The Steel Guitar Forum

Hello Everyone...I joined this forum because I've been missing my dad, Bobby Boydd. He was very humble at home and rarely bragged or talked about his life in music. To us kids, he was just "dad" and we never thought to ask him about his career. Now that he is gone I wished I knew more about him and the things he's done! I was hoping there are those of you who remember him from the old days and can tell me what they remember about him...funny stories, serious stories, memorable events, etc. My dad played pedal steel guitar and started out on bass. Some of the things I know about him are: He toured with the late Hank Thompson, picked with Merle Haggard, Hank Jr, Mel Tillis, Little Jimmy Dickens and many others..like so many of you in this industry..too many to write down! He played with Jack Lox(sp?)at Cal's Corral Variety Show in the 60s, had live broadcasts on KFOX from George's Round-Up in Long Beach where he played steel with Danny Michaels and the Rebel Playboys. I know Jim Segwick is on here!...Hi Jim...Jim is a close family member but moved away Anyway...any tidbit any of you members can share with me will be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Rebecca

Here are some pics!
This is of daddy and Hank:


With Danny Michaels and Al Brown(drummer)Judy Rose, and I can't remember who the blonde man is..any ideas anyone?

This is dad at Cal's Corral



And for fun...this is a pic of George Underwood and his golden treasures!

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solid gold! i didn't know your dad, but i like the pictures! thanx.

Rebecca,

I had the pleasure of enjoying your Dad's playing with Hank Thompson and the Brazos Valley in Trenton, NJ back ca. 1970. He was a super player.

chris ivey wrote:solid gold! i didn't know your dad, but i like the pictures! thanx.

Thanks Chris...the old pictures are pretty neat...God Bless Polyester!

Mike Gross wrote:Rebecca,

I had the pleasure of enjoying your Dad's playing with Hank Thompson and the Brazos Valley in Trenton, NJ back ca. 1970. He was a super player.

Thank you for your kind comment Mike...that's nice to know! I was too young when he was on the road...our family also moved to Oklahoma, Hank's hometown at the time, when Dad toured with him...mom hated the tornados and electrical storms...haha...so we moved back to CA earthquakes! Hank was a very personable fellow...I remember when I was finally old enough to go into a bar, Dad took me to see him play with Hank when he came to CA...They played at a club in Ontario, CA..the name of it escapes me. Hank was generous and such a showman! I still have a tshirt he autographed with a "heart on" it for me
Dad and Hank again:

Dad and Billy Armstrong at Academy dinner in the 70s

Hi Becky, how are you guys doing? I miss my friend in CA, but I don't miss CA

I thought I would post a humorous incident that happened at the Nashville Beach club in Long Beach, CA, about the latter part of 1971.

Bobby had some sort of dental disease that caused all his teeth to crumple. In his early thirties he had all his teeth removed, and had full upper and lower plates.

Danny Michaels was singing some ballad that night. Bobby suddenly had a sneezing fit (we've all been there). After about 11 sneezes in a row ( he couldn't even play for the sneezing), his upper plate flew out on the bandstand. Al Brown, the drummer and I had been watching him sneeze so both of us witnessed this event. Bobby had to leave his steel. He picked up his teeth, wiped them off on his shirt and with his back to the audience, replaced them. By that time I had laughed to the point of crying and had fallen to my knees. Al Brown totally lost the beat and was hanging out over his cymbals with tears in his eyes, just hooting.

Michaels was PO'd because the song became a train wreck. After we told him what had happened, He also busted up laughing. The whole band stood on the bandstand laughing for a full 5 minutes. I don't know if the audience knew what happened, but laughter, being infectious, caught on with the audience. The whole place was busting up.

Bobby was mortified. I told Bobby, how the heck are we supposed to follow that act?

I guess you had to be there, but it is a memory I'll never forget....

Jim Bob Sedgwick wrote:Hi Becky, how are you guys doing? I miss my friend in CA, but I don't miss CA

I thought I would post a humorous incident that happened at the Nashville Beach club in Long Beach, CA, about the latter part of 1971.

Bobby had some sort of dental disease that caused all his teeth to crumple. In his early thirties he had all his teeth removed, and had full upper and lower plates.

Danny Michaels was singing some ballad that night. Bobby suddenly had a sneezing fit (we've all been there). After about 11 sneezes in a row ( he couldn't even play for the sneezing), his upper plate flew out on the bandstand. Al Brown, the drummer and I had been watching him sneeze so both of us witnessed this event. Bobby had to leave his steel. He picked up his teeth, wiped them off on his shirt and with his back to the audience, replaced them. By that time I had laughed to the point of crying and had fallen to my knees. Al Brown totally lost the beat and was hanging out over his cymbals with tears in his eyes, just hooting.

Michaels was PO'd because the song became a train wreck. After we told him what had happened, He also busted up laughing. The whole band stood on the bandstand laughing for a full 5 minutes. I don't know if the audience knew what happened, but laughter, being infectious, caught on with the audience. The whole place was busting up.

Bobby was mortified. I told Bobby, how the heck are we supposed to follow that act?

I guess you had to be there, but it is a memory I'll never forget....

Miss you and Jan, too...Lots and lots...gosh so different with you gone! Big hugs to you both. Now that is a very funny story..omg..I know how daddy was with private types of things...he must have been just mortified!! But because he was very private, I can totally picture that whole scene...I remember he always had sneezing fits...and I can just see his teeth go flying...poor dad..rest his soul! You know he would laugh his ass off if he were here talking about it today! Haha..and heaven forbid Danny be upstaged, lol! Jim, thanks so much for sharing..that was a great one! Here is a picture I have of you and dad, you may remember...not sure where it was taken..looks like Christmas, prolly our house...but it's a special friendship picture that I love! Love being sent your way!

