The Steel Guitar Forum

Welcome Tiny Olsen to the forum....I see he signed on 1-4-02. Great to have you here, enjoyed your picking with Gene Watson. Have a happy new year....

Harold, thanks a bunch. After grinding away at a "normal" day gig for the past several years and letting the responsibilities of the job keep me away from the things I enjoy, it is great to be back with the folks in the steel guitar world again. My next adventure is to figure out how to set up my guitar and amps on the front deck of my bass-boat so I can figure out new licks and land a 7 lb. largemouth bass at the same time.

What a dreamer I am... Thanks again Harold.

Welcome indeed!!!! Tiny, Your work on Gene Watson's albums really kept me going in my early days of learning. Especially the Some times I Get Lucky and Forget album.I still listen to that album. Great to have you on the Forum

Tiny good to have you here.

Tiny,

Welcome to the forum ! It is so good to see you on here as you can add a lot of good advice and knowledge about the steel guitar . I have always admired your fine playing with Gene and I'm sure everyone on the forum will gain from you being active on here.

Hey, the bass fishing is good here on Lake Livingston most of the time so come on down !

Have fun here on this fine forum and again,welcome!

John

Great to have you here, Tiny! I have many fond memories of the days when I was with Moe Bandy and we would work dates together with you and Gene. I always loved your playing and the stuff you did on Gene's records was just great.
I've got some old pictures of us somewhere....may be too scary!

Welcome Tiny !! It's looks as if your reputation has preceded you here on the Forum. We can always use good hands, good heads and good advice. I missed you when you were in Perry Ga but the guys who went told me a whole lot of stories.

Best Regards, Paul

Welcome Tiny.

I would like to ask a favor of the forum. When we introduce famous players, could someone (maybe the person being introduced) give some history on the player. Those of us that are unfamiliar with the name would really like to know more about them. To me, the greatest thing that I get from this forum is the history behind the instrument and it's players.

I see that Tiny worked with Gene Watson (one of the best country singers ever born), but what else can we learn about him? I'm looking forward to any more info.

Thanks.

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Carter D10 9p/10k
Richard Sinkler

Richard; I was thinking the same thing.
I've seen Tiny's name mentioned many a time on the Forum, usually in conjunction with Gene Watson's name, I think Tiny worked with Gene from the late 1970s up to about 1989, but I'd love to know more.

Welcome Chris,

I had the pleasure of seeing him at the recent PSGA show in Norwalk, CT. I was able to contact Tony Booth, thanks to Chris.

His positive personality and up-beat love for steel guitar shines through....

Again, welcome and I hope he shares his vast experience with fellow "formites".

Jerry

Welcome to the Forum, Tiny! Hey, did you ever play with a band at a club in Pueblo, Colo. called Mrs. G's Silver Saddle, or Saddle N Spur or something like that around '78 or '79? I met a steelplayer named Tiny there and I don't remember if it was you or not...I was playing steel with a character named Buck Starr, our band and the other band played alternate sets one weekend, or week or something. I don't remember too much about those days...

Thanks everyone. You folks are making me feel great.

Tommy- The shows we did with Gene and Moe were allways fun. Great music with those two as they were two of my all time favorites. And I allways liked to hear you play, what a great player you are. Remember the night in Evanston Wyoming that Gene and Moe were booked together at a big club ?? While you guys were on stage they came in and told me that I had to move Gene's bus to let a car out. It was dark out back and they sent some guy who was pretty well loaded out to guide me. About the time I got within 10' of Moe's bus someone turned the headlamps of another car on and blinded me in mirror. Between that and the drunk, I backed the rear of Gene's bus into the front of Moe's bus. No real damage was done and we all laughed about it but I felt like a clown !! Of course, there were about 25 fans standing around glaring at me. I also enjoyed the show at the racetrack in Charleston WV. The guy who booked the music was going crazy trying to round up all the musicians as we were all betting on the horses and just HAD to watch the races. There were many more and like you say, somethings are too scary. But I'd love to see the photos. Thanks man... Tiny

Well Jim Phelps, you are correct in assuming that you met me.

I actually worked for Gene Watson twice. For about 9 mos. in '77 and then again from late '78 to '87. In between I worked for Johnny Russell and a guy named Tim Gillis who I had worked for before as well.

Early in '78 I think, we played a club one weekend in Pueblo, Colorado with another band run by Buck Starr. There was a guy named "Bean" playing guitar and fiddle if I recall and you would have been the steel player. Were you playing an MSA then ?? Seems to me that was the case. Mrs Gs Silver Saddle... that sounds right to me.

