Zero to Infinity: Buddy Emmons

This week we said goodbye to Buddy Emmons, one of the world’s great musicians and subject of three prior Zero to 180 pieces. Here is but a *45-second live demonstration (beginning to end) of Buddy Emmons’ singular genius with the pedal steel guitar:

“Four Wheel Drive” (live)

Buddy Emmons (1965)

Still image from (deleted) video clip
[photo courtesy Steel Guitar Forum]

*Earnestly hoping this stunning live clip returns one day to YouTube

“Four Wheel Drive” (studio recording)

Buddy Emmons (1959)

Billboard‘s April 4, 1960 edition awarded three stars (i.e., “good sales potential”) to the original Decca 45 release and praised “Four Wheel Drive,” an original composition, for its uniqueness of sound:

“Four Wheel Drive” — A swinging instrumental, has a country and jazz quality. Ununsual item for jocks.

“Blue Wind” — This one with a Hawaiian flavor plus a touch of blues orientation.

Almost unable to find a good scan of this 45 –

scary

I am taken aback that *Discogs [*since rectified] and 45Cat are both bereft of entries for Emmons’ outstanding sole Decca single (if you disregard the split single from 1962 with Ernest Tubb). This gaping historical hole is in stark contrast to the high regard in which Emmons is widely held:

“… world’s foremost steel guitarist” (Rolling Stone)
“… steel guitar innovator” (The Tennessean)
“… fabled steel guitarist” (CMT)
“… influential pedal steel guitarist” (Reuters)

<LINK to Buddy Emmons’ solo recording session info>

Three years prior to Emmons’ stint with Decca, Cash Box had seen fit to review “Silver Bell” b/w “Border Serenade” in their May 25, 1957 edition (two years after a head-on collision with a truck), the second of two singles recorded for Columbia as “Buddie” Emmons:

“Silver Bell” [grade: B] — The Buddie Emmons outfit takes hold of the delectable evergreen and wraps it up in a happy-go-lucky, quick beat instrumental fashion. Bright side for deejay programming.

“Border Serenade” [grade: B] — Flip features more top-flight, light-hearted instrumental wax by Emmons and the crew. An enticing melody and Latin beat rounds out a dandy coupler.

Music Reporter – Nov. 2, 1963

Mercury ad name checks 1963 cutting-edge album

According to Rich Kienzle‘s notes for Amazing Steel Guitar: The Buddy Emmons Collection, Emmons, who was a native of Mishawaka, Indiana (hometown of fellow steel wiz, Herb Remington), had been playing a lap steel for four years when he ordered his first pedal steel guitar — a triple-neck Bigsby — in 1952 when he was just fifteen, “a pure custom job, complete with an onboard ashtray, cigarette lighter and Buddy’s name emblazoned across the front.”

Three years later in 1955, Emmons made a big splash with the addition of his Bigsby to the trademark twin lead guitar sound of Jimmy Dickens as a member of his backing band, The Country Boys, points out Kienzle, who got the opportunity to display their considerable musicality at Nashville’s Music City Recording Studio in January, 1956 on such blazing instrumentals as “Country Boy Bounce,” “Raisin’ the Dickens,” and “Red Wing.”

A partnership with Shot Jackson led to the founding in 1957 (possibly 1955) of Sho-Bud Guitars, a top name in pedal steel, especially after Bigsby stopped steel production. Emmons left the running of the company to Jackson in the late 1950s so that he could join one of country’s finest backing bands, The Texas Troubadours, an experience that led to the oddly ambiguous recording session with Owen Bradley on October 5, 1959 that produced the extraordinary “Four Wheel Drive” and “Blue Wind” 45 for Decca (plus two unissued tracks).

Kienzle notes a tragic missed opportunity to work with legendary jazz figure, Quincy Jones, on 1963 landmark album, Steel Guitar Jazz, where Emmons collaborated with Jerome Richardson (saxophone), Charlie Persip (drums), Art Davis (bass), and Bobby Scott (piano):

Emmons stayed with [Ernest] Tubb until 1962, when he made two major changes: leaving the Troubadours and, after disagreements with Shot Jackson, leaving Sho-Bud. He and North Carolina inventor Ron Lashley formed the Emmons Guitar Company shortly after that, creating a steel that included many of Emmons’ design ideas that Shot had rejected. Early that year, when Jimmy Day left Ray Price‘s Cherokee Cowboys, Emmons replaced him in the band. Again, Buddy was working with one of the premier country road bands.

