The Steel Guitar Forum

I bought this 45 RPM record online for a few bucks and it's one of my favorites. I lost the original DJ copy I had.

It contains some really awesome steel playing by (I believe) Joe Tippie and was recorded at Hammy Recording studios in Erie, PA and distributed by Elgin Records who I believe was associated with local talent booker Al Cox. Al booked a lot of Wheeling, WV and a few Nashville acts into our area which gave me a chance to backup guys like Jimmy Stevens (The New England Country Gentleman), Hylo Brown and Crazy Elmer.

Joe was a gifted pedal steel player and you can hear the precise palm blocking and detailed intentional note slurs pretty well on these recordings. His ending riff on Highway Man is a classic and perfectly executed. He also had a huge library of sound effects including the siren on Highway Man and the high speed reverse tape rewind effect that drove sound men crazy between cuts.

I recorded this 45 onto Reaper using the turntable shown below and mastered it as an mp3 at 320 kbps.

Roy Scott - Color Song

Roy Scott - Highway Man

I remember Roy Scott very well. As a kid I would go to WWVA Jamboree with my dad, Jiggs Lemley who played steel for Hawkshaw. Dad also played staff and backed up Roy and many others from PA. Such as George and Skinny Clark. Dad played lap steel at that time. C6th. Him and Hawk recorded at King Records in Cincinnati.He did mention that he recorded a record with Doc and Chickie Williams somewhere in Cleveland. It's nice to know there's still people out there that remember Roy. He was a very nice person.It was sad when WWVA was sold and they stop most of the local talent.

Thanks for the really interesting info Mike.

Doc played NW PA a lot and often had a very average band. A few times though he showed up with an awesome fiddle, steel or lead player then the player would quickly be sucked up by someone else. One of those steel players was Gary Boggs. I asked Doc about Joe Tippe and Doc said Joe played too jazzy for his taste! I'm Wheeling Back To Wheeling West Virginia was a great song though for Doc.

Hi Greg, I didn't know Gary Boggs was from up in that area. Last I heard of him he was playing with George Jones. A good friend of mine who just passed, Larry Stewart knew Garry Boggs and told me Gary got Larry his job with Jimmy C Newman. years ago.

I met Joe Tippie in Indy in 1974. He was as good a steel player as any I ever heard. The last I heard was that he moved to Florida and spent a lot of time on a golf course. I don't know if Joe is still with us. He was a few years older than me and I haven't been able to find any information about him. I've seen him switch from C6th to E9th and you couldn't tell which neck he was playing. He's not a tall guy but he's a giant steel player! Thanks for the post Greg

Greg, if you liked those blocking examples, you might like these!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1nyR3si7lg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZoS0yeNtC8

A couple more referenced to Tippie:

https://steelguitarforum.com/Archives/A ... 09782.html

https://www.facebook.com/besthearingaid ... 464005762/