The Steel Guitar Forum

Sonny Curtis is a well known and influential steel player who enjoyed tenures as one of the Jones Boys and later, re-christened under Tammy Wynette, as one of the Country Gentlemen. Of course he didn't just land those gigs out of the blue. He worked the front lines for years. Before he was "bigtime" he was one of Donny Bowshier's Radio Ranch Boys, for example...




and they sounded like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjpw95dCPrY

What were some of your favorite players doing before they became more widely heard by the public at large, before they were "Bigtime"?

Elegant simple solo and IN TUNE! Shows influences of some of the great players of the day.

My first steel guitar was a triple 8 National, just like that one. Way too cool.

That is too cool, Richard!
What kind of amplifiers did you guys use with your first steels?

Just a novelty question I guess; nothing like derailing your own thread early!

I believe Dan Dugmore's first steel job was with John Stewart, before he became "famous" with Linda Ronstadt

Buddy Emmons with one of his early bands. I don't know who the other players are, but I think this was taken before Buddy moved to Nashville.




Some players score big at a young age, like Jimmy Day in his early 20s. It doesn't get much bigger than this...

Hall of Fame Member Leonard T. Zinn with his first band, 1940. His guitar looks like an Oahu Iolana D-6

My first amp was really a small crappy amp. Twin Reverb with JBL's. Just funnin' guys. Great amp. I was a drummer prior to playing steel and traded my drumset in on the Twin. It was about a 70 or 71 (I bought it in 71) silverface, and it was awesome.

Doug, I really never liked that album cover . The only thing cool about it is that blue Emmons guitar and that the photo was shot in Buddy Emmons' back yard!

... and his AB pedal set-up is the reverse 0f what is used today.

To expand on Don's post, by "reverse", he doesn't mean the "Day setup". Sonny tuned the guitar as follows (only A & B pedals shown):

[tab]
A B
F#
D#
A...........G#
E
C#.....B
A..........G#
F#
E
D
C#.....B
[/tab]

At Bobby Bowman’s request I shall supply a bit of info regarding the picture. The steel is a triple neck Fender and the amp is the 1949 Fender Super Tube Tweed Amp with a V shaped front and two speakers, what size I don’t know. I left home at age 16 so I’m assuming I was 15 years old when the picture was taken.

The venue was the Majorette Tavern in Mishawaka, Indiana, the band was the Choctaw Cowboys, the person playing bass was band leader Bob Reed, and the guitar player was Eddy Hopkins. The shirts probably came from Sears and I don’t remember whose beer that was on the floor.

At Bobby Bowman’s request I shall supply a bit of info regarding the picture. The steel is a triple neck Fender and the amp is the 1949 Fender Super Tube Tweed Amp with a V shaped front and two speakers, what size I don’t know. I left home at age 16 so I’m assuming I was 15 years old when the picture was taken.

The venue was the Majorette Tavern in Mishawaka, Indiana, the band was the Choctaw Cowboys, the person playing bass was band leader Bob Reed, and the guitar player was Eddy Hopkins. The shirts probably came from Sears and I don’t remember whose beer that was on the floor.

I bet that beer was the base players , They really like beers, It drowns out the highs of the steel player, Ha

Wow! This is the coolest thing about this forum...Buddy Emmons verifying the post/picture about himself, and anything else he wants to post period. Mr. Emmons you were the slickest looking guy on that stage as always. The first time I got to hear you play was at the only NAMM show ever in Atlanta, GA (1976). I wanted to play PSG ever since that moment. I stood their watching you play in that derby hat, perched way up in the air until my knees gave out. You were the first musician I saw, and the only one I remember when I walked through the doors. Richard is it true that drummers leave their drum sticks on the dash of their car so they can park in the handy cap spots?...

Thanks Cheez.
BB

Thank you Buddy Emmons! I had to look up the Fender Super Tube Tweed since I had never come across one in person.

A seller with a '52 in OK shape is asking about $3500,and I don't see any '49s for sale, so it's a pretty rare bird these days. According to this page,

http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/F ... s-821.aspx

the Super Tube Tweed's V-cab and 2-10" configuration were holdovers from the brief run of Dual Professionals,issued in '47, which are believed to be the first twin speaker combos manufactured by a large producer.

There's one on ebay right now, currently $3,250.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/INCREDIBLE-VINT ... 0868412206

That's a pretty nice specimen. I bet it was loud given what was available. Bet the bass player didn't give Buddy any volume trouble then, now, did he?
Ha!

Man, too cool that Buddy Emmons stopped by. Lets milk this thing!

Anybody have anything on Lloyd Green?

Anybody have anything on Lloyd Green?

Is he holding a slide and has picks on? Nice threads, and the shine on those shoes - whew!

nice Doug!
A Rick and an Oahu. Now, that's a sound. The amp's almost as big as Lloyd there and Carl's right, it looks for sure, that the bar is in one hand, and the picks are on the other. Looks like its wired in, too.

I gather Lloyd Green was a success story of the door to door Oahu sales campaign that was so intensive at that time?