The Steel Guitar Forum

Who were some of the steel players on this show and where are they now? Who played during the same time that Pete Drake played the Opry?
Reggie Duncan

Shot Jackson, Felton Pruitt. Sonny Trammel,and Jimmy Day. Jimmy and Shot are deceased. Haven't heard anything on Felton or Sonny in a long time. Hoot Rains also worked with Slim Whitman on the Hayride. Jody.

Never mind, Jody beat me to the punch on this one! This sounds like a potentially great thread to me. The Louisiana Hayride and other similar shows were definitely the starting places for a great many top names in this business.

Tim R.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Tim Rowley on 05 January 2002 at 11:27 AM.]</p></FONT>

Who was Shot Jackson playing the Hayride with? What time-period is being discussed?

Tommy Minniear

I think Charley White played steel for Lefty Frizzell while he was on the Hayride.

Andy

As a sidebar to this 'thread', does anyone have any details about Jimmy Day playing with Elvis on the Hayride?

Steel can be heard on a version of 'Twiddly Dee' and I'm told it was Jimmy, but that's all I've heard. I wonder how often he played with the act, or was it a 'one-off'?

There's a photo of Elvis in which a Fender steel can be seen in the background.....



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LeGrande III

Roger,

I have no real “factual” information on Jimmy Day with Elvis (because I was not there), but I can tell you the story I have heard many times over the years.

Jimmy was on the Louisiana Hayride at the same time that Elvis was, and apparently did play with him occasionally (possibly even recorded a time or two) in the early days. Another player on the Hayride in those days was Floyd Crammer, the great piano player. So the story goes, Elvis got “discovered”, which means he had a national hit or two on the old Sun record label, secured a contract with RCA, and was headed for Los Angeles. I believe Elvis’s band was Scotty Moore on guitar, and a Bass player who’s name I have forgotten (Bill Black maybe??), and a drummer who I believe was D. J. Fontana. Elvis asked Jimmy and Floyd to join the band and go to the west coast with him. Both Jimmy and Floyd politely said, “Nah…we are packing up in the next week or two and going to Nashville”.

Is it true? I don’t know! But I have heard it a lot of times over the years, so I suspect that like all “stories”, there is some truth and probably some fiction in it.

B. Bailey Brown
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by B Bailey Brown on 05 January 2002 at 12:33 PM.]</p></FONT>

Tommy,
I am interested in all time periods, but especially the period around the same time Pete Drake was on the Opry.

Yoh, B Bailey Brown..you are pretty much spot in mind.
Jimmy and Floyd were part of the house band (not long after Elvis split, James Burton joined on lead); and as part of the house band they augmented the Blue Moon Boys, which of course was Elvis, Scotty, D.J. Fontana and Bill Black.
There was talk of them going to RCA and recording with Elvis, who was really starting to crack it big, but wasn't quite at the stage where anyone thought he'd last for years. He was heavily touring the South and Southwest during this period, but he was going to crack the rest of the US pretty soon and that was just the start of things of course.

Horace Logan lives down the road a piece from me...I'll talk to him and see if he minds me publishing his phone #... he still gets around good... he also put out a book that I enjoyed reading not to long ago...I don't know when the book was published..maybe some of you have already read it... Horace remembers it all...regards, fred p.s I think I remember him saying that Sonny Trammel was the last steel player???

For those of you who don't know Horace Logan..he was THE man at L. Hayride.
regards, fred

I guess the time period I am thinking about would be late 50s early 60s. What about Zane Beck? I was thinking that he told me he was there at one time. Unless I am dreaming, he told me a story about putting knee levers on a steel guitar while he was there. Ring a bell?

Tommy M,

I need to check to be sure, but I'm thinking that Shot Jackson played the L.H. with Johnny Wright and Jack Anglin. He was their main steeler in the early years.

Tim R.

The show was around since the 1940s, I'm not surre when it wound up though.
When you consider how grueling a gig like that could be, especially if a picker was also doing touring gigs as well, there was a factor of burn out.
Plus there was a rotation of artists and various bandleaders and singers hiring away pickers.
I figure once you add in all these factors, a lot of pickers played on the show, most likely everyone mentioned.

Jason: A follow up on the Jimmy Day/Floyd Cramer going to Nashville story. Someone told me they both went to work with Webb Pierce but after a couple weeks Webb told Jimmy he was going to have to let Floyd go because he could only play on the white keys.

I suppose we all have to start somewhere but look where he went with those white keys !!

When you make a post, b0b has a Smilies Legend entry underlined on the right hand side of the post block. Click on that and you can get all sorts of gooddies like: and my favorite !

