Musicians Jan - 01 - Nashville Musicians Association

AFM Local 257 election ’08 results
Pomeroy, Krampf score election upset
By WALT TROTT
Once the final votes were counted on
Dec. 12, 2008, victory belonged to Dave
Pomeroy and Craig Krampf in the Nashville
Association of Musicians AFM Local
257 election.
Bassist Dave Pomeroy became president-elect,
and drummer Craig Krampf
secretary-treasurer-elect, succeeding
former President Harold R. Bradley and
Secretary-Treasurer Billy Linneman, respectively.
“I am humbled to be elected to the office
of President by the members of Local
257,” stated Pomeroy, following his decisive
victory. “Thanks to everyone who
voted and all those who volunteered to help
my campaign. On behalf of all members
past and present, I thank Harold Bradley
for his many years of dedication and service
to this Local and the AFM.
“I am honored to be carrying on the historic
tradition of leading Local 257, as we
move into a rapidly-changing future,” continues
Pomeroy. “We have one of the most
dynamic, versatile and innovative music
IMHOF inductees step into the spotlight
Oh what a night it was in Music City
USA, as legends Booker T. & The M.G.s,
The Crickets, Duane Eddy, The Memphis
Horns, Billy Sherrill, Al Kooper, and The
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section & Friends,
were serenaded by stellar stars such as Phil
Everly, Keith Richards, Lee Ann Womack,
Kid Rock, Percy Sledge and George Jones.
At least half the inductees being entertained
were more accustomed to remaining
in the background.
But clearly it was their turn to sparkle
in the star spotlight, as the seven highly
influential acts were officially welcomed
into the International Musicians’ Hall of
Fame, during the organization’s second
annual induction ceremony in Nashville’s
Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Oct. 28.
-Photo by Patricia Presley
communities on earth, and I look forward
to representing the best interests of all
Nashville musicians, both here at home and
around the world.”
The 2008 election also resulted in a Local
257 Executive Board that consists of
Bruce Bouton, Jimmy Capps, Denis Solee,
Laura Ross, Andre Reiss, Duncan Mullins
and Bobby Ogdin. Otto Bash continues as
Sergeant-at-Arms. (For complete list, see
separate story by Mark Jordan on page 2.)
The Local’s Hearing Board members
are: Kathy Shepard, Mike Douchette,
Michele Voan Capps, Teresa Hargrove,
John Terrence, William (Tiger) Fitzhugh
and Jonathan Yudkin. Selected as Trustees
are Biff Watson and Ron Keller. Voted
Convention Delegates are Dave Pomeroy,
Bruce Bouton, Laura Ross and Craig
Krampf. All offices are for a three-year
term, effective Jan. 1, 2009.
“I am truly honored to get the chance
to serve our Union and all of my brother
and sister musicians. I understand the trust
and responsibility that comes with this job,
(Continued on page 2)
“The importance of this event is that
those individual musicians, who were so
exceptional with words and music never
got the recognition they deserved . . . and
they didn’t do it just one day,” said AFM
President Thomas F. Lee, backstage.
“These are the guys that we musicians who
(Continued on page 14)
Next General Members
meeting set March 18
High on the list of agenda items for the
next General Membership Meeting, 6:30
p.m. Wednesday, March 18, are some recommended
changes to existing Local 257
By-Laws.
These consist of the following changes
(Continued on page 30)
Inductee Duane Eddy is congratulated by AFM President Tom Lee (left) and Randy Houser.
Musician
Volume MMIX • Number 1 • January - March 2009
AFM Local 257’s newly-elected leaders: Secretary-Treasurer Craig Krampf and
President Dave Pomeroy congratulate one another on their ballot victories.
What’s Inside . . . . . . .
Below photos by Patricia Presley
See Dan Tyminski story on pages 16-17. Read of Becky Hobbs’ latest project, page 20.
Visit us on line: www.afm257.org
Nashville Association of Musicians
P.O. Box 120399
Nashville, TN 37212-0399
- Address Service Requested -
Nonprofit
U.S. Postage
PAID
Franklin, TN
Permit No. 357

2 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
Executive Board and other winners announced
Dave Pomeroy and Craig Krampf Local 257’s new leaders
Dave Pomeroy
(Continued from page 1)
and I am going to jump into this new adventure
with the same passion and dedication that I have
for playing music,” notes the Local’s new Secretary-Treasurer
Krampf, adding, “I would like
to thank Mr. Bradley for his years of service as
our President. Harold is a true gentleman and,
of course, a legendary figure in the music industry.
I also want to thank Billy Linneman for
his years of service as Secretary-Treasurer.
“Because this election sparked so much interest
and involvement from the membership, I
am very hopelful that all of us can keep this
spirit of enthusiasm and cooperation alive. Together,
we can really work for and contribute
to the betterment of Local 257, the AFM and
Nashville. After all, we are Music City and we
must do everything we can to continue to live
up to that name.”
Outgoing President Harold R. Bradley
stated, “It has been a great honor to have represented
the finest musicians in the world for the
past 18 years. Even though I leave as the President
locally, I will still be representing 80,000
AFM members (including 2,600 locally) as the
International Vice President and Trustee to the
AFM-EP Pension Fund. I wish Dave Pomeroy
the best of luck as he assumes this important
office.”
Secretary-Treasurer Billy Linneman said, “I
want to thank our members for the opportunity
to have served you over the past five years as
Secretary-Treasurer. It has been a great last five
years that was the culmination of over 35 years
of direct union involvement working for the
‘Home Of The Best Musicians In The World.’
Fortunately, as an International Board Member,
I will still represent you along with the other
80,000 members of our great American Fed-
New Trustee Watson is sworn in
Biff Watson is sworn in as a Local 257 Trustee by President Dave Pomeroy.
Photos (2) courtesy of Craig Krampf
Guitar legend offers his congratulations
Lifetime Member Reggie Young, accompanied by wife Jenny, stops by the union office to congratulate the
Local’s newly-elected officers: Dave Pomeroy, president, and Craig Krampf, secretary-treasurer.
eration Of Musicians in these uncertain times.”
Serving on the 2008 Election Committee
were Steven A. Sheehan, chairman; William
Ellis, secretary; with Mark Jordan, Chris
McDonald, John Rees and Vinnie Ciesielski.
According to Sheehan, 1,165 votes were cast,
more than twice the number counted in the previous
election of 2005, in which the incumbent
officers were unopposed.
Newly-elected President Pomeroy and Secretary-Treasurer
Krampf were sworn in on Jan.
2, 2009, beginning a three-year term. For more
information, visit www.afm257.org
Record vote sweeps
in new 257 officers
By MARK T. JORDAN
Election Committee Member
In an election of historic proportions, a
record 46 per cent of Local 257 members recently
cast their votes for a full-slate of officers,
including President, Secretary-Treasurer,
Executive and Hearing Board Members, Delegates,
Trustees and Sergeant-At-Arms.
The election concluded 4 p.m. Thursday,
Dec. 11, and after 18 hours of deliberation by
the Election Committee over two days, the results
were confirmed at 9:30 p.m. Friday, Dec.
12.
In what was widely viewed as an upset,
Dave Pomeroy ousted longtime-President
Harold Bradley for the top spot, and Craig
Krampf narrowly defeated Billy Linneman for
Secretary-Treasurer. The margin of victory was
226 votes (Pomeroy’s 675-to-449 for Bradley)
and Krampf survived a recount requested by
Linneman, to post a 31-vote win (570-to-539).
Results of the other contests were, as follows:
The gathering started at 9:15 a.m., Jan. 5.
Present were President Dave Pomeroy, Secretary-Treasurer
Craig Krampf and recentlyelected
board members Bruce Bouton, Duncan
Mullins, Bobby Ogdin, Andy Reis, Laura Ross
and Denis Solee. Excused: Jimmy Capps.
President Pomeroy welcomed everyone and
proceeded to briefly relate the events of the fire
at his house on Jan. 3rd that took the life of
Duke, his beloved dog. Dave thanked everyone
for their love and support.
Then President Pomeroy explained the items
on the new administration’s agenda. Dave said
that by the end of January, he would like to have
in place:
1) The Union’s offering for health care plans;
2) Plans for a realistic scale for internet recording
sessions and steps towards developing
workable methods for conducting that business;
3) The introduction of “Think Tank Thursdays”…
An open forum for musicians to discuss
current and foreseeable future issues.
Other agenda items included the establishing
of two separate task forces to look into more
opportunities for film work in Nashville; and
pension plans for road and live musicians. Dave
also stressed that our union needs to and will
become involved with the community at various
levels. Dave also expressed the desire to
work hard at expanding our membership to
Executive Board (seven members and three
alternates, determined by number of votes):
Bruce Bouton, Jimmy Capps, Denis Solee,
Laura Ross, Andy Reiss, Duncan Mullins and
Bobby Ogdin. Alternates will be Tom Wild, Tim
Smith and Terry Duncan;
Hearing Board (seven members): Kathy
Shepard, Mike Douchette, Michele Voan Capps,
Teresa Hargrove, John Terrence, William (Tiger)
Fitzhugh and Jonathan Yudkin;
Delegates (four members): Dave Pomeroy,
Bruce Bouton, Laura Ross and Craig Krampf.
Bobby Ogdin was voted first alternate.
Trustees (two members): Biff Watson and
Ron Keller. Sergeant At Arms: Otto Bash. All
electees will serve a term of three years.
Out of a total membership of 2,620, 1,205
ballots were returned, with 40 ballots disqualified,
primarily for not affixing the required signature
to the outer enevelope. With 1,165 votes
counted, however, this figure represents the
most vigorous turnout in years, and all Local
257 members who voted are to be congratulated
on their participation and concern for our
Local’s future.
We also take this opportunity to commend
both Harold Bradley and Billy Linneman for
their many years of service and devotion to the
Union’s business. Both men will, of course,
continue in their current positions on the International
Executive Board (IEB). To Dave
Pomeroy, Craig Krampf and all the other
electees we offer our congratulations for an
open, hard-fought and spirited campaign. We
look forward to working with all of you.
I would also like to thank the members of
the Election Committee for their compassion,
camaraderie and hard work during the election.
Ably led by Steven Sheehan as Chairman, the
Committee included William Ellis as Secretary,
and members Vinnie Ciesielski, Chris
McDonald and John Rees, as well as this
humble correspondent. All are commended for
taking on their responsibility with sagacity,
stamina and perseverance, especially at 4 a.m.
Friday, when most had sessions booked at 10.
Swearing-in of the Local 257 Executive Board
3,000 by the year’s end.
Secretary-Treasurer Krampf addressed the
board and said that he was very grateful for the
opportunity to serve the members of AFM Local
#257. He explained that he had a lot to learn
about his new position and pledged to learn all
he could about his job and then work with a
total 100% effort.
Craig went on to echo Dave’s thoughts and
then gave some of his thoughts about the new
agenda, especially focusing on the items concerning
community involvement and muchneeded
efforts to meet and work with other local
unions and government officials. Craig also
stressed that the union needed to embrace musicians
of all genres of music, such as the rock,
pop, singe-songwriter, rap, jazz, symphonic
(players) and through various means and outreach
programs.
President Pomeroy then conducted the
swearing-in ceremony of the Board members.
The oath was administered by the President and
taken by the Board as a group. Photos of the
ceremony were taken for the archives and possible
inclusion in the Local’s newspaper (see
those on this page). The gathering and ceremony
concluded at 10:05 a.m.
Note: Jimmy Capps came to the office later
that afternoon and took his oath of office that
was administered by President Pomeroy.
Trio of veteran artists selected as the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2009
Charlie McCoy, Barbara Mandrell and Roy
Clark are the newest members of the Country
Music Hall of Fame, as announced Feb. 4, at
the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.
Their Medallions will be officially presented
in May 2009, and acknowledged during the
CMA’s awards gala, telecast in the fall.
See the next issue of The Nashville Musician
for particulars on each of the honorees.
McCoy was named in the musician’s category.
Learn about our new leaders’ careeers and their plans for Local 257, in the next issue of The Nashville Musician!

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 3
Greetings and Happy New Year to all of you!
It has certainly been quite an adventure so far.
First, let me say that being elected your President
is an honor, and I am humbled to be carrying
on a tradition of Local 257 leadership that
goes back over 100 years. I'm excited to be here
and I am ready to serve ALL of you to the best
of my ability. With your help, we can bring this
Local to a new level of responsiveness and innovation
and your participation will be the "X
factor" that can make or break our efforts. Consider
this your personal invite to contribute to
our collective future. Come by and see us anytime,
we are always glad to get to know you
better.
Since being sworn in as on Jan. 2, 2009, a
lot has happened, mostly great stuff with one
notable exception. On Jan. 3, my house caught
on fire, killing my beloved dog Duke, and destroying
a lot of my "stuff." Thankfully, some
of my most invaluable instruments and studio
gear survived, though much is damaged to various
degrees. I would like to sincerely thank all
of you who have called, stopped by or e-mailed
to express your condolences. I do feel very
blessed to have so many wonderful friends, and
I appreciate all of you who kept me in your
thoughts and prayers. This experience has
taught me a lot and shown me that we are a
community in the best sense of the word.
Meanwhile, things are buzzing here at the Local.
We have cleaned up and painted the President
and Secretary-Treasurers' offices and are
working on getting the building in top shape.
We have had very productive meetings with the
staff and there is good energy flowing throughout
the office as we all get to know one another.
Every day is a learning experience on
many levels and we are wrapping up loose ends
and moving forward with our plans for the future.
The rehearsal hall obviously has a long
way to go to be as functional as we would like,
but Craig and I are determined to make that
happen, and turn it into the studio it was meant
to be. We have already talked to some companies
about donating gear, and we have three days
in March set aside for the whole staff to help
sort out the huge pile of stuff that has accumulated
over the years.
Our first "Thursday Night Think Tank" was
very successful in opening up the doors of communication
among members on a variety of pertinent
topics, including our Single Song Overdub
Scale. This type of single player home studio
work has been growing steadily for years
and with no scale to fit it. We should have it up
and running or be very close by the time you
read this. It will be great for us to capture this
work, and even better to help you build up contributions
to your AFM Pension, and protect
your work after its release. The first Thursday
of every month will be "Think Tank Thursday"
at 7 p.m. unless circumstances dictate otherwise.
It is also open to non-members, and our hope is
that they will want to join, so bring a friend if
you like. I have set a goal of getting our mem-
Support SSupport u p p o r t oour our u r
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President’s
Report
By Dave Pomeroy
bership up to 3,000 members by the end of the
year. We can achieve this with your help. We
will be holding a membership drive later in the
year, and have already begun reaching out to
local schools and universities to find future
members.
In late January, I went to Los Angeles for
two days to meet with the AFM's International
Executive Board for a number of reasons. One
meeting was a continuation of the inconclusive
RMA/IEB meetings of last October, intended
to determine the fate of the RMA's Player Conference
status. Although I am no longer RMA
Nashville President, as a member of the threeperson
subcommittee created at that first meeting,
I was committed to following through on
this important AFM issue. Unfortunately, the
long-anticipated meeting did not take place due
to the IEB's refusal to allow RMA International
President Phil Ayling to fill in for Mark Graham,
who had to travel to Australia to be with
his ailing father. I saw this as a great opportunity
to directly resolve the communication problems
that have plagued us for some time but,
sadly, it was not to be.
The next morning I spoke in front of the IEB
as Local 257 President for the first time. I gave
a Nashville-oriented overview of recent AFM
history and current events that are causing us
concern about our Union's future. I ended with
a plea for peace within the AFM, as I fear that
our internal conflicts are making it increasingly
difficult to move forward in a unified fashion.
Time will tell how things will turn out, and I
hope the upcoming Film negotiations will be a
triumph of AFM communication and cooperation.
You can rest assured that I will do all I can
to promote positive solutions to any and all
AFM problems that arise in the future, while
keeping Nashville musicians' issues at the forefront.
Speaking of current issues, we support the
Performance Rights bill now in Congress, and
hope you will contact your representatives in
Washington to express your views. Locally, we
also need your help to save WMOT, our local
jazz station, from a funding shortfall. Let your
voice be heard!
I would like to take a moment to express my
admiration and enthusiasm for our new Secretary-Treasurer
Craig Krampf. I have known
Craig for 20 years, and had very high expectations
about his ability to handle the job, yet he
has already exceeded them with his intuitive
feel for this new endeavor. He is articulate, full
of great ideas and positive energy, and has a
very personable touch with everyone from the
office staff to potential new members. His attention
to detail is most welcome and I think
you will find him to be accessible and a great
listener. Welcome aboard, Craig!
One last thing I would like to mention ... During
the election campaign it became obvious
that our database of members has a LOT of
wrong information. We have many bad addresses
and phone numbers, not to mention the
fact that we only have e-mail addresses for about
1/3 of you. Perhaps in the past there was concern
about giving the Local your e-mail information.
If you do not want us to publish your
e-mail publicly, you have my word we will not,
but in this day and age, it is essential that we
are able to communicate with you quickly and
efficiently, and e-mail is the best way for us to
do that. So, PLEASE make sure we have your
correct info on file so we can help you. And
while you are doing that, PLEASE update your
beneficiary information. THIS IS ABSO-
LUTELY ESSENTIAL. We recently lost a
member who had not updated his beneficiary
card since 1990, and his well-earned Funeral
Benefit check went to an estranged family member
rather than his wife and child. Don't let this
happen to you!
Once again, thanks to all of you for your trust
in me as your new President. I am open to any
and all ideas you have for the future of OUR
Union. We work for you, so come see us and
let us prove it!
In Unity, Harmony and Diversity,
Dave Pomeroy
Walter Hartman helps Gene (Pappy) Merritts
mark his 80th birthday in this shot.
Marty Stuart signs accord
By WALT TROTT
We caught Marty Stuart on a rare Monday
when he wasn’t shooting his new RFD-TV cable
program, appropriately enough called The
Marty Stuart Show.
Does this commitment take up a lot of time?
“Actually, it doesn’t. Once I get everybody’s
songs down, and we kinda figure out what the
band’s gonna wear and that sort of stuff, it kind
of has a life of it’s own now. But I feel like I’ve
spent 30 years preparing for this show, but once
I got there it kind of flipped into its own
groove.”
Being both a member of AFM Local 257
and AFTRA, how did he hope to headline a
show on a cable network that hadn’t yet sat at
the table to work out an agreement with the
union? That could have put him, his
bandmembers, as well as prospective guests, at
risk of being fined and/or expelled from the
union.
“Well the one thing I realized was that RFD
had some difficulties when they first came to
town,” Stuart replies. “I think basically it was a
misunderstanding and miscommunication on
how people in Omaha, Nebr., do business, and
about the rules of the American Federation of
Musicians.
“It wasn’t really any problem for me to go
to Harold Bradley and say, ‘Well, listen, we
(Continued on page 24)
Marty Stuart supports Union.
Correcting a photo caption
In the last issue of The Nashville Musician
newspaper, John Hughey was misidentified as
Don Helms. The editor regrets the error.
Volume MMIX, No. 1
January-March 2009
The
Nashville
Musician
Non-Profit Authorization: 490741
Official Quarterly Journal of
The Nashville Association of Musicians,
American Federation of Musicians Local 257
(c) 2009 The Nashville Association of Musicians
P.O. Box 120399, Nashville, TN 37212
NEWSPAPER STAFF
Dave Pomeroy, Publisher
Craig J. Krampf, Editor-in-Chief.
Walt Trott, Editor
Sherri Olson, Advertising
Kathy Shepard, Chief Photographer
LOCAL 257
Dave Pomeroy, President
Craig J. Krampf, Secretary-Treasurer
Otto Bash, Sergeant-at-Arms
Assistant to Secretary-Treasurer
& Office Manager
Sherri Olson
Executive Board
Bruce Bouton
Jimmy Capps
Duncan Mullins
Bobby Ogdin
Andy Reiss
Laura Ross
Denis Solee
Hearing Board
Wm. (Tiger) Fitzhugh
Kathy Shepard
Mike Douchette
Michele Voan Capps
Teresa Hargrove
John Terrence
Jonathan Yudkin
Hearing Board Clerk
Anita Winstead
Trustees
Ron Keller
Biff Watson
Shop Steward
Laura Ross,
Nashville Symphony
Live Engagement
Services Division
Kathy Shepard, Supervisor
Laura Ross, Assistant
Anita Winstead, Assistant
Electronic Media
Services Division
Melissa Hamby Meyer, Director
Teri Barnett, Assistant
Shana Allen
Mandy Arostegui
Christie Allen
MPF Coordinators
Kathy Shepard
Anita Winstead
Business Agent
Kathy Shepard
Front Office
Arleigh Barnett
Janet Butler
www.afm257.org
All material intended for publication should be directed to The
Nashville Musician, P.O. Box 120399, Nashville TN 37212 (office
location: 11 Music Circle North, Nashville TN 37203) Telephone
[615] 244-9514; Fax [615] 259-9140. The Nashville Musician assumes
no responsibility for loss or damage to unsolicitated articles,
photographs or artwork. Readers who submit editorial materials
should enclose a self-addressed return envelope with proper postage.
All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced or copied
in any form, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopies, recording
or otherwise, without prior permission of Publisher, EIC or
Editor.
Support WMOT-FM, see page 27.

