The Steel Guitar Forum

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Mike:

Yeah, that Johnny Allan LP is a dandy. I assume you are also aware of Jack Mooney's Canadian LP--equally cool.

George "Keoki" Lake of this forum knew Allan quite well from the early days. George told me 6 or 8 years ago that Allan was in Calgary many years back, but had passed away after George lost track of him.

Allan lost the ends of his index and second fingers during an encounter with a saw and played with his second and third fingers. Don't know whether he lost the fingers before or after he began playing.

Inspired by a certain Mister Murphey, as you can plainly tell.

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I knew JOHNNY ALLEN over 50 years ago...we were close friends. I did not know him when his fingers were normal...we met long after the nasty accident. Johnny was an amazing steel player even back in those days. He used his second and third fingers for picking and played a National 6 string. He listened to Joachim Murphy which is fairly evident in his playing. To my knowledge, Johnny turned out one lp (CANATA CTLP4012). However some of you may have another lp (NORTH MS1002)which in reality is a re-issue of his original. The original shows him (as I remember him), playing a T-8 Stringmaster. Strangely, he is shown holding a round bar with a flat front, (not rounded at the tip). The re-issue shows a more mature Johnny Allen posed in tuxedo and surrounded by pics of his Sho-Bud 10 string pedal guitar. I would estimate his age on the second lp to be close to 40. Johnny played with "King" Ganam, (now dec'd) who is best described as the Canadian version of Spade Cooley. He also played with Vic Seibert, a western swing guitarist in Calgary.
I have totally lost touch with Johnny, have tried through the Forum to find out if he is still with us.
If he is, he would be 79 or 80 years old today. However, from other sources I gathered he has passed away. I would really appreciate any information about Johnny from others who knew him.

JACK MOONEY was probably the top swing steel guitarist in Canada. I first met Jack in 1945 when he arrived here from Winnipeg under a contract to teach guitar in a local music "school". He soon realized that teaching was not his forte' and had a heck of a time getting out of that contract. In 1946 he formed a swinging quintette called Four Lads and a Lass, (the Lass being his then wife, Gladys Spence, vocalist). This group was featured on radio station CJCA daily Mon-Fri. for 2 years. He played a very sweet steel, (a D-6 JANZ made by his friend Bill Janz in Winnipeg), using the F#9th and D9th tunings.
When King Ganam was offered a CBC TV show in Toronto, Jack left Edmonton and joined the group. It was during this era he switched to pedal and owned a Rickenbaker pedal steel. This gig lasted for a few years until the CBC dropped King Ganam in favor of Tommy Hunter. Jack drifted to Montreal and eventually ended up back in his old home city of Winnipeg. Jack and I kept up regular correspondance via snail and many tapes during the latter part of his life.

Back in the '50s I was a 'Sons of the Saddle' groupie.
They did a radio show on CFAC or CFCN as well as playing at the Glenmore Hall on weekends.
Vic Seibert-rhythm guitar
Gene Siebert-accordian
Lennie Siebert-bass
Johnny Allen-steel
Roy Warhurst-fiddle...I think

The time-line for the lost fingers of Johnny Allen are captured in the opening lines of the rear jacket liner notes on both albums:

"With all the new sounds coming out of the steel guitar, Johnny Allen decided at the age of sixteen, that what he wanted to do most was to master the instrument. He built himself his first electric steel guitar in 1948 and with the help of his father bought a pickup and an old amp made from radio parts. It did the trick and Johnny became more interested every day. The following year, while working at a cabinet factory in Edmnonton, he cut the ends off the index and second right-hand fingers and was heart-broken at the thought he was finished with what he wanted to do most."

In the photo on the earlier album Johnny has the the first and second right-hand fingers curled under, so that the tips are not visible. However, there is clearly a pick on the ring finger.

On the later album, his hands are not pictured.

The photo of Jack Mooney's guitar on his album cover shows a Rickenbacker double neck: 10 strings on the front neck, and 8 strings on the rear. The data on the rear jacket says:

"The Rickenbacker Console Pedal Steel Guitar, shown on the album front, was specially built for Jack by Rickenbacker, of Santa Ana, California, and is a showpiece wherever Jack goes.

I understand that this guitar was was purchased in Winnipeg after Jack's death.

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I remember when Johnny had a house gig @ the York Hotel in Calgary, AB...I was a 18 year old kid then..he played great and was always very nice to me. ...jeff

Mike...PAT GEROW is still very much on this side of the grass and lives in Vancouver, B.C. If you wish to contact him, snail: JOHN YORK, President of the WESTERN SWING MUSIC SOCIETY, 3565 Cambridge St., Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1M3 or you can phone the Society at (604) 299-2301. John will see that Pat receives your letter. The Society publishes a VERY interesting newsletter in which Pat has been relating his entire musical career in the latest issues. For those who know Pat and have lost touch, he was married for many years to a lovely country vocalist, Evelyn (Clover Lane). Sadly, she passed on May 17, 2003.

BTW: Anyone interested in WESTERN SWING, I would encourage you to join the WSMS ... cost is only $10.00 yearly. Their newsletters are well worth the small investment. If you happen to live on the west coast, (US or Canada), the WSMS has regular conventions in the lower mainland of B.C.

http://www3.telus.net/public/lake_r/