The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi all,

Years ago, several SGF members were kind enough to send me audio performances of Red Rhodes when he was at the ISGC. Unfortunately, many of those tapes wound up missing after I moved - is there any chance somebody still has some they would be willing to share?

Further, would Scotty have ever videotaped any of those performances?

Now, as for me, an early Christmas miracle has occurred. A video of Red Rhodes (my pedal steel guitar muse and hero) that I thought was long, LONG gone after tearing the house apart looking for it years ago was found! It was hidden in a box with a bunch of old computer software, the box wedged between a bookshelf and the side wall. To add to the excitement, when I found the case and opened it, it was a Lloyd Green and Tommy White DVD (and so I thought the video was STILL missing)....but I had Red tucked under Lloyd/Tommy in the tray.

So...as my Christmas present to all of you...

RED RHODES doing a FULL SET of instrumentals in the early 1990s in California! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxbL95Zhb1w

Note Red is playing his blue MCI, which he toured with Mike Nesmith during this time (and can be seen on Nesmith's "Live At The Britt" concert and "Austin City Limits" appearance). When Red would play Scotty's International Steel Guitar Convention in the 1980s, he had a penchant for classics from the 30s and 40s...he continues that tradition in this set.

0:59 - Mr. Sandman
4:00 - Georgia On My Mind
9:24 - Sweet Georgia Brown
12:37 - Moonlight Serenade
17:17 - "The Third Man" Theme
20:26 - Rose City Chimes
22:23 - Somewhere Over The Rainbow
25:45 - Four Wheel Drive
28:02 - Faded Love

I'll need some time to listen to this, but... thank you. Red Rhodes is my favourite steel player, bar none. A musical genius and a consummate steel player.
Buddy Emmons said of Red, "The cat can't play."
I wish I couldn't play like Red!

Thanks Joe! Love Red Rhodes!

wow what a treat! thank you Joe! never seen live footage of Red before

Alan....Buddy Emmons really said THAT? That's pretty classless, if true.

Anyone questioning Red's abilities can listen to him do "Four Wheel Drive" on this at Herby Wallace speed and judge for themselves.

I remember one of the local pedal steel "snobs" in Indianapolis that was mentoring me years ago had me listen to tons of tracks by the greats. I played him the solo Red did on Nesmith's "Wax Minute" and was expecting him to be amazed...floored even. I said to him....can YOU do THAT? His response? "Why would I want to" with a look of disgust.

Seems Red's style was polarizing to some of the traditional Nashville crowd. Their loss. And now he's in the SGHOF

Not to be lost in the discussion, please let me keep my question at hand in priority - does anyone have any video/audio of Red Rhodes they would share?

Can someone that is in touch with Scotty's family ask about the existence of any ISGC performances?

Thanks!

Joe

Joe, Bill Ferguson may have some of those. He has been posting may of the ISGC recordings. Bill was the sound engineer there for most of the years. Bill is a forum member and a super guy who supports all things steel guitar.

Great find Joe, thanks for posting just loved anything Red done.

From my interactions with Red, he was quite a character.....in a good way and I too admired his genius. He had a sense of humor. I read the Buddy comment and am guessing that it was Buddy's sense of humor. Red told me stories about a number of Red / Buddy adventures, I'm guessing they were friends back to Buddy's LA days. So, my take on the comment was that it was just one great expressing admiration for another great with a humorous twist. I miss both of those guys, everyday.

I think Buddy liked best the steel players that DIDN’T try to sound like him. Red didn’t and certainly neither did Pete Kleinow. Buddy said great things about him.

Alan....Buddy Emmons really said THAT? That's pretty classless, if true.

I remember reading liner notes on a Red Rhodes album where Red says that the Palomino house band loved it when Buddy came by to sit in...but couldn't understand why .....sounds like they were both joking.

I would love to see/hear footage of Red playing his Fender pedal steels, not that the MCI sounds bad. It's sound beautiful.

