{"id":24235,"date":"2013-09-03T15:00:08","date_gmt":"2013-09-03T20:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whisnews21.com\/?p=24235"},"modified":"2013-09-03T15:00:08","modified_gmt":"2013-09-03T20:00:08","slug":"a-salute-to-steel-guitar-pioneer-buddy-emmons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/2013\/09\/03\/a-salute-to-steel-guitar-pioneer-buddy-emmons\/","title":{"rendered":"A salute To Steel Guitar Pioneer Buddy Emmons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"buddyemmonswhisnews21\"<\/b>
\nThe following is one of the best stories that Peter Cooper has ever written, in my estimation, and it is about time that the country music industry and the world knew a more about the Big \u201cE\u201d.\u00a0 I know the word pioneer covers the definition of who Buddy was to the musicians world, but if you did not know Buddy personally, then you missed knowing first the student, then the teacher, the master, and the pioneer of the STEEL GUITAR.\u00a0 He is responsible for many to try and copies but only one \u201cMASTER,\u201d THE BIG \u201cE\u201d could be the king and he wears his crown proudly, and well he should.<\/b>
\n\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

A salute to steel guitar pioneer Buddy Emmons<\/span><\/h1>\n

\"Buddy-Emmons-cover\"Award-winning musician Buddy Emmons sits at the 1957 Sho-Bud steel guitar he donated to the Country Music Hall of Fame Nov. of 1983. A co-founder of Sho-Bud with Shot Jackson, Emmons originally came to Nashville with Little Jimmy Dickens, and has recorded with Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, John Anderson, Linda Ronstadt and John Conlee, to name but a few.
\nIn June of 1955, the best band in country music belonged to one James Cecil Dickens, better known then and now as\u00a0Little Jimmy Dickens<\/a>.
\nOn the first day of July 1955, that band got better, thanks to the addition of an 18-year-old, Midwest-reared hotshot pedal steel guitar player named\u00a0Buddy Emmons<\/a>. Dickens found Emmons while on tour in Detroit, and quickly hired him to replace another outstanding steeler, Walter Haynes, who had given notice that he wanted to get off the road.
\nDickens sent a telegram to Emmons in Detroit with travel arrangements, flew the kid to Nashville, picked him up at the airport and took him out to WSM\u2019s Studio C for the \u201cFriday Night Frolics.\u201d By the time Dickens played the \u201cGrand Ole Opry<\/a>\u201d that Saturday night, word was out.
\n\u201cIt was like a lightning bolt struck,\u201d says Steve Fishell, the steel guitarist who has just produced a multi-artist tribute album called \u201cThe Big E: A Salute to Steel Guitarist Buddy Emmons.\u201d \u201cYou can see photos from that day with Dickens onstage and other steel players like Jimmy Day waiting in the wings, watching Buddy. His execution was flawless, and his ideas were brilliant. It was like nothing ever heard before on the \u2018Opry\u2019 stage. Buddy was dropped into the hottest band in country music, and it was an incredible launching pad for him.\u201d
\nAlready, Dickens\u2019 Country Boys ensemble was known for its fleshed-out sound, its rhythmic presence and its virtuoso\u00a0flights. But the addition of Emmons kicked things into another gear.
\nEmmons and guitarists Howard Rhoton and Spider Wilson created sophisticated, triple harmony instrumental arrangements of the likes that wouldn\u2019t be approached until The Allman Brothers Band came along in 1969.
\nAnd if Emmons\u2019 only contribution to music was elevating Dickens\u2019 Country Boys into the stratosphere, that contribution would be of significant value and import. But, as \u201cThe Big E\u201d makes clear in its performances and in Fishell\u2019s extensive liner notes, Emmons was, and is, so much more.<\/p>\n