4 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
Greetings My Fellow Musicians:
I must start my first column by repeating
something that I said for the election result press
release: I am truly honored to get the chance to
serve our union and all of my brother and sister
musicians. I understand the trust and responsibility
that comes with this job, and I want you
to know that I have jumped into this new adventure
with the same passion and dedication
that I have for playing music.
I am writing this after 23 days in office. Each
day has brought new experiences and new opportunities
to learn and I love my job. One of
the staff members inquired after hearing me
mark each day, “How long will you continue to
count?” I laughed and replied, “Well, the press
and public are keeping track of the first hundred
days of our new administration in Washington.”
And the first 100 days are also important
for us. I can report that new things have
already been accomplished. Other agenda items
are in the works and close to being accomplished
and other things are in the planning
stages. The campaign statements from Dave and
me weren't just political rhetoric, but the foundation
and the impetus for the changes and improvements
that we feel can help all of us as
musicians, members of the AFM and our Local
257.
The Nashville Association of Musicians
Sound Healthcare is now in place and is being
offered to our members. Dave has worked hard
on bringing Local 257 this great offering and
so far, members who have compared The Sound
Healthcare plans with those that they currently
have are reporting great savings. You don't have
to join any other organization to participate. You
can call R.J. Stillwell at 615-256-8667 or e-mail
him at musicrow@aol.com to check it out.
At the first “Think Tank Thursday” members
gave their thoughts and shared their experiences
on subjects including the “Single Song
Overdub” scale and “Internet File Based Recording.”
Dave has been working on this idea
for a while, and we are well on our way towards
making this a reality. He is discussing this and
other concepts with national AFM Recording
administrators who are open to the new ideas
coming from Local 257. We all should feel
proud to know our Local is leading the way on
this and other important issues.
Our second Think Tank's main topic was
pension for live and road musicians. It was well
attended and it was wonderful to see the interaction
and listen to the free flowing ideas and
various points of view coming from our members.
Attendees ranged in age from their twenties
to well into their sixties. We still have to
make more progress on this issue, but we are
on the way. After the meeting, members socialized
for another half hour or so and as I watched
and interacted, I couldn't help but think that
Secretary-
Treasurer’s
Report
By Craig Krampf
Members notice
these gatherings of kindred spirits can really
help our union foster positive energy, action and
unity. We are all in this together.
Plans are underway for a major redesign of
our Local's website in 2009. The new site will
have many features and capabilities such as
downloadable PDF forms and contracts, complete
live performance, TV and recording scales
with appropriate pension guidelines and forms.
Along with current news about negotiations and
legislation, we will work towards including
paperless work dues statements and classified
ads for musical instruments ala Craigslist. Our
new site will become a sourcebook and referral
service of musical talent for people who need
to hire a musician or musical ensemble for their
event. We also want to offer the option of paying
dues and filing paperwork online. Your
thoughts and input about the site or for that
matter, any idea or concern at all are welcomed
and encouraged.
I would like to thank the staff for making us
feel welcomed and helping us in so many ways.
As I said, there is much to learn and when a
new situation comes up for me, I ask for help
and advice. Everyone has been wonderful in
taking the time to share their experience and
knowledge. I would like you all to know that
we have an excellent team that works very hard.
We have had two great staff meetings and a lot
of ideas are being brought forth from everyone
about how we all can make our service to you
smoother, easier and faster.
I also want to thank Dave. I have learned
many things from him about Union affairs. He
has a wealth of knowledge and experience, and
observing his energy and passion for leading
us into the future should be reassuring to all
our members.
We all know that these are unique and difficult
times for the economy of the USA and the
rest of the world. It's a widely accepted fact that
entertainment usually does okay, and sometimes
even prospers during a recession. I am not so
sure about this time. I will soon be able to have
some facts and figures for you comparing what
has occurred in our Local during the last few
years. We pledge to you complete transparency.
We want you to know that your new administration
will operate by principles that reflect
diligent fiscal responsibility.
Because this election sparked so much interest
and involvement from the membership, I
am very hopeful that all of us can keep this spirit
of enthusiasm and cooperation alive. Together,
we can really work for and contribute to the
betterment of Local 257, the AFM and Nashville.
After all, we are “Music City” and we must
do everything we can to continue to live up to
that name.
Yours in Unity, Harmony and Diversity…
Craig Krampf
Please note that the Legislative Action Fund (formerly
TEMPO), will go towards lobbying on behalf of musicians,
for their rights and benefits. Please contribute generously to
this fund, if able.
Executive Board meet; minutes for 1-16-09
Attending: Dave Pomeroy, Bruce Bouton,
Jimmy Capps, Duncan Mullins, Bobby Ogdin,
Andre Reiss, Laura Ross, Denis Solee. Absent:
Craig Krampf.
9:21 a.m. - President Pomeroy called the
meeting to order.
Documents from Secretary-Treasurer
Krampf, who was unavailable, due to a rescheduled
dental appointment, were reviewed and
discussed by the Executive Board. Pomeroy
mentioned payment of dues and per capita dues
to the Federation, the recent Federation audit
of the Local in December and asked that the
treasurer's report be deferred until the next meeting
when Secretary-Treasurer Krampf could be
in attendance. Krampf has been working with
Ron Stewart (CPA for the Local) and Sherri
Olson (office manager) on the Local's financial
information and has recommended upgrading
the version of Quickbooks currently in use.
MSC that overtime for December be approved.
MSC that each full-time staff member
will receive a paid day off on their birthday;
part-time staff members shall be at the discretion
of the President and Secretary-Treasurer.
(Laura Ross abstained from the vote)
President Pomeroy spoke about a variety of
topics including a recent and productive staff
meeting, how he and the Secretary-Treasurer
have fixed up their offices (they are refusing
reimbursement), the expiration of the General
Jackson contract, old business they are dealing
with, and future work on the rehearsal hall.
Denis Solee said there was a committee recommendation
for improvements years ago (he
served on that committee); Bobby Ogdin suggested
swapping skills for dues payments.
Matt Davich contacted President Pomeroy
about the “Wizard of Oz” production at TPAC,
asking that his ticket be reimbursed so he could
investigate whether it was a non-union production.
MSC that Matt Davich be reimbursed up to
$100 for his attendance, once he reported his
findings to the President.
This led to a brief discussion of business
agents.
President Pomeroy distributed copies of
website development information. No action
was taken.
President Pomeroy reported on a meeting
with Hal Ponder (AFM Legislative Director)
and Patricia Polach (AFM Associate General
Counsel), who were in town for meetings.
Pomeroy and Krampf had a good meeting and
discussed Local 257's participation in the AFM's
legislative activities.
The President announced that the CMA
health plan, which was previously offered to
RMA members, will be available as early as
next week (also in January) to all members in
good standing of Local 257 - no additional
memberships will be required.
There was brief discussion about WMOT
Office staffer Mandy Arostegui welcome her hubby
J.R. Arostegui to the AFM Local 257 union office.
(Murfreesboro) which may lose their funding.
We should focus attention on this situation since
they are the only Jazz station available in the
area.
President Pomeroy reported on the first
Thursday evening meeting that was attended by
approximately 15-20 members. The major topic
discussed was an Internet Overdub Scale they
hope, once completely vetted, will be a stand
alone agreement in the AFM.
There was a discussion regarding the exclusion
of engineers on time cards for tracking
sessions. Pros and cons were discussed; suggested
actions were to appoint a committee to
further investigate and discuss, and that President
Pomeroy also get further information from
Dick Gabriel (AFM EMSD director), Jan
Jennings (Local 257 counsel) and Anne
Mayerson (AFM Associate General Counsel).
Bruce Bouton left the meeting at 10:34 a.m.
There was discussion about updating The
Nashville Musician, the possible hiring of an
additional employee for one or two days a week,
and the return of “Always, Patsy” to the Ryman.
MSC to approve the new members.
There was a brief discussion of the new pension
form that allows for multiple beneficiaries,
and that you may not designate your estate as
your beneficiary prior to collecting benefits.
Duncan Mullins left the meeting at 11:04
a.m.
Further topics discussed were which days
were best for membership (Wednesdays) and
board (Friday mornings) meetings, that the
board attempt to meet at least once a month and
to invite any alternates or trustees interested in
attending, and comments on a recent state proposal
to impose a “privilege tax” on entertainers
and athletes who make over $50,000.
11:17 a.m. - Meeting adjourned.
- Submitted by Laura Ross
Carrigan new ‘Nashville Cat’
Jerry Carrigan, noted session drummer in
Muscle Shoals and Music City, has been named
the next veteran player to be saluted in the Nashville
Cats ongoing Country Music Hall of Fame
& Museum series.
Carrigan will be present for an interview
covering his career, augmented by photos, recordings
and film footage, at 1:30 p.m. Saturday,
Feb. 21, in the museum’s Ford Theater.
He has enhanced a variety of recordings of
such diverse artists as Jerry Reed on “When
You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” Tony Joe White’s
“Polk Salad Annie,” Arthur Alexander’s “She
Done Me Wrong” and Charlie Rich’s “Most
Beautiful Girl in the World.”
A signing will follow in the Museum’s gift
shop. For further details, call (615) 416-2001.
Fiddler Eddie Stubbs accepts 25-year membership
anniversary pin, from bassist Billy Linneman.

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 5
Brothers and Sisters, I hope that you all had
happy safe holidays, and that the new year is
being good to you.
It seems that lately I have been getting more
calls for referrals than I used to get………..
It's funny, even though I am referring our members
for jobs…………..I STILL RARELY GET
A CONTRACT TURNED IN. Please, please,
please, please DO BETTER!!! Please remember,
it is written in our Local 257 Bylaws:
Article III, Section 33: All contracts for
single or seasonal engagements, both verbal
and written, must be filed by the Leader-Contractor
or individual working alone with the
office of the Secretary/-Treasurer prior to the
engagement. Failure to comply with the Section
might subject the offending member to a
fine that shall not exceed one hundred dollars
($100.00).
We have always accepted contract information
also……..over the phone………..and by
e-mail, etc. also. And please consider using the
LS1 contract. This is such an easy way to get
pension contributions.
Okay, so speaking of referrals, a lot of the
calls that I get are for musicians who play kind
of unusual instruments (for instance, awhile
back I got a call from someone who was needing
a “didgeridoo” player…actually I found
one.) So please let us know if you play an instrument
(unusual or not) that is not listed for
you. We get our information from the application
that you filled out when you joined this
local. If you would like to add an instrument
under your name and information, (the info that
we have in the computer, and also that is printed
in our directory) e-mail Kathy@afm257.org
As I'm sure all of you are aware, our election
was held in December. I am proud to once
again be on our Local 257 Hearing Board. I
want to thank the other members who agreed
to run for this board, and I look forward to serving
with you.
If you get a chance, stop by the office and
say “Hey” and congratulations to our new President
Dave Pomeroy, and our new Secretary-
Treasurer Craig Krampft. Their doors are always
open (and the coffee is always on).
So, speaking of changes, it was hard to say
good-bye to my dear friends, Harold Bradley
and Billy Linneman. I have known them both
for many years…. I wish them wonderful things
in their future endeavors.
I guess by now, it is known by everyone that
Dave Pomeroy's house burnt recently, and his
Ed Russell gets 25-year pin from Harold Bradley.
Live
Engagement
Services
By Kathy Shepard
beloved canine companion “Duke” was lost in
the fire. I first met “Duke” (actually his name
at that time was “Luke”), at Petsmart in Nashville
West. I am a volunteer for the Dickson
County Humane Society, and a few of us were
there with foster dogs for an Adoptathon.
“Luke” was one of our fosters, we were trying
to find him his “forever home.” I absolutely
knew from the time I laid eyes on him that he
needed to be with Dave. It was truly a perfect
match of “man and his dog.” So “Luke” was
adopted, and changed his name to “Duke
Pomeroy.” This was such a wonderful happy
ending, the shelter was so proud to have found
such a perfect match. It was mentioned in our
last issue that I have recently finished a CD to
raise money for animal shelters. It is called
“Furry Angels.” I have also set up a “Furry Angels
Fund.” Of the CDs sold, the donation will
go to a shelter in that area.
Anyway…. my co-producer, Zov, and I have
decided that the portion of money from CDs
sold here (from this office) to be donated, will
go to Dickson County Humane Society (where
“Duke” came from) in his memory. If you
would like to contribute to “For the Love of
Duke,” please come and see me, and buy a CD.
I will be taking a picture of “Duke” and Dave
to the shelter in Dickson, and I hope they will
hang it proudly on their “Memory Wall.”
To end this column…. from my heart…. my
own life has been turned upside down for the
past eight months or so. I have been caregiver
for my ex-husband Danny, who had been battling
lung and bone cancer. He lost his battle in
December. I am executrix of his estate. I have
help from his friends, going through “stuff,”
keeping many things, throwing away a few
things, selling some things…. finding homes
for his precious pets, being so upset because I
couldn't keep them all with me and my ever
growing brood of furry children. I have kept
“Little Girl,” because she is grieving the hardest.
(“Little Girl” went with me to the funeral
home in Greenbrier, Tenn., and also the memorial
service in Indiana.) Nobody really knows
what a caregiver goes through….. unless you've
been there. My office mates have been wonderful
to me, I don't know what I would have
done without my assistant Anita. I have been
quite sleep-deprived on many occasions . . . and
full of sad. To those of you who have been supportive
and patient with me during this time, I
thank you.
Kathy Shepard
‘Homer’ with Larry Paxton at the Union office.
‘Wonder Woman’ Lynda Carter, now a recording artist, visits with Local 257 staffer Christie Allen.
Catie visits grandmom Anita Winstead at the office.
Christie and Shana Allen before Cinderella’s Ball.
Marlin Rowan plays the dulcimer
in this Melissa Hamby Meyer picture.
Photos by Kathy Shepard
Trick or Treat? Office staffers at Local 257 take a much-needed break on Halloween day.
Need to update your address?

6 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
I know that as soon as the end of the month
is upon us, Walt will be tracking me down for
my article, so I’m going to get a jump on it by
beginning now instead of procrastinating! First
let me thank everyone for showing their confidence
by re-electing me to the Executive Board
and as an AFM Convention delegate. I look
forward to introducing Dave and Craig to the
other officers in the Southern Conference this
summer. I’d also like to publicly thank Harold
Bradley for his tireless work on our behalf for
the past 18 years – he’s been one of our staunchest
supporters. I’d also like to thank Billy
Linneman for his hard work as Secretary-Treasurer
and before that as an Executive Board
member – his ideas and insights have been a
great boon to this Local. I feel lucky that I can
continue to work with Harold and Billy as representatives
on the AFM International Executive
Board.
As for the comings and goings of the Nashville
Symphony, well we returned from a twoweek
holiday vacation and jumped right back
in, feet first! Before we took our break, the orchestra
was divided and performing in two different
venues - half the orchestra (plus multiple
extras; in fact between the two orchestras we
hired 33 extras those two weeks) was performing
The Nutcracker at TPAC in a brand new
production - costumes, sets and choreography!
(I'd like to formally extend our thanks to the
Nashville Ballet for allowing the musicians to
attend a dress rehearsal to see the new ballet
before we entered the pit. The view's not very
good down there, and the new production was
beautiful and had a number of very amusing
moments.) The other half of the orchestra performed
a holiday pops concert with the Canadian
Brass, a Pied Piper concert and multiple
performances of Handel's Messiah with baroque
performance practice expert Nicholas
McGeegan. Mr. McGeegan was a delight and
the orchestra really enjoyed our time with him.
When I speak of jumping back in feet first I
meant that quite literally - the first full week of
January included Mahler's Sixth Symphony and
Haydn's Symphony #59, which was performed
in the traditional seating with second violins on
the right side of the stage, violas were seated
next to the 1st violins and cellos were seated in
what is usually the viola position. Getting to
that final performance was quite a feat, as we
battled football traffic (they were just letting
out) and hockey traffic (they were coming in).
I don't really understand the madness behind
Metro's grand traffic scheme when they deliberately
shut down streets and bridges (and keep
them shut down even during the games) that
Has your address changed?
Need to change a beneficiary?
Call us - (615) 244-9514.
Symphony
Notes
By Laura Ross
Nashville Symphony
Shop Steward
are necessary to get to work because not everyone
downtown is trying to leave! [OK, enough
of my rant for now…]
As I begin to write this we are preparing for
our annual Martin Luther King concert - “Let
Freedom Sing!” on Sunday, Jan. 18 and a pops
concert with Vince Gill the weekend of Jan. 15-
17. The next few weeks offer a panoply of different
concerts - Young Persons Concerts (including
a runout to Columbia) of a work called
The Composer is Dead, an entirely different
concert that will be performed in another runout
to Columbia State College, a Stained Glass concert
at First Presbyterian of Handel's Judas
Maccabaeus with the First Pres choir under the
direction of Raphael Bundage, and a Jazz series
concert with saxophonist Dave Koz.
February hails the return of Leonard Slatkin,
who has served as our Music Advisor for the
past two seasons and begins his final season in
this capacity (this is part of the reason why
Giancarlo Guerrero is Music Director-designate
this season.) The first half of the program includes
Mathes' A Standing Ground: Concertino
for Orchestra (after poems of Wendell Berry),
Primiani's Sirens and McTee's Einstein's
Dream; the second half features piano-great
Emanuel Ax performing the Brahms Concerto
No. 1 in D Minor for Piano (one of my very
favorites). The next week, one of Mr. Ax's good
friends, Itzhak Perlman joins the orchestra over
Valentine's Day weekend as he conducts and
performs works by Beethoven (Romances #1
& 2 for Violin and Orchestra), Brahms Variations
on a Theme by Haydn and Tchaikovsky
Symphony #4. The following week (after my
one day in-and-out trip to Chicago for our annual
ICSOM governing board mid-winter meeting
where we plan the summer conference), we
present a Pied Piper concert and Riders in The
Sky will join us for a pops concert that will also
be taped to become a Symphonic Live Recording.
I'm looking forward to working with these
guys since I've been handling their pension pay-
ments for a couple of years (BTW guys, the
agreement comes up for renewal on July 1!)
Slatkin returns at the end of the month (for those
of you who are not aware, he is the new Music
Director of the Detroit Symphony) to lead the
orchestra in a revamped program that features
Rachmaninoff Symphony #1, Mozart Symphony
#40 and Lukas Foss' Time Cycle for Soprano
and Orchestra featuring Hila Plitmann. The
original schedule had included Del Tredici's Final
Alice which we were also to record for
Naxos. Due to these contentious financial times,
the decision was made to delay this recording
project for the time being.
In March, Doc Severinsen and a few of his
colleagues join Giancarlo for our fifth pops concert
and then the orchestra will have a well deserved
week off (I'll already be in India at that
point…) Upon our return (me too, the day before
rehearsals begin), assistant conductor Kelly
Corcoran leads the Classical 10 Series that includes
Debussy Images, Stephen Beus performing
Liszt Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major for
Piano and Orchestra, and Dukas Sorcerer's Apprentice.
The Nashville Symphony Chorus will
perform their annual Spring Choral Concert
(with orchestra assistance) and clarinetist Dave
Bennett will pay tribute to Benny Goodman in
our sixth pops concert. The final week of March
and the beginning of April will include what is
becoming an annual event - The Hymn Sing,
and the NSO will host 10 rising young conductors
for the League of American Orchestras (formerly
the American Symphony Orchestra
League or ASOL) National Conductor Preview.
In the last few weeks we've had some happy
occurrences, assistant principal percussionist
Rich Graber was awarded tenure in the orchestra
and Hunter Sholar, our fourth horn, who
subbed with the orchestra all of last season, has
been notified that he will be awarded tenure at
the end of this season. Congrats to you both!
Also, violist Michelle Lackey Collins delivered
a daughter Olivia in early January. I've already
Real Renaissance man, Robert Ridley, 85, succumbs at Williamson Medical Center
Musician-artist Robert Ridley, a former
Nashville Symphony Orchestra member, died
several days before his 86th birthday at the
Williamson Medical Center in Franklin, Nov.
16.
As a Lifetime Member of the AFM Nashville
Association of Musicians’ Local 257, he
played both bass and tuba.
A Nashville native, Robert Daniel Ridley
was born Nov. 27, 1922, the son of Margaret
May (Bell) and William Vernon Ridley.
He graduated from Cohn High School in
1940. Ridley served with distinction in World
War II as a GI with the Army’s 13th Armored
Division, notably during one of the bloodiest
offenses launched by the Nazis - the Battle of
the Bulge - in the European Theater of Operations.
Subsequently, Robert Ridley earned two
masters degrees, one in music education from
Peabody College in Nashville; the other in the
art of ceramics from the New York State College
of Ceramics. An accomplished musician,
Ridley was also known for his sculpture and
his pottery designs.
In addition to the arts, he also served as band
director and instructor at DuPont High School.
Ridley founded and owned both Coach House
Pottery and Left Bank Studios, and launched
the Left Bank Arts Festival.
For many years, he worked for the State of
Tennessee Mental Health Institute as Director
of Adjunctive Therapy until his retirement. He
also served as Director of Art Therapy here at
Cumberland House.
He’s a former member of Pennington Bend
Church of Christ, the Central Church of Christ
in Nashville, and a member of the Berry Chapel
Church of Christ in Franklin until his death.
Survivors include daughter Kristy Darlene
Becton; grandson John Bradley Becton Denney;
nieces Katherine Ridley Loftis and Margaret
White; nephews David and Jerry Trousdale and
Larry Ridley; great-niece Joy Loftis, and grandnephew
Mark Loftis.
A memorial service was conducted Nov. 21
in Berry’s Chapel Church, followed by a
graveside service at Middle Tennessee Veterans
Cemetery, with full military honors, officiated
by The Reverend Jerry Barber. Honorary
Pallbearers: Lewis McMillan, Claude Hackett
and Channing Workman. Active Pallbearers:
Chris, Chad and Mark Loftis, John Beamer,
Robert D. Ridley
Larry Bearden, Bob Simmons, Jerry and David
Trousdale. Handling arrangements was Woodbine
Funeral Home.
(A special thank you from the editor to Mark
Loftis for furnishing the accompanying photograph
of Mr. Ridley.)
REMINDER to MEMBERS!
Check the Suspended list
on pages 12-13!
seen photos and she's a stunner. Ellen Menking
who is currently on maternity leave has also
dropped by once or twice with her beautiful son,
as well. Our family just continues to grow!
This past week the symphony also announced
their 2009-10 season which has some
spectacular artists, conductors and works lined
up! The programming in Giancarlo Guerrero's
first official year as Music Director feature such
works as Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition;
numerous works by Astor Piazzola (some tangos)
and Ravel Bolero; Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony;
Mahler Symphony #5; Mozart Symphony
#35 “The Haffner” along with a world
premier by Roberto Sierra which was co-commissioned
by the NSO as part of The Sphinx
Organization commissioning consortium;
Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra and the first
of two world premieres commissioned through
the Magnum Opus project, this one by Miguel
Del Aguila and the second in early December
by Lowell Liebermann, will be featured on a
concert that includes Stravinsky Symphony of
Psalms and Rachmaninoff The Bells; Barber
Symphony No.1 in One Movement and
Respighi's Fountains of Rome; and the regular
season will conclude with Beethoven Symphony
#1 and Bartok Bluebeard's Castle. That's just
Giancarlo's programs!
We will also be joined by John Fiore who
will conduct works by Wagner, Rouse and
Schumann; Carlos Kalmar will conduct
Brahms, Adams and Ginastera; and three giants
of the music world - one of the great baroqueperformance
practitioners Helmuth Rilling will
conduct J.S. Bach's B Minor Mass, Krzysztof
Penderecki will conduct his own works along
with Shostakovich Symphony #6, and Sir
Neville Marriner who will conduct Vaughan-
Williams Symphony #2 “London” and William
Walton Henry V: A Shakespeare Scenario that
will be narrated by none other than Christopher
Plummer. Other artists heard in this upcoming
season include Stephen Hough (piano), Sharon
Isbin (guitar), Tianwa Yang (violin), Daniel
Binelli (bandoneon), Tracy Silverman (electric
violin), Ingrid Fliter (piano), Alisa Weilerstein
(cello), Yefim Bronfman (piano), Barry Douglas
(piano), our own Roger Wiesmeyer (English
horn), Hilary Hahn (violin), and Jean-Yves
Thibaudet (piano) will perform twice - once
with the Nashville Symphony and the following
month with the Los Angeles Philharmonic,
which will be led by their dynamic new Music
Director Gustavo Dudamel. We will also be
joined by a number of superb singers Twyla
Robinson, Bryan Griffin, Darren K. Stokes,
Jennifer Larmore and Peter Fried.
The pops series will feature artists Glen
Campbell, Matt Catingub celebrating Hawaii's
50th anniversary as a state, the Soldiers' Chorus
of the U.S. Army Field Band, the Preservation
Hall Jazz Band, John McDermott and Cherish
the Ladies on the same concert, Frank
Portone, the band Cherryholmes, and Christopher
Cross.
The gala concert on Sept. 11 will feature an
all-Beethoven concert with one of today's piano
superstars Lang Lang performing Piano
Concerto #3. It looks to be a fantastic season -
and I hope to see many of you there!
Hall of Fame honors Hartford
The Country Music Hall of Fame &
Museum’s has a new spotlight exhibit honoring
the late John Hartford: Ever Smiling, Ever
Gentle On My Mind, which opened Jan. 24, and
runs through January 2010.
The Hartford exhibit examines aspects of the
Local 257 member and Grammy-winning
artist’s career, notably his composition “Gentle
On My Mind,” his fiddlin’ success and even
his accomplishments as a steamboat pilot, author
and historian, although he’s not a member
of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
A former regular on the national Smothers
Brothers Comedy Hour TV show, John died of
cancer at age 63 in 2001. His son guitarist Jamie
Hartford, also a Local 257 member, carries on
the family tradition, writing songs, playing sessions
and fronting his own group.

