshall was a monster player that kept me in awe. Ollie Steadman was the guy who took an interest in me as a young rocker who had just discovered the most amazing of instruments and helped and encouraged me more than he could than he could know.

i would have to say oscar demares
thanks
wayne

I'd have to say Dick Meis. He's been my hero for years. I watched him before pedals came in,pulling strings. He is and was definitely something.

A 16 year old in Tampa named Ricky Powell back in the early fifties. Played a Gibson Electraharp barefooted. He played several instruments at an eary age and went on to form the Rick Powell Singers, a Christian music group.

Mel

for me in the '70s in the sacramento area it was definitely Jimmy Fox!

Larry Cambell (NYC). He played with John Herald (late 70s?) and a little later, Buddy Miller when he was in NY (I think Shawn Colvin was in that band, too). Now with Bob Dylan. He also plays great guitar and fiddle, etc. Didn't any of you NY or Philly guys ever see him playing in the local bars back then? That's entertainment.

Most Certainly, for me, these Guys made a "Difference with their Knowledge, Enthusiasm, Ability and Willingness to Impart their Knowledge"!!!

Kenny, aka "KD", "Country" Davis, Doug Campbell, John Hawkins, Jim Bates, Bill (WBS)Simmons, DonBarr,and Lou "Fontenot or Fonerat", where are you "Lou", (John/Jack)Hawkins and I need to speak with "You"!!!!

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Ts

I wouldn't say ,,non famous,,but I had the honor of seeing Stoney Stonecipher, many times, years ago,,what a steeler he was and is, he played so well and enjoyed it so much, it would have made anyone want to play steel. When he did a ride or a solo, he almost bubbled over, and the sounds and screems that came out of that insturment,,I thought,,,got to have a piece of that music !!

Wayne

Scotty Baker was a big inspiration for me, he played a 66 or 67 Emmons that he converted to a left handed guitar. Scotty doesn't play out much anymore, but he always plays with great tone and taste. It was like looking in a mirror watching him play. Dyke Corson owns that Emmons now ( he changed it back to a right handed guitar ) and it truly has that "Emmons tone". Another inspiration from way back was a guy named Bobby Howe. He was really into playing C6 and used to play some great break tunes. He is the one who encouraged me to start playing steel. He quit playing for a long time, but is back on the scene playing guitar. I would love to see him start to play steel again.

I have to thank, Gordy Rex for getting the ball rolling. Gordy, Thank You for all the time YOU dedicated to the pedal steel to make MY learning that much easier.

Kenny

I don't know if inspired would be the right word for me to use ,but the Pedal Steel player who most influenced me and helped establish me in New England is JIM SMITH. The other Is guitarist "Doc" PETERS.When I arrived the household name of steel players was SMILEY ROBERTS who had moved on to Wheeling ,later Nashville.I know Smiley has helped and influenced many.Jim stayed with me as long as he could before leaving for Texas.What followed after was great,but that original County Reunion Band, made it all possible.

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O-O

Gosh Joe, you just made my whole week, thanks!

I bought my first steel from a guy from Houston named David Farenthold and he was a good player and an inspiration to me getting started. By the way Dave if you are out there that old Blanton is still around Corsicana Texas somewhere (owned now by Hugh Dean Sykes). My local inspiration without a doubt is JUNIOR KNIGHT, king of the Dallas area...

I took lessons from a great steeler and muti-instrumentalist named Dan Boyd. He played around the Oakland area in the 50's and when i met him (1970) he was primarily teaching. Some of my other influences were Greg Lasser, Lucky Oceans, Pete Grant, Barry Blackwood, Carlos Claveria, Bobby Black, & Glenn Andrews. These were all guys who were excellent pickers around the S.F. area in the early '70's. I also bought my first Emmons from Jimmie Foxx in Sacramento, who was a great player.

