I Remember ed Hardy
Posted: 4 Apr 2004 5:17 am
If one were to plot a bell curve relating to all the steel guitarists who ever were and still are; with the heighth line indicating the number of players and the base line from left to right indicating the skill/talent level it would follow classic bell curves.
At the right side bottom there would be the few who have achieved the highest positions and the names would be dependent upon your own thinkings and love of the music. Working back to the left would come all those players whom we have seen in threads about the unrecognized players and those with exceptional talent who were never able to break the barriers inherent to all musical endeavors.
At the center/top would be all the night time warriors who play the honky tonk wars and work a daytime job making up the majority of players who love and play the instrument.
But on the bottom/left, where the talent line meets the count line we would find Ed Hardy at the lowest level to be heard. This is not a put down of Ed ! He was a close and true friend and I cared about him in a unique sort of way. He truly loved steel guitar and his life was devoted to playing the music. Try as he would, for all of his life, he just couldn't do it. He never gave up; he played until he died and I miss him. He was the truest example of the vast diversity the steel guitar is known for. It covers not only numerous genres of music but all the inherent skill levels as well.
He would walk in where we were playing and he had his bar and pick bag tied to his belt like a proud indicator of what he wanted to be. He always stayed for two or three sets and then you would notice he was no longer there. He had heard the music and gone home without so much as a goodby; because he knew you understood; and he had to practice, perhaps something he had just heard you do. I have recently had discussions with other steel players in this area and we all have the same feeling about him and the memories are remarkedly similar.
Years ago, when the big St. Louis show featured a rock player as the finale one night, the audience got up and left and I distinctly remember thinking; how rude that must have been for the player to endure.
Ed told me that one time he had gone to Saluda, SC and was playing when they told him to take his things off the stage. I felt the pain and shame he must have enduring and again was disappointed by the show itself. But all of us agree, they were correct in their rejection of his interpetation of the music.
All of us here had, at one time or another, gone to listen to him play. He took over my chair with the Night Riders when I left. I went to hear the band and left after only a song or two. I could not listen to what he was playing. I tried it three or four times as other players here had also done and still could not listen to it, it was so painful. I later asked the lead man, was he even in the same key the rest of you were in ? He did not know because
like the rest of us, he could not tell anything about what Ed was playing.
It was as if he came from another world. Several of us helped him with his equipment and the best story I have to relate something about his gear was that, one time a friend went to his home to help with a new Emmons guitar. He said he could not understand what Ed had done to it or what he was trying to do with it. There was no correlation between what the rest of us had and what he was doing or attempting to do.
Eventually, he tore off the C6th neck because he didn't need it. Others have done this same thing but I doubt if they did for the same reason. He was very limited in what he could play, whatever that may have been, and the additional neck was simply in the way.
He had a Goodrich light volume pedal and a Nashville 400 but you have never heard what he did with them unless, perhaps, you were at Saluda when he was there. But he always heard the music even if he couldn't perform it. He wanted nothing less from life and I have to respect his desires for performing the music even if he failed horribly in playing it himself.
Someone once sent me a tape of their playing and it was so bad, I errased it before any one else had a chance to hear it. But it was concert quality compared to Ed's efforts at steel guitar. And just as the bell curve shows, there are extremes in all human endeavors and we were just unfortunate (or perhaps; fortunate...) enough to remember Ed Hardy.
Sleep well, old friend. I hope that what you always wished for has come true in your new gig. I've heard a lot of wonderful things have happened where you are now and I may only pray that you got what you always wanted.
Regards, Paul
At the right side bottom there would be the few who have achieved the highest positions and the names would be dependent upon your own thinkings and love of the music. Working back to the left would come all those players whom we have seen in threads about the unrecognized players and those with exceptional talent who were never able to break the barriers inherent to all musical endeavors.
At the center/top would be all the night time warriors who play the honky tonk wars and work a daytime job making up the majority of players who love and play the instrument.
But on the bottom/left, where the talent line meets the count line we would find Ed Hardy at the lowest level to be heard. This is not a put down of Ed ! He was a close and true friend and I cared about him in a unique sort of way. He truly loved steel guitar and his life was devoted to playing the music. Try as he would, for all of his life, he just couldn't do it. He never gave up; he played until he died and I miss him. He was the truest example of the vast diversity the steel guitar is known for. It covers not only numerous genres of music but all the inherent skill levels as well.
He would walk in where we were playing and he had his bar and pick bag tied to his belt like a proud indicator of what he wanted to be. He always stayed for two or three sets and then you would notice he was no longer there. He had heard the music and gone home without so much as a goodby; because he knew you understood; and he had to practice, perhaps something he had just heard you do. I have recently had discussions with other steel players in this area and we all have the same feeling about him and the memories are remarkedly similar.
Years ago, when the big St. Louis show featured a rock player as the finale one night, the audience got up and left and I distinctly remember thinking; how rude that must have been for the player to endure.
Ed told me that one time he had gone to Saluda, SC and was playing when they told him to take his things off the stage. I felt the pain and shame he must have enduring and again was disappointed by the show itself. But all of us agree, they were correct in their rejection of his interpetation of the music.
All of us here had, at one time or another, gone to listen to him play. He took over my chair with the Night Riders when I left. I went to hear the band and left after only a song or two. I could not listen to what he was playing. I tried it three or four times as other players here had also done and still could not listen to it, it was so painful. I later asked the lead man, was he even in the same key the rest of you were in ? He did not know because
like the rest of us, he could not tell anything about what Ed was playing.
It was as if he came from another world. Several of us helped him with his equipment and the best story I have to relate something about his gear was that, one time a friend went to his home to help with a new Emmons guitar. He said he could not understand what Ed had done to it or what he was trying to do with it. There was no correlation between what the rest of us had and what he was doing or attempting to do.
Eventually, he tore off the C6th neck because he didn't need it. Others have done this same thing but I doubt if they did for the same reason. He was very limited in what he could play, whatever that may have been, and the additional neck was simply in the way.
He had a Goodrich light volume pedal and a Nashville 400 but you have never heard what he did with them unless, perhaps, you were at Saluda when he was there. But he always heard the music even if he couldn't perform it. He wanted nothing less from life and I have to respect his desires for performing the music even if he failed horribly in playing it himself.
Someone once sent me a tape of their playing and it was so bad, I errased it before any one else had a chance to hear it. But it was concert quality compared to Ed's efforts at steel guitar. And just as the bell curve shows, there are extremes in all human endeavors and we were just unfortunate (or perhaps; fortunate...) enough to remember Ed Hardy.
Sleep well, old friend. I hope that what you always wished for has come true in your new gig. I've heard a lot of wonderful things have happened where you are now and I may only pray that you got what you always wanted.
Regards, Paul