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 7
Circumstances Of The Case
Favors Right Of Publicity Claim
By Musicians And Songwriters.
Collectibles is a small record label that distributes
and sells music recordings, especially
repackaged vintage recordings. Home Cooking
Records is a music producer specializing in
Texas blues. Home Cooking Records commercially
licensed to Collectibles certain master
recordings of various and sundry blues musicians
and songwriters.
The written license agreement purported to
give Collectibles the right to use the names, photographs,
likenesses and biographical material
of all those whose performances were contained
on the master recordings. It was represented to
Collectibles by Home Cooking Records that the
latter was entitled to convey these rights. This
turned out not to be the case.
Using the master recordings, Collectibles
manufactured and distributed cassettes and
CD's, as well as music catalogs, with the names
and sometimes the likenesses of the performers
on or in them. In addition, Home Cooking
Records, but not Collectibles, sold posters or
videotapes with the names or likenesses of these
blues musicians and songwriters. The blues musicians
and songwriters, upon discovering their
songs and personal information being sold and
distributed without their written consent, filed
suit in federal court in Texas on grounds of
copyright infringement and misappropriation of
their names and likenesses under state law, the
Jazz &
Blues Beat
By ROBERT
AUSTIN
BEALMEAR
A Happy New Year to you all! Wow! Last
year I opened this column by whining about
the terrible condition of the world at the end of
2007, and the appalling inability of humans to
make it better. But that was NOTHING compared
to how 2008 ended. While a new war
raged in the Middle East, economies world wide
were reeling from the effects of greed and negligence.
The widening financial crises quickly
trickled down to musicians as concert, club, and
record sales fell off significantly.
January usually means it's time for the International
Association of Jazz Educators' annual
convention, but after last year's disappointing
attendance at the Toronto convention, IAJE
made the shocking announcement that it was
bankrupt and out of business. IAJE had become
the major support institution for jazz education
and leaves a huge hole in the ability of an art
form to perpetuate itself. Some sort of re-organization
is expected.
The Mid-South Jazz Festival at Austin Peay
State University returns with the John Proulx
Trio on April 3 at 7:30 p.m. Guido's and F.
Scott's are staying with their reduced jazz
policy: Guido's has fewer nights and solos only,
F. Scott's has groups only Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday, solos the other nights. The Italian Grill
& Café has only an occasional night of swing
now, and even the number of blues jam nights
is down. Thank goodness, it's not all bad news,
so let's lighten our spirits with the good stuff
going on around Middle Tennessee.
On Jan. 30, former jazz saxist Matt Catingub
guest conducted the Nashville Symphony's
Adams and Reese Jazz Series, this time featuring
smooth jazz saxist Dav Koz and a program
of movie music at the Schermerhorn. Next concert
in that series is vocalist Madeleine Peyroux
and her band, March 13. Do you wonder if trum-
LEGAL TIPS
By
Marshall M. Snyder
Attorney - at - Law
latter being a claim for violation of the right of
publicity.
A jury trial ensued in which the jury found
copyright infringement by Home Cooking
Records but only innocent copyright infringement
by Collectibles, the latter being unaware
that it had no legal right to market the copyrighted
materials. The jury furthermore found
both Home Cooking Records and Collectibles
liable for misappropriating the names and likeness
of the plaintiffs without their consent.
Home Cooking Records and Collectibles argued
strenuously that the misappropriation
claim under state law could not be brought
against them due to the fact that the misappropriation
claim was preempted by the Copyright
Act and, therefore, was an invalid claim.
The Copyright Act provides that: On or after
Jan. 1, 1978, all legal and equitable rights
that are equivalent to any of the exclusive rights
peter Doc Severinsen is still wearing the wild
jackets Johnny used to make jokes about? You
can find out March 5-7 when Doc blows into
town with guitar, violin, and percussion (Luis
Conte) for three nights of "Nuevo Flamenco"
music with the Symphony called "The Rhythm
of Life."
While it's really too early to tell, the major
jazz event of the year may be the appearance of
the new Chick Corea & John McLaughlin Five
Peace Band at the Schermerhorn April 6, at 7
p.m. This is probably a one-time only pairing
of two pioneers of "fusion" jazz, fronting an
all-star group of Kenny Garrett, alto sax, Christian
McBride, bass, and Vinnie Colaiuta, drums
The Nashville Jazz Orchestra's next scheduled
concert is Feb. 26 at Blair's Ingram Center,
featuring vocalist Mandy Barnett
(Nashville's Patsy Cline-reincarnation) at 8 p.m.
The NJO's annual Writer's Night concert will
be April 23, also at Blair. More info at
www.nashvillejazzorchestra.org
Across from Vanderbilt, Crescent City restaurant
has a new owner and new name, "Music
Row." We're told they feature gourmet food
at budget prices, and live music including jazz
and blues.
Middle Tennessee State University in
Murfreesboro continued its Jazz Artist Series
Feb. 12 with renowned Knoxville pianist (and
former Jazz Messenger) Donald Brown. Their
spring Jazz Festival is usually an all-day event,
this year on April 4, featuring one of the great
young lions of trumpet, Terrell Stafford, at 7:30
p.m. Both performances are in the Wright Music
Building on the MTSU campus.
At Belmont University, world-class jazz pianist
Bruce Dudley presents a program called
"American Piano Jazz of the Past Century" on
Monday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Massey Concert
Hall. The Belmont Jazz Festival showcases
student groups at Massey four nights. On March
17 – Jazz Band; March 18 – Jazz Band II and
Jazz Small Group; March 19 – String and Bass
Ensembles; March 21 – Jazzmin (the vocal
group led by Sandra Dudley). All at 7:30 p.m.
For the Nashville Jazz Workshop in February
and March, check their website for artists
in their "Snap on 2 & 4" series, and "Jazz On
the Move" series at Frist Center,
www.nashvillejazz.org I also hear their Sunday
jam sessions are back, instrumentals every
first Sunday, vocal jams every third.
On the blues scene, the long-running Tuesday
night jams continue at Cragnacker’s Bar
and Grill in Old Hickory. The house band plays
within the general scope of copyright as specified
by section 106 in works of authorship that
are fixed in a tangible medium of expression
and come within the subject matter of copyright
as specified by sections 102 and 103,
whether created before or after that date and
whether published or unpublished, are governed
exclusively by this title . . . 17 U.S.C. § 301(a).
Section 301 requires the fulfillment of two conditions.
First, the content of the protected right
must fall in the subject matter of copyright.
Second, the nature of the rights granted under
state law must be equivalent to any of the exclusive
rights in the general scope of a federal
copyright.
As noted by the court, the Texas tort of misappropriation
provides protection from the unauthorized
appropriation of one's name, image
or likeness. It is best understood as a species of
the right of publicity or of privacy.
To prevail, a plaintiff must prove that (1)
the defendant misappropriated the plaintiff's
name or likeness for the value associated with
it and not in an incidental manner or for a newsworthy
purpose; (2) the plaintiff can be identified
from the publication; and (3) the defendant
derived some advantage or benefit.
Home Cooking Records and Collectibles argued
strenuously that plaintiffs did not present
an independent action for misappropriation. Because
plaintiffs names and/or likenesses were
used to identify their musical works in Collectibles'
CD's, tapes and catalogs, Home Cook-
7-8, jam goes until 11. For a list of clubs that
regularly have blues and the dates of their
monthly Blue Friday meetings, go to the Music
City Blues Society website at
www.musiccityblues.org, or for a weekly update,
call MCBS Blues Hotline, (615) 292-5222.
Vocalist Les Kerr and his Bayou Band will
present their 18th Consecutive Mardi Gras Concert
at Nashville’s Bluebird Café on Fat Tuesday,
Feb. 24. Les will also be featured for this
year's "Oyster Easter" fundraiser April 11 at
Traveler's Rest. This event is the main
fundraiser for the Community Resource Center,
a non-profit that serves the needy with
household goods, furniture and appliances.
Event includes a silent auction, New Orleansstyle
food (lots of oysters), and a King and
Queen.
Not much new on the radio scene. At WMOT
Jazz89 (89.5FM) gwe got a hip and humorous
take on romance with the JAZZ On The Side
Valentine's Day special, "Is You Is Or Is You
Ain't My Baby," Feb. 15. Then get April Fooled
on March 29 with "Dr. Rhythm's Incidental
History of Jazz."
Sadly, more jazz and blues legends passed
on at the end of 2008. October: Ray Ellis, composer,
conductor and TV producer, was arranger
for jazz vocal legends like Sarah Vaughan and
Billie Holiday ("Lady in Satin"). Merl Saunders'
organ stylings sent artists like Jerry Garcia to
the jazz and blues side of the groove. Perhaps
appreciated more by musicians than fans, Dave
McKenna was a virtuoso pianist who always
swung and always respected the structure of a
song.
Many of the most famous images of jazz men
and women were captured by photographer
William Claxton. Check out his book "Jazz
Life." He began his career as a trumpet man
with Woody Herman and others, but Neal Hefti
will always be remembered as an arranger-composer
par excellence from big bands to TV
("Batman," "The Odd Couple"). His album "The
Atomic Count Basie" is one of the enduring
classics of recorded jazz.
Actress Edie Adams was a classic pop singer
when "pop" was still basically big band jazz.
Trivia question: who played the famous opening
clarinet glissando in the 1945 film "Rhapsody
in Blue"? Answer: reed player Al
Gallodoro, whom Jimmy Dorsey called, "The
best sax player who ever lived." In his eightdecade
career he played with orchestra leaders
from Paul Whiteman to Arturo Toscanini.
In November, we lost two drummers who
ing Records and Collectibles asserted that the
core of the misappropriation and copyright infringement
claims were one and the same hence
requiring dismissal of the misappropriation
claim.
The court had noted, however, that Home
Cooking Records and Collectibles argument ignored
that the content of the right protected by
the misappropriation tort does not fall into the
subject matter of copyright, as section 301 requires.
The tort for misappropriation of name or
likeness protects the interest of the individual
in the exclusive use of his own identity, in so
far as it is represented by his name or likeness,
and in so far as the use may be of benefit to him
or to others.
In other words, the tort of misappropriation
of name or likeness protects a person's persona.
A persona does not fall within the subject matter
of copyright - it does not consist of a writing
of an author within the meaning of the Copyright
Act.
The plaintiffs had not granted any copyright
in their materials. The plaintiffs had not granted
through contract any right to use their name or
likeness. Therefore, and properly so, the court
reasoned that the Copyright Act had not preempted
the plaintiffs claim for misappropriation
of their name or likeness.
(Marshall M. Snyder is a Music Row attorney
who can be reached at 615.742.0833 or by
e-mail at marshall.snyder@nashville.com)
were the last generation to use jazz style drumming
to drive rock bands. England's Mitch
Mitchell pioneered the idea of the virtuoso rock
drummer, lighting the fires behind guitar wizard
Jimi Hendrix. And Cheyenne Indian Jimmy
Carl Black set the groove to Frank Zappa's farout
arrangements for the original Mothers of
Invention.
In the jazz-oriented world of 1950s’ pop music,
the most far-out voice was that of Yma
Sumac, a Peruvian soprano with a range well
over four octaves. Feminist, author, and record
producer Rosetta Reitz specifically championed
the recognition of women artists in early jazz
and blues for 30 years.
December: Derek Wadsworth was a British
trombonist who worked with Tony Bennett and
Maynard Ferguson, but was mostly known for
TV and film composing. West Coast pianist
Page Cavanaugh was a legend in what we'd now
call "lounge jazz" with a long-lasting trio modeled
after the King Cole trio. They were featured
on Sinatra's radio show and in several
films of the 1950s’.
Robert Ward was a blues singer and guitarist
who founded the pop-soul band that became
"Ohio Players." Few would argue with saying
that Freddie Hubbard was the best of the postbop
trumpet players. His unique tone and searing
inventiveness were featured on dozens of
classic 1960s’ recordings with everyone from
Art Blakey to Ornette Coleman. A series of
popular commercial jazz albums in the ’70s led
to some lesser efforts that were hated by the
critics, but in the clubs he kept his blazing
improv style intact until the ’90s when a lip infection
seriously limited his abilities in the last
two decades.
Stay warm and we'll talk again in the spring.
Member earns Spirit of Hope honor
Singer Michael Peterson (“From Here To
Eternity”) was named as the 2008 recipient of
the Bob Hope Spirit of Hope Award, Dec. 3, in
recognition of his entertainment of the troops
in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Local 257’s Peterson proudly proclaims:
“The men and women in uniform who serve
our nation selflessly are inspiring to be around.
For decades, Bob Hope served them with entertainment
and encouragement from home.
Because of Mr. Hope’s sacrifice and service,
today’s entertainers have the same opportunity.
I am grateful for this recognition and the privilege
of being associated with his legacy.”

8 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
We've entered the busiest time of year for
the front desk. Your patience and understanding
are appreciated more than ever, and we
thank you for minimizing calls, etc. when possible.
Over 2,000 members have already paid
their 2009 annual membership dues! Fewer than
600 members have yet to submit payments in
full.
Members are required to pay the following
items in their entirety to maintain active status
with Local 257: Local Dues, AFM Per Capita
Dues, Funeral Benefit Fee, Funeral Benefit
Assessment, and Vic Willis Emergency Relief
Fund. The only optional item was listed on the
postcard you received separately, and is for the
Legislative Action Fund (formerly TEMPO),
the money going to lobbying on behalf of musicians.
Please contribute generously to this
fund if you're able.
Although your membership cards expire
each year on Dec. 31st, we do allow you to pay
as late as Jan. 31st, before your membership
status is suspended and a reinstatement fee is
added to your account. If your membership and
reinstatement fees are not paid in full by March
31, your status will be expelled and an additional
reinstatement fee will be charged to you.
Finances are tight for most everyone, and if you
find yourself in a position where you're unable
to pay by the due dates, yet intend to maintain
your membership, please contact Secretary-
Treasurer Craig Krampf. He's happy to hear
from you and work with you.
If you choose to resign in good standing, it's
best if you do so before March 31, at which
time we will be sending in a per capita dues
payment to A.F.of M. for every member on our
roster. The last payment was sent for Dec. 31,
’08, so thank you to all who made the decision
to resign prior to Jan. 1. If you are contemplating
a change, but not quite sure which way to
go, please contact Secretary-Treasurer Krampf
or President Pomeroy. They can listen to your
concerns and advise you on your situation.
Collecting your Pension is not affected by
maintaining your membership in our Local. Resigning
does make you ineligible for applying
for assistance through our Emergency Relief
Fund. You also forfeit your Funeral Benefit
Fund if you resign. Your membership can be
reinstated within a year, but beyond that one
year you must sign up as a new member. In this
Office
Manager’s
Notes . . .
By
Sherri
Olson
case, your start date changes to the date you
come back in, and you lose the length of time
you had built up as a member in good standing.
Applicants for ERF must be members in good
standing for the past 12 months or more. The
Funeral Benefit is based on your length of time
as a member as well, ranging from $1,250.00
at the start of your membership, up to $8,000.00
after you've maintained your good standing
membership for 20 or more years. In order for
your benefit to be paid out, your membership
and all dues and obligations must be paid in
full.
Please remember us when you have a new
mailing address, e-mail address, name change,
or perhaps wish to change your beneficiary. As
members, you each contribute to the Funeral
Benefit Fund with your annual dues payments.
It's comforting for you to know the money will
go where you would like it to go at the time of
your death. The Fund was designed to help
cover the cost of your burial and funeral arrangements,
but it's really in the hands of whoever
you have designated. We are currently
printing your named beneficiary on your billing
statements. If you would like to re-assign
your benefit, please stop by or request that we
mail you a new Funeral Benefit Beneficiary
card. Having a new card on file, signed by you,
is the only way we can make these updates.
My personal thanks goes out to former President
Harold Bradley and former Secretary-Treasurer
Billy Linneman. These two gentlemen
always treated us with respect and love, and
their friendship and presence are greatly missed
around here. I'm thankful that my position is
not subject to an election! I don't think I could
deal with the uncertainty every three years.
Although a new administration can bring uncertainty
in and of itself, we can only continue
to do our jobs to the best of our ability and hope
that we are seen as a vital part of the organization,
someone who contributes to the success
of the purpose.
In my opinion, we have a great staff! I welcome
Dave Pomeroy and Craig Krampf, and
pray we will feel a similar friendship that comes
with time spent together. They generate a lot of
enthusiasm and energy, and I encourage you to
stop by and congratulate them. It's your
union…and your voice should be heard.
Sherri Olson
Local 257 members inducted into the Arkansas Hall of Fame last fall . .
Six legendary entertainers, including country
music star Joe Nichols, rock drummer
Ronnie Hawkins, the Opry’s brother duo The
Wilburn Brothers (Doyle & Teddy), noted
Memphis horn player Wayne Jackson, and the
late blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson were
inducted into the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of
Fame Nov. 15, in Hot Springs.
The late Doyle and Teddy Wilburn were born
in Hardy and were child performers in an act
called The Wilburn Family that were brought
to the Grand Ole Opry in the 1940s. After the
brothers served stints in the Army during the
Korean War, Teddy and Doyle continued on in
country music as The Wilburn Brothers. They
had their first hit in 1954, “Sparkling Brown
Eyes.” Other hits include “Which One Is To
Blame,” “Trouble’s Back in Town” and “It’s
Another World.”
They operated a major music publishing firm
Sure-Fire and with Don Helms, Wil-Helm booking
agency. The Wilburn Brothers had a longrunning
syndicated TV show, 1963 to 1974, and
helped introduce Loretta Lynn to a wider audience.
Both Wilburns were in AFM Local 257.
Fellow member Jackson grew up in West
Memphis and his life took him across the Mississippi
River to Memphis, where he became a
legendary backup trumpeter in such groups as
the Mar-Keys and would go on to perform with
a who's who of artists from around the world
on over 300 gold and platinum records. Of
course, he was a founder of the legendary Memphis
backing band, The Memphis Horns.
Son says Rex Peer had ‘a remarkable life’
Rex Peer, one of the original musicians in
Danny Davis’ Nashville Brass, died Oct. 14, in
Chapel Hill, Tenn., following a lengthy fight
with cancer. He was 80.
The trombonist, a Lifetime member of Local
257, also performed big band sounds with
such notables as Benny Goodman and The
Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. He had recorded with
such acts as Davis, Goodman, Johnny Cash,
Eddie Fisher and Tennessee Ernie Ford, and was
on Pat Boone’s TV show for a year.
Born in Atlantic, Iowa, Rex Eugene Peer
grew up in a musical family. His father Willard
Ralph Peer, a cornet player and flautist, at one
time was introduced on ABC-TV’s You Asked
For It program as “The world’s greatest
Ocarina (sweet-potato flute) player.” Brother
Herb played jazz trombone in the Joe Ventuti
Orchestra. Rex’s sister Dorothy Zehr is still a
music and voice teacher in Ft. Dodge, Iowa.
“Dad dropped out of high school to play in
territory bands,” notes son Ryan Peer. “Then
he got a job with Jimmy Palmer’s band. During
a hiatus with that band, he finished high
school, and a couple of years he spent on the
road.”
Near the tail end of World War II, he served
in the Army Air Corps, part of which he played
in a military band at Lackland Air Base in Texas.
Peer decided to get out just two weeks before
they suspended all discharges (as the Korean
War loomed large).
“Under the GI Bill, my father went to
Morningside College in Sioux City to earn his
B.A. degree,” Ryan points out. “He obtained
his master’s (in music education) from Columbia
University in New York.”
Later, he was proprietor of the Peer Music
Store in Atlantic (originally founded by his father
Ralph), where Rex also taught aspiring
music students for $1 per lesson.
Among other bandleaders he performed with
were Vincent Lopez and Woody Herman. It was
Goodman, however, who kept calling him back.
As early as 1952, he toured the U.S. with
Goodman; in 1955, he toured the Far East, a
highlight being a command performance for
King Aduljadet of Thailand (who jammed with
them on sax); they toured Europe in ’58, headlining
two weeks at the Brussels World Fair; in
1959 they toured Canada and New England; and
in the early 1960s, South America (including
some memorable dates in Mexico).
An incident during his Goodman gigs occurring
on a dual All-Star Farewell Band Tour
in conjunction with fellow legend Louis
Armstrong, also proved memorable, much to
Benny’s chagrin.
According to Ryan, Benny had a bit of ego:
“Theirs was a six-week tour and after a couple
weeks, Benny and Louie got into an argument
right there in front of their bandsmen. It started
when Benny wanted more stage time; then
Louie asked, ‘Who do you think I am? I’m not
your ***damn flunkie!’ So Benny left and his
drummer Gene Krupa took over the band for
the next four weeks. After that, everything was
fine and the guys remembered it as memorable.”
Despite all his time with Benny and the
Goodman Sextet, he confided to his son that
his very favorite band to work with was Sauter-
Finegan (whose co-leaders were Eddie Sauter
and Bill Finegan), explaining: “It’s the only
band where after three hours on stage and they
were packin’ up their horns, he wanted to play
more. He said that was his all-time high.”
Nonetheless, Rex is heard playing on such
acclaimed Benny Goodman albums as Benny’s
celebrated 1956 live effort cut in Bangkok, and
their set recorded in Belgium in 1958.
Changes in beneficiary?
Be sure to report changes in
your personal status
to the Union office!
Call (615) 244-9514, Ext. 240.
According to worksheets turned in by leader
Bill Walker, after the initial tracks for Bob
Dylan’s “Self Portrait” were done in ’69, some
overdubbing was accomplished in Nashville,
specifically the period March 11 - April 3, 1970,
including trombone playing by Rex Peer, Dennis
Good and Frank Smith. (Rex didn’t remember
that session.)
One of Rex’s best friends was multi-instrumentalist
Walker, an Australian who gained further
career renown as an arranger and conductor
based in Nashville.
“Bill was the reason my father came down
here,” explains the younger Peer. “In 1966 or
’67, when Dad was playing with Eddy Arnold,
he took his putter from his car trunk while awaiting
rehearsal, to practice his swing. Bill walked
by and said, ‘We’re looking for a fourth tomorrow.
Want to play?’ That was the start of a long
friendship.”
Walker worked with both the Johnny Cash
and Statler Brothers’ TV shows here in different
decades. Rex first came to town now and
then to work, but finally moved his family to
Nashville in 1969.
“He was pretty much first-call for anyone
wanting a trombone player. The list of artists
he played for is huge . . . He once played for
Nat (King) Cole, and later for his daughter
Natalie Cole,” notes Ryan. “I think he hit the
road with Danny in the early 1970s, and came
off the Brass like in ’77. The last musical thing
he did here was The Statler Brothers’ show on
TNN. He did a nice little thing with Leon Redbone
singing, while he had a fine little instrumental
solo.”
Some say for many years Peer was a regular
attraction at the old Cajun Wharf restaurant,
doing Dixieland. With former Iowa student
Roger Bissell, however, he founded a two-trombone
and rhythm band called The Hip Bones in
1977, also playing area clubs.
Two stand-out Peer arrangements were “The
St. Louis Blues March” for the Nashville Brass,
and “The National Anthem” for Benny. Rex
Peer also launched the Nashville Sound Plus
You, a singalong recording unit, sort of a predecessor
to today’s karaoke fad.
“He started that with a couple other guys,
but then he bought them out,” adds Ryan. “It
was something he worked on like one day a
week, until he let someone buy him out.”
Although Ryan’s mom - Barbara Benton
Peer - was creative as a clothing designer and
semi-professional photographer, he remembers
she was more a full-time Mom. She died in
January 2008. Ryan’s sister Rachel played bass
and during eight years with then-husband John
Prine, played bass and sang harmony for him.
“She also worked with the Everly Brothers
quite a bit,” he recalls, adding “My sister
Cindy’s a decent piano player, but she saw her
role more as being a mother and homemaker.”
While Ryan claims, “I was a pretty mean
high school trombone player,” he admits that
he enjoys his current job in the graphic arts division
of Lightning Source, a subsidiary of
Ingram Books, in LaVergne.
What characteristic did he most admire in
his father?
(Continued on page 31)
Rex Peer