Off the road, he often played jazz with other musicians around Nashville. When Ernest Tubb’s son Justin, a successful singer in his own right, heard Buddy at one of these jam sessions in 1963, he suggested that Emmons try an all-jazz steel guitar album and soon interested Mercury Records in the concept. Jazz arranger, Quincy Jones, working as head of pop A&R at Mercury, suggested some tunes, and was originally set to produce the session. Jones couldn’t do it, but Buddy, who’d wanted to record in Nashville, was set to record in New York on July 22, 1963 with a jazz rhythm section.

Record World‘s November 21, 1964 report on the 1964 Country Music Association convention (the one where Dizzy Dean was made an honorary member of the Grand Ole Opry and receiving a standing ovation) rhetorically asked, “Who can ever forget the jam sessions held in the Sho-Bud room or the Emmons Guitar room?”

That same year – in a fascinating historical side note, courtesy of a news item published in the May 30, 1964 issue of Music Business – we learn that Emmons’ wife was also part of the music industry:

A. Halsey Cowan, international attorney for Nashville’s Pamper Music, conducted a seminar on copyrights for publishing firms at the Library of Congress May 15 [1964] attended by pubbery reps from a wide area. Other speakers included … Mrs. Buddie Emmons and Walter Haynes, Moss Rose pubbery …

Emmons’ tenure with Ray Price’s backing band, The Cherokee Cowboys, was an artistically fertile time – with frequent jam sessions on the tour bus, says Kienzle – that peaked with the recording of the Western Strings LP for Columbia in 1965. Price would subsequently make a conscious effort to de-emphasize the country elements in his live band, however, a move that impelled Emmons to join Roger Miller (himself an ex-Cherokee Cowboy) in relocating to the West Coast, where he began playing steel as a session player.

How cool that my all-time favorite steel guitarist played with one of my top groups (NRBQ) and guitarists (Duane Eddy). The Steel Guitar Forum, no surprise, already has a thread devoted to Buddy’s memory, while Edd Hurt penned a nice tribute to Emmons in The Nashville Scene that talks about some of Buddy’s pedal steel technical innovations, such as extra strings and pedals that raise the fretboard.

Two essential/must-have Buddy Emmons recordings — Amazing Steel Guitar: The Buddy Emmons Collection and Danny Gatton’s Redneck Jazz Explosion — are both commanding high prices on Amazon, unfortunately.

* * *

Steel Guitar Great Buddy Emmons Dies
Pedal steel player backed up artists from Ernest Tubb to Linda Rondstat
By Stephen L. Betts – Rolling Stone – July 30, 2015

Musician Buddy Emmons, widely regarded as the world’s foremost steel guitarist, hailed for his unique playing style and innovations with regard to tuning, has died at age 78.

Born Buddie Gene Emmons in Mishawaka, Indiana, and nicknamed “the Big E,” his guitar work was heard on countless recordings by acts ranging from Ray Price and Ernest Tubb, to Linda Ronstadt and the Carpenters.

At 11 years old, Emmons studied on lap steel guitar at the Hawaiian Conservatory of Music in South Bend, Indiana, learning to play country music by listening to the radio. As a teenager, he joined his first bands, relocating to Illinois then to Detroit, before moving to Nashville in 1955 to join Grand Ole Opry star Little Jimmy Dickens’ band at 18 years old. Christened the Country Boys, Dickens’ band recorded several instrumentals, including three of Emmons’ original compositions. After Dickens dissolved his band in 1956, Emmons and fellow guitarist Shot Jackson formed the Sho-Bud Company, which designed and built steel guitars. Emmons also began extensive Nashville studio work, and joined Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadours the following year, remaining with Tubb until 1958.

Four years later, Emmons became a member of Ray Price’s band the Cherokee Cowboys. By 1967, he was living in California, and after joining Roger Miller’s band, landed more high-profile studio work in Los Angeles, appearing on records by Nancy Sinatra, Gram Parsons, John Sebastian and others.

A 1974 return to Nashville continued his studio work, on LPs by George Strait, Mel Tillis, Gene Watson, June Carter Cash, Ricky Skaggs and many more. Emmons was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1981. He toured with the Everly Brothers in the Nineties and would later be heard occasionally on radio’s A Prairie Home Companion.

Emmons retired in 2007 after the sudden death of his wife Peggy. In 2013, a tribute LP was released. The Big E: A Salute to Steel Guitarist Buddy Emmons, featured Willie Nelson, Little Jimmy Dickens, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, and several steel players including Randle Currie, from Brad Paisley‘s band. A rare bit of Emmons songwriting, “Are You Sure,” also appears on Kacey Musgraves‘ Pageant Material as a hidden track duet with Willie Nelson. As the story goes, he and Nelson penned the 1965 song together after a confrontation with a bar patron.

