The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anybody know who is playing steel on the Bobby Harden "Nashville Sensation" LP?

Thanks a million,

Jim

That got me curious too....I just emailed Lloyd Green; he may know; cause that was right in the middle of his Hayday and I think I remember him asking if I was kin to Ralph Davis; who produced that record/songs......ah..ha.
Ricky

Well Lloyd said he really didn't know who did those sessions with Bobby; but he says it's NOT Weldon; Hal; Pete or Lloyd and not Day or Chalker and says there was several other guys that got some sessions here and there during that time.

https://youtu.be/yKgXBrvAACM

Ricky

Thanks for posting the song Ricky. Dang!,he played some pretty cool licks whoever he was.

Give a listen to Lew Houston playing "Working Girl" starting at about 3:30 minutes in on this clip:
Conway Twitty on "The Porter Wagoner Show" (1966/67)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyG2Z7Glbwg

Do you think it might be Lew playing with Bobby Harden?

- Dave

I'd say no. Lew's volume work was always very obvious. (He used the volume control on the guitar rather than a pedal.) I'm not hearing that on the Bobby Harden song. There were a lot of lesser-known players around Nashville at that time, but I can't recall any that had that strong a Mooney influence in their playing.

Jim,

Back in those days Jeff Newman was pursuing studio work. Jeff worked for Pete Drake. He played in Pete's touring band back when Pete's Talking Steel Guitar hit the airwaves. I also recall Jeff saying he recorded with Bobby Harden back in the day...Adding to the analysis...This player is resting his palm on the strings at the changer to block which is how I saw Jeff emulate Mooney when we taught. On the record the licks are from the Ralph Mooney thing of which many knew so what was played does not help. Also...

Pete played on the only Harden Trio hit "Tippy Toeing"...From then on Bobby Harden mostly called Pete who would also cast his sessions...My guess is Pete was busy that day so his sub would have been Jeff in that timeline. As Pete did for me, he would have recommended Jeff when he could not make something.

My guess - Jeff Newman

Interesting, Paul - thank you.

Jeff sure did a fine job with the moon style.what paul says makes a lot of sense.jeff was a confident player,it came through in that recording posted by Ricky.

I feel rather stupid forgetting about Jeff's ability to copy Mooney's style, and what Paul said now makes perfect sense. I was under the impression that Jeff was quite busy with his teaching and producing learning materials back when that song was released, and thought that he didn't have much time for session work. But knowing he was actually pursuing studio work makes it perfectly logical that it's Jeff Newman doing the playing on the Bobby Harden song.

I actually posted this same link here on the forum when this album was released, so for those that missed it (or forgot about it, as I did ), here's a Jim & Jesse album featuring Jeff doing a lot of the same Mooney-style playing. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbh32_VgYMs

Thank you all for the replies!

My best,

Jim

Love to hear all of the history that's being brought up!