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 9
Hello from Mike Brignardello. On his victory
in Local 257's Presidential election Dec.
14, 2008, Dave Pomeroy resigned his post as
President of RMA Nashville. As vice-president
I have agreed to serve as RMA Nashville's new
President.
Well, 2009 is off to an exciting start with a
new leadership team at Local 257 and an energized
membership. The turn-out for this election
was about double the last cycle, and it's
self-evident that RMA Nashville played a vital
part in motivating members to participate.
While I am very excited about Dave
Pomeroy's win, and that of fellow RMA member
Craig Krampf as Local 257's new Secretary-Treasurer,
I am keenly aware that RMA
Nashville will miss Dave's passion and enthusiasm.
Dave was instrumental in growing the
RMA Nashville chapter to its largest membership
ever, and represented Nashville musicians
on the national level with skill and integrity.
Small wonder that others in our music community
noticed, and elected him President of 257,
the fourth biggest Local in the country. His leadership
will be missed, but I am honored to try
and carry on the principles of the RMA, which
is working for the betterment of all recording
musicians. We have a terrific Executive Board
and I'm looking forward to working together
with them, along with our members, to solve
problems, define issues, and keep Nashville a
great recording center.
While there is much to celebrate on the Local
level, RMA still faces challenges on the National
front. As of this writing, the AFM International
Executive Board is considering
whether or not to de-certify the RMA as an AFM
player conference. The threat has been looming
since June 2008, when the idea was first
proposed at an IEB meeting. RMA International
officers, along with local RMA officers, have
been unsuccessful, so far, in their meetings with
the IEB, to resolve the issues that have us at the
current impasse. We're exploring avenues of
communication and are hopeful a dialogue will
begin, but for now, we're awaiting the IEB's
decision.
I don't have space to recount the history, but
the threat to the RMA eventually became one
of the major campaign issues in this past Local
election, an example of a national issue spilling
over into local politics. To the best of my
knowledge, RMA Nashville members have filed
no lawsuits against the union, have not been
Musician-educator Baldassari
succumbs to cancer at age 56
Butch Baldassari in 2007 Patricia Presley photo.
Our last message from mandolin-master
Jerome H. (Butch) Baldassari occurred over the
holidays, as he plugged his new book and CD
combo, “A Victorian Christmas: Sentiments &
Sounds Of a Bygone Era.”
Sad to say, the bluegrass session player died
from cancer Jan. 10, at St. Thomas’s Alive Hospice,
following a lengthy battle that left him
unable to play his beloved instrument.
Baldassari was 56.
The musician was diagnosed with an inoperable
brain tumor in May 2007, and a benefit
was conducted on his behalf at Blair School of
Music, on Oct. 27, 2007, to help defray the
family’s mounting medical costs. Baldassari had
served as an adjunct professor of mandolin at
Blair since 1996, while also heading up the
Nashville Mandolin Ensemble (since June
1991). He also played on numerous sessions,
including those of Alison Krauss, John Mock
and David Schnaufer.
Butch recently noted, “Support from family,
fans and friends has been enormous. I am
humbled and thankful for it. I am often reminded
of and surrounded by many of the musical
friends I've made over the years. What a pleasure
it is to know them and privilege to have
recorded with many of them.
“I stay busy with projects and am writing a
column for Mandolin magazine,” Baldassari
added. “Although I can't play for now, the music
in me is still very much alive. It feeds my
soul and excites me every day.”
According to Mark Wait, dean, Vanderbilt’s
Blair School of Music, “Butch Baldassari was
a wonderful artist, a warm and generous teacher
and a great colleague and friend. We were extremely
fortunate to enjoy his affiliation with
the Blair School and to learn from this remarkable
man. Butch’s passing is a huge loss to the
Blair School, to Vanderbilt and to the musical
community.”
A number of bluegrass greats joined Butch
in recording his solo project, “Old Town.”
Among them Alison Krauss, Tim Stafford, Sam
Bush, Ron Block, Alan O'Bryant, and Mike
Bub. Incidentally, Bub and Block were members
with Baldassari and Chris Jones in the bluegrass
band Weary Hearts.
A native of Scranton, Pa., he was the son of
Henry and Patricia Baldassari. Jerome was a
graduate of Scranton Preparatory School and
also attended the University of Scranton and
the Berklee School of Music, in Boston, Mass.
“Butch” became a professional picker at age
35, and subsequently served in such bands as
Grammy-nominated groups Grass Is Greener
and Lonesome Standard Time. Following
graduate work at the University of Nevada-Las
Vegas, he toiled a time as a croupier at casino
gaming tables in the gambling capital. He
moved to Nashville in 1989.
Butch also played mandocello and mandolo,
and conducted mail-order instructions, prompting
some to say he made a cottage industry out
of mandolin music. Numbering among his Blair
School mandolin students was popular singer
Dierks Bentley, who claimed, “Butch really encouraged
me musically. I took mandolin lessons
from him, and he’s full of information.”
Former fellow instructor on the Vanderbilt
campus, fiddler Matt Combs had spearheaded
Recording
Musicians
Association
Mike Brignardello
President
charged with breaking union rules, and have not
joined any other “shadow” union. Yet 200 of
our busiest, most active members are being
threatened with losing their voice within the
union. It's frustrating, because the IEB has chosen
to threaten an entire player conference for
the actions of a few individuals. If a member
breaks a union rule, the individual should be
charged with the violation, not an entire player
conference. Because I'm an optimist, I think the
IEB will come to this conclusion. I believe that
the IEB will vote NO on de-conferencing the
RMA. An AFM without the RMA will serve no
one's interest.
But it highlights the importance of focusing
our energies on the Nashville music community
and our own Local business. Whatever
the 2007 fundraiser, saying, “Butch is a fantastic
mandolin player. This is a community where
people band together for their friends who are
hurting, so that’s what we’re doing.”
Butch was nominated three years running
as top mandolinist by the International Bluegrass
Music Association (IBMA) and also
awarded Song of the Year and Best Classical
Recording from the Nashville Music Association.
Turning out to entertain for the cause Oct.
27, 2007, were Bentley, Ricky Skaggs, Mark
O’Connor, Bela Fleck, The Grascals, Kathy
Chiavola, John Cowan, Dave Pomeroy’s Three
Ring Circle, John Mock, Maura O’Connell,
Shawn Camp, Tony McManus and Butch’s
Mandolin Jazz Ensemble players.
Among Baldassari's how to educational aids
available are such as “You Can Play Bluegrass
Mandolin (Volumes I & II),” “16 Gems - Bill
Monroe Transcriptions,” “Evergreen Mandolin
the future brings on the national front, we can
continue the tradition of working together with
our union and serving the music industry here
in our backyard. We have a great working relationship
with the Nashville music industry, a
long history of “musician tradition” in Nashville,
and close personal relationships with artists,
publishers, producers and label heads. We
have excellent leadership at our Local and engaged
members. I believe we could weather just
about any storm because of our unique situation.
I've seen the effects of an energized informed
membership, and I know we can accomplish
good things as long as we work together.
Times are changing, and the way we work
is changing, too. We're working together with
President Pomeroy on formulating a new local
internet scale, input welcome. Of course, we
are continuing discussions with the IEB to resolve
the de-conferencing question. There is
much work to do and we need your help.
Please join or renew your membership to
RMA Nashville and help us continue to work
for you. Use the Pay Pal option on our site, http:/
/www.rmanashville.com, or mail a check. All
of the RMA Nashville officers and Board serve
on a volunteer basis, so all the dues we collect
are used for the work of serving our members.
Join with us and help keep Nashville the best
place to make music.
Best regards,
Mike Brignardello
I'm adding a personal postscript and sending
heartfelt thanks for the years of dedicated
service by President Harold Bradley and Secretary-Treasurer
Billy Linneman. I was honored
to know and work with you both.
Music For Christmas” and “Acutab - Transcriptions,
Volume I.” He has recorded for Rebel,
Cactus, CMH, Pinecastle, Columbia and his
own label (check out soundartrecordings.com).
Survivors include wife Sinclair (Dickey)
Baldassari, son Blake, and mother Patricia
Baldassari, along with two brothers, Henry
Baldassari, Jr. and Louis Baldassari. Services
were conducted Jan. 17 in St. Francis of Assisi
Church, Scranton, co-celebrated by Monsignor
Philip A. Gray, pastor, and The Reverend William
Campbell. Arrangements were handled by
the Neil Regan Funeral Home, Scranton.
On Jan. 31, a Nashville service was held at
Blakemore United Methodist Church, followed
by a public memorial in the Station Inn, Feb. 1.
There has been a tax-deductible college fund
set up in the name of: Blake Gordon Baldassari,
c/o Morgan Stanley, Attn: Jason Pharris, 2525
West End Avenue, Suite 1220, Nashville, TN
37203. - Walt Trott
Player pal pays homage to mandolinist
By MIKE BUB Butch's fight with brain cancer lasted over a
(Editor’s note: Local 257 member, mandolinist
Butch Baldassari, founder of the Nashville
Mandolin Ensemble, died on the morning
of Jan. 10, at St. Thomas Hospital. His longtime
friend and musical associate, bassist
Michael D. Bub, offered these words of appreciation
and reflection.)
It was nearly 20 years ago that Butch and I
moved to Nashville with Chris Jones and Ward
Stout to pursue our musical endeavor in Weary
Hearts.
I have known Butch since I was probably
15 or 16, and that is just shy of 30 years. We
played a lot of music and traveled many miles
together, before our musical paths took on new
directions in the early ’90's.
Butch was a great player, known for his taste
and beautiful tone on the mandolin. He was a
sharp businessman, and involved himself in all
aspects of the music business as it related to
the mandolin: recording artist, session musician
and sideman, performer, producer, label owner,
arranger, bandleader, booking agent, instrument
collector and designer, as well as teacher.
Butch Baldassari's music covered a lot of
varied genres and he played it all with great
ability and respect.
year-and-a-half. I am saddened to see him go,
but I am relieved that he is no longer having to
suffer with this terrible and painful disease. His
fight has been valiant and inspired due to his
wife Sinclair and son Blake at his side the entire
way.
Keep them in your thoughts as they struggle
through these toughest of times. Rest in peace
my friend.
Butch Baldassari