Happy Holidays!
dz

Dave - I would bet the "Live at the Palomino" album that came out in '68/'69 would be with his Fender steel. Unfortunately, that's about the only live audio that exists with that steel. No footage (audio or video) exists of Red with the First National Band, where he did use the Fender exlusively. By '73, Red was playing a ZB live, and by '74 an MSA.

I believe there is footage of him playing on TV in the early '60's but it's not available....yet.....maybe someday soon!

Looks like Red made the ZB keyless.

Dave Zirbel wrote:I believe there is footage of him playing on TV in the early '60's but it's not available....yet.....maybe someday soon!

Cal's Corral?

Russ Tkac wrote:Looks like Red made the ZB keyless.

How can you tell? I thought Tom Brumley made them in the early '70s.

It looks like a Brumley made steel but no keyhead or tuning machines in the picture. It looks like a keyless tuner is in place of the ZB keyhead. Probably a modification. I assume that Red did the mod himself.

I've always loved Red's "Velvet Hammer" LP. At one of Scotty's shows I was able to talk with Red and tell him how much I liked it and why. He seemed to really appreciate it. He gets an amazing and unique tone on that album plus chooses good tunes and uses the Nesmith band. I think it may have been the only time that Red was afforded the luxury of taking his time and getting the parts to his liking. His other albums are budget things where he probably recorded the whole album in one session, and didn't get to go back and fix anything.

Joe

Thanks Joe, for the great find!

Kind Regards, Walter

An old interview with Buddy Emmons is rather blunt; he said he didn't care for Red, or Pete Drake. Buddy said they were 'lucky'.
Curly Chalker said he didn't think Jeff Newman was a good player.
(Source: COUNTRY MUSIC PEOPLE, May 1972 & August 1975.)

Joe and Russ: That keyless ZB is dicussed overhere

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... highlight=

I played it in England

Man i've been following Red's playing for years. Yeah, that Nashville bunch didn't like him, but Red could care less. He wasn't over fond of them neither. Red & Buddy had the utmost respect for each other, and admired each others style and playing.

As i understand it, Red could work wonders on an amplifier in that cluttered shop of his. Great player, not a whimp, not afraid to play outside the envelop and i love it. Try to find a copy of Tom Bradshaw's old record club vinyl record of Red's. I added a short review comment that month on it.

His other albums are budget things where he probably recorded the whole album in one session, and didn't get to go back and fix anything.

Keepin' it real!

Joe Goldmark wrote:I've always loved Red's "Velvet Hammer" LP. At one of Scotty's shows I was able to talk with Red and tell him how much I liked it and why. He seemed to really appreciate it. He gets an amazing and unique tone on that album plus chooses good tunes and uses the Nesmith band. I think it may have been the only time that Red was afforded the luxury of taking his time and getting the parts to his liking. His other albums are budget things where he probably recorded the whole album in one session, and didn't get to go back and fix anything.

Joe

I recall an e-mail conversation with Tom Bradshaw some years ago when I asked why the "Steel Guitar Record Club" version of "Velvet Hammer" had different mixes, order and one track ("Cajun Honkytonk") that was not on the original Countryside release. I believe he said that Red was not pleased with the mix and/or mastering that was done originally and took the tapes to Tom to re-work them to his liking. That version of "Velvet Hammer" also made it to the Alshire/Exact label. At the same time, another Red LP was released on those labels which I believe also was recorded with Tom's assistance.

I saw Red a lot back in the 80's when he backed up Mike Nesmith at Mc Cabes/ He was playing a left handed Fender 1000 re-fixed so it was right-handed, with pushrods replacing cables. He told me that it had the best tone of any steel he'd played. I bought my beloved Sho-Bud Pro I from him in 1975. I'd rented an Emmons basic steel (S10 with 3 pedals and 2 knees) from West LA Music and realized I needed at least 3 knee pedals. He showed me a Sho-Bud LDG, and he said it would cost $850. I said that that sounded ok, and he said "You mean you aren't going to haggle with me over the price?" I said yes, and he showed me the red Pro I (3/4) and said that this was what I needed to play professionally. He was right - I played it professionally until 1988. What a guy! btw, if you brought him a 100 watt amp, he'd give it back an a couplke of weeks as a 200 watt amp!