One Horse Town Steel Guitarists

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 23 May 2011 2:52 am

NEW ENGLAND is famous for One Horse Town Steel Guitarists. I live here in PITTSFIELD, MA, a city of 50,000 in the last population count. The city is surrounded by dozens of sparsely settled one horse towns, including those who spend their winters in Florida, or large cities. When I moved from playing lead guitar to studying the pedal steel guitar, you could drive up to 50 miles in any direction, and not find a pedal steel guitarist who was seriously engaged in learning the instrument. Buzz Evans, who lived in Adams, MA, years ago, exited the Berkshires for distant places. He became the very best, by far, on the pedal steel, and Spanish guitar. He now resides in the state of Nevada. The greater SPRINGFIELD area,55 miles to the east of Pittsfield, and Albany, N.Y., 50 miles to the west of central Berkshires were both "hotbeds" of steel guitar activity. In my immediate location, you could count on one hand, steel guitar hopefuls, whose progress was limited to barely a beginner's level. Quite the quandary existed; unique to say the least, considering total populations. In sharp contrast, just about every household in these NEW ENGLAND towns, featured catalog Spanish guitars, with the action so high, your fingertips couldn't sustain more than a half hour or so of practice. I welcome comments from others who may have experienced similar trends in their musical studies. The situation has become quite different in terms of dedication these days, when compared to relevant issues of the 70's of the last century. The "MASSBASHES" created a sudden awareness to the attending general public, that just beyond the "ONE HORSE TOWN" peripheries, serious steel guitarists were developing strong leaderships; notably in the
Springfield/Albany districts. The newfound interests quickly expanded to more distant reaches of NEW ENGLAND, NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, FLORIDA, TEXAS, TENNESSEE, and much more. For those who have musical abilities, and are busily grinding away at unrelated lifestyles, the pedal steel guitar offers a wonderful change in cultural advancements.

Stephen Silver · Post by **Stephen Silver** » 23 May 2011 6:30 am

nope , haven't experienced those trends, Bill.

YMMV

SS

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 23 May 2011 6:38 am

Bill it’s the same everywhere.
Purchasing a PSG of any kind is expensive and learning to play it is somewhat like quitting smoking in that there are only two expectations, one that you will most likely fail or two you will in spite of yourself succeed.
Where as purchasing a standard guitar can be very inexpensive and somewhat like being a smoker in that there are no expectations other than you will annoy others.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 23 May 2011 6:42 am

The greater SPRINGFIELD area,55 miles to the east of Pittsfield, and Albany, N.Y., 50 miles to the west of of central Berkshires were both "hotbeds" of steel guitar activity.

Bill, I've been playing steel for the better part of 40 years and have somehow never been aware of this phenomena. During what period of time did this situation exist?

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 23 May 2011 6:52 am

I think Bill is taking note of a regional phenomenon.When I lived in the Boston area(quite awhile ago now),the ONLY times I was even aware of steel guitar was reading Fender brochures and hearing "Sleep Walk" on the radio.While I'm certain our instrument is much more visible now in New England,Waylon's natural second home has yet to be found in the "honky tonks in New Hampshire" and no one has so far inquired whether we're "sure J.Geils done it this way".

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 23 May 2011 6:59 am

Sorry, no offense. There was a time I would have applied the term "hotbeds of steel guitar activity" to Tennessee or Texas, but never Massachusetts.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 23 May 2011 7:14 am

Bill Keith was from Massachusetts!

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 23 May 2011 9:11 am

i feel like i wanna holler, but the town's just a too small

Dan Beller-McKenna · Post by **Dan Beller-McKenna** » 23 May 2011 5:56 pm

I live in a very small college town in NH and I'm not even the best steel player in a five mile radius! We're lousy with'm up here!! Go figure...

Dan

Elton Smith · Post by **Elton Smith** » 23 May 2011 6:47 pm

Might wanna read Fraklins steel guitar is dead thread here on the forum.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 23 May 2011 9:54 pm

Dan,the year I spent in Durham at UNH was notable for no steel whatever,although it was otherwise one of the best of my life.Nice to know they've got some pedal players up there now.Here's a pic of yours truly and friends livening up the Strafford Room.

Dan Beller-McKenna · Post by **Dan Beller-McKenna** » 24 May 2011 3:14 am

Dave,

I was playing a gig on the Main Street gazebo in New Market a couple of summers ago. There was one local steeler sitting across the street with Chris Caruso (honarary steel player), another dropped by to sit in, and the best steel player among us (who lives in Lee) wasn't even there.

Nice pic! Looks like I missed the country phase at UNH, haha! We do have a student bluegrass band in the music dept. at the moment, though.

Dan

Roual Ranes · Post by **Roual Ranes** » 24 May 2011 5:31 am

I don't know a thing about one horse towns........I came from a 1/2 horse town....and that was in Texas.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 24 May 2011 5:42 am

Dave, it looks like the band was giving that guy in the background a migraine.

