Kelsey - A Buck Reid Song - My Version

[Jif]

This is my version of Buck Reids song Kelsey from his album, A Work in Progress. I saw Buck twice at the Texas Steel Jamboree in 2016 and he blew my mind both times.

It is the 10th anniversary of the trip Janice and I made to Texas to pick up my MSA Legend at the Texas Steel Jamboree. So it seems timely to put together a song and pictures of our trip there. It was a great experience, apart from the camaraderie, we saw some top steel players including, Buck Reid, JD Maness, Frank Carter and Paddy Long from New Zealand with his friend Brian supporting him on guitar. Always thankful to Ken Byng and Ted Nesbitt who took us under their wing and introduced us to a lot of the players and builders. Also the kindness and support from the guys and gals at MSA, who made us feel very welcome, many thanks to Mitchell Smithey for rodding my MSA and follow on support.

After watching Buck play, I bought his CD - A Work in Progress, he was giving away a free copy of a TAB for a song from his CD with it. Unfortunately for me it was Scrapple The Apple which I have absolutely no chance of being able to play.

So I bought the TAB and backing tracks for Kelsey from Buck, a great tune and one I could at least attempt. He wrote it as a tribute to his newly born daughter Kelsey.

This is my version of it. Unfortunately just as I was really getting somewhere with it, I fell ill with a condition which stopped me playing for a couple of years. So this is how far I got with it before falling ill, I think it's almost there, I would have liked to have had a bit more time with it to really get the feel of it, but was pretty pleased I had even managed to play it from beginning to end. I can quite honestly say it is the hardest tune I have played on my steel.

Following the end of the Jamboree Janice and I hired a Ford Mustang open top and did a bit of sightseeing around Texas. We drove down to Austin where the South by SouthWest festival was on, we stayed there for a few days and then drove down to San Antonio.

I have made up a slideshow of pictures taken on this trip to accompany the song. These are from the Jamboree, Fort Worth, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. It remains a very special trip in my memory, looking at the photos brings it all back.

Hope you like it.

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Very nice Geoff that Buck Reid is a monster player, I love that CD

[Jif]

Thanks John. Yeah, me too! I actually prefer his songs on the C6 neck, seems he is most natural on that neck. Having said that his E9 work is also not too bad

[bob adams]

Not Too Shabby My Son! really liking that tone, excellent! There has been some seat time after all!

[Jif]

Thanks Bob. Yeah, a lot of seat time went into it, also extended use of the Amazing Slow Downer, working up the speed until I could play it at the correct tempo. A fair bit of translation from Bucks copedant to mine. It was a challenge, but I learned a lot from doing it

[Malcolm]

Excellent Geoff, great playing and tone. Met Buck a few times in Dallas and at Dublin, a really nice humble guy.

[Malcolm]

Should have asked what you were playing through?

[Jif]

Thanks Malcolm, yeah an incredible player and as you say very humble. I guess when you're that good you don't need to brag about it. I saw him twice at the Dallas show, he was top of the bill on the first night and unfortunately Mike Johnson, who was to top the bill on the 2nd night, had to pull out through illness, so Buck filled the spot. I spoke to him when I bought his CD and he was a really nice guy. I also contacted him regarding posting this version of Kelsey on line and he OK'd it, and told me he had enjoyed my version, probably just being polite but it certainly gave me a boost

I can't remember exactly what I was playing through when I recorded it, I keep changing my setup, but I think it was probably using my Fender Hot Rod Deville 60w combo, with parametric eq, reverb and delay.

I recently came across a guy in the US who has been doing Steel Amp captures for Tonex and IRs of popular speakers used in these amps, such as the JBL D120's. So I have been playing about with these and they are spot on. I intend to do a YouTube review of them when I get a chance. He has been travelling around the US tracking down rare hard to find Steel Amps and capturing them, so he has an incredible selection of them.

Anyway, thanks for your help all these years ago in purchasing the MSA Legend. It has been a great buy and I look forward every day to playing it. In fact, I'm off now to do some playing

Hope you are keeping good health and still playing.

[Malcolm]

I Have a ToneX and some of Joe’s captures, not been able to get what I want from it, I am useless with these things. Mitchell has the ToneX which he had Joe set up for him in Dallas, don’t know if he had used it live yet. Was hoping he would have been over to stay with us after Dublin in Oct, but he had to cancel I as Cheryl has been quite ill. Met Joe at Dallas a few times awesome player ,Pity you did not get to see Mike absolutely amazing player,and one of the nicest guys you could meet. Hope all is good with you.

[Uncle Roy]

Well done Geoff, great version, I never like to compare players versions to others, yours is top job mate.