10 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
Do not work for . . .
Accurate Strategies, Inc. (outstanding contracts)
Adagio Music/Sam Ocampo (outstanding contract)
Allen McKendree (pension)
Beautiful Monkey/JAB Country (outstanding contract)
Casa Vega/Ray Vega (outstanding contracts)
Com Source Media (pension)
Doug Wayne Prod. (pension)
Down the Layne (pension)
Elite III Records (pension)
Eric Legg (outstanding contracts)
FJH Enterprises (pension)
Gene Avaro (pension)
Generator Music (pension)
Get Off My Bach, Inc. (outstanding contract)
Goofy Footed (pension)
Gospocentric (pension)
Honey Tree Prod. (pension)
Jeffrey Green/Cahernzcole House (pension)
Jerrod Niemann (pension)
Jimmy Fohn Music (pension)
Joseph McClelland (pension)
Journey Records (pension)
Kenny Lamb (outstanding contracts)
Lyrically Correct Music Group/Jeff Vice (outstanding
contract)
Malaco (pension)
Matchbox Entertainment/Dwight Baker (outstanding
contract)
Maverick Management Group (pension)
Nashville Midnight Oil (pension)
Nathan Thompson (pension)
PSM (pension)
Prism Music (pension)
Randy Hatchett (pension)
Reach Ministries (pension)
Rick Henry (pension)
Robert David Stacy (pension)
Ronnie Palmer (pension)
Round Robin/Jim Pierce (outstanding contract)
Shaunna Songs/Shaunna Bolton (outstanding contract)
Sound Resources Prod./Zach Runquist (outstanding
contracts/pension)
Steal Hearts Music, Inc. (pension)
Sterling Productions (pension)
Village Square, Inc. (pension)
Write It Lefty/Billy Davis (pension)
Write Records/Skip Ewing (outstanding contracts/late
penalties)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Add A Player.com (pension)
Al Sostrin (pension)
Allianz (pension)
Anthony Smith Prod. (demo signature)
Chez Musical/Sanchez Harley (outstanding contracts)
Compass Productions - Alan Phillips and David
Schneiderman (outstanding contracts)
Conrheita Lee Flang/Chris Sevier (pension)
Daddio Prod./Jim Pierce (outstanding contract)
Data Aquisition Corp./Eric Prestidge (pension)
Derrin Heroldt (pension)
Double J Productions/Tony Ramey (pension)
Engelbert Humperdinck (pension)
Field Entertainment Group/Joe Field (outstanding
contract)
First Tribe Media (pension)
Ginger Lewis (outstanding contract)
Goldenvine Prod./Harrison Freeman (outstanding contract)
Greg Holland (outstanding contract)
Heritage Records/Lew Curatolo (pension)
Highland Music Publishing (pension)
Hot Skillet/Lee Gibson (outstanding contract/limited
pressing signature)
Howard Music Group (pension)
Mark Hybner (outstanding contract)
J.C. Anderson (pension)
Jack Wilcox (outstanding contract)
Joe Meyers (pension)
Katana Productions/Duwayne “Dada” Mills (outstanding
contracts)
Kenny Lamb (outstanding contract)
King Craft, Inc./Michael King (outstanding contracts)
Matachack James (pension)
MC Productions/Mark Cheney (outstanding contract)
MCK Publishing/Rusty Tabor (outstanding contract)
Michael Sykes Productions (pension, outstanding contract)
Michael Whalen (pension)
Miss Ivy Records/Bekka Bramlett (outstanding upgrades)
MS Entertainment/Michael Scott (outstanding contract)
O Street Mansion (pension)
On The Green/Kevin Beamish (outsanding contracts)
Parris Productions/Garrett Paris (pension)
Paul Jenkins (pension)
Pete Martinez (pension)
Pitchmaster/Carroll Posey (pension)
Positive Movement/Tommy Sims (outstanding contracts)
Quarterback/G Force Music/Doug Anderson (outstanding
contracts)
Rebecca Frederick (pension)
Region One Records (outstnading contract)
Renaissance Music Group/Deborah Allen (outstanding
contracts)
RLS Records-Nashville/Ronald Stone (outstanding
contract)
RichDor Music/Keith Brown (outstanding contract)
Rust Records/Michelle Metzger (outstanding contracts and
pension)
Shauna Lynn (outstanding contract)
Shy Blakeman (outstanding contract)
Singing Honey Tree (outstanding contract)
Sleepy Town/David Lowe (outstanding contract)
Small Time Productions/Randy Boudreaux (outstanding
contract)
Songwriters Collective (outstanding contract)
Star Path Prod./Wayde Battle (pension)
Summer Dunaway (outstanding contract)
Tony Graham (pension)
Travis Allen Productions (pension)
Two Monkeys (outstanding contracts)
Village Square (pension)
We 3 Kings (outstanding contract)
Eddie Wenrick (outstanding conract)
Will Smith Productions (outstanding contract)
Woody Bradshaw (pension)
YGT 40/Lawrence B. Gotliebs (pension)
Baldwin Entertainment/Will Smith (pension)
Copyright.net (outstanding contracts)
Earthtone Publishing/Roy English (outstanding
contract)
Fat Possum/Bruce Watson (outstanding contract)
Home Records/David Vowell (outstanding contracts)
Marty McIntosh (outstanding contract)
Multi-Media (outstanding contract)
Notation Music (outstanding contract)
Over the Moon Productions/Rick Scott Prod. (outstanding
contract)
Raven Records/Coy Ray (outstanding contract)
Rendale Music (outstanding contracts)
Rick Tunes (outstanding contract)
Roxanne Entertainment (outstanding contract)
RPB Productions/Coy Ray (outstanding pension & phono
signatory)
Sean Ruth (outstanding contract)
Sunbird (outstanding contracts)
Thrillstreet/Jerry Parent (outstanding contract)
Century Music/Art Ward (outstanding contracts)
Golden Vine/Darrell Freeman (outstanding contract)
Kyle Jacobs (outstanding contract)
Labeless Records/Coy Ray (outstanding pension)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amentco (American Entertainment Concepts/Ron
Camacho)
ARK 21
Bait & Tackle (pension)
Bernie Nelson (Heatherington)
Don Goodman Music (payment/pension)
Garland Entertainment (Warren Garland)
James House Productions (outstanding contracts)
Jeff Best/Clever Cowboy (payment/ pension)
John Bunzow (pension)
John Kevin Mulkey (DWM)
K.A.R.E., Inc.
Larry Rose (Entheos Group)
Margaret Bell-Byers (pension)
Maximus (outstanding contract)
Mooneyhand Pictures (Wayne Mooneyhand)
Music Row Records/Gene Cash (outstanding contract)
Nancy Grant
On Purpose Prod. (pension)
Pat Reese, Music Media Int’l.
Pinebrook (pension)
Radio Records/J. Gary Smith (outstanding contract)
Randy Huston (Dr. Vet Music)
Revelator/Gregg Brown (bounced checks)
Rio Star
River Girl, Inc.
Roy Salmond, Whitewater Prod.
Tom Oelson (pension)
Tyler Music Group (pension)
Volzone Prod./Gary Lloyd
William R. Holmes (outstanding contract)
Wyndstar (pension)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
AFM Non-Signatory List
Allen McKendree (demo signature)
Com Source Media (limited pressing)
Doug Wayne Prod. (limited pressing)
Down The Layne (limited pressing)
Elite III Records (demo signature)
FJH Enterprises (phono/limited pressing)
Gene Evaro (demo signature)
Generator Music (demo signature)
Ginger Lewis (demo signature)
Honey Tree Prod. (demo signature)
Hope Productions (demo signature)
Jeffrey Green/Cahernzcole House (limited pressing)
Jerrod Niemann (demo signature)
Jimmy Fohn Music (demo signature)
Journey Records (limited pressing)
Malaco (demo signature)
Maverick Management Group (phono/demo signature)
Nashville Midnight Oil (demo signature)
Nathan Thompson (limited pressing)
PSM (limited pressing)
Prism Music (limited pressing)
Randy Hatchett (demo signature)
Rick Henry (limited pressing)
Robert David Stacy (demo signature)
Ronnie Palmer (demo signature)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Allianz (demo signature)
Anthony Smith Prod. (demo signature)
Blake Mevis Music (demo signature)
Blue Desert Music Group (phono)
Caribbean Country Management (demo signature)
Chariscourt, Ltd. (phono)
Conrheita Lee Flang/Chris Sevier (demo signature)
Data Acquisition Corp./Eric Prestidge (demo signature)
Double J Productions/Tony Ramey (demo signature)
Engelbert Humperdinck (demo signature)
First Tribe Media (phono)
Heritage Records/Lew Curatolo (demo signature)
Joe Meyers (phono)
KJ Entertainment (limited pressing)
Labeless Records/Coy Ray/RPB Prod. (phono)
MS Entertainment/Michael Scott (limited pressing)
Matachack James (limited pressing)
Michael Sykes Productions (demo signature/limited
pressing)
Parris Productions/Garrett Paris (demo signature)
Peter Good (demo signature)
Pitchmaster/Carroll Posey (demo signature)
Quarterback/G Force Music/Doug Anderton (phono)
Region One Records (limited pressing)
Sawyer Brown (limited pressing)
Shy Blakeman (limited pressing)
Starpath Prod./Wayde Battle (demo signature)
The Pitchmaster (demo signature)
Title tunes (demo signature)
Travis Allen Productions (limited pressing)
Domination Records LLC (Limited Pressing)
Kurt A..Koble (Limited Pressing)
Point To Point LLC (limited pressing)
Sammy Harp Productions (limited pressing)
Wade Spencer Ministries, Inc. (phono)
Wowboy Music Group (demo signature)
YTG 40/Lawrence B. Gottliebs (demo signature)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Christopher Mortland (limited pressing)
Cottageworks/Betsy Foster (limited pressing)
44 West/Mike Welch (limited pressing)
Electronic
Media
Services
Division
By Melissa
Hamby Meyer
I hope that you found great joy during the holiday season! We are already off and running in
2009! The days seem to be rushing by so quickly, let us all be very intentional in taking a moment
each day to cherish the blessings in our lives!
With this New Year comes great change... We would like to thank Harold Bradley and Billy
Linneman for their dedicated service to this Local! It has been an honor to work with them. As we
move forward and embrace these changes, we welcome Dave Pomeroy and Craig Krampf. Each
New Year contains untold surprises, so it is with great anticipation…each year…that we wait to see
what the New Year will hold!
Signatory Renewals
The Sound Recording and Limited Pressing Signatory Agreements run on concurrent three-year
cycles and this last cycle was scheduled to expire on January 31, 2009. During the last round of
negotiations, the AFM and Sound Recording Industry agreed to extend the Sound Recording Labor
Agreement for a period of one year. The extended agreement will now expire on January 31, 2010.
All current signatories for this agreement should receive a one-year renewal acceptance letter to
sign from the AFM in New York. To ensure the timely processing of your pension, it is imperative
that you confirm the signatory's renewal when you are engaged to work under this agreement.
Local 257 is also extending the term of the Limited Pressing Agreement for a period of one year
to expire on January 31, 2010. All current Limited Pressing Signatories will be sent a letter notifying
them of this automatic one-year extension. There is no requirement to sign for this extension;
therefore no action will be necessary for a Limited Pressing Signatory to maintain their current
status.
Have a new employer that wants to sign during this one-year extension? The new SRLA Acceptance
Letter and Limited Pressing Agreement are available online at www.afm257.org in PDF
format.
Wage and H&W Increases
The SRLA one-year extension negotiations include a 2% wage increase for Master and Low
Budget sessions. The new 3-hour Master sidemusician wage is $380.02 and the new Low Budget
sidemusician wage is $213.48. In addition, a $0.50 increase was negotiated for H&W, bringing it
to $22.50 per musician for the first original service and $17.00 per musician for each additional
service that day (excluding Low Budget which will remain at $15.50). These increases were negotiated
to take effect the first Monday (February 9, 2009) after ratification and will remain in effect
through January 31, 2010.
Given the current economic concerns of our Nation, the Local has decided not to increase actual
scale wages for Demo and Limited Pressing sessions. H&W will increase $0.50, as stated above, in
keeping with SRLA.
Pension contributions will remain at 11% for Sound Recording, Demo, Limited Pressing and
Low Budget sessions.
The new scale sheets are available online at www.afm257.org in PDF format. If you would like
to pick up a copy of any of these, please feel free to stop by the Local.
Signatory…Pension…Special Payments
The first quarter of each year finds us diligently working to secure necessary Signatory agreements
prior to the Pension Fund's fiscal year end, so you may receive as much credit as possible on
your annual statement. Any session that is done without the appropriate Signatory in place at that
time is considered non-sig and your individual pension credit cannot be applied at the Fund. If the
necessary Signatory agreement cannot be secured, your pension contribution may ultimately be
returned by the Fund!
If your session (Master or Low Budget) is also eligible for Special Payments credit, you cannot
receive that credit until the pension is paid and fully processed at the Pension Fund. I cannot stress
enough…when the appropriate signatory is not in place, your future pension and annual Special
Payments disbursement are in jeopardy!!
This department spends an incredible amount of time securing signatory after the fact, which is
a drain on personnel hours that could be dedicated to benefit you in other areas. It is the Leader
and/or Contractor's responsibility to ensure that the current signatory is in place prior to downbeat.
In order to secure your proper credit, we need your help . . . Please confirm signatory before your
session!
Time Cards and Contract Copies
It is the Leader/Contractor's responsibility to have a time card completed at a session. Time
cards are unique to our jurisdiction and are the property of Local 257. They should be turned in to
(Continued on page 11)
Francis X. Sullivan
Jason Kerr Ministries - Don Goodman
J. Carlos (limited pressing)
Lance Productions (limited pressing)
One G Productions (limited pressing)
Peer Music (limited pressing)
Roxanne Entertainment
Taylor Productions (limited pressing)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
TBN, Paul Crouch (phono/video)
Campfire Records
Chapel Music Group
MTL Limited
LaToya Jackson & Jack Gordon
Westwood One
Worldwide Agency
Union music is best!

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 11
Steel whiz Walter Haynes dies
Walter Haynes exhibits his plaque.
Steel Guitar Hall of Famer Walter Haynes,
80, died Jan. 1, 2009, in Tyler, Texas. On sessions,
he played behind such legendary talents
as Patsy Cline, Bill Monroe, Johnny Cash and
The Everly Brothers.
The multi-talented Haynes was born Dec.
14, 1928 in Kingsport, Tenn., and after high
school came to Nashville to play fiddle and steel
guitar.
Haynes spent 13 years as a WSM Grand
Ole Opry staff musician, and worked some six
years as a steel guitarist in Jimmy Dickens’
Country Boy’ band, before joining Ferlin
Husky’s Hush Puppies, traveling three years
with that troupe.
“I’ll be durned,” says Husky, on learning
of Haynes’ death. “He was a fine player and I
sure did like him. I first met ‘Wally’ (his nickname
for Haynes), while he was with Little
Jimmy Dickens. When he came with me, he also
played saxophone, and as he come out on stage
playing, I told ’em, ‘Here’s Wally and his saxophone.’
I can see him laughin’ now.”
Additionally, he toured with Webb Pierce’s
band. Haynes, who became an in-demand studio
session player, was also a major songwriter
whose credits include two Billboard #1s “Girl
On the Billboard” (Del Reeves) and “It’s Time
To Pay the Fiddler” (Cal Smith), with Hank
Mills, and Don Wayne, respectively. As a producer,
he helmed such talents as Reeves (“Belles
of Southern Bell”), Smith (“Country Bumpkin”)
and Jeanne Pruett (“Satin Sheets”).
Haynes played on WSM-TV’s breakfast
broadcast, while supporting such stars in the
studio as Emmylou Harris, The Oak Ridge
Boys, Mel Tillis and Hank Williams, Jr.
Working as director for Moss Rose Publishing
from 1965, Walter landed contracts for 100
songs recorded in his first year.
In 1969, he headed up the subsidiary Kapp
Records, and then went on to serve as vice president
at parent company MCA. Among artists
Haynes produced were Jack Greene, Bill Monroe,
Marty Robbins, Loretta Lynn and Conway
Twitty.
Haynes was named CMA Producer of the
Year in 1974, thanks in large part to “Country
Bumpkin.” Hired as a consultant for IBC
Records in ’79, Haynes made that label the second
most popular indie in the nation, giving it
successive hits by the Opry’s Jeanne Pruett:
“Back To Back,” “Temporarily Yours” and “It’s
Too Late.”
Walter also had a talent for studio design,
upgrading a trio of Nashville area recording facilities.
In 1998, he relocated to Pigeon Forge,
Tenn., where he played regularly at the Memories
Theater, while still running two publishing
firms.
In later years, Haynes had been teaching students
to play in Bullard, Texas.
In 2000, he was inducted into the Texas Independent
Country Music Hall of Fame, and in
2003 enshrined in the International Steel Guitar
Hall of Fame in St. Louis. He was also a
Lifetime Member of AFM Local 257.
According to his widow Cindy, funeral services
were conducted in Tyler, Sunday, Jan. 4.
- Walt Trott
Barnett to link up with NJO
Singer Mandy Barnett will perform with the
Nashville Jazz Orchestra at 8 p.m. Thursday,
Feb 26, at Blair School of Music on the
Vanderbilt University campus. The concert will
feature Barnett's dynamic vocals in a program
of classic American standards, with Music
City's premier jazz big band, led by Music Director
Jim Williamson. Tickets: $20 general
admission; $15 VU faculty & staff, seniors 65
& over, students with ID; and $5 for Vanderbilt
students only. Tickets available at Ingram Center
box office the night of the performance, also
check out: info@nashvillejazzorchestra.org
Editor’s note: If you like the spiffy
new name line - The Nashville
Musician - on page 1, thank Dave
Pomeroy and Craig Krampf for
helping in its design, and graphic
artist Tom Barkoukis for bringing
it to reality.
. . . more Electronic Media Services Division information
(Continued from page 10)
the Local immediately following your session(s). If you are preparing the contract for a session,
you should also submit a file copy of your contract with your time card submission.
Email Updates
Email can be a very productive means of communication. In addition, Local 257 also has check
notification available via email, which will send you a message each time a new check is posted to
your account. Please contact us to confirm that we have your correct email address on file.
Closing out 2008
As you finish closing out your books for 2008, keep in mind that we can provide you with copies
of your current outstanding payment report and 2008 payment history report to assist you. Once
you have had an opportunity to review your outstanding payment report, feel free to contact us
regarding any session you believe has not been paid. Please provide us with the basic session
information, such as signatory, session date and time, leader and artist. If you have been paid
directly for any session(s) listed, please let us know so that we can update the contract information.
You can email (teri@afm257.org or melissa@afm257.org), fax (615-242-8558), or bring in this
information so that we may better assist you.
Your Staff
Your Recording Department staff is an amazing team! They work very hard for you and are to
be commended for their continued dedication. I am truly grateful for each one of them! Wishing
you a prosperous and joyful 2009!
**Review the Do Not Work For and Non-Sig Lists in each edition. If you have worked for one of
these employers, you may have unsecured Pension or Special Payments credit.**
An appeal to all of our members
Beneficiary Info
If the beneficiary name is wrong on your form, there is absolutely nothing we can do. Please
take a few minutes to make sure the beneficiary is correct for the way things are for you in 2009.
Your loved ones are depending on you.
Update info
You would be quite amazed on how much old and incorrect info is in our files. Please update
your information for the way it is in 2009. Please help us communicate with you.
E-mail Info
We have over 2,600 members and only have 830 e-mail addresses in our database. There is a lot
of “late breaking” news and information that we would like to get to you as fast as we can and our
newspaper is only a quarterly publication. Please provide us with your e-mail address. We don't sell
or share e-mail addresses and our server is very secure. You may like us to have it, but don't want it
publically listed…we will do that for you and keep in mind, your address is not visible to others in
the e-mails we send. We don't bombard you…only things of importance to you as an AFM Local
257 member are sent. Please help us communicate with you.
Our Readers write:
Dear President Harold Bradley:
I wanted to thank you for allowing USAGEM
to meet with you and (Secretary-Treasurer)
Billy Linneman, and present our 2008
USAGEM Presidential Award. I felt very
blessed by this opportunity.
You are helping us do a good work for the
Lord’s sake. We are expecting great growth in
our association in 2009. It is our goal that all of
our artists will come to Nashville and upgrade
the quality of their Gospel/Christian recordings
by using Union musicians - the best musicians
in the world!
I look forward to working with you and your
staff for years to come. Blessings.
- Daniel L. Johnson
President, USAGEM
Nashville
(Editor’s note: See photo on page 21.)
Dear Editor & AFM Local 257:
It was such a joy and comfort to receive and
read the wonderful article you wrote and included
in your October-December 2008 (newspaper)
The Nashville Musician. It revealed that
you knew Charlie’s career and biography well,
and it expressed the significance of his importance
in the great history of C&W music, as it
has played out in America’s culture.
Our house is filled with Charlie’s papers,
documents, letters, photos, etc., so if you would
like to know more biographical and cultural
information about him and his times, you are
welcome to look though it all. Thank you again
for the precious story about Charlie, and for
sending it to me. I will treasure it forever.
Yours sincerely,
Connie Walker
Hendersonville, Tenn.
Dear Editor:
I hope you all are enjoying this holiday season.
Thank you for the article you ran covering
the New Horizon Agency, the help given by
others, and the additional help needed for these
adults with developmental disabilities, spoke so
well of these needs. There have been many
changes since then . . . My wish is that others in
the music industry could open their hearts to
help in the next year.
Fondly,
Yvonne Justis
Nashville
(Editor’s note: Yvonne Justis is the widow of
Local 257 member Bill Justis, remembered
fondly for the mega-hit “Raunchy.”)
Dear Walt:
Congratulations on winning the Media
Award at the Reunion Of Professional Entertainers.
I’m sorry I didn’t get to tell you in person.
Thanks for your congratulations to me (The
Nashville Musician, October-December 2008
issue) and The Time Jumpers! Also thank you
for sending me a copy of the magazine. I don’t
receive them any more since John has passed
away. Thank you for your kindness. May God
bless you.
Sincerely,
Jean Hughey
Hendersonville, Tenn.
Dear Editor:
Ferlin (Husky) and I want to thank you for
the great articles you did on us, and also thanks
for the CD (plug). Ferlin was so proud, enclosed
is my latest CD ‘Leona Williams: New Patches’
for the Heart of Texas Records.
Call us if you need anything. We love you,
you’re the best.
Sincerely,
Leona Williams
Vienna, Mo.
(Editor’s note: True to their words, Ferlin
expressed his feelings for us on the death of his
former bandsman Walter Haynes, who once
produced Leona. See page 11.)
To Local 257:
I want to thank Harold Bradley and Walt
Trott for the kindness showed us when my husband
Howard White, a Lifetime Member of the
Union, died in October. However, my thanks
go much further back in time than that.
Having worked in this business we call music
for many years, Harold, you were always
there to help Howard and myself, whenever we
needed you. I recall you once said, ‘Howard,
when you need help, go to the top.’ We heeded
that advice and were never sorry.
Walt, you also have been a real friend to us
and all musicians . . . No one could ever put
their heart and soul into The Nashville Musician
as you have.
Best regards,
Ruth B. White
Gallatin, Tenn.
(Editor’s note: Thank you Ruth, now where
do I send the quarter for that compliment? Seriously,
we’re all going to miss Howard, he was
a top musician and a good friend. Our best to
you and yours.)