Part of all-star ensemble on Katz Kobayashi‘s undated one-off album

Fellow steel player Steve Fishell, who cites “The Big E” as a chief inspiration and is currently on the road with Emmylou Harris, summed up Emmons’ death to Rolling Stone Country as nothing short of a tragedy: “It’s a towering loss in the pedal steel community and to music lovers everywhere.”

1964 single

“With Buddy Emmons & the Nuggeteers“

Buddy Emmons

45s & LP Discography

— song titles in boldface link to streaming audio —

∞ The Country Boys “Country Boy Bounce” 1956

∞ Buddie Emmons “Cold Rolled Steel” 1956

∞ Faron Young “Sweet Dreams” 1956

∞ June Carter “Strange Woman” 1956

∞ “Little“ Jimmy Dickens “Me And My Big Mouth” 1958

∞ Ernest Tubb “Half a Mind” 1958

∞ Buddy Emmons “Four Wheel Drive” 1959

∞ Buddy Emmons “Rose City Chimes” 1961

∞ Duane Eddy “Fireball Mail” 1962

∞ Duane Eddy “Sugarfoot Rag” 1963

∞ Shot Jackson & Buddy Emmons Singing Strings of Steel Guitar & Dobro 1963

∞ Buddie Emmons Steel Guitar Jazz 1963

∞ Ray Price “Night Life” 1963

∞ Dolores Smiley “Leaving By Request” 1964

∞ Skeeter Davis Blueberry Hill And Other Favorites 1965

∞ Ray Price’s Cherokee Cowboys Western Strings 1965

∞ Buddy Emmons “B. Bowman Hop” (recorded live with George Jones) 1965

∞ Johnny Paycheck “Heartbreak Tennessee” 1965

∞ Willie Nelson “One In a Row” 1966

∞ Nancy Sinatra Country My Way 1967

∞ Gary Burton Tennessee Firebird 1967

∞ The Dillards The Wheatstraw Suite 1968

∞ Judy Collins “I Pity the Poor Immigrant” 1968

∞ The Fifth Avenue Band “Good Lady of Toronto” 1969

∞ Buddy Emmons “Witches Brew” 1969

∞ Buddy Emmons Emmons Guitar Inc. 1970

∞ Roger Miller A Trip In the Country 1970

∞ John Phillips John, The Wolf King of L.A. 1970

∞ Denny Doherty Watcha Gonna Do 1970

∞ Dewey Martin & Medicine Ball Dewey Martin & Medicine Ball 1970

∞ Longbranch/Pennywhistle Longbranch/Pennywhistle 1970

∞ John Hartford Iron Mountain Depot 1970

∞ John Sebastian “Rainbows All Over Your Blues” 1970

∞ Michael Parks “Lonely and Blue” 1970

∞ Buck Owens & the Buckaroos “Cajun Steel Guitar” 1970

∞ Buddy Emmons “Wichita Lineman” 1970

∞ Ray Charles “Wichita Lineman” 1971

∞ Sandy Denny “Crazy Lady Blues” 1971

∞ 69ers “The Christian Life” 1971

∞ John Stewart “The Road Shines Bright” 1971

∞ Jimmy Wakely “Detour” 1971

∞ Russ Giguere Hexagram 16 1971

∞ Paul Siebel Jack-Knife Gypsy 1971

∞ Rosebud Rosebud 1971

∞ Larry Murray Sweet Country Suite 1971

∞ Shot Jackson & Buddy Emmons Famous Sho-Bud Guitars 1971

∞ Rowan Brothers Rowan Brothers 1972

∞ Everly Brothers Stories We Could Tell 1972

∞ John Stewart Sunstorm 1972

∞ Jim Pulte Out the Window 1972

∞ Nev Nicholls & the Country Playboys “Take My Heart” 1972

∞ Odyssey “Country Tune“ 1972

∞ Linda Ronstadt “In My Reply” 1972

∞ Roger McGuinn “Water Is Wide” 1973

∞ The Carpenters “Top of the World” 1973

∞ Gram Parsons GP 1973

∞ Doug Dillard Duelin’ Banjo 1973

∞ Judee Sill Heart Food 1973

∞ Phil Everly Star Spangled Springer 1973

∞ Don Everly Sunset Towers 1974

∞ The Cats The Love in Your Eyes 1974

∞ The Carpenters Now and Then 1974

∞ Henry Mancini Orchestra Country Gentleman 1974

∞ Johnny Bush “Home in San Antone” [Curly Chalker on 2nd steel] 1974