I even remember that they had free Red Baron micro pizza for the band members in the back room behind one of the bars. A guy called "Tiny" remembers those kind of things.

Thanks Jim. Yup, that was me.

Tiny, I came this close to bringing that up but figured I better not! It was way too funny! Gene was cussin'...I surely remember Charleston too. It is great to hear from you!

welcome Tiny,glad you made it here.
Im sure we'll all be able to benefit from your knowledge & experience .
btw... you got one of the best tv tones Ive ever heard.It was on either a "Nashville Music" or "Hee Haw" episode w/ Gene. Stay warm up there in the north

Hi Tiny,

Welcome to the Forum. We met once, many, many years ago.

I played steel in a local Frederick, MD area group called "Circus" and we were scheduled to back Gene up in a performance at a local high school auditorium. The day of the performance we were all set up and ready to go and had woodshedded it on all of Gene's hits up to the time. When Gene arrived, he was not, as we'd expected, by himself. He had a very excellent band in which you were the steel player. He said that a change of management had caused him to begin carrying his own band, even to performances where he'd been scheduled to use local folks. We got paid for the gig anyway, the audience got a far better show for their money, and I got to meet Gene and you and hear a fine performance! It was the best of all worlds!

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Rick Richtmyer
Good News

Tiny
Good to see you here,,,now Im not the oldest
cat on the Forum . But I think I gottcha by
a few years.

Good to meet you at the PSGA show last November,,,next time I wished they would put
the "lights " on ,,,when Bob Maickle introduced us,,,we were in the "dark"

Hope you can spin some good stories for these
youngsters and us older guys as well.

Be well Guy.Good Luck,,,
Jody

Tiny, you have a much better memory for those days than I have, but I was sure I knew that name. Tim Gillis, that's right. Wow, that was so long ago...I think I've blocked most of those years from my mind as back then I had a fiance I refer to as "The Girlfriend From Hell" and have purposefully wiped most of the late '70's from my memory! I DO remember the pizza! Yep, that was me with the black laquer MSA D10. Never found out whatever happened to Buck Starr, think he might've gone into some other line of work. You played some great steel back then, listening to you I found I had plenty of practicing to do Great to "run into" you again and to see you on the Forum. My best wishes to you and yours.

Jody- I think they left the lights down low in the place when they introduced us to keep everyone from fleeing in horror. Not because of you of course, but me. It was great visiting with you though. What a resourse we have in you... tremendous.

There are so many folks I haven't spoken to in so long it'll take me awhile to get to 'em all, but I'll try.

Jerry- After seeing you I decided to call Tony Booth myself. I was very lucky in that the last 5 yrs. that I worked for Gene Watson, Tony Booth was our bass-player and front man. Two tremendous country singers there. We allways opened shows with several of Tony's hits prior to bringing Gene out. So I got to play Jerry Brightman and Jay Dee Maness licks. Jerry, you sure are a super picker and a great guy. I'm proud we're friends.

Tiny

Jim- Glad you have enjoyed the "Sometimes I Get Lucky" album of Gene's for so long. I used my '75 Blk. P/P Emmons (9x6)through a Session 400 on that album and we cut it at Pete's Place. Al Pachucki was the engineer and I always liked cutting with him. The producer left the steel pure and basically didn't eq it much if any during the re-mix and I always liked the tone I had on that album as it was a most classic Emmons tone. Thanks for your kind words.

Mike- You never knew exactly what it would sound like on some of those tv shows as you were at the mercy of the engineer. We did those things fast too, usually in one take. Never got a chance to hear the mix until the show was aired as a rule. I always tried to get the mike about 1/2 way between the cone and edge of the speaker and hope for the best. Thanks so much for the compliment.

Rick- I think Gene had us travelling in a van when we played that Md. gig, right ?? A short time later we had a bus. But the van was no fun for a guy my size. Especially when doing one-niters. Little David Wilkens had offered me a job about that time and I almost left Gene to work for him just so I'd have a bunk in a bus again as he (Little David) had one. Funny how stuff works out.

Tiny

Tiny, we are glad to have you with us. I want you to know you made a lot of fans and friends here in the Ft Smith, Arkansas area when you guys were here, must have been 10 or 15 years ago but the local musicians still talk about you. Good stuff!!!
Jerry