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[Jif]

Just finished reading this book, wish it had been a bit longer but was a great read all the same. He came up with so many innovations that shaped the way pedal steels are built today. He wasn't the only one but when you consider he came up with splitting a single pedal change into the A & B pedals, came up with the extra two chromatic strings and their position at 1 & 2, splits was also one of his innovations. That's just a few of his contributions to modern pedal steel and that's just on the E9 neck.

He seemed to want to continuously experiment with different ideas both mechanically and musically. I particularly found his use of a 12 string using 3 pickups, one being at the roller end of the neck behind the bar interesting. He would mix the 3 pickups and apparently could get a slide up and a slide down at the same time as the pickup behind the bar would pickup a slide down whereas the conventionally placed pickups would pickup the slide up and vice versa. I mean who would have thought of trying that!

His life story was also really interesting, by all accounts he didn't have an easy life, Peggy being his rock and stabilising influence on him, I can certainly relate to that.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and it made me want to check out more of his recordings, especially with other artists and there is a long list of these.

Anyway, most of you guys probably know the story anyway having lived through it, for me it was an eye opener and a window into another time.

Great stuff.

[Danny Mitchell]

That's one great review, Geoff.
In your exploration of all things 'Buddy', if you haven't already come across it, his work with Danny Gatton is well worth checking out. The Redneck Jazz Explosion, they're like The Mahavishnu Orchestra, only they're cowboys as opposed to indians.

[Jif]

That's one great review, Geoff.
In your exploration of all things 'Buddy', if you haven't already come across it, his work with Danny Gatton is well worth checking out. The Redneck Jazz Explosion, they're like The Mahavishnu Orchestra, only they're cowboys as opposed to indians.

Yes, I read about that Danny, on my list to check out. There's so much I would like to check out, his work with Ray Charles, the Everley Bros, Willie Nelson etc and that's only scratching the surface.

I especially liked reading about his relationships with other legendary steel players and how they bounced ideas off each other, of course there was also a healthy competitive element there which pushed the development of pedal steel to the complicated instrument we all enjoy today.