12 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
NEW MEMBERS
JEREMY ABSHIRE
FDL GTR MDN VLA VLN VOC
3204 WEST END CIRCLE UNIT #10
NASHVILLE, TN 37203
Hm-(330)-697-2070
NORMAN E. AVEY
(GENE AVERY)
GTR PIA BAS DRM
307 SOUTHBANK DRIVE
AIKEN, SC 29803
Hm-(803)-642-4040 Wk-(803)-522-3490
MATTHEW PHILLIP BUBEL
DRM PRC
432 MOSS CREEK COURT
NASHVILLE, TN 37221
Hm-(615)-662-9091
DANIEL CADE DOYLE
(CADE DOYLE)
GTR
2134 FAIRFAX AVE APT B4
NASHVILLE, TN 37212
ROBERT H DURHAM
(BOBBY DURHAM)
BAS TBA GTR
224 THEODORE ROAD
NASHVILLE, TN 37214
Hm-(615)-883-9664
PAUL ANDREW ECKBERG
(PAUL ECKBERG)
DRM PRC
1708 21ST AVE. SOUTH, STE. 112
NASHVILLE, TN 37212
Hm-(615)-445-4995
DONALD EMRY FISHEL
(DONALD E. FISHEL)
FLT
103 ARBOR RIDGE DRIVE
ANTIOCH, TN 37013
JARED ETHAN HAUSER
(JARED HAUSER)
OBO
2108B WEST LINDEN AVENUE
NASHVILLE, TN 37212
Hm-(615)-844-4115
HENDERSON B.L. HOWELLS
GTR VOC
98 CASTLEGREEN PVT
OTTAWA, ON K1T3N3
Hm-(613)-523-2589
ERIC ALBERT KAMBESTAD
DRM
109 OCEOLA AVENUE
NASHVILLE, TN 37209
Hm-(805)-674-5536
VIKTOR KARL KRAUSS
(VIKTOR KRAUSS)
BAS
1711 ASHWOOD AVENUE
NASHVILLE, TN 37212
Hm-(615)-269-3525
HARLEY R. LAMOUREUX
(HARLEY (COCONUT) LAMOUREUX)
HRM
258 NOEL DRIVE
MT. JULIET, TN 37122
Hm-(615)-754-5027 Wk-(615)-885-1058
JAMES PHILIP LASSITER
(PHILIP LASSITER)
TPT KEY VOC
816 KENDALL DRIVE
NASHVILLE, TN 37209
JAMES R MATEJEK
GTR
1405 CRABAPPLE COVE
NASHVILLE, TN 37207
Hm-(615)-793-5152
STEVE L. MCCABE
(STEVE MCCABE)
BAS GTR KEY
1529 KAMER DRIVE
LAGRANGE, KY 40031
Hm-(502)-222-6619
STEVEN MCEWAN
GTR
446 3RD STREET APT. 4
BROOKLYN, NY 11215
Hm-(615)-383-3898
AFM Local 257 members’ status
DAVID J. THOMAS
(DAVID JAMES THOMAS)
PIA KEY
470 JAMES WHITEFIELD ROAD
BETHPAGE, TN 37022
Hm-(615)-888-3816
CARL OSCAR PHILIP UTTERSTROM
(OSCAR UTTERSTROM)
TBN BTB
2421 CABIN HILL ROAD
NASHVILLE, TN 37214
Hm-(615)-397-8356
MELVIN LEE WATTS
(MEL WATTS)
DRM
2009 HUTTON DRIVE
NASHVILLE, TN 37210
Hm-(615)-428-2806 Wk-(615)-750-3155
TERRY KARL WENDT
STL
2719 DONNA HILL DR
NASHVILLE, TN 37214-1411
Hm-(615)-885-6565 Wk-(615)-885-6565
MEMBERS REINSTATED
DANIEL A GRINDSTAFF
CAROLYN H HUEBL
S KIRK JOHNSON
RONNIE MILSAP
RAYMOND N RUSSELL
DANNY D STONESTREET
GUTHRIE TRAPP
FELIX H WANG
ROBERT C WOOTTON
VICKY GAIL WOOTTON
APPLICATION REVOKED
ROGER DALE EATON
PATTIE ELIZABETH HOPKINS
DONNIE JAMES OWEN
MICHAEL ROBERT WHITTAKER
REVOKED BY FEDERATION
WENDELL TERRY COX
RESIGNED
LAWRENCE P ATAMANUIK
RICK BLANC
CHRISTOPHER W BROOKS
A.J. CLARK
JUSTIN C CLARK
RAYMOND L CONKLIN
GEORGE HAROLD CUNNINGHAM
MARK W EASTERLING
TOD P ELLSWORTH
KADE MARK FONTENOT
TERESA ELAINE GAFFORD
JAMES MARKUS HOLMAN
GEORGE A MCCAIN
JONATHAN F. NESTA
BRANDON TREY PARR
JOHN W RAGSDALE
MARIE LOUISE RHINES
CHARLES A ROBINSON
KURT SCHUSTER
BILL R. SCOTT
SHAWN PHILLIP SUPRA
TRUETT TIDWELL
THOMAS DALE VANATTA
PATRICK J WEICKENAND
SUSPENDED LIST
RICHARD S ADAMS
WAYNE EDGAR ADDLEMAN
KEVIN PETER ARROWSMITH
MARTIN A AUCOIN
SHANE D AVERY
ALBERT DONALD BABYOK
KELLY BACK
ROBERT SCOTT BAGGETT
LIAM THOMAS BAILEY
DENISE ELAINE BAKER
MICHAEL T BAKER
KEN A BARKEN
MAX T BARNES
RAY LLOYD BARRICKMAN
VINCE BARRANCO
STEPHEN H BASSETT
MARK W BATTLES
ROBERT THADDEUS BEATY
EDDIE CLAYTON BEDFORD
JOHN MATTHEW BELL
PHILLIP REECE BENEFIELD, II
PATRICK W BERGESON
PATRICIA DIANE BERRY
JUSTIN DAVID
JOHN DOUGLAS BILLINGS
EMELYNE MARIE BINGHAM
PAUL CARROL BINKLEY
DAVID ROBERT BLAIR
CHRISTINE A BONE
LARRY L BORDEN
KRISTEN JOY BOWERS
GERALD ALAN BOYD
RICHARD ALLEN BOYER
GARY P BRANCHAUD
MARTIN L BREGER
VICTOR ERIK BRODEN
STEPHEN R BROOKS
SAMUEL EDWARD BUCHANAN
BOB BURFORD
JACOB CHARLES BURTON
CHARLES DENNISON BUTLER
JOEL DAVID BYERLEY
SHAWN P. BYRNE
STEVEN JACOB CALDWELL
ROK CAMPBELL
SPENCER TODD CAMPBELL
JOHN WILLIAM CARROLL
ROBERT AVERY CARR
DOUG E CARTER
JAMES P CARTER, JR
JIMMY RONALD CARTER
JOSHUA MICHAEL CARTER
WALTER C CARTER, JR
BOOMER O CASTLEMAN
MICHAEL CASTEEL
KATHERINE M CASWELL
RALPH ED CHAMBLISS
STEVEN RICHARD CHAPMAN
KENNY A CHESNEY
GARY C. CIRIMELLI
JAMES C CLARK
JACOB DOYLE CLAYTON
SHAD B COBB
ANGELO COLLURA, JR
KEVIN DALE COLLIER
MICHAEL C COMPTON
JAMES ALEXANDER COOK
STEVEN LOUIS COOK
WILLIAM C COOK, JR
BOH COOPER
CAROL LEIGH COOPER
WILMA LEE COOPER
BRADLEY MATTHEW CORBIN
GARY SCOTT COHEN
PATRICIA ANN COSSENTINO
JOHN E COWAN
JOHN THOMAS CRAIN, JR
RONNIE CRAIG
DAVID ANTHONY CREASMAN
LARRY DUANE CROWLEY
MARTIN J CRUM
Holiday closings set
The following holidays will be observed by
the Local 257 staff, therefore the Union offices
will be closed on these dates:
Easter Good Friday, April 10
Memorial Day, Monday, May 25
FINAL NOTES
ROBERT DUANE CURETON
RANDLE GORDON BOWDN CURRIE
SMITH CURRY
BENJAMIN ARNOLD DANIEL
JEFFREY L DAVIS
WILLIAM CARLOS DAVIS
IRA LEE DEAN
MICHAEL TROY DEARING
GERALD BRUCE DEES
HOLLIS R DELAUGHTER
ALFRED V DELORY
STANLEY DEMARCUS
JAMES RONALD DEMPS
JAMES B DIGIROLAMO
MARTY RAY DILLINGHAM
CHARLES KENNETH DIXON
GABRIEL BARRY DIXON
KRISTOPHER LEE DONEGAN
CHRISTOPHER BRIAN DONOHUE
REBECCA J. WILLIE
JOSEPH BRIAN DOWD
RICHARD W DOWNS
STEPHEN DRAKE
CHERI LYN DRUMMOND
SCOTT A DUCAJ
STEPHAN RALPH DUDASH
GARY MICHAEL DUKE
STEVEN ROBERT DUNCAN
CHRIS E DUNN
JOHN BENJAMIN ELSTON
CHRIS EMERSON
CHARLES J. ENGLISH
TROY ANTHONY ENGLE
EARL M ERB
CYNTHIA ESTILL
MATT DOUGLAS EVANS
MARK STEVEN EVITTS
GREGORY LEE EWEN
JOSHUA NEIL FARRO
DENNY FAST
MIKE FEAGAN
PATRICK H FLYNN
CHARLES E FOWLKES
CHRISTOPHER FRANZ
DOUGLAS LEE FRASURE
JUDD W. FULLER
ROY REUBEN GABELEIN
JUAN M GARCIA
JOHN A GARSHNICK
RICHARD WYATT GAY
PHOEBE ABIGAIL GELZER-GOVATOS
- Photo by Patricia Presley
Members Jim Ed Brown and Vince Gill chat with
fellow singer T. G. Sheppard (center) at a recent
Reunion Of Professional Entertainers (ROPE)
gathering at the Shriners Club in Nashville.
(See additional ROPE photos, page 14.)
(Suspended list continues on page 13
The officers, staff and members of Local 257 extend our sympathies to the families and
friends of our members who have passed. You are in our thoughts, hearts and prayers.
DECEASED MEMBERS
LIFETIME NAME Date Deceased Birth of Date Date Joined
Y JIMMY G BAKER 10/05/2008 07/26/1933 08/19/1964
BUTCH BALDASSARI 01/10/2009 12/11/1952 02/02/1990
Y WALTER HAYNES 01/01/2009 12/14/1928 08/05/1950
WILLIAM MILLSAPS 01/26/2009 10/11/1948 07/24/1989
Y REX E PEER 10/14/2008 04/01/1928 09/19/1969
Y ROBERT D RIDLEY 11/16/2008 11/27/1922 08/25/1942
CHARLES R SIMPSON 12/22/2008 09/23/1948 12/22/1977
MIRIAM S SMITH 11/22/2008 04/26/1934 01/31/1974
Y HOWARD O WHITE, JR 10/20/2008 03/26/1926 10/01/1952

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 13
MATTHEW RYAN GILDER
MARK A GILLESPIE
GILLES ALELARD GODARD
ALISON FELISE GOODING
RICK W GOODMAN
PETER JON GORDON
RICK GORDON
BURKETT GRAVES, JR
THOMAS A GRAVES
GEORGE LEWIS GRAY, III
RANDALL HARRISON GRIFFITH
DAWN MARIE HAFNER
GREGORY MICHAEL HAGAN
DANIEL LEE HAGEN
TIMOTHY C HAINES
JOHN M HALL
KRISTEN ALISON HALL
DONNA KAY HAMMITT
LAKELYN RAE HARNAGE
ROY MELVIN HARRIS
WILLIAM L HARRISS
DON ERWIN HART
MICHAEL L HARTGROVE
WALTER M HARTMAN
DAVID W HARVEY
DONALD FRANCIS HARVEY
ROBERT B HATTER, JR
JEFFREY TODD HAZARD
TRACY MATTHEW HEASTON
JAMES DARRELL HEDDEN
WESLEY W HENLEY, JR
DALE M HERR
OWEN T HEWITT, JR
RUSSELL HICKS
DONALD EUGENE HILL
KEITH W HINTON
WARNER E HODGES
NICK WILLIAM HOFFMAN
MICHAEL KEVIN HOGAN
PAUL D HOLLOWELL
TOM L HOLLAND
DEAN HOLMAN
ERIC H HOLT
JOSEPH ERIC HORNER
KEITH M HORNE
MARK EDWARD HORNSBY
ROBERT WILLIAM HOSBACH
JASON HOWARD
DAVID L HUFF
SCOTT MATTHEW HUFF
WILLIAM T HULLETT
NOAH JOSEPH HUNGATE
JAMES E HURST
PETER J HUTTLINGER
JIM T HYATT
JIM C ISBELL
CHARLES L JACOBS
JEFFERSON A JARVIS
LARRY B JENTRY
BILLY D JOHNSON
DINA M JOHNSON
DIRK JOHNSON
GAIL RUDISILL JOHNSON
JERRY RAY JOHNSTON
ADAM LEE JONES
EDWIN PAUL JONES
GARRY R JONES
JAN S JONES
JASON DARRELL JORDAN
JOSEPH DANIEL JUSTICE, III
LUCAS KIERAN KANE
JOHN P KEARNS
SEAN MICHAEL KELLY
SONYA FRANCES KELLY
DONALD W KERCE, JR
ALLISON KERR
JOEL THOMAS KEY
RHETT CODY KILBY
RAY KIRKLAND
EDWARD ALLEN KLANCNIK
CRAIG DWAYNE KOONS
WARREN CLAY KRASNER
STEPHEN W KUMMER
JIM LANCE
KEITH H LANDRY
RALPH E LAND
TREY CHRISTOPHER LANDRY
EDWARD LLOYD LANGE
HOWARD HUGH LARAVEA
MICHAEL H LATTIMORE
MARY HELEN LAW
JONATHAN BLAINE LAWSON
RANDY PAUL LEAGO
STEVE E LEDFORD
MICHAEL A LEECH
STEVE PORTER LESLIE
JUSTIN EDWARD LEVENSON
GORDON R. LEWIS
NORA ANDERSON LEWIS
RONALD L. LIGHT
WESLEY LEE LITTLE
DONALD SCOTT LLOYD
TODD VINCENT LOMBARDO
CLIFFORD EDWARD LONG
ELIZABETH IRENE LONG
JONATHAN ALAN LONG
MARK JOSEPH LONSWAY
TIMOTHY W LORSCH
BRIAN CRAIG LOVE
NED LUBERECKI
RONALD LANZA LYNN
FRANK JAMES MACEK
PHILIP K MADEIRA
KEVIN D MADILL
MICHAEL D MAIOCCO
RICHARD RYAN MALLOY
THELMA LOUISE MANDRELL
BRADLEY D MANSELL
PIERLUIGI MARIANI
KEVIN SELMAR MARKS
WILLIAM CLAUDE MARSHALL, III
DAVE RYAN MARTIN
RICHARD MICHAEL MARTIN
J D MARTIN
ANTHONY J MARVELLI
RANDY MASON
MICHAEL E MCADAM
JOHN LEO MCANDREW
CAROL ANN MCCLURE
CHERYL ANNETTE MCCLURE
ERIC REID MCCLURE
RODERICK D MCGAHA
PATRICK WILLIAM MCGRATH
PATRICK THOMAS MCINERNEY
LUKE WILSON MCKNIGHT
NELSON TODD MC SWAIN
ELYSE NICOLE MATLOCK MCVEY
JOE MEADOR
JEREMY DOUGLAS MEDKIFF
TIMOTHY R MENZIES
GEORGE NEAL MERRICK
ANTHONY P MIGLIORE
MARK ANDREW MILLER
ROBERT ANTHONY MINEO
JOHN AARON MINICK
BOBBY HOWARD MINNER, JR
JOHN JOSEPH MOCK
RONALD MONDY
BRIAN WAYNE MOODY
LANICE ROGER MORRISON
DONALD EDWIN MOTT
ALAN MUNDE
JIMMY RAY MURRELL
CELESTE MYALL
DANIEL W MYRICK
JAMES A NALLS, III
DAVID CLARK NEAL
SEAN EDWARD NEUKOM
MILTON NEWMAN
JONATHAN LEE NEWTON
ANDREW BARRICK NIELSON
JAMES MATTHEW NOLEN
DAVID M NORTHRUP
BRIAN KEITH NUTTER
MARK OAKLEY
REBECCA K OBOYLE
JAMES ANDREW O'BRIEN
DANIEL J O'LANNERGHTY
MARY SUSAN OLESON
MILDRED J OONK
KRISTY JEANNE OSMUNSON
ANNA REBECCA OWENS
WILL OWSLEY
DANIEL PAUL OXLEY
LARRY KIM PARK
MARTIN NEWBURY PARKER
MICHAEL TODD PARKS
ROBERT REES PATIN
JAN MARIE PAULSON
CHARLES ROBERT PAYNE
GLENN WILLIAM PEARCE
STEVE M PEFFER
DAVID R PETERSON
MATTHEW GUY PIERSON
NOAM DAVID PIKELNY
HOLLIE PAXTON POOLE
JUAN ANTONIO PORTELA
JIMMY R POWELL
KENNETH EUGENE POWERS
BENJAMIN JOSEPH PROBUS
GEORGE PUCKETT
MURRAY WILLIAM PULVER
STEVE GAYLE PURCELL
WILLIAM W PURSELL
EUGENE JOSEPH RABBAI
MELISSA KAY RAINES - SURRATT
CARMELLA DAWN RAMSEY
WESLEY KNOX RAMSAY
HOLLY C RANG
CHRIS MICHAEL RASPANTE
MATT REASOR
PHIL W REDMOND
JARED SHADE REYNOLDS
MARJORIE J RHOADS
JOHN MATHEW RICHARDSON
MICHAEL QUENTIN RINNE
RICH RIPANI
JIMMY RITCHEY
JENAE MICHELLE ROGERS
LARRY H ROLANDO
JASON LEE ROLLER
JOE DON ROONEY
JERRY ROE RORICK
PHILLIP JAMES ROSELLE
JEFFREY ALAN ROSS
RANKINE ROTH
ZACH NATHANIEL RUNQUIST
THOMAS O RUTLEDGE
LYDIA SALNIKOVA
JAMES T SANDEFUR
PHILLIP DREHER SANDERS
DAVID P SARTOR
FRED THOMAS SATTERFIELD
SCOTT SIMS SAUNDERS
JUSTIN LANCE SCHIPPER
CHRIS DAVIES SCRUGGS
EUGENE J SENIBALDI
AARON A. SHANE
SHAUN A SHANKEL
STEPHEN LOUIS SHEPHERD
BAEHO BOBBY SHIN
STAN D SHORT
MARTIN W SHRABEL
JEFFREY D SIMO
SCOTT SIMPSON
STEPHEN JAMES SINATRA
HANK SINGER
LES SINGER
DOUGLAS A SISEMORE, JR
DAVE ERIC SMITH
HARRY LEE SMITH, III
LINDSEY ALLISON SMITH-TROSTLE
TOM SMITH
JOSEPH SMYTH, III
DAN E SPEARS
JOHN PATRICK SPITTLE
E BLAINE SPROUSE
ROBERT BARKER STAMPS, JR
DAWN ELIZABETH STEPHEN
TONY LADON STEPHENS
RYAN A. STILES
ALAN STOKER
BUDDY R. STRICKLAND
STEPHEN GLEN STURM
GARY WAYNE TALLEY
FELIX COWAN TAPP
JERRY W TATE
MICHAEL BRANDEN TAULBEE
STEVE TAYLOR
SHANE MICHAEL THERIOT
MARK F THOMPSON
STEVEN CRAWFORD THOMAS
TIMOTHY J THOMPSON
JAMES R THREET
ANNE MARIE THURMOND
CHARLES D TILLEY
ALEXANDER LOWELL TIPPING
LOUIS TOOMEY, JR
ED TOTH
DANIEL TRAVIS TOY
WILLIAM TRIMARCO
JAMES T TRITT
ERIC GRAHAM TUCKER
ROBBY O TURNER
GARY LEE TUSSING
CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL TUTTLE
MIKE M ULVILA
CHARLES L VAUGHAN
WILLIAM B VERDIER
KEVIN ANTHONY VICALVI
DARRIN LEE VINCENT
ROY CHARLES VOGT
RAYMOND VON ROTZ
TED WAGNER
BERNARD WALKER
LOIS JEAN WATHEN
MACK A WATKINS
WILLIAM DARRELL WEBB
JONATHAN DAVID WEISBERGER
KEVIN S WELCH
PAMELA G WESTON
BRUCE WETHEY
DONALD LLOYD WHITE
JAMES A WHITING
WILLIAM MONROE WHITE, III
STEPHEN D WILKINSON
JAKE WILLEMAIN
JOSHUA WILLIAMS
JUSTIN G WILLIAMSON
LINDSEY B WILLIAMS
ALBERT E WILSON
BRENT LLOYD WILSON
HARVEY E WILSON, JR
RANDALL EDWARD SHAW WILSON
WILLIAM ROBERT WILSON
WENDY LEE WILSON
WILLIAM DAVID WOOD
MICHAEL ERIN WOODY
SAMUEL CARL WRAY
JASON D YOUNG
PETER DONALD YOUNG
DENNIS H ZIMMERMAN
MR ZORO
George Jones (right rear) was in fine company in
receiving the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors
in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 7. Fellow honorees
are Twyla Tharp, Morgan Freeman, Barbra
Streisand, and (back) The Who musicians
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend.
Jack Jezioro receives 25-year pin from then
President Harold Bradley at the Union hall.
Larry Tucker (with wife Cheryl) receives 25-year
pin from Secretary-Treasurer Billy Linneman.
Parton’s star still sparkling
Congratulations to AFM Local 257 superstar
Dolly Parton on being named to the Gospel
Music Association’s Gospel Music Hall of
Fame, officially inducted Feb. 2 at the Richland
Country Club in Nashville . . . Meanwhile,
Dolly’s awaiting the opening of her stage musical,
based on her hit song and movie “9 To
5,” currently scheduled to debut on Broadway,
New York City’s Great White Way, in April.
Dolly Parton
- (2) Photos by Kathy Shepard

14 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
Musicians’ Hall of Fame inductees lauded
(Continued from page 1)
played in clubs and such, wanted to sound like.
“The Musicians’ Hall of Fame is long overdue.
It took one individual who had the vision -
while others profess it’s a good thing, and could
have made it happen - it took a good guy like
Joe Chambers, who had the passion, to do it,"
continued Lee. “He made it happen - the Musicians
Hall of Fame - thank God for Joe Chambers.”
Throughout the course of the evening, presenters
and recipients alike paid homage to
Chambers, himself a musician-songwriter-entrepreneur,
who founded the Hall of Fame &
Museum here in 2006. His mission was to see
those mainly behind-the-scenes luminaries finally
recognized publicly for their lasting contributions
to their musical art form.
Country diva Barbara Mandrell got things
moving. She introduced the first recipient, producer
Billy Sherrill, who could paper studio
walls with his BMI writer awards, having
earned more than 50 for #1 hits alone, plus dozens
of platinum and gold records as producer.
Among artists Sherrill introduced to the big time
are Mandrell, David Houston, Tammy Wynette,
Tanya Tucker, while also reviving careers for
notables like Charlie Rich and George Jones.
What did the man who wrote and/or produced
the classics “Almost Persuaded,” “My Elusive
Dreams,” “A Very Special Love Song,” “Stand
By Your Man” and “He Stopped Loving Her
Today,” have to say?
“I’ve always felt that I never had a job, because
I enjoyed what I was doing so much,”
Sherrill mused, adding upon accepting his statuette,
“Whatever I did, I did it with the greatest
musicians.”
Jones seized the moment to honor the man
called “The Little Genius” by reprising his
comeback classic “He Stopped Loving Her Today,”
a song cut 28 years ago, garnering a
Grammy, and CMA and Academy of Country
Music best vocal honors for him.
Lee Ann Womack chose to salute Sherrill
singing his co-write “Till I Can Make It On My
Own” (a 1976 charttopper for the late Tammy
Wynette) and nailed it. Stepping up to fill in for
Ronnie Milsap who had to cancel his appearance
honoring Sherrill, by singing “Behind
Closed Doors,” was newcomer Randy Houser.
“I was just amazed to be the guy they called
at the last minute . . . it was an honor to be a
part of this ceremony,” said Houser. “I’m such
a fan of the musicians represented tonight.”
Kix Brooks (of Brooks & Dunn), who added
commentary during the awards show, stressed,
“Nashville is lucky to have the Musicians’ Hall
of Fame & Museum. Visit after visit, the well
never runs dry.”
Duane Eddy, the pop guitarist who bumped
king Elvis Presley off the 1960 popularity poll
for #1 rock & roll personality, thanks to his
twangy, trademark tone, boasted one of the most
identifiable sounds to emerge from the 1950s.
A member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
(since 1994), Eddy’s the force who first put the
musician out in front. Not only was he hailed
for his contributions, but Eddy did some entertaining
himself (assisted by supporting bandsmen
led by Charlie McCoy), treating listeners
to his distinctive vibrato bar techniques, performing
hits like “Rebel Rouser” and “40 Miles
of Bad Road” (punctuated by a soaring sax).
Momentarily Duane turned the spotlight onto a
favorite accompanist, guitarist Corki O’Dell,
labeling her the “first side-chick in rock & roll,”
adding, “Corki, you’ll always be in my personal
Hall of Fame.” (See separate story, page 17.)
Music scribes chronicled The Crickets as a
primary influence on The Beatles, and guest
host rhythm-guitar stylist Keith Richards acknowledged
his own group The Rolling Stones
owed a similar debt to the American band that
earned its first accolades backing frontman
Buddy Holly. Richards joined them in performing
“Peggy Sue” on stage, while Phil Everly
did the same for “Let It Be Me,” a hit the Crickets
backed the Everly Brothers on in 1960. Also
heard were “That’ll Be the Day” and “Not Fade
Away,” before their career awards came to
Crickets’ Jerry Allison (drums), Joe Mauldin
(bass) and Sonny Curtis (lead vocals, guitar).
Keith exclaimed, “This unit turned us all
on!”
Guitarist Al Kooper, suffering from diabetes,
was unable to accept his induction statuette
in person, sending manager David Spero instead.
Back in Boston, Kooper heard the resounding
applause over Spero’s cell phone.
Spero said in part, “He is so proud of this because
it’s about musicians and not about politics!”
Kooper formed Blood, Sweat & Tears, produced
such rockers as Lynyrd Skynyrd, and is
remembered for his distinctive organ riffs on
Bob Dylan discs and concerts, as well as performances
with The Who, B. B. King, Jimi
Hendrix and The Rollling Stones, among others.
Honoring Al, too, was former Lynyrd
Skynyrd guitarist Ed King, who co-wrote their
More awards: Reunion of Professional Entertainers’ best of 2008
Razzy Bailey congratulates ROPE business award
winner Shelby Singleton of Sun Entertainment.
Grand Ole Opry veteran Jimmy C. Newman
was voted ROPE’s top entertainer for 2008.
Note: Attend the next General Membership Meeting, slated
at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 18. Participate in your Union,
and support your Local 257 leaders.
anthem “Sweet Home, Alabama” and joined
L.S. in the 2006 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
A newcomer, Melinda Doolittle recreated
some of the soulful magic originated by Aretha
Franklin recording with the Muscle Shoals’
Rhythm Section, another studio band being inducted
in the Class of ’08. Singing “I Never
Loved a Man (The Way I Loved You)” -
Franklin’s first million-seller (1967) - Doolittle
showed us she's gonna do a lot in this business.
A highlight of the evening’s performances,
however, was Percy Sledge’s showstopping rendition
of his #1 million-seller “When a Man
Loves a Woman,” which he also wrote (1966),
boasting musical backing by the Muscle Shoals’
boys.
“I just knew I had to be here tonight,” said
Sledge, ending on his knees paying homage to
the boys who made the noise. (Sledge himself
was enshrined in the Rock Hall of Fame in
2005.)
Kid Rock kicked off a rousing version of
the old Bob Seger song “Old Time Rock &
Roll” (1979), a smash hit when K.R. was but 8
years old. Inductees for the Alabama-based
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section: Jimmy
Johnson (guitar), Roger Hawkins (drums),
David Hood (bass) and Barry Beckett (keyboards);
along with Friends: Spooner Oldham,
Clayton Ivey, Randy McCormick, Will
McFarlane and Pete Carr.
“Talk about a charmed life,” sighed Memphis
Horn trumpeter Wayne Jackson. “I have
had one - starting with when I met Andrew Love
(tenor sax) 45 years ago . . . Tonight is special.
George Jones kisses producer-pal Billy Sherrill.
Scat Springs and Percy Sledge, right,
at the Musicians Hall of Fame induction.
For additional award
night pictures, check out
the International
Musicians’ Hall of Fame
& Museum’s website via
musicianshalloffame.com
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
Love, seated in his wheelchair beside Jackson,
raised his trophy for all to see. The Memphis
Horns played on more than 120 Top 40 recordings
backing such icons as Isaac Hayes, Otis
Redding, Rufus Thomas and Sam & Dave. Reportedly,
the duo appeared on just about every
disc the historic Stax Record label issued.
Another important Memphis Sound exponent
was Booker T & The M.G.s, whose membership
consisted of keyboard whiz Booker T.
Jones, ace drummer Al Jackson, innovative
bassist Donald (Duck) Dunn, and guitar god
Steve Cropper. The latter inductee took the occasion
to thank dad for encouragement: “Thomas
Cropper, sitting out there in Row G did
that, he bought me a good guitar.” The audience
stood in respect for father and son.
In addition to backing Stax artists like Eddie
Floyd - who joined them here to do his 1966 #1
“Knock On Wood” - The MGs (stands for Memphis
Group) scored on their own Stax solo releases,
notably their instrumental Gold Record
“Green Onions,” which they repeated for an appreciative
crowd.
Inductees are nominated nationally by the
Musicians Union membership of 90,000-plus,
along with a stellar list of eminent music industry
professionals. Chambers stated, “I would
like to thank everyone for their continued support
of the Musicians’ Hall of Fame & Museum
. . . You’ve heard these instruments played all
your life. We invite you to take the time to
‘Come see what you’ve heard.’”
- Walt Trott
Rolling Stone Keith Richards backstage.
PHOTOS BY PATRICIA PRESLEY
Performer Percy Sledge and M.C. ‘Babs’ Mandrell.
Phil Everly congratulates winner Duane Eddy.