∞ Brewer & Shipley “It Did Me In” 1974

∞ Kenny O’Dell “Soulful Woman” 1974

∞ Sheepskin Pat From Nashville 1975

∞ Ronee Blakley Welcome 1975

∞ Dottie West Carolina Cousins 1975

∞ Benny Martin Tennessee Jubilee 1975

∞ Bobby Bare Hard Time Hungrys 1975

∞ Buddy Emmons Steel Guitar 1975

∞ Billy Walker “Don’t Stop In My World” 1975

∞ Jeanne Pruett “Honey On His Hands” 1975

∞ Jackie DeShannon “Bette Davis Eyes” 1975

∞ Mayf Nutter “Goin’ Skinny Dippin’” 1976

∞ Marty Robbins “Among My Souvenirs” 1976

∞ Connie Smith I Don’t Wanna Talk It Over Anymore 1976

∞ Rosemary Clooney Look My Way 1976

∞ Roy Head A Head of His Time 1976

∞ John Hartford Nobody Knows What You Do 1976

∞ David Allan Coe Longhaired Redneck 1976

∞ Kenny Valeck “Country Lady” b/w “Trailer Full of Love” 1976

∞ Hargus “Pig” Robbins Country Instrumentalist of the Year 1977

∞ John Hughey On and Off Stage 1977

∞ Merle Haggard My Farewell to Elvis 1977

∞ Mickey Newbury Rusty Tracks 1977

∞ Dennis Weaver Dennis Weaver 1977

∞ Ray Price & the Cherokee Cowboys Reunited 1977

∞ The Capitals The Capitals 1977

∞ The Osborne Brothers From Rocky Top to Muddy Bottom 1977

∞ Dillard/Hartford/Dillard Glitter Grass from the Nashwood Hollyville Strings 1977

∞ Russ Hicks & Jimmy Crawford Chicken Pickin’ Good 1977

∞ Buddy Emmons & Buddy Spicher Buddies 1977

∞ Nashville Bar Association Nashville Bar Association 1977

∞ Pat Garrett “A Little Something On the Side” 1977

∞ Gove Scrivenor “Sugar Bear” 1978

∞ Ian Tyson “Turning Thirty” 1978

∞ Bobby Hicks “Panhandle Rag” 1978

∞ Marcia Ball Circuit Queen 1978

∞ Bryn Haworth Grand Arrival 1978

∞ Larry Gatlin Oh! Brother 1978

∞ Guy Clark Guy Clark 1978

∞ Steve Young No Place to Fall 1978

∞ Danny Gatton Redneck Jazz Explosion [“Rock Candy“] 1978 [1995*]

∞ Buddy Emmons with Lenny Breau Minors Aloud 1978

∞ Margo Smith Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You 1978

∞ Donna Darlene Girl on the Cover 1979

∞ Mel Tillis Are You Sincere + Mr. Entertainer 1979

∞ Ricky Skaggs Sweet Temptation 1979

∞ Thumbs Carllile Guitar Wizard + Jazz Carllile Style 1979

∞ Nashville Superpickers “Killer Joe” (live) 1979

∞ George Jones with Waylon Jennings “Night Life” 1979

∞ John Hartford/Pat Burton/Benny Martin “Slumberin on the Cumberland” 1979

∞ Denny Laine with Paul McCartney “Send Me the Heart” 1980

∞ John Starling “Long Time Gone” 1980

∞ Levon Helm American Son 1980

∞ Sonny Curtis Love Is All Around 1980

∞ John Hartford You And Me at Home 1980

∞ Willie Nelson & Ray Price San Antonio Rose 1980

∞ Curtis Potter with Darrell McCall & Ray Sanders Texas Dance Hall 1980

∞ The Ozark Mountain Daredevils Ozark Mountain Daredevils 1980

∞ Tammy Wynette You Brought Me Back 1981

∞ John Anderson I Just Came Home Today to Count the Memories 1981

∞ Tompall And the Glaser Brothers Lovin’ Her Was Easier 1981

∞ J.J. Cale Grasshopper 1982

∞ Lenny Breau When Lightn’ Strikes 1982

∞ Razzy Bailey The Midnight Hour 1983

∞ Arthur Blanch What Do Lonely People Do 1983

∞ John Cody Carter When It Rains It Pours 1984

∞ Ray Pennington & Buddy Emmons Swingin’ From the 40s – 80s 1984

∞ Ray Charles Do I Ever Cross Your Mind 1984

∞ Skeeter Davis & NRBQ She Sings, They Play 1985

∞ Scott Mohoric Pancho Y Lefty’s 198?