Regards, Paul

Hey, Guys, Steve Palousek played the hayride but I am not sure when or who for. As for what B Baily Brown said is right on. I have a VERY OLD tape of Jimmy Day, and Floyd Crammer playing for Elvis on the Hayride. On this tape, they are interviewed by the Master of creimonies. Quite interesting This tape has that "OLD" sound of just guitar to amp, no effects sound. The MC was introducing Elvis on the heyride for the first time. I thought it was when he said,"Take er' away, Boys"with that NASAL twang. Jimmy and Floyd told the interviewer about traveling on the road in ONE car, with ALL their equipment. and some of their endeavors as early road musicians. Makes me think of my days on the road from 1980-1990. Got pretty Cramped at times but I don't think I suffered as much as any musician that was playing the road back in the "Good old Days"

The hayride returned in 1974 with a new building a few miles north of Shreveport. It was called "Hayride USA", I think partly becuase of copyright problems with the name. A few years later they went with the "Louisana Hayride" name. It was broadcast live on KWKH radio. I was the staff steeler in 74 and part of 75, if I remember correctly. If I'm not mistaken, Charlie Day took my place when I left. Charlie is Jimmy's nephew. Charlie played a Blanton steel. The only one I've ever seen. It sounded good but weighed a ton. I'm not sure when they shut down again. I think it was in the early 80's. David Baker played steel some in the late 70's also. Joe Spivey was the fiddler there along about that time.

Ken

Shot played steel with Red Sovine, and the Bailes Bros. Then he went with Johnny And Jack on dobro. Don Warden came in to play for Red Sovine after that. Jimmy Day did do gigs with Elvis. Jimmy had a large blown up picture of himself on stage with Elvis at a club in Long view, Tx. Elvis picked up musicians for his shows, as his group consisted of Scotty, Bill, and himself. I had the good fortune of being one of those "pick up' musicians. Jody.


<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jody Sanders on 06 January 2002 at 01:22 PM.]</p></FONT>

I posted this once before and had only one response. A man whose last name was Forrest played steel on the Hayride. I think he was a member of the staff band. I teach with his daughter at William Carey College in Mississippi. Does anyone remember him? Also
when I was in Seminary in New Orleans I was a disc jockey on WWEZ radio and opened the station each morning with gospel music. A disc jockey named Charles Stokely (Jolly
Cholly) came to our station from KWKH in Shreveport. He also announced for the Hayride. I have lost touch with him. Does
anyone out there know about him. The last time I heard about him he was pallbearer for Jim Reeves. They were close friends when Jim was on the Hayride. Thanks

Jason,

Thanks for the nice words! I was just happy I got one fairly close to right for a change. That is just one of those stories I have heard many times over the years, and it was always pretty much the same, no matter who was telling it. So I figured I was fairly close to accurate.

As to what Ken Williams said, I can remember driving back from band gigs in the 70’s and being able to pick up KWKH from time to time. If I was on the road early enough I would catch the tail end of the Hayride. Additionally, being in radio at the time as well as playing in a band, I remember that the Louisiana Hayride was considered to be the training ground for the Grand Old Opry. A great many artists that wound up being major stars on the Opry, started on the Hayride. It was kind of like the minor and major leagues in baseball. If you worked the Hayride for a while, you frequently got the nod to come to Nashville and be on the Opry.

As to the Blanton guitar that Charlie Day played, there was a thread on that here on the forum some time back. I believe that was the “Blue Darlin’” that Jerry Blanton built for Jimmy Day. It later wound up at Sho-Bud in Nashville, and apparently Charlie later got his hands on it and played it for some years. I own 2 of them to this day, and Ken is correct in that they weigh a ton, but they are real sweet guitars to play!

B. Bailey Brown

Here is what has got me confused. The only pictures that I've ever seen of Pete Drake playing on the Opry, showed him playing a Sho~Bud. My question is: Would Shot Jackson have been building steels in Nashville and playing steel or dobro for one of the acts that was working the Hayride on a regular basis? I had always thought that by the time Pete Drake was working the Opry regularly, that Shot was mainly involved with mfg. I guess to clear things up for me, I would have to know what years that Pete Drake did the Opry gig. Anybody?

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Tommy Minniear
www.ntsga.com

Shot went to Nashville with Johnny and Jack and played dobro. he and Buddy started ShoBud after Buddy came to Nashville. Buddy came to Nashville I believe in July of 1955 working for Tater. Jody.

Shot left the Hayride with Johnnie & Jack (dobro) and Kitty (steel)for the Opry in the early 1950s (pre ShoBud). While he was on the Hayride, after the Bailes Bros. folded in 1948, Shot backed and recorded with Jimmy Osborne and Webb Pierce (both steel) as well as backing the others listed in the other post above. I hope this helps.