The Big E:
A Salute to Steel Guitarist Buddy Emmons
MPI
Buddy Emmons backed up singers and recorded his own instrumental pedal steel guitar albums, so it’s logical for this excellent tribute — funded via Kickstarter and the production school Music Producers Institute — to contain nine vocal and nearly seven instrumental numbers (Greg Leisz’s 5½-minute take on “Wild Mountain Thyme” features a minute-long vocal passage toward the end).
The 16 tracks, 11 of which were produced by steeler Steve Fishell, are songs written or recorded by Emmons throughout his career and weave a thread from his breakthrough with Little Jimmy Dickens in 1955 at age 18 through pivotal stages he pioneered in the pedal steel’s development. All of the profits from the album will be donated at the request of Emmons — who did not participate in and does not promote the project — to the Country Music Hall of Fame in the name of his late wife, Peggy. Emmons, 76, retired from playing the day Peggy passed away in December of 2007.
A few unexpected delights: two twangy instrumentals featuring Duane Eddy; a Ray Charles cover featuring sacred steeler Roosevelt Collier (the Lee Boys) and singer Chris Stapleton (SteelDrivers, Jompson Brothers); and a stripped-down, steel-less version of Willie Nelson’s “Are You Sure” with just Nelson himself on vocals and acoustic guitar and longtime colleague Mickey Raphael on harmonica.
Two vocal numbers boast two steelers each: “Country Boy” (Paul Franklin and Tommy White) and the above-mentioned Charles cover “Feel So Bad” (Collier and Fishell). Other highlights among songs with singers are John Anderson’s interpretation of Ernest Tubb’s “Half a Mind”; a cover of John B. Sebastian’s “Rainbows All Over Your Blues” (which Emmons originally played on in 1970) by Albert Lee, who shared many years on the road with Emmons backing up the Everly Brothers; and Raul Malo’s typically powerful appropriation of Nelson’s “Night Life.”
Among the balance of the instrumentals, JayDee Maness shines on “This Cold War With You,” the Floyd Tillman classic originally recorded by Ray Price with Emmons in 1963; and Norm Hamlet (of Merle Haggard’s longtime backup band The Strangers) rips into Roger Miller’s “Invitation to the Blues.”
Tracks (steelers in bold)
1. Country Boy (Vince Gill featuring Paul Franklin and Tommy White)
2. That’s All It Took (Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell featuring Steve Fishell)
3. Blue Jade (Duane Eddy featuring Dan Dugmore)
4. Are You Sure (Willie Nelson)
5. This Cold War With You (JayDee Maness)
6. Half A Mind (John Anderson featuring Buck Reid)
7. Wild Mountain Thyme (Greg Leisz)
8. Rainbows All Over Your Blues (Albert Lee featuring JayDee Maness)
9. Buddy’s Boogie (Doug Jernigan)
10. Night Life (Raul Malo featuring Randle Currie)
11. Feel So Bad (Chris Stapleton featuring Roosevelt Collier and Steve Fishell)
12. Someday Soon (Joanie Keller Johnson featuring Mike Johnson)
13. Invitation To The Blues (Norm Hamlet)
14. When Your House Is Not A Home (Little Jimmy Dickens featuring Dan Dugmore and Duane Eddy)
15. Shenandoah (Gary Carter)
16. Mansion On The Hill (Duane Eddy featuring Dan Dugmore)
Total time: 56:49
External links
artist’s website
amazon.com
iTunes Store