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 24 May 2011 7:30 am

I arrived in western Mass (Springfield) around December69..I was still busy with Army bus. recruiting, and residing at Westover AFB NC facilities..Things were jumping down on N main Street in Springfield almost every club had a Country band.I can name a bunch of Steelers starting with Smiley Roberts who had left for Wheeling WVA that were playing all up and down the strip..But while I was at Fort Devens a little town like Ayer Mass had Three large clubs going with excellent Steelers some from Rhode Island..Now Rhode Island ,thats another story..There are a number of Steelers that were popular in the 60s 70s and yes 80s and some are still working the Nashville circuit..A name comes to mind that was responsible for Country being popular and thats Eddie Zack who along with Rich Richards (Cousin Richie) had a very popular Saturday night TV show on Channel 10 (either Wpro or WJar)and he had an excellent Steeler..Channel 40 in Springfied had the Lee wayne show that of course featured Smiley..I'm sure it was the Military bases that made the music so popular..Imagine Johnny Cash was stationed at Westover and he toured the strip singing at a few clubs...When the Base(S.A.C. closed and became a Reserve Base things started to go South but the recent upsurge in wars has made the Bass active again.And the Giant C5As fly over daily on ther way to the Middle east...But the music has died..The clubs are few but as I witnessed at Bills recent Mass bash The players from the one horse towns are still around and boy can they still pick..Bill is totaly acurate about what was a pheonom..Thats why I stayed for 26 years and worked all over New England then in clubs 7 nights a week,made better than a decent living while raising my family in a one horse town instead of working for tips any where else.I have since been back to my Home town of Sacramento to see that it all has changed there also..

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 24 May 2011 10:05 am

Joe,

Paul Manning, Sammy Gibson, Doug Beaumier, and Jimmy Roule Jr. helped to make the Springfield area a place to enjoy the pedal steel guitar. I wish that Paul Manning could still be with us.

Colm Chomicky · Post by **Colm Chomicky** » 24 May 2011 4:03 pm

Things could be worse.

You could be a one-eyed horse in a one horse town.

This is a true story, we stopped off in Kadoka, South Dakota one day to have a walk around. You could see that, once, the main highway ran through town (until the Interstate 90 bypassed to the North side of town).

Seemed the only horse in town was a one-eyed horse.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 24 May 2011 4:14 pm

He seems to be OK with it ...

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 24 May 2011 7:24 pm

The little Ala town I grew up in was not as cosmopolitan as Mass, Conn,etc,did,nt even have a horse.Just an old sway back grey mule.BUT we did have something within a few miles radius,A guy named Ckalker,one named Day,and one named Helms. YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 25 May 2011 8:30 am

Long ago, when wild strawberries emitted their sweet aromas in the neighboring fields adjacent to the stubbly fields of new mown hay, my bare feet cried out in pain, as a few visitor's children raced about; unconcerned. Route # 23 to Monterey, and Otis, MA, passed by my old homestead, where the old-timer Otto Drosein lived like a hermit just beyond Route 23 and 57 intersecting roads to Hartsville and Sandisfield. He would fall asleep on his horse-and-buggy before he passed by my home, after shopping in Great Barrington, MA. The horse would take him home while he slept. He kept two goats that would pull him up a steep graveled road to check his mail. The road led to his small bungalo in a sheltered wooded retreat. Another one horse neighbor (Perry Standard), known for carrying 300 lbs. of feed in 100 lb. bags, the length of Railroad St., in Great Barrington, became an oddity. One bag under each arm, and the third in his teeth. I was a child in those days, and I was drawn to the balladeers who were friends of my immediate family. I was eleven years old before I became aware of the raised string version of the Spanish guitar. My mom presented me with a UNITY guitar that featured all of the necessary "doodads" to convert the guitar to a Dobro effect instrument. Someone who had knowledge of the "extras" removed the accessories while I was away at school. To this day, I haven't a clue that would lead me to a suspect. After many years of playing favorite melodies on the Spanish guitar, the pedal steel guitar moved into my musical interests. Firstly, I obtained a single eight string MULTI-KORD. Secondly,I traded for a FENDER 1000. The realization finally hit me, and I was at last convinced to move to a ten string steel guitar. After a period of experimentation, my intuition brought about a changer system that is foolproof, as evidenced by more than 20 years of trouble free use.

Stuart Legg · Post by **Stuart Legg** » 25 May 2011 10:55 am

I think I saw that movie, just can't remember the name of it.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 25 May 2011 11:12 am

bill..are you saying that you built a foolproof changer? that's neat! do you have any pictures?

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 25 May 2011 12:40 pm

Chris,

Most assuredly, I could produce an artistic drawing that would exemplify the simplicity and practicality of the arrangement. I've been somewhat secretive for various reasons; hoping that perhaps a sincerely inquisitive individual would recognize the value of limited hardware within the changer assembly. It was many moons ago when someone became aware of the value of the common wheel. At the present age we're living in, we would be lost without its usefulness. The same rule can be applied to mechanics.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 25 May 2011 3:09 pm

Most assuredly, I could produce an artistic drawing that would exemplify the simplicity and practicality of the arrangement.

Bill, I'm going out on a limb here by speaking for the rest of us, but I think I can assure you that we will be waiting on the edge of our collective seats to see your rendering. However, like your playing that I've never heard, I have doubts already that this 'blueprint' will ever come to pass …… $:\$

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 25 May 2011 3:16 pm

Think you might be right Barry. YOU BETCHA.DYK?BC.