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 15
Steel Guitar Hall of Famer Brumley, 73
Noted steel guitar player Tom Brumley, 73,
died Feb. 3, at the Northeast Baptist Hospital
in San Antonio, Texas, following a heart attack.
Brumley, son of renowned gospel composer
Albert Brumley of “I’ll Fly Away” fame, can
be heard on such classic country cuts as Buck
Owens’ “I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail,” Ricky
Nelson’s “Garden Party” and Dwight Yoakam’s
“I Sang Dixie.”
A Lifetime Member of AFM Local 257,
Brumley is also a member of the International
Steel Guitar Players’ Hall of Fame, and from
1963-’69 performed in Owens’ award-winning
band The Buckaroos. Of their seven solo Billboard-charted
Capitol albums, the band’s best
sellers were the Top 10 “The Buck Owens Song
Book” (1965), followed by “America’s Most
Wanted Band” and “Buck Owens’ Buckaroos
Strike Again!” They also charted two Top 40
singles, “I’m Comin’ Back Home To Stay”
(1968) and “Nobody But You” (’69), both written
by Buckaroo Don Rich.
Brumley’s death leaves drummer Willie
Cantu as the last surviving Buckaroo. The band
was voted tops by the Academy of Country
Music annually from 1965-’68; CMA, 1967-
’68; Music City News’ 1967-1970, and in 1966
Brumley took home ACM’s steel player trophy.
The steel guitarist also spent 10 years with
Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Ricky Nelson’s
Stone Canyon Band, and appears on such albums
as Nelson’s “Live At the Troubadour”
(1969). Tom’s distinctive guitar stylings, known
at the “Brumley Touch,” has influenced both
country and rock pickers for nearly five decades.
Thomas R. Brumley was born Dec. 11,
1935, the son of Goldie and Albert E. Brumley
in Stella, Mo. The senior Brumley wrote hundreds
of inspirational songs, among them “I
Heard My Name On the Radio, “I’ll Meet You
In the Morning” and “Turn Your Radio On.”
At age 14, Tom began playing bass in his
brothers’ band, performing at functions and radio
stations throughout the Missouri area. In
1954, he began playing on steel guitar and
dobro.
During the mid-1950s, Brumley served two
years in the U.S. Army, including a stint in West
Germany. In 1963, Tom joined Owens’ band,
which became one of the best in the business,
helping Buck chalk up a string of 21 #1 songs
and named top artist of the 1960s.
Country Hall of Famer Owens, of course,
helped give birth to the Bakersfield Sound,
boasting high energy, heavy beat and plenty of
steel.
Following Nelson’s death in 1985, Tom also
backed the Desert Rose Band three years, and
performed on such artist discs as those of Merle
Haggard, Glen Campbell, Steve Wariner, Janie
Fricke, Waylon Jennings, Rod Stewart, Reba
McEntire, Ray Price, Rosie Flores, Chris Isaak
and Martina McBride.
From 1989-2003, he presented The Brumley
Family Show in Branson, Mo., performing with
his sons and the participation of his daughter.
Tom, who also owned the ZB Custom Steel
Guitar Company in Austin, Texas, moved to San
Antonio last year. He was an inductee into the
Texas Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, and in 2004
received the Jerry Byrd Lifetime Achievement
Award.
Survivors include Rolene, his wife of 48
years; sons Tom and Todd; and daughter Tracie;
six grandchildren and a great-grandson; brothers
Jackson, Albert Jr., and Bob; and sister
Betty Pockrus. A Celebration of Life was conducted
at the Baldknobbers Country Music
Theater, Feb. 15, in Branson, Mo.
- Walt Trott
Patty ‘s pickin’ on
country’s classics
The 19th Patty Loveless album “Sleepless
Nights” attests to the fact she’s still one of the
top traditional talents around.
CD REVIEW
Usually we don’t favor covers, but listening
to her memorable interpretations on timeless
tunes, a la Hank Williams’ “Cold, Cold
Heart,” Carl & Pearl Butler’s “Don’t Let Me
Cross Over” and Conway Twitty’s first #1 country
hit “Next in Line,” drew us right into a captivating
presentation.
Producer (hubby) Emory Gordy, Jr., also deserves
plaudits for a job well done on what
might have been a risky project. Obviously, he
engages only the best backup musicians for his
(Quad) Studio time, and this CD’s no exception.
Listening to the spirited playing by such as
pianists John Hobbs and Pig Robbins; drummer
Harry Stinson; guitarists Biff Watson, Steve
Gibson, Guthrie Trapp, Harold Bradley and
Gordy; fiddlin’ Deanie Richardson (also heard
on mandolin); Billy Linneman on walkin’ bass;
and steel guitarists Pete Finney and Al Perkins,
you know they relished having a go at these
familiar tunes. Sharing in the fun by providing
backup harmonies are the likes of Vince Gill,
Virgie Lee, Jedd Hughes, Sydni Perry, Jim Iler
and Carmella Ramsey.
Writer Holly Gleason, who penned the liner
notes, sums it up succinctly: “These songs are
classics for a reason. Not just for what they say,
who recorded them, who wrote them, but because
of the emotional charge they carry.”
Loveless says, “I felt like I could dip into
my own soul” - and in doing so doesn’t miss a
beat - explaining further: “That’s what makes
country music stand out. ‘Don’t Let Me Cross
Over’ is a cheatin’ line . . . it’s something we’re
not supposed to do, yet it happens . . . for a lot
of different reasons, maybe. But it’s real.”
And so is Patty as she embraces these roots
songs that pay homage to her yesteryear heroes,
like Hank Locklin, “Please Help Me I’m Falling”;
Skeeter Davis (and Betty Jack) via “I Forgot
More Than You’ll Ever Know”; Jack
Greene, “There Goes My Everything”; and
Webb Pierce, “There Stands the Glass,” as well
as to the writers who helped create such gems.
There are 14 ballads total, all technically recorded
by award-winning engineer Justin
Niebank, giving buyers more than their money’s
worth. For the record, when we filed our 2008
year-end Top Five best country CDs, for UK’s
Country Music People magazine’s annual critics
survey, “Sleepless Nights” was near the top
of our list. - Walt Trott
Members reminder
Attend the next General Membership
Meeting, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday,
March 18 at Cooper Hall.
Whatever happened to Randolph Scott?
That was what the Reid brothers pondered
back in 1974 on the Statlers’ Top 20 ode to yesteryear
cowboy heroes.
In their medium-tempo tune, Don and
Harold also lyricized about Scott’s singin’ cowboy
contemporaries Gene Autry, Roy Rogers,
Rex Allen and Tex Ritter, as they rhapsodied
about the big screen’s good guys in white hats.
Now, Sony/BMG’s Legacy series boasts a
cherry-picked, 50-track homage to
America’s Western legacy, titled “Boots,
Buckles & Spurs,” a three-disc box-set featuring
an all-star cast.
Among the expected ballads are Gene Autry’s
radio theme “Back In the Saddle Again,” Patsy
Montana’s “I Want To Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart,”
Roy Rogers & The Sons of the Pioneers’
“Stampede,” and an instrumental offering “Farr
Away Stomp” by Local 257 pickers Riders In
the Sky (penned by the Farr brothers).
As the 20th century drew to a close, the
screen’s King of the Cowboys (Rogers) teamed
with contemporary “cowboy” Clint Black for
“Hold On Partner.” Also showcased are
Lonestar (“When Cowboys Didn’t Dance”),
Montgomery Gentry (“Wanted Dead Or
Alive”), The Highwaymen (“Silver Stallion”),
Charlie Daniels (“Bull Ridin’ Son Of a Gun”),
and Tracy Byrd (“No Ordinary Man”).
We missed the usual recording dates for
each track, at least they’re not listed on our advance
copy of cuts. The more familiar tracks
we knew, like “ . . . Cowboy’s Sweetheart” recorded
by Patsy with The Prairie Ramblers in
1935; Bob Wills’ 1941 “Dusty Skies”; Sons Of
the Pioneers’ later 1948 RCA cut “Tumbling
Tumbleweeds” (though their original ’34 Decca
pop hit was with Roy); and George Strait’s Top
Fiver “I Can Still Make Cheyenne” surfacing
in 1996. A really recent track is Brooks &
Dunn’s “Cowboy Towne” (2007), chosen as the
official theme at the 50th anniversary of the
National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas last December
(which offers competing cowboys a
total payout of some $5.6 million), making it
the World Series of rodeos.
Good liner notes, too, by Neal Reid, Pro-
Rodeo Sports News editor, enhancing a select
variety of numbers performed by some true
practitioners of the cowboy song, among these
Canadian rancher Ian Tyson, whose credits include
“Four Strong Winds” and “Someday
Soon,” here singing “Leavin’ Cheyenne”; cowboy-turned-troubadour
Chris LeDoux vocalizing
a rodeo-themed “Hooked On An 8-Second
Ride”; and Red Steagall, a Texan who created
the anthem “Lone Star Beer & Bob Wills’ Music,”
here singin’ why “I Was Born To Be a Cowboy.”
Michael Martin Murphey, who hails from
Dallas, hit big pop in 1975 with his #3 millionselling
single “Wildfire,” revived here, along
with “Born To Buck Bad Luck.” Robert Earl
Keen also bucks in his number “That Buckin’
Song,” which when heard over the airwaves
sounds like another word, explaining why it
didn’t do much on radio.
Not especially known for cowboy singles,
but contributing worthy songs to this set are
such as Tanya Tucker, “Rainbow Rider”;
Rodney Crowell, “Even Cowgirls Get the
Blues”; Craig Morgan “Cowboy and Clown”;
and Jessi Colter, “My Cowboy’s Last Ride.”
Appropriate, too, are Eddy Arnold’s classic
“Cattle Call,” Elton Britt’s “Patent Leather
Boots,” Johnny Cash’s “Rodeo Hand,” Marty
Robbins’ “Strawberry Roan,” Lynn Anderson’s
“Ride, Ride, Ride” and Moe’s heart-tugger
“Bandy the Rodeo Clown.” Nice surprises are
Don Walser’s “Cowpoke,” Trent Willmon’s
“Ropin’ Pen,” Don Edwards’ “Coyotes” and
The Outlaws’ rockin’ “Ghost Riders in the Sky.”
Couldn’t complete this without Outlaws’
Waylon & Willie serenading “Mamas, Don’t Let
Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys,” plus
“My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys.”
Mine, too, Willie. - Walt Trott
Fire claims dog’s life
Local 257 President Dave Pomeroy experienced
tragedy on the day after being sworn-in
at the Nashville Association of Musicians.
Amidst moving into his new office on Jan.
3, a blaze broke out at his home, claiming the
life of his beloved dog Duke.
According to Dave, “As I was moving into
my office . . . I got a call from my neighbor
saying that my house appeared to be on fire and
that he had already called the fire department. I
rushed over and five minutes later, I was standing
in my yard helplessly watching three trucks
and many firemen trying to extinguish an obviously
big blaze inside the house. I knew immediately
that my beautiful beloved dog Duke
could not have survived the smoke. I will never
get over the shock and loss of such an amazing
animal and incredible friend, and while I cry at
his loss, I will always treasure his memory.”
Apparently faulty wiring beneath the living
room triggered the fire that also engulfed some
of his instruments, destroying them, while others
suffered some smoke damage.
Despite the ordeal, Dave kept a stiff upper
lip: “I'll be fine,” he told The Tennessean’s reporter
Beverly Keel. “I’ve got insurance, and
I’ve got friends. If somebody wants to help me,
just be good to Room In The Inn and homeless
people everywhere, because I've got a home.”
Of course, Room In The Inn is a non-profit
organization assisting Nashville’s homeless.
When we offered our condolences, Dave replied
that he was inspired by the outpouring of
affection, offers and sympathy from neighbors,
friends and family, noting that indeed it was
their support that sustained him throughout.
“A couple of my irreplaceable instruments
(‘The Beast’ electric upright and my childhood
Gibson EB-2) were miraculously OK due to
their position in the house and hard shell cases,
but many others have been severely damaged
or lost altogether.The main studio room is
smoke damaged but hopefully structurally OK.
Time will tell what gear is fixable.”
Dave and Duke.

16 The Nashville Musician January-March 2008
Dan Tyminski scores both as team player and soloist
By WALT TROTT
Dan Tyminski may hail from the Green
Mountain State of Vermont, but bluegrass
claimed his heart many years ago.
“Wheels,” only his second solo album, became
one of the best musical surprises of 2008.
(Reviewed in the last issue of this newspaper,
the album has since garnered a best bluegrass
Grammy nomination.)
It made its June debut on the Billboard
bluegrass chart at #1.
During our interview on the day before
Thanksgiving, Dan indeed agreed he had lots
to be thankful for, not the least of which is family,
fans, fellow pickers and musical fare.
For “Wheels,” singer-musician-producer
Tyminski has surrounded himself with a wealth
of talent that includes Adam Steffey, mandolin;
Barry Bales, stand-up bass; Ron Stewart,
banjo/fiddle; and newcomer Justin Moses,
dobro/fiddle/banjo, plus guest artists Ron Block,
rhythm guitar; Vince Gill, tenor vocals; Cheryl
and Sharon White, harmony vocals.
We talked about all of the above, plus the
fact that despite recording solo and touring on
behalf of his sophomore CD, he’s still very
much a player in Alison Krauss’ award-winning
Union Station band. Dan’s an earnest and polite,
but down-to-earth sort, seemingly with a
sly sense of humor.
At the time of our chat, Union Station was
on hiatus as Alison toured with English rocker
Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin fame), promoting
their surprise-hit duet album “Raising
Sand,” a project in itself that has generated a
number of award nominations.
“We’ll get back together this next year
(2009) to start working up some new music as
soon as we can, then go back into the studio
again,” explains Dan. “Gosh, I don’t know just
how soon it will be before we’ll tour, but it won’t
be until we get an album out.”
In 2000, Dan’s pure country-bluegrass voice
came to the attention of Hollywood and T-Bone
Burnett for the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
movie soundtrack. Tyminski supplied vocals for
leading man George Clooney as a Soggy Bottom
Boy in the Depression era satire (while
actors John Tuturro and Tim Blake Nelson
rounded out the trio).
Brothers Ethan and Joel Coen’s film
“sleeper” was a box office bonanza and its
soundtrack album won numerous awards, including
a Grammy for Dan, and was #1 on both
pop and country charts many weeks despite little
radio airplay.
More importantly, it became a cultural milestone
for bluegrass, broadening its popularity
much as John Travolta’s “Urban Cowboy” did
for outlaw music two decades earlier.
In vocals as pure as a mountain stream, Dan
sang, “I am a man of constant sorrow/I’ve seen
trouble all my days/I bid farewell to old Ken-
Dan Tyminski attends autograph session.
Dan digs being sideman in Alison Krauss’ Union Station (above with bassist Barry Bales).
tucky/The state where I was borned and raised
. . .”
On the strength of the “O Brother” phenomenon
and his electrifying performance on the
“I Am a Man Of Constant Sorrow” ballad, Dan
also earned multiple best vocalist awards, CMA
best single and album, and was urged to set out
on his own path to stardom.
Instead, Dan chose to remain outside the star
spotlight, preferring to play guitar and add vocal
harmonies to Alison Krauss’ Union Station
gigs as bandsman.
“I’d somehow accepted that the mainstream
wouldn’t find bluegrass appealing. Somewhere
deep down, that’s my biggest thrill. I had probably
gotten to the point where I had given up
hope that the kind of music I play would ever
be accepted by the masses,” mused the bearded
balladeer.
During an earlier hiatus, he had cut a solo
album of downhomey songs, “Carry Me Across
the Mountain” (released in 2000), drawing favorable
reviews. Still, Dan stayed with Station.
So why do a follow-up CD some seven years
later?
“Understand, it’s never been in the forefront
of what I wanted to do, to be on my own as an
artist. For my whole life and still now, I consider
myself a part of Alison’s Union Station,”
notes Tyminski, who’s 41. “For so many years,
I’ve been so busy between work and family, it
wasn’t at the top of my list to do a follow-up to
‘Carry Me Across the Mountain.’
“That record again was the product of having
some free time and some songs. Everything
kind of lined up for that one. Now I always knew
I wanted to do another record, but it didn’t make
sense until I guess it was eight or nine years
later . . . ”
How are they different, since he produced
“Wheels” alone, but had co-produced his
freshman album with Tim Austin?
“Well I like producing, but I may be getting
more credit than I deserve. ‘Wheels’ was produced
by myself, but truly there were five guys
in there (him, Adam, Barry, Ron and Justin),
six counting the engineer. We got in that room
and all worked together. I didn’t work up anything
in which we all didn’t have say so.
“I think the biggest difference between this
album and the last was when I did that first
record I had a bunch of songs I wanted to
record,” continues Tyminski. “Then I kind of
went out to choose a combination of people that
I thought fitted the songs. In the case of
‘Wheels,’ I had the combination of people that
I wanted to record with, and then I went out to
find songs I thought would work with this group
of guys.”
“Wheels” earned nominations for best bluegrass
album, best band and Tyminski best vocals
in the recent IBMA awards gala, as did his
pickers; however, those taking home the prizes
were Adam Steffey and Barry Bales.
“Adam’s won on other occasions and that’s
great,” says Dan, “but Barry got best bass player
and has been nominated more times than I can
count on my hands, so I’m really, really happy
to see him get it this year.”
Who got the Opry artists Gill and The Whites
onto the CD?
“I did that. I’ve been buddies with Vince for
a while, and The Whites, Sharon and Cheryl, I
got to know them through the (‘O Brother’) tour.
The song the sisters sang on just made perfect
sense for them (‘Some Early Morning’). What
I was working for, if it makes any sense at all,
since it was kind of a dark song, that it had a
message of hope. I mean it was a man speaking
of dying so that he could live, and their voices
sort of sounded like angels to me. It was a perfect
match.”
Gill, of course, furnished top tenor for Tim
Stafford’s tragic tune “How Long Is This Train,”
as Dan sings hauntingly about a man waiting,
whose son had been killed in action.
Are you partial to songs of tragedy?
“I’m not partial to them, but when I do hear
a good tragedy song it stays with me. It is something
that I do and I think it’s always been a
part of bluegrass music. You’ll find most acts
recording bluegrass do songs of love lost and
storysongs of tragedy of some sort. They do fit
in with our concept.”
Two “Wheels” covers have generated a lot
of comment - so how did “Whose Shoulder Will
You Cry On” and “Who Showed Who” happen
to be included?
“Regarding the Kitty Wells song, it’s one
I’ve been aware of for a long time. First, I remember
my mom singing ‘Whose Shoulder
Will You Cry On’ when I was very small. Then
some years back when we were jamming with
Danny Paisley (of Southern Grass), I heard him
add a bluegrass twist to it. And I think it was
Adam Steffey who mentioned what if we tried
that tune? So we played it to see what it felt
like, and just loved it. That was an easy one to
do.”
(Actually, Paisley’s dad the late Bob Paisley
recorded the Kitty Wells-Billy Wallace tune
on his “No Vacancy” album.)
“Now the Del McCoury song ‘Who Showed
Who,’ was suggested to me by Alison. I remember
it was very early one morning when the
phone rang, and I kind of looked at my watch,
wondering who would call at that hour. Well, it
was Alison and before we began talking, she
said, ‘Who showed who . . . who showed who .
. . who showed who.’ I pulled the phone away
and said, ‘Who is this?,’ you know, joking with
her. That was her way of suggesting the Del
McCoury song. If I’ve learned anything these
past few years with Union Station it’s if Alison
feels that strongly that something will work for
me, I should definitely consider it.”
(“Who Showed Who” was written by Harold
Tipton and recorded by McCoury.)
Was his own creation “How Many Times”
written especially for “Wheels”?
“There was enough pressure for me to come
up with new songs that I finally wrote a song,”
Dan replies, with a chuckle. “How many times
I remember writing a song, which of course is
about love lost, or love gained and lost; however,
you want to look at it. Really in truth that
song is written about the songwriting process
itself. I sat down to try and come up with a new
tune, and thought to myself, how many times
have I been down this road before; you know,
start a song and write half the song and it doesn’t
quite finish itself? . . . That was kind of the inspiration
about finishing the song; that is, while
still thinking about what I needed to do to complete
the song, I found in that problem was the
solution.”
So was it Dan’s idea to add Ron Stewart’s
sassy, kiss-off song “I Ain’t Taking You Back
No More” to the mix?
“We had already started the recording process
and still needed a song at that point. Ron
mentioned that he had an Ernest Tubb-sounding
song, and I thought, ‘An Ernest Tubb song?
I just don’t know if it would fit.’ Well Ron did
have a recording of it in his car, so we went out
and listened to it. When it started playing I immediately
felt like we had just found a gem.”
Speaking of treasure, how did he come
across Moses?
“Justin is a guy I did not know when we
decided to get this thing going. The four of us
were going to play, but really we needed one
other musician. Adam and Ron had been around
Justin and told me about him, and so we decided
to give Justin a try. I remember the first
time we picked together, we met over in Knoxville
and had this little informal jam session -
and he was just great! Justin’s a really super
talented guy; I mean, he can do it all.”
On Tyminski’s first solo effort, he included
his own instrumental “Greens Fees,” so for the
new CD he turned to Adam Steffey’s “Knock,
Knock!”
“I’ve had people come up and thank me for
putting an instrumental on the CD, and also
those who ask ‘Why in the world would you
put an instrumental on your record?’ My answer
to that is if you have someone in the band
with those capabilities, why not show that off
. . . We just had to put that instrumental on
there.”
Those playing on the album make up the Dan
Tyminski Band currently touring to promote
“Wheels.” How does it feel to travel out there
under your own steam?
“It’s exciting and a little bit scary, you know,
booking shows and hoping that people will be
showing up. Obviously, we have bigger venues
with Alison and so we’re doing things on a
smaller scale. But I’m pumped up over the reaction
we’re receiving, and to be having this
much fun playing with another configuration
of people, outside of me, Alison and Barry.
Though my name may be out front, this is very
much a band whose members share the spot-
Dan Tyminski wins best singer award at IBMA.