My Dad played every type steel he could find trying to find that sound that was beginning in the 50’s. He went from a single neck all the way to a triple but still the sound remained elusive. In 1956 while I in Iowa I was asked to sing for a little band at a night club way out on the highway in the middle of nowhere but there I found that sound that had escaped my dad and I for years. A fellow named Benson was playing a double neck Carvin with pedals. When I got home I called my dad saying “Look no more. I’ve found the sound.”
Later in California I ran into a bunch of good player; Leon Roberts, Ron Couch, and one night I heard of a guy playing with a three piece group four nights a week at the biggest night club in San Diego. Wally Murphy was there with only his steel, drum and bass. What a player. He held the place packed every night for the month he was here. Later I ran into a phenomenal player here in San Diego named Gerry Walker who took me by surprise. First he’d play a double 10 then switch to a single 12 without a hint of change in quality. He could sit at any ones guitar and his sound remained the same. Quick, clean and good. Later he got to tinkering with an idea for an amp and you all know the rest of the story. Your question about “wanting to be as good or better” well I’ll have to wait on that at least during this lifetime. I’ve always wondered why Gerry doesn’t play at the conventions but then I think he’s shy to a degree and to busy demonstrating his amp outside the main theater. He’s always got a crowd and folks think he’s funny. Catch him if you make it to Saint Louis or Dallas.

Tommy Dodd

About 25 or so years ago, a guy wanted to sit in with our band, playing PSG. His name was Walt Fern, who, coincidentally enough, was my first guitar teacher back when I was a kid. He was playing a denim-looking Emmons, that he'd bought from the late, wonderful Jack Bagwell, father of my current teacher, mentor, and good friend Mike Bagwell. Funny how the circle gets back around...
Then there was a local guitar player named Jimmie Rogers, who had a local TV show, featuring steel player Bobby Boggs. INCREDIBLE!
I hit the road in the early 80's, to replace a guitar player who didn't want to do dope any more. There was a great steeler in that band, who didn't fool with drugs, just played that Emmons. He'd turned in his notice, so I only got to play with Mike Sweeney for a week or two, but the seed was planted. (And I've already apologized to Mike for my behavior and language during that time.)
So a couple of years later, the band leader hired a steel guitarist named Skeeter Wolfe,
from the Cincinnati area. GREAT player who got all the good-looking women.
And now it's back to Bagwell--what a steeler, as well a gentleman. Bobby Boggs could teach the world a thing or two, Ol' Walt Fern's still around playing better than ever---and Charles Reese, if you're reading this---I LOVE YOU, MAN!!!!

Dale Stacy, Danny Lyles, Smith Benjamin----
Dear friends and super pickers.


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Eddie B.
Carter D-10
8 & 2many
msm@tycom.net

When I lived in Milwaukee, Ralph Hensil (sp?) When I moved back to the Cleveland area, Don Dixon (co-inventor of the Echoplex)

Initially it was teenage friend Kenneth Lovelace of Florence,Alabama. Kenneth was a
gifted musician from birth. By age 7 he was a tremendous fiddle player and soon became a super lead guitarist .Kenneth continously pushed and encouraged me to play a 6 string OAHU lap steel I had somehow come up with. The first time he sit down wih it he
re-tuned it from A6 to C6 and made it sound so good I just couldn't resist learning how to play the thing. A few years later Doug Baggett sat me down behind a D-8 Stringmaster. He introduced me to E13 and gave me enough tips to last a lifetime. Doug had just began building Pedal Steels and I was fortunate enough to get to be around and help with that for a couple or three years.
Incidently, Kenneth Lovelace was a second cousin to SUN RECORDS founder, Sam Phillips
and went on to be Jerry Lee Lewis' band leader for over 35 years.
Bill

For me it was Paul Sutherland, Ray Mitchell and Dave Menifee.. All huge players and influences.. thanks guys! All local San Diego players

Although I currently live in San Antonio I was born and raised in Dallas. My early influences were in the 1950's and they were George McCoy (Big D Jamborere), Jimmy Kelly (Saturday Nite Shindig at the old bank shell on the State Fair Grounds in Dallas), Paul Blount (Big D Jamboree). There was another steel player in Dallas at the same time who was playing with Sonny James (before "First Love") who went on to play bass guitar for a local singer by the name of Tony Douglas. This same player also played with Box Car Willie along with a guitar player by the name of Chuck Jennings. His name escapes me as I write this post for which I am sorry because he was agreat influence on me. Maybe someone from the Dallas area might be able to come up with his name. These guys go back to the non-pedal guitars.

I just thought of a great Houston player that inspired me Robin Mims. If you are in the Houston area look hin up, you'll be glad you did.


J.C.

I guess Joe Goldmark is famous now, but he wasn't back when he was teaching and influencing me. Just a local picker in Bay Area bands. I used to go see him every chance I got. It was good to see him again these last couple of years at the convention and touring with the Twang Bangers. He's truly one of the most innovative and creative players around. Of course, none of that rubbed off on me.

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Ken Drost
steelcrazy after all these years