The Steel Guitar Forum

Hello gang!

I exhaust my search efforts, then I ask the question here and immediately get an answer.

So, who all played steel for Dale McBride?

Primarily the singles from 1977 thru 1979.

Here's one particular selection.
Thanks in advance.

https://youtu.be/WPlSjI_Hw5E

The great oracle Praguefrank has the answers you seek (and many others) https://countrydiscoghraphy2.blogspot.c ... bride.html

Hal Rugg on the cut you linked

This is one of my favorite eras for country. Love the Nashville Sound of the seventies. Hal Rugg was I big part of it, as well as Weldon Myrick and Emmons. Then you could find Ruggsy and Weldon down at the Opry, the days when the Opry meant something in the industry. Anyway Tavis, thanks for sharing. That whole album is great.

Ian and Duane, Thank you both!

My money was on Pete Drake for the sound.

Duane Becker wrote:This is one of my favorite eras for country. Love the Nashville Sound of the seventies. Hal Rugg was I big part of it, as well as Weldon Myrick and Emmons. Then you could find Ruggsy and Weldon down at the Opry, the days when the Opry meant something in the industry. Anyway Tavis, thanks for sharing. That whole album is great.

Who says the “Opry no longer means something in the industry”?

1. Do you play the Opry?
2. Have you ever played the Opry?
3. Have you ever been to the Opry?
4. What uniquely qualifies you to make such a statement, as indicated above?

That’s a pretty bold statement.

Thanks.

Tim, I took Duane's remarks in a more general context (whether I was correct in doing so he'd have to say). The way I took it is that many of today's "modern country" artists have little or no connection to the past. That's probably a normal, generational thing. But when you hear some guy doing a rap about whatever they "sing" about, do you think they know or care about the Opry and its traditions?

Times change, musical tastes change. Institutions either change to stay relevant, or die. I hate to say it, but if you fast forward 40 years either the Opry will be gone, or the gray-haired old folks will be listening to someone doing a rap about "got my pickup stuck in the mud so I'm sittin and drinkin a Bud". And by that time I will be long gone and forgotten.

I think many of the modern artists do understand and care about the rich traditions and are humbled every time they grace that stage.
It not realistic or fair to think they do not …just because they do not sound like Uncle Dave Macon, George Morgan, or Kitty Wells….

The GOO has also evolved (and continues to evolve) and is not stuck in the past.
It is many of the older fans that seem to be stuck in the past and lay blame on new artists and the Opry itself. How many things in the world are exactly as they were in 1955, 1965, or even 1975? Why should the GOO be expected to remain the same as it was in the past?

Tim, in response to your questions you posed to me regarding the Opry, Yes I have been to the Opry many times, and yes I did play there. I was the steel player with a folk country group called Wylie and the Wild West from 1997 until 2001. The leader Wylie was a regular guest on the Opry, and we traveled alot. Generally the schedule called for us to be in Nashville in March and September each year, and we were always booked for the Friday and Saturday shows.
My comments as the other post by Don mentions were general in terms. Also these are my opinions, which is what music is all about-Opinions, you like something, I like something else.
However, country music as well as the industry has changed. Years ago, you had to play the Opry if you wanted to get anywhere, today its a choice. Nothing meant by this, so please don't take it wrong. I was really referring in my original response about the Dale McBride post.

I read that George Strait never became an Opry member but have not heard if it ever played there. He's had more #1 hits than anybody else in country music including Elvis and Conway Twitty so I'm not sure if working the Opry ever was a status symbol in itself but like when Chet Atkins was asked in an interview to tell them about RCA's legendary Nashville Sound studio Chet asked him "What's legendary about it?" then he proceeded to tell all the things wrong with it like the ceiling was too high and the bass just rumbled around up there and the bathrooms were in the wrong place and how much he despised the man from New York that designed it one night in a cafe on a napkin. Chet said if there's anything legendary about it it was all the talented people that came there to work. I think the same holds true for the Grand Ole Opry.

Oh so you are that guy on steel with Wylie & The Wild West. I have a couple of his CD's. You are what caused me to buy them.
Great stuff. J.R. Rose

JR Rose, thanks JR, I was on three of his albums. First two albums that Wylie did were with Mike Fried, and then I took over when Mike left. I still think the Mike Fried stuff was the best, as it was more Bakersfield sounding with lots of shuffles. Later on during my time, Wylie started getting into more cowboy music, which is fine, but my interest is the straight country shuffle. But for me the best thing that I ever did was play the Opry, I still think is the best gig a country musician could ever play! I have Wylie to thank for that. He's still playing, living in Montana, raising and selling quarter horses, he's really good at training horses as well. Wylie as settled down a little bit and doesn't travel as much, I still fill in once in a while with the group, but I've pretty much retired, and play just local.

J R Rose wrote:Oh so you are that guy on steel with Wylie & The Wild West. I have a couple of his CD's. You are what caused me to buy them.
Great stuff. J.R. Rose

J. R. ,

Same here, when I first heard the steel on Wylies recording, I got into the fastest thing in the garage and went to Tower Records!

Duanes playing on that album and anything else I have heard him do is superb!

Any steeler that doesn't know who Duane Becker is and what he is capable of has been living under a rock!

JMOHO