Steel guitar pioneer<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

\"buddyemmons02\"One major contribution benefits all steel players: Emmons re-imagined the pedal steel itself, and his name is on the patent for the complex, groundbreaking, \u201cguitar tone changing device\u201d that remains a staple for pedal steel design. And Emmons co-founded the now-famed Sho-Bud Guitar Company in 1956 and the Emmons Guitar Company in 1964.
\nMost of Emmons\u2019 other triumphs came on stages and in the recording studio.
\nHe recorded the first serious steel guitar jazz album in 1963, he toured and recorded as a key member of Ernest Tubb\u2019s Texas Troubadours and Ray Price\u2019s Cherokee Cowboys.
\nIn the late 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles and recorded with Ray Charles, Judy Collins (including her smash, \u201cSomeday Soon\u201d), Gram Parsons, the Everly Brothers, Linda Ronstadt and many more.
\nEmmons and wife Peggy returned to Nashville in 1974, and in Music City he recorded with George Strait, Willie Nelson, J.J. Cale, John Hartford, k.d. lang, Trisha Yearwood and dozens of others. He also toured with the Everly Brothers for 12 years.
\n\u201cIf I were in charge of things, I would have a huge statue of Buddy Emmons carved in the finest granite and placed in a prominent place along Music Row in Nashville,\u201d slide guitar great Mike Auldridge once said. \u201cI don\u2019t even have to mention his tone or taste or the fact that he\u2019s an actual musical genius. … All steel players know this is true, almost beyond belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

An inspiration<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Perhaps Fishell\u2019s \u201cThe Big E\u201d is a more fitting tribute than a statue: Granite is impressive, but it makes for lousy listening.
\nMade possible by contributions to a Kickstarter campaign, the album features instrumental wizardry from steelers Fishell, Doug Jernigan, Greg Leisz, JayDee Maness, Paul White, Tommy Franklin, Roosevelt Collier, Mike Johnson, Randle Currie, Norm Hamlett, Gary Carter and Dan Dugmore, as well as electric guitar from Duane Eddy and Albert Lee and vocal turns from singers including Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Willie Nelson, Raul Malo, Chris Stapleton and Joanie Keller.
\nOh, and 58 years after their fabled first meeting, James Cecil Dickens. Little Jimmy sings \u201cWhen Your House Is Not a Home,\u201d a song Emmons used to perform with Price, and one that reminds the steel player of his late and beloved wife, Peggy. (Proceeds from \u201cThe Big E\u201d will go to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in the name of Peggy Emmons.)
\n[youtube=http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0BtaQq4ZhaU&w=640&h=480]
\n\u201cBuddy refers to \u2018When Your House Is Not a Home\u2019 as his sentimental favorite,\u201d Fishell says. \u201cHe admitted to me that he became misty when he heard the track. It brought back a flood of memories.\u201d
\nOne Kickstarter pledge came from Warner Music Nashville president John Esposito, who eventually set up national distribution through Warner. Esposito is, at heart, a music fan, and as such he\u2019s well aware of Emmons\u2019 indelible mark on American music.
\nEmmons, who was not involved in the creation or promotion of the tribute album, by all accounts remains thankful to James Cecil Dickens for bringing him into the big time. And the big time remains thankful to Emmons.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s always been poignant and heartfelt on ballads, and devastating when it\u2019s time to play those hot licks,\u201d Fishell says. \u201cBuddy Emmons is someone we all look towards as inspiration, to be better at what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reach Peter Cooper at 615-259-8220 or\u00a0pcooper@tennessean.com<\/a><\/b><\/h6>\n

Article sent in by Marty Martel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is one of the best stories that Peter Cooper has ever written, in my estimation, and it is about time that the country music industry and the world knew a more about the Big \u201cE\u201d.\u00a0 I know the word pioneer covers the definition of who Buddy was to the musicians world, but if you did not know Buddy personally, then you missed knowing first the student, then the teacher, the master, and the pioneer of the STEEL GUITAR.\u00a0 He is responsible for many to try and copies but<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24235"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}