The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anyone recall Jim Reeves ever using a steel on his show or recordings ?.
I have checked most resources and fail to find any steel on anything.

Old Bud

I have a Radio station issued double LP with Jim and there´s a lot of steel guitar. One of my big favorites are Most of the time and Little old dime. And for sure, I hear a pedal steel guitar.

The early Jim Reeves recordings (pre-RCA) usually have the classic country accompaniment of the era. Steel was played by Jimmy Day and Bobby Garrett plus a few others. The longer his career lasted, the less steel you can find. Some of his later recordings have Pete Drake but you can only hear occasional fills.

Kind Regards, Walter

I think Jim Reeves said at one time that all steel guitar players were crazy.
That must have been about the time he kicked Bobby Garrett's guitar down a flight of stairs.
He was a good singer but not a very nice guy.

He played the ball park in my hometown way back and Pete Drake was with him.

Jim was a great singer but if the Big E said he was a POS,then I believe it.YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

Jimmy Day played steel on the first 2 RCA lp's by Reeves (Singing Down the Lane & Bimbo). After that, there was nothing of note until the 1960 release of "According to My Heart", which also was Jimmy Day. I am of the opinion that most of this lp was made up of unreleased early material mixed in with 3 or 4 more recent recordings.

Charles Davidson wrote:Jim was a great singer but if the Big E said he was a POS,then I believe it.YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

Jimmy Day often told me the same thing. Garrett was more... uh... diplomatic about it to me but you could read between the lines, so to speak.

Repeat story...Bobby was having trouble with his E9th one night at the Tinker AFB NCO club while working with JR. I was standing off stage by Bobby and pointed out to him a piece that would move when he pushed pedals. He tightened it with a screwdriver and solved the problem. A few minutes later Jim stepped over and asked Bobby "Is that SOB Bothering you ?" I told Bobby I'd be in the snack bar when he got a break. He apologized forever and I told him not to worry...I had learned more about music that night than any other!! He was truly a best friend !!

Regards, Paul

...and for those of you who would like to read: "The rest of the story", I recommend you buy the recent release by Larry Jordan "Jim Reeves - His untold story"
Obviously a very well-researched book. To me being a sworn fan, it was spellbinding.

Jim never wore a Cowboy hat because he couldn't find one big enough to fit..

that's good joe....real good!
happy new year...

country....

I'm one of Jim Reeves's biggest fans, and have dozens of his LPs. Generally speaking, ALL of his numbers have steel guitars. the only exceptions being some of his later numbers with full orchestra.

I've heard from many that he was a half-sole, but regardless of his demeanor or smug personality, he did have one of the purest and smoothest voices in country music...sorta Nashville's answer to Perry Como. Singing very softly but still perfectly on key is a skill that few singers possess

Donny, I agree with your assessment. Jim did have the purest voice within country/pop.
His crossover plans were well on the way when he was killed. Using orchestration to the extent that he did in the early 60's was almost unheard of.
After reading the book, my eyes were opened to the complete Jim Reeves and now, after reading, I feel a great deal of sorrow. The only thing that is left is Jim's beautiful voice.
I can only suggest that y'all read the book. For a biography, it is an incredible story.

Bent; as you mention; it is an interesting book!

Hollywood would have a hit out of his story; a likely title could be "Casanova Meets Caruso"

Richard

Jim Reeves was very famous in South Africa.
In 1963 he made a movie Kimberley Jim in South Africa.

He also made records in Afrikaans, he sang phonetically, but I remember he could never pronounce the r's right. I was only in 5th grade then.

His records are still being played on radio stations.

Enjoy!

Kimberley Jim was a good movie, and could have brought Jim into a movie acting career if he hadn't been killed so tragically.

His plane went down on Mary Robbins's property, by the way, and it was Marty who set out on horseback and found the wreckage...

"According to a 1982 interview, was outside in his back yard on the afternoon of July 31, 1964, during a severe thunderstorm, when he heard a low flying plane go directly overhead. He said, "I thought to myself, either he's a hell of a pilot or he's in trouble, because you just wouldn't be intentionally flying that low in that kind of a storm. A few seconds later, I heard it crash". Shortly afterward, he found out that the pilot of the plane was his friend and fellow Country Music star Jim Reeves. Reeves and his manager/piano player Dean Manuel were both killed in the crash, although their bodies and the wreckage weren't found until two days later, August 2."
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 683-685. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.

I have given the impression I do not like JR, the person...but I have alway loved his singing and the recitations which were what really sealed the matter for me. I have always liked The Blizzard with the lyrics..Dan you onery cuss..you're going to be the death of us. I could never find a fault with that. Four Walls was another one that I favored perhaps because I could feel the meaning when I played the music.

But his disregard for steel guitarists in particular and almost everyone else he met on the music scene in public cannot be so easily dismissed. If that is to be his legacy then suffice it to say he made his bed and he should lie in it.

Alan, according to the book, the plane went down in the woods not far from Marty's property. The property was owned by someone else. Marty did, however, hear the plane go down. He had been washing his hair and rinsing it in the rainwater outside when he heard it go down.

As for the movie, Jim was very edgy and out of sorts with this new experience. Many said it was a B class movie. Myself, I liked it a lot. Still, there had been some talk about Jim making movie#2

Paul Graupp wrote:...But his disregard for steel guitarists in particular and almost everyone else he met on the music scene in public cannot be so easily dismissed...

I don't hear any evidence that Jim had any disregard for steel guitarists. There's some great steel guitar work on his recordings.
I must admit that, back when he started putting out records with full orchestral accompaniment, my thoughts at the time were that a steel guitar can do any of the parts that a violin section can, and sound better. But that was a time when they were putting choirs of girls in the background, too, which I thought spoiled the sound. My impression is that it was the arrangers and agents who were trying to commercialise country music, and it was they rather than the artists who were to blame.

The situation hasn't changed much over the years. Look at what arrangers and agents are doing to C&W nowadays.

Alan,The article that Buddy wrote about him,he did,nt mince any words,He said Jim was a first-class POS and treated himself AND Jimmy Day like crap.I only met Buddy once and talked with him years ago, and by his demeanor then I choose to believe him.YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

Jim Reeves did have a good voice. He is one of my wife's favorite singers. We bought the Tribute to Jim Reeves by Charley Pride, and it is more than super.I like Cherley's renditions of the songs better.