The Steel Guitar Forum

Hey y'all,

Forgive me, as I'm sure this has been discussed before.

I know Buddy Emmons and Al Perkins both play on Gram Parsons' two solo LPs (unless I'm mistaken), but does anyone know specifically who plays on which tunes?

Thanks,
Henry

I thought Neal Flanz worked for him quite a bit?

Emmons ain't on the blue one...

He played on"New Soft Shoe"and"That's All it Took"on the other one...hope this helps...

SH

I've heard it was Emmons on "She" too.

Neil Flanz toured with Gram in '73 and can be heard on the Live 1973 release.


the Emmylou Harris exhibit at the CMHOF featured some of Al Perkins' handwritten charts from the Grievous Angel sessions

Thanks, Scott...cool photo!

Appreciate all the info. Thanks for sharing those charts too, Scott.

Yes,Scott!"She"is the third one...I didn't remember it...very little Emmons and a lot of James Burton...

SH

Thanks, Scott......I was just gonna ask who played on “Sleepless Nights”, which was an outtake, I believe. Just heard it today and was wondering.

Buddy played at a PSGA show one Sunday in May 1983 in Armonk, NY. This was the Sunday before college finals week and I had my first final the following day. College was 4 hours away. Needless to say, my grade on that one wasn't what it could have been had I spent the day instead studying, but no regrets. Jeff Newman warmed him up. Great one day show, small crowd and got to spend a little time talking with Buddy and Peggy. I asked Buddy how he came to play on Gram's GP album. Buddy's response, "I don't really know." He turned to Peggy and asked, "Do you remember Peggy?" Peggy said, "Yes, you were in the studio after having done some recording and Gram Parsons stopped you in the hallway and asked if you would play on his album that he was recording that day."

So that is how Buddy came to be on the album. Impromptu. I should have asked which tunes he played on but spaced as I was so nervous just having his undivided attention. I remember sitting on the rug during Buddy's show directly in front of him, not more than 5 feet away from the small make-shift stage. Buddy would look at me and seeing my excitement, would crack up every so often. This show occurred in time with the release of Buddy's One For the Road album. He did a number of the songs from it including, of course Linus and Lucy. Great memories.

That is very interesting John!
Above is the album with autographs from James Burton (top left) Ron Tutt (middle) and Glen D.Hardin.

A little info about the recording of GP, coming from the Bud Scoppa biography:

Cool Joachim. If my memory serves me right, the pic on the front ncover of GP was taken of Gram while he was in Europe hanging out with Keith Richards. Anyone else hear that?

Some quick notes to add to this thread:

1) Emmylou never actually met Buddy at the Wally Heiders GP sessions. Buddy overdubbed his parts after Emmy went home. Emmy confirms this.

2) In my recent interview with James Burton he says he suggested Buddy's steel guitar playing to Gram for the record AND says he called Buddy. Not to say that Buddy and Peggy might have been working down the hall that day. I find these types of details become jumbled over time. The significant detail from you John Brabant is that Peggy was in the studio with Buddy, which was very common for her during the LA days. Linda Ronstadt also remembers Peggy attended her sessions and said she was very professional and didn't demand attention to herself.

3) The chord charts for the Gram sessions are from my collection and are on loan to the CMHOF for the Emmylou exhibit.

Steve Fishell

John Brabant wrote:If my memory serves me right, the pic on the front ncover of GP was taken of Gram while he was in Europe hanging out with Keith Richards. Anyone else hear that?

the GP photo was taken at the Chateau Marmont hotel in L.A. where Gram lived for some time. there are some great photos of Gram and Keith together, particularly at the Villa Nellcote in France while the Stones were making Exile On Main Street




when I asked Buddy about playing on the GP album, he had no memory of it. I hadn't heard of Peggy's recollection until this thread... great story and I would tend to believe her over James Burton personally

Fish wrote:
3) The chord charts for the Gram sessions are from my collection and are on loan to the CMHOF for the Emmylou exhibit.

Steve Fishell

Two clarifications:

1) obviously, I didn't want to imply that I played on these tracks, I simply have the charts, which I got from Phil Kaufman decades ago.The great Al Perkins played beautifully on both of these tracks.

2) These charts were written by Glen D Hardin but include Al's notes in pencil from the live session.

Fish wrote: These charts were written by Glen D Hardin but include Al's notes in pencil from the live session.

The steel sound is gorgeous but replacing the G flats with F sharps in the key of D flat is kuku.

thanks for the extra info Steve!
I wondered if Al had actually written those... good to know. thanks also for donating the charts to the exhibit, it was one of the highlights for me.

I chuckled about the Gb to F# edit myself, knowing I'm guilty of the same type of thing