The Steel Guitar Forum

Martha Moore sends a press release on Pete Drake, who will soon make history as the first steel guitarist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He and drummer Eddie Bayers will be inducted in the Recording and/or Touring Musician category on May 1, alongside additional honorees Ray Charles and The Judds. Pete was once featured on 59 of the 75 songs on Billboard's Top Country Hits chart. He played steel on countless country hits, including those by Marty Robbins, Bobby Bare, Johnny Cash, The Louvin Brothers, Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner, Jerry Lee Lewis, Reba McEntire, Charley Pride, Tammy Wynette, Charlie Rich, George Jones, Kenny Rogers, and Lynn Anderson. Pete pioneered the use of steel guitar in Rock and Pop, performing on recordings by Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Perry Como, Neil Young, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and George Harrison. He also enjoyed success as a producer, publisher, record label founder, and recording artist. In the late 1960s, he was booked on three sessions a day and was producing several acts. As a solo recording artist, he made famous the "talking steel guitar." Pete died in 1988 at age 55, as the result of emphysema.

Somehow you'd thought he'd been there years ago. Mr "Nashville Sound" Lloyd Green should be there as well.

No doubt. I can't believe it's taken this long to recognize these players and the incredible contributions to country music.

Totally agree.

Super news. It will be a great day for the Drake family and the steel guitar.

Like Dale, I assumed he already was!

This picture showed up on my Twitter feed. A happy birthday wish to Peter Frampton. Obviously taken during George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass sessions.

The Medallion Induction Ceremony takes place Sunday, May 1st in the CMA Theater at the Hall of Fame, when Ray Charles, The Judds, Pete Drake, and Eddie Beyers will be the 2021 inductees. This year, The Medallion Staff band will include pedal steel guitarist Tommy White.

Here is the text from the April 25 2022 Billboard article on Pete Drake's induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame:

Pete was Nashville’s leading session steel player for roughly three decades, after he first appeared on a country hit: Roy Drusky’s 1960 single “Anymore.” Before his 1988 death, he played on reams of hits, including Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” Lynn Anderson’s “Rose Garden,” Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay,” Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man” and George Jones's “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” It’s telling that Pete flourished during that period, given that work for steel guitarists declined in the 1960s, thanks to the rise of the pop-influenced “Nashville Sound.” One key to his success was preparation — he changed pedals on his instrument to create a unique sound for each artist he worked with, according to Rose, and he often went into a session with an idea of what he might play, even though he wouldn’t hear the material until the session started.

“He would dream licks,” Rose remembers. “If he was going to go do a session with Tammy, he may wake up doing a lick that he would think would fit her voice. I mean, he lived and breathed music.” Even, apparently, in his sleep.

But Pete was also a steel inventor. He developed a talk box that allowed him to sing along with the steel through a tube. It gained traction through his 1963 recording “Forever,” but it reached new heights when rock guitarists employed it. Pete introduced the gizmo to Peter Frampton during sessions for George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, and the sound became a Frampton signature. It also has been used by Bon Jovi and Joe Walsh, whose “Rocky Mountain Way” put Pete’s talk box on the pop charts at the same time Pete was playing on a Charlie Rich pop hit, “The Most Beautiful Girl.” Despite his significance, Pete wasn’t a household name. Nor did he expect to be. “I think he’d be very proud,” Rose says of her late husband’s likely response to the medallion ceremony, “but I can’t tell you how many times that we would get dressed to go to the CMA Awards or the BMI Awards, and he would try to find a reason that he didn’t have to go. He’d say, ‘All people really want from me is my sound. They don’t need to see my face.’

after almost two decades of thinking that some of my favorite steel guitar backup playing on George Jones songs , was done by Buddy , I found out it was Pete all the way … great, very tasteful player , one of my favorites definitely

An article in Forbes (!) appeared yesterday:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamwindsor ... cdd77b241c

well deserved and long overdue. it's been great to see the recognition Pete's received

here's hoping he's the first in a long line of steel guitarists that belong in the Hall of Fame. it's quite a long list by now

This is good! Pete Drake was a classy, tasteful picker.

Soooo…when is Buddy’s turn? Jimmy’s, Lloyd’s?

Chris Brooks wrote:An article in Forbes (!) appeared yesterday:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamwindsor ... cdd77b241c

Per the article:

The late Pete Drake was a well-known Nashville session player whose pedal steel guitar licks were heard on many of country music’s biggest during the 60s, 70s, and early 80s. Songs like George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man,” Kenny Rogers “Lucille,” and so many more.

Having known this song for over 40 years, I can honestly say I hear no trace of steel guitar on it.

Lloyd is already in the CMHOF and has been from quite some time.

I think they had Lloyd's steel on display as part of the Nashville Cats exhibit, but he's not a member of the HOF yet. they've got one of Buddy Emmons' old steels on display too and a few others but Pete was the first steel player to actually be inducted, surprisingly.

Scott

I stand corrected and you are correct. As you said Lloyd’s steel is on display there and I mistook that as being in the CMHOF

Sorry for the confusion .

Mark T