Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic
The steel guitar, it needs to be said, was the “special sauce” in early country music of the 1940s and ‘50s. From the soaring glissando and celestial, ringing harmonics to the scorching, breakneck single-note runs and big stacked chords, whose warm, electrified sound (uniquely) spanned the audio spectrum, the steel
I recently stumbled upon Ray Brack‘s “lost” piece of reporting — “New Gun-Tar Takes Aim At Non-Shooting Market” — about Cecil Null‘s handcrafted musical long gun (i.e., gun guitar – or is it guitar gun?) for Billboard ‘s June 22, 1968 edition: MADISON, Tenn. — An explosive new concept in
The Pleasant Valley Boys were considered country music’s first “A Team” of session players, whose services were highly sought by two of the top country artists in Nashville between 1947 and 1948 at the very dawn of that city’s ascendance as one of the world’s great recording capitals. When you
Zero to 180’s summertime celebration breezes right along with this parlor game for music nerds: First, launch a new web browser and point it at 45Cat — www.45cat.com(go ahead, I’ll wait) Next, type the name of ace steel guitarist, Curly Chalker, in the search window(and press Enter) Curly Chalker (c.
Check out the Clavinet-like sounds coming from Jerry Whitehurst‘s electric harpsichord on “Wild Blue Yonder,” side one’s closing track from Lloyd Green‘s third solo LP Day of Decision, an album that was recorded (like Stones Jazz) in one day — in this case, on June 18, 1966 at RCA Studios in Nashville: “Wild
Billboard‘s January 8, 1972 edition included this quirky news item from the Cincinnati division of their “From the Music Capitals Around the World” series: Rusty York, who heads up the Jewel Recording Studio[s] here, learned last week that the new ‘Smash-Up Derby’ commercial [for Cincinnati-based Kenner Products], which he created and
Is it really true, as Country Music Archive asserts, that Ann Jones And Her Western Sweethearts “was probably the first all-girl band in C & W music”? Bill Sachs, in his “Folk Talent and Tunes” column for Billboard, reported in the November 13, 1960 edition — Ann Jones, King recording
Earl ‘Joaquin‘ Murphey (who co-wrote yesterday’s featured song “Steel Guitar Jubilee“) is held in very high esteem among steel guitarists, with one performance in particular — “Oklahoma Stomp” by Spade Cooley’s Orchestra — almost single-handedly cementing his reputation (Bob Dunn, notwithstanding) as the first “sophisticated jazz steel guitar player,” as
I can’t get over how relaxed and appealing the kick drum sounds on this recording – almost threatens to steal the show: “Steel Guitar Jubilee” Lloyd Green (1964) I admit, it’s hard to completely tune out the immaculate musicianship of the others who are supporting Lloyd Green on his 1964
I once played a sweet little instrumental by James Burton and Ralph Mooney on an all-truck-driving radio show, even though it’s not actually a “trucker tune” — and yet nobody called me out on it, because the song – “Corn Pickin‘ – fit like a glove. Later when I “back-announced”
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