∞ Billy Apollo “Coast Guard Blues” 1986

∞ Gary Burton “Faded Love” 1987

∞ Buddy Emmons Christmas Sounds of the Steel Guitar 1987

∞ Ray Price The Heart of Country Music 1987

∞ John Anderson 10 1988

∞ k.d. lang “Shadowland” 1988

∞ The Geezinslaws The Geezinslaws 1989

∞ Ray Pennington & Buddy Emmons Swingin’ Our Way 1990

∞ Ray Price & Faron Young Memories That Last 1991

∞ Lionel Cartwright “Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine” 1991

∞ Randy Travis “Allergic to the Blues” 1991

∞ Trisha Yearwood “For Reasons I’ve Forgotten” 1992

∞ George Jones & Willie Nelson “I Gotta Get Drunk” 1992

∞ George Strait Pure Country (soundtrack album) + Holding My Own 1992

∞ Carlene Carter Little Love Letters 1993

∞ George Strait Lead On 1994

∞ Jill Sobule “(Theme From) The Girl in the Affair” 1995

∞ Michael Ballew You Better Hold On 1995

∞ Gene Watson The Good Ole Days 1996

∞ Larry Carlton The Gift 1996

∞ Ray Pennington & Buddy Emmons Goin’ Out Swingin’ 1997

∞ Manhattan Transfer “I Know Why And So Do You” 1997

∞ The Bishops “A Satisfied Mind” 1997

∞ Tammy McRae Tammy McRae 1997

∞ Steve Wariner Burnin’ the Roadhouse Down 1998

∞ Jimmie Crawford Steel Crazy 1998

∞ Mark Chesnutt I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing 1999

∞ John Prine & Melba Montgomery “Milwaukee Here I Come” 1999

∞ Ingela Söderlund Vågar Jag Fråga 1999

∞ Josh Graves Sultan of Slide 2000

∞ Gene Watson From the Heart 2001

∞ Ray Price Time 2002

∞ Memarie Memarie 2003

∞ Albert Lee Heartbreak Hill 2003

∞ Albert Lee Road Runner 2006

∞ Vince Gill “This New Heartache” 2006

∞ George Jones & Friends God’s Country 2006

∞ Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard/Ray Price Last of the Breed 2007

Rare Solo Buddy Emmons!
YouTube audio clip (posted Dec. 2019) that features these early recordings:

Song List:
【00:00】- “Four Wheel Drive” (1959)
【01:54】- “Red Wing” (1956)
【03:54】- “Raisin’ the Dickens” (1956)
【05:55】- “Cajun Steel Guitar” (1962 or 63)
【07:46】- “Silver Bells” (1957)
【09:59】- “Border Serenade” (1957)
【12:35】- “Cold Rolled Steel” (1956)
【14:40】- “Flint Hill Special” (1956)
【16:35】- “Blue Wind” (1959)
【19:15】- Buddie’s Boogie” (1956)
【21:39】- “Lily Dale” (1962 or 63)
【24:14】- “Country Boy Bounce” (1956)
【26:17】- “Rose City Chimes” (1961)

Great Value for the Money:
“Cold Rolled Steel” & Friends

1992 CD compilation Movin’ Country Instrumentals kicks off with “Cold Rolled Steel” — Buddy Emmons’ debut Columbia 45 from 1956 — along with other elusive tracks from some of country music’s finest pickers, including Joe Maphis (“Fire on the Strings“), Herby Remington (“Remington Ride“), Harold Bradley (“Sugarfoot Rag”), Charlie McCoy (“Orange Blossom Special“), Grady Martin (“El Paso“), Jerry Reed (“I’m Movin’ On“), Jerry Byrd (“Memories of Maria“), Carl Perkins (“Spanish Harlem”), and Arthur Smith (“Guitar Boogie“), the concluding track, originally recorded in 1946 while stationed in Washington with the Navy, is renowned as part of a select group of candidates for “first rock ‘n’ roll recording.”

Did You Know?

Buddy Emmons was one of the featured musicians (along with Hank Garland and The Jordanaires) who performed on an LP of jingles –– Ballantine Presents … Music to Sell Ballantine Beer By — issued in 1960.