Hey Rebecca, good to see you on the Forum. I knew your dad pretty well in my old days in SoCal and always admired his playing as well as himself as a person. It was a sad thing when he passed away and a lot of folks still miss him. I first met him years ago when he was playing bass for Danny Michaels and Jerry Stevens was on steel I believe. More on your dad and Jerry later.......

When I left Southern California near the end of 1985 the last weekend I was there I wanted to pick with some old friends so I went to a club (can't remember the name of it) somewhere out near Riverside on Sunday afternoon and the band was: your dad on steel, Roy Dee on lead guitar, Tommie Goble on bass, and I can't remember the drummer, maybe Jerry Raney but I'm not sure. We all had a great time playing together and sharing some blackberry brandy in the parking lot.

I was talking with your dad about steel guitar one time and he was telling me that he'd like to add some pedals to his old ShoBud which at the time only had 3 floor pedals and 4 knee levers I believe. I'd had my ShoBud S-12 up to 8 floor pedals at one time and had taken them off so I told him to come by the house someday and we'd fix him up with some extra pedals as I had the necessary parts! He came by over a period of couple of days and we rigged up and added a couple of floor pedals to that old "blond" ShoBud.

Your dad had his own way of playing steel with his own set up. I believe you'd call it a D13th or maybe D6th but he could still get the cryin' country stuff out of it. He said that he and Jerry Stevens had figured it out by plain logic and horse sense! I play pretty much the same tuning now except in E and a lot of the reasoning for what I have now goes direct to your dad. I have a picture or two of him somewhere in my archives and I'll see if I can post them in a day or two..........JH in Va.

Jerry, Bobby played a D-6 tuning with the chromatics, A & B pedals and one knee lever raising the D to E. He also lowered his D to Db. Skip the B string and you have the basic 9th tuning. He also had a low D on the bottom and with the extra foot pedals, he had the 5,6,7, and 8 pedals of the 6th tuning. I would call this a 10 string universal tuning, pretty much. Bobby used the Jimmy Day set up. Naturally, he could not get all the variations of a D-10 or 12 string universal, but I would say he could get 90%. Pretty decent for a 10 string tuning I would say.

Jerry Hayes wrote:Hey Rebecca, good to see you on the Forum. I knew your dad pretty well in my old days in SoCal and always admired his playing as well as himself as a person. It was a sad thing when he passed away and a lot of folks still miss him. I first met him years ago when he was playing bass for Danny Michaels and Jerry Stevens was on steel I believe. More on your dad and Jerry later.......

When I left Southern California near the end of 1985 the last weekend I was there I wanted to pick with some old friends so I went to a club (can't remember the name of it) somewhere out near Riverside on Sunday afternoon and the band was: your dad on steel, Roy Dee on lead guitar, Tommie Goble on bass, and I can't remember the drummer, maybe Jerry Raney but I'm not sure. We all had a great time playing together and sharing some blackberry brandy in the parking lot.

I was talking with your dad about steel guitar one time and he was telling me that he'd like to add some pedals to his old ShoBud which at the time only had 3 floor pedals and 4 knee levers I believe. I'd had my ShoBud S-12 up to 8 floor pedals at one time and had taken them off so I told him to come by the house someday and we'd fix him up with some extra pedals as I had the necessary parts! He came by over a period of couple of days and we rigged up and added a couple of floor pedals to that old "blond" ShoBud.

Your dad had his own way of playing steel with his own set up. I believe you'd call it a D13th or maybe D6th but he could still get the cryin' country stuff out of it. He said that he and Jerry Stevens had figured it out by plain logic and horse sense! I play pretty much the same tuning now except in E and a lot of the reasoning for what I have now goes direct to your dad. I have a picture or two of him somewhere in my archives and I'll see if I can post them in a day or two..........JH in Va.

Hi Jerry...thank you so much for your post! I wonder if the Riverside club was Billy B's or The White Sands...I can't remember any other Rvsd club he may have played at. You know...my dad NEVER played his steel at home! On the rare occasion he would restring, clean or tune it...but without his amp...just pick and tune it and put it up! We never had any jam sessions in the home and I'm kind of sad we didn't. Would have been fun! p.s. I'll be heading out to VA in July...to Chincoteague/Assateague Islands for pony penning days. Will be visiting an aunt in VA City, and Uncle in Lusby, MD.

Jim Bob...boy was that a mouthful of Greek to me! haha...*sigh* wished I were a musician...the only thing I inherited was the love for music...can't play or sing to save my life. Tho a year after Dad passed..I took some lessons on that Deering banjo he left me....at one point I could play a mean jingle bells on it, hehe! But the strings were old and a couple broke...I don't know how to restring it (pathetic, huh?) so now it's sitting in my closet. Now that I'm not working...staying home with the new baby...I might get back to lessons with Julie Wingfield again. Dad knew I how much I love bluegrass...I adore my banjo.

Rebecca...just wanted to say that I was lucky enough to get to know your dad a little bit during his last couple years. What a generous and kind spirited man he was...and what a great player!

Jim Bob...I'm still trying to incorporate the slants that you and Bobby tried so hard to cram into my thick skull. For the most part, I still only use them in case I ever feel like assaulting some deserving audience member's ears.