The Steel Guitar Forum

...in 1964 we were introduced to a new style of steel playing. Weldon Myrick, a young man from Jayton, TX. set a style the whole steel playing world would soon follow. The song was "I'll come running". Wow!... this one song would be enough to vote him into the hall of fame. After 42 years it still sends goose bumps up my spine..."Weldon, here's to you", you're the greatest!...thanks for being you!!!

I remember well when I first showed Weldon how to play it in '64, it took him a very long time to get it!! HA HA HA HA (I still can't play it and probably never will)!

All joking aside, Weldon is one of my all-time steel guitar hero's who was and is still a great inspiration...what an innovative intro/TA.

Some interesting trivia that I heard stated that Connie actually wrote the song to go with those "hot licks"! I've heard a lot of players try to do it, but none I heard ever did it exactly like Weldon. I think I just about wore the 45-RPM record out listening to it at 33 RPM (trying to cop those licks), and I guess a lot of other players did too.

The song was actually recorded three times, one with Weldon, the other two with orchestra - finally it was decided to release the version with Weldon. Looks like Weldon's playing couldn't be overlooked, even by non-steel related producers!

Kind Regards, Walter

www.lloydgreentribute.com

www,austriansteelguitar.at.tf

Last Sat. night at the Midnight Jamboree.

C#
www.calsharp.com

Hey, how bout posting it for the rest of us?

Weldon is a great player and a great individual as well. I used to watch the Grand Ole Opry simply just to watch him play. I have always thought he is a great speed picker and I always loved his tone. Weldon will go down in history as one of the greatest steel players ever known to planet earth.

I've heard the story also about Connie writing the song to go with Weldon's "warm-up" licks. Heard too that Connie uses that song to audition steel players!

I'll Come Running Intro

I'll Come Running Solo
Yep; Good stuff.
Ricky

Hey,thanks Ricky. It's amazing picking and to think no one taught him any of that, it all came from his own mind.

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Howard

I've studied and studied on that ride. I sometimes use it as a weather vane as to how limber my chops are on a given day.
One thing that gets me, though, even when I get to feeling cool about being able to pick it (at medium tempo) is how each note, in Mr. Myrick's hands, is so perfectly shaped. Perfect tone on each note. Perfect, even length of each note before it is blocked. Each note has meat. I can't conceive how a ride this wild and uptempo can have such amazing touch.

Here is the story of "I'll Come Running", as told in the Connie Smith set on Bear Family Records:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR><SMALL>"An expensive session in January 1967 resulted in three songs, only one of which saw light-of-day. Connie finally got a cut of "I'll Come Running" which satisfied both her and Bob Ferguson. "I just stumbled on my part", recalls Weldon Myrick. "It was something that came to me as I was practicing. We tried it with violins on two sessions, but Bob said it wasn't working and he wanted me to do the whole part."

Connie says that the song was a Weldon Myrick steel guitar solo with a guest vocal. "I wrote it driving down the road, sitting in the back of my car, playing with my little baby Martin", she told Eddie Stubbs. "Just trying to kill time over the next 900 miles. Weldon Myrick took it home and made something of it. I use it now to audition my drummers". It became a top ten hit. Conway Twitty and Warner Mack later recorded it, and it became a steel guitar standard."</SMALL><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Addendum: The Conway Twitty version features John Hughey, the Warner Mack version features Lloyd Green...

Kind Regards, Walter

www.lloydgreentribute.com
www.austriansteelguitar.at.tf <font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Walter Stettner on 09 May 2006 at 12:28 PM.]</p></FONT>

And here is that Lloyd Green Solo on Warner Mack's version that Walter just spoke of>
I'll Come Running with Lloyd Green
Ricky

On one of the Area Code 615 albums there is a steel instrumental called something like "Welephant"..... a whole song of this type of incredible playing... nothing less than inspirational.



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Dave Wren
'96 Carter S12-E9/B6,7X7; Twin Session 500s; Hilton Pedal; Black Box
www.ameechapman.com

David,
That song would be Welephant Walk. Another Weldon Myrick Original from the Master Mind.
One more tune that Weldon wrote that will test the old right hand is "Hot Foot". That song really cooks.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Steve Dodson on 09 May 2006 at 02:51 PM.]</p></FONT>