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 17
Bluegrassers Dan and buddies perform as the fictional screen band Soggy Bottom Boys for awards special.
light. To me that’s thumbs up!”
Back in his native Vermont, he had a group
called the Green Mountain Bluegrass Band, in
which he played guitar and mandolin. Then at
21, traveling farther afield, Dan joined the Lonesome
River Band. Briefly, he filled in with the
early Union Station band, but a sense of loyalty
guided him back to Lonesome River.
All these bands have spent time hitting the
road playing festivals, clubs and small concerts,
which are the bread and butter of most professional
bluegrass groups.
According to Dan, “The most common goal’s
probably just to play the best music that we
can, and always try to improve - individually
and as a band.”
Alison Krauss knew a good thing, on hearing
Dan’s warm vocals and skillful guitar licks,
so once again recruited him back into Union
Station on a permanent basis in 1994.
“To be honest with you, for many years I
have really felt like I was put on this Earth and
trained for the position that I’m in right now
with Union Station. I really feel like that’s what
I was meant to do. Now if that road ever takes a
turn otherwise in the future, I’ll ride that pony
like I always have. But I have never had an inner
desire to do the solo thing, as I’ve really
been happy with Alison.”
How did a New Englander choose bluegrass
as his genre?
“I didn’t choose it, bluegrass chose me. My
parents were these big fans and initially all the
music that I was exposed to growing up was
bluegrass or country. So it was never a big
stretch for me as it’s all I ever really knew.”
On his first solo album, "Carry Me Across
the Mountain," brother Stan Tyminski added
lead vocals to Dan’s revival of the “I Dreamed
Of An Old Love Affair,” prompting one scribe
to cite a similarity to Ricky Skaggs. (Stan helped
Dan found the Green Mountain Band.)
Do any other members of his family show
vocal talent?
“Hey, I’ve been married since 1989. I have
three lovely kids, a daughter (Kathryn, 15) and
two sons (Christopher, 13 and John, 11). They
can all carry a tune and they like to sing, but I
don’t think they’ll do it beyond the bathroom
yet.”
Dan met wife Elise back in Vermont. She
reportedly regards George Clooney as a favorite
movie star, and was exultant that her man
was selected to supply his vocals in “O Brother
‘Yeah, they put a
smile on my face. But
I absolutely love the
game of golf. There’s
not a doubt that I
don’t look forward to
every single round.’
Where Art Thou?”
Did Dan have an opportunity to get to know
George?
“We were in the shoot about four days and
so we did get to hang around quite a bit on the
set.”
How did he like working with “O Brother’s”
soundtrack producer T-Bone Burnett, who also
helmed the Krauss-Plant CD “Raising Sand”?
“I’ve heard so many people say so many
different things about T-Bone. I’ve heard him
called a genius, but when we recorded the album,
I don’t think I really saw that then. But,
as I listened and watched him involved in other
projects, I now endorse that 100 per cent. I think
what he was able to do was allow the artists a
level of comfort that let them dig deep inside
themselves to places that they did not normally
go in a situation like that. I think T-Bone really
does have a genius in setting the mood for letting
people create. It’s not an easy job to get a
bunch of musicians that do not usually play together,
and have them produce what you’re
seeking to get. T-Bone does have that ability.”
Did anyone ever suggest Tyminski come
up with an easier name for the marquee?
“I never thought too much while growing
up about my name even being on a marquee, so
it never dawned on me that it wouldn’t fit well,”
he replies, with a hearty laugh.
Would he welcome an overseas tour, maybe
to the United Kingdom?
“We’ve been to England, Scotland and Ireland
already, so we’ve performed in a few places
over there. I thought the audiences were really
fantastic; actually, they’re very knowledgeable
fans. More so than I thought they would be,
going over the first time. They’re very passionate
about bluegrass in the same way that the
people I grew up with in Vermont were about
their music.”
Two of Dan’s pastimes are golf and cooking,
though it must be hard to find the time having
such a busy schedule. Golf Digest magazine,
incidentally, just named him one of the
Top 10 music players who golf.
“I thought that was very funny . . . I found
myself in there last year, but I’ve moved up a
couple spaces since then. Yeah, they put a smile
on my face. But I absolutely love the game of
golf. There’s not a doubt that I don’t look forward
to every single round.”
Ever play any golf tournaments?
“I’ve done all kinds of charity events,
scrambles and Captain’s choice events, but beyond
that, I don’t compete on a more serious
level.”
Having stated that the Dan Tyminski Band
will finish out the year touring together, will
the new year end their travels?
“You just have to look at our Union Station
tour schedule and you’ll see all those days in
between when we’re actually off stage, and
those free days, the Dan Tyminski Band probably
will be out there on the road. I think at
least the first part of the year, it’ll be the Dan
Tyminski Band. Any other free days, I’m pretty
much on the golf course.”
Accepting IBMA album award are (from left): Dan, Keith Case, Buck, Sharon White and the Peasall Sisters.
+ All Dan Tyminski photos by Patricia Presley +
Tyminski with one of his banjo heroes Bill Keith.
Number of Local 257 members included
Actor-fiddler-humorist Randall (Randy) Franks.
Dan doin’ what he loves, pickin’ and singin’.
Book cites country’s homespun humor traditions
By WALT TROTT Dickens, Randy Franks (TV’s In The Heat of
Southern humor, rural comedy and its practitioners
are brilliantly showcased in Loyal
Jones’ book “Country Music Humorists & Comedians,”
which hit bookstands nationwide,
Nov. 3.
Author Jones’s earlier light-hearted explorations
of American culture include “Laughter
In Appalachia,” “Hometown Humor” and in
collaboration with Local 257 member Billy Edd
Wheeler, “Curing the Cross-Eyed Mule: Appalachian
Mountain Humor.”
Among this union’s members spotlighted,
past and present, are Roy Acuff, Bill Anderson,
Chat Atkins, Bill Carlisle, June Carter, Jimmy
-Terry Pennington photo
the Night series), Ferlin Husky (and alter ego
Simon Crum), Grandpa Jones, Lonzo & Oscar,
Roger Miller, Speck Rhodes, Johnny Russell
and Sheb Wooley aka Ben Colder.
Published by the University of Illinois Press
as part of its continuing Music in American Life
series, “ . . . Humorists & Comedians” is not
only an entertaining read, but an indispensable
encyclopedia-like reference for professionals.
The practice of supplying humor to audiences
dates way back to minstrel days of
blackfaced humorists, adapted as rube comedy
and barnyard humor by early country acts, to
enliven shows traditionally showcasing sad
songs of death and love lost.
Jones chronicles comics of legendary stature
such as Smiley Burnette, Judy Canova, Jerry
Clower, Andy Griffith, Minnie Pearl, Ray
Stevens, Roni Stoneman, as well as lesser
known humorists like Little Clifford & A’nt Idy,
Goober Buchanan, Cousin Emmy, Old Joe
Clark, Jamup & Honey, Sarie & Sally and Arkie
the Arkansas Woodchopper. Here, too, are more
contemporary comedy characters like Larry the
Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, Jeff Foxworthy and
Kinky Friedman.
Brief biographies on each artist are furnished,
many featuring rare photos, along with
samplings from some of their rib-tickling routines.
Del Reeves, hosting his Country Carnival
TV show, told about a blaze occurring out
in the country: “This woman had a fire in her
kitchen, and she called the fire department and
said, ‘I’ve got a fire down here.’ The dispatcher
asked, ‘Where is the fire?’ She said, ‘In the
(Continued on page 24)

18 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
By WALT TROTT
Steelin’ Away . . . that’s what Howard White
did so quietly on Oct. 20, when he died in his
sleep in what he called The White House, his
Gallatin residence. Home with him at the time
were wife Ruth and daughter Kathleen.
Among those legends who benefitted by
White’s steel guitar stylings through the years,
were no less than Don Gibson, Cowboy Copas,
Hank Snow, Ferlin Husky, Wilma Lee & Stoney
Cooper, and a young Hank Williams, Jr.
The former sideman, a Lifetime Member of
AFM Local 257, was 82. Howard’s widow said
he had most recently played his beloved Barney
Miller Special steel guitar at a private gathering,
marking the release of John Simon’s biography
“Cowboy Copas & The Golden Age of
Country Music.” White proclaimed great admiration
for Copas.
It was with Cowboy that he first played
WSM’s Grand Ole Opry, and earlier with Don
Gibson had performed on WNOX’s Mid-Day
Merry-Go-Round, top exponents of country
music.
“It just killed me when Kathleen called to
tell me yesterday,” says singer Kathy Copas
Hughes, explaining how she learned of
Howard’s death from his daughter. “We had
worked the road together (with the Copas band)
and when you’re in a car like that with them
(band members), I think you really get to know
them well. Howard was a genuinely funny person,
and I remember that Daddy got a lot of
kicks out of him.”
“I hate to hear this,” wrote fellow picker
Russ Hicks, on the Internet’s Steel Guitar Forum.
“Howard seemed to be in such good health,
and I’ve been very fortunate to spend some time
with him, Ruth and Kat lately . . . time that is
now even more precious to me. I’ll sure miss
him . . .”
Among White’s last professional performances
were the 2005 Roxy Regional Theatre
production of “A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline”
starring Lisa Danes and directed by Tom Thayer,
in Clarksville, Tenn.; and a rousing gig at Douglas
Corner in Nashville, where his steel supported
such artists as Norma Jean, George
Riddle, Leona Williams, Dave Kirby and
Frankie Miller, during the traditional Fan Fair.
Howard’s appeared in three Nashville-based
films: Marathon Pictures’ “Country Music On
Broadway” with cameos by Hank Snow, Ferlin
Husky, Skeeter Davis, George Jones and Audrey
Williams; “Second Fiddle To a Steel Guitar,”
featuring the old Bowery Boys’ Leo Gorcey and
Huntz Hall plus guest artists such as Faron
Young, Kitty Wells, Homer & Jethro and Dottie
West; and “The Girl From Tobacco Row,” with
Earl (Snake) Richards and Ralph Emery.
White also authored the books: “Every Highway
Out of Nashville” (with wife Ruth White,
1990), compiling his road stories;
“Mecklenburg: The Life & Times of a Proud
People,” a scholarly 1992 historical account of
his native Mecklenburg County, N.C.; and a
compact, anecdotal book of humor, “Grits, Red-
Eye Gravy & Wisdom, Southern Style.”
Howard first recorded in 1948, with Shan-
Howard stops by to say hello to producer-songwriter Buzz Cason and engineer Joe Funderburk.
Howard White’s finale, ‘Steelin’ away’
At the Union, Texas-based promoter Gabe Tucker reunites with fellow member Howard White and wife Ruth.
non Grayson’s Golden Valley Boys at King
Records in Cincinnati. He later contributed to
the records of Cowboy Copas, Wilma Lee &
Stoney Cooper, Canadian diva Lucille Starr and
Hank Snow, among others. He’s heard to good
advantage on the 1961 Top Five Snow single,
“Beggar To a King,” written by The Big Bopper
(J.P. Richardson). Other examples of his playing
can be heard on the Bear Family Records’
14-track Howard White album “Nashville
Sideman With Friends.”
White served a year in the U.S. Navy during
World War II. Unfortunately, in the Chemical
Warfare branch, Howard was exposed to
nerve gas during tests. As a result, he developed
a neurological condition that troubled him
throughout his life.
Howard Osmond White, Jr., born March
26, 1926 in Charlotte, N.C., was the elder son
of a Presbyterian couple Howard and Eula
Mae (Stewart) White. In addition to farming
two-and-a-half acres, Howard’s dad was
an aide to N.C. Gov. Cameron Morrison,
later a U.S. Congressman, prompting the
Whites to relocate to Washington, D.C.
There young Howard even worked in the
House of Representatives’ post office.
Once dad gifted him with a $12.50
Kalamazoo guitar, music became his great love.
In listening to Jerry Byrd’s unique Hawaiian
steel guitar playing on radio and records, however,
Howard became enamored of that instrument.
“So I watched the ads, earned some money
at a service station and bought myself a steel
guitar and a Sears & Roebuck amplifier,” he
once explained.
Knowing Byrd was on WLW-Cincinnati, “I
wrote him, asking how he got the sounds he
produced. He answered me back, giving me his
tunings and advice on string arrangements and
guages. Can you imagine anyone doing that
now? It would be like stealing secrets from the
federal government. From that time on, I was
hooked! There was no other instrument for me
but the steel.”
Howard experienced his first professional
let-down in 1947, when Arthur (Guitar Boogie)
Smith rejected him during auditions for Smith’s
Briar-Hoppers radio band.
That only made him more determined. So
he worked with Claude Casey at WBT-Charlotte.
It was Howard’s stint with Shannon
Grayson that led him to Cincinnati, where he
got to meet his idol Jerry Byrd face to face.
In 1951 in Knoxville, White linked up with
young Don Gibson, playing on WNOX’s Mid-
Day Merry-Go-Round and The Tennessee
Barndance.
Next, thanks to guitarist Randy Hughes,
Howard was hired to play in star Cowboy
Copas’ band, including on the historic Grand
Ole Opry. When Copas disbanded, Howard
worked in various bands, including Ferlin
Husky’s Hush Puppies, Wilma Lee & Stoney
Cooper’s Clinch Mountain Clan, also backing
Las Vegas’ charmer Judy Lynn, and then-newlyweds’
Hawkshaw Hawkins and Jean Shepard.
On shorter stints, White worked with Hank
Williams, Tex Ritter, Grandpa Jones, Red
Sovine, Jim Reeves, Minnie Pearl, Wilf Carter
(Montana Slim) and toured with Audrey Williams
and her 9-year-old son Hank, Jr., in February
1959.
Howard fondly recalled as a highlight, however,
an on-stage performance with Jerry Byrd
playing twin steels on the Opry’s Prince Albert
NBC-TV network portion.
Another great memory for White was playing
on the original demo by songwriter William
Trader for his song “A Fool Such As I,”
later recorded by Howard’s boss-to-be Hank
Snow and, of course, Elvis Presley.
Tiring of the road, White began working behind-the-scenes
on Music Row, pitching songs
on behalf of firms like Moss Rose, Famous
Music, Pamper Music and briefly Tree Music.
He worked closely with pioneers such as Hubert
Long, Hal Smith and Smiley Wilson. Howard
also developed his own Locomotive Music
Company with his first copyright being “90
Miles From Nashville,” its demo recorded at
Muscle Shoals, Ala., some 90 miles from Music
City, hence the title.
Some songs White promoted were “Me and
You and a Dog Named Boo” for Stonewall Jackson,
“The Welfare Check” cut by pop diva
Connie Francis, and a novelty number “Her
and the Car and the Mobile Home” recorded
by Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner.
When songwriters Glenn Martin and Dave
Kirby brought in their co-write “Is Anybody
Goin’ To San Antone,” he listened and suggested
changes, taking no credit. Originally, the
writers penned: “Is anybody goin’ to San Antone
or Fargo, North Dakota/Any place is all right/
As long as I forget I ever knowed her . . .”
White warned, “Boys, you can’t say it like
that! You need to think of another city besides
Fargo, N.D., to rhyme with, because ‘knowed
her’ is such bad English.”
The rewrite - “Is anybody goin’ to San
Antone or Phoenix, Arizona/Any place is all
right/As long as I forget I’ve ever known her.”
- became Charley Pride’s third #1 single in
1970.
White was indeed a creative person, who,
once decided on a project, pursued it relentlessly
until it became reality. He produced an album
“Music At the Hermitage,” sponsored by the
overseers to the national homestead and museum
for America’s seventh President Andrew
Jackson; and also recently recorded an album
of inspirational songs, “Hymns We Used to
Sing.”
In his book of road recollections, “Every
Highway Out of Nashville,” White told it like
it was, much to the dismay of fellow travelers,
one of whom was the Opry’s Ernie Ashworth.
He recalled beginning a tour with Ernie
(“Talk Back Trembling Lips”). Howard was
taken aback when the troupe drove up for him,
writing, “He showed up before our first tour in
a white station wagon, with great big lips
painted all over it. I said, ‘Oh, no!’ He said,
‘This is what I’ve always wanted.’ . . . I had to
drive that car from Florida to California.”
Among the instruments White played on
during his long career was a Rickenbacker, and
a Sho-Bud pedal steel. Ruth explains, “Shot
Jackson actually made that one out in Jack
Anglin’s chicken house before it was Sho-Bud.
Howard wasn’t really that big a fan of the pedal
steel, and later enjoyed his Barney Miller Special
steel guitar. It’s sitting right here and it is a
beautiful instrument.”
In his book, too, Howard looked back on
decades of performing, remembering the career
highs and lows.
“There are still old fans that remember me
out there and to them I say Bless You! I am
proudest though, when a young musician remembers
my work. Recently, one such steel
guitar player Paul Franklin said he remembered
meeting me when he was a little boy. Another
steel picker Russ Hicks said he remembers skipping
school to buy a record of mine, and then
going home and learning to play like I did . . .
Just like I did with Jerry Byrd records.”
Although Acuff-Rose concluded Howard
was talented enough to sign as an artist to
Hickory Records back in the 1950s, White himself
acknowledged, “I’ve never been a star. I’ve
always been a sideman, but there’s satisfaction
in a job well done. There’s so many people I
have known that are playing at the big matinee-in-the-sky,
and they are waiting for the rest
of us to join them when the curtain opens up on
the evening show. And that will be a really big
show! And no one will worry about how many
people they can pull in at the box office, or the
standing ovations or who broke the attendance
record.”
Survivors include his wife of 43 years, Ruth
(Bland) White, daughter Kathleen, and brothers
William W. White of Charlotte, N.C., and
Dr. James G. White of Daytona Beach, Fla. A
memorial service was conducted Oct. 26, in the
Texas Troubadour Theater, courtesy of friend
David McCormick.
Among those goodnaturedly recalling their
associations with White were Harold Bradley,
Lloyd Green, Billy Robinson, Henry Strzelecki,
Buzz Cason, Les Leverett, Don Jennings, Joe
Lee, Howard’s wife Ruth White and yours truly.
Howard White plays his favorite instrument.

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 19
Reviewed by Walt Trott
America’s beloved Texas Troubadour
charted Billboard five decades, his last being
“Leave them Boys Alone” (#6, 1983), thanks
to Hank Williams, Jr. and Waylon Jennings.
It marked E.T.’s 60th Top 10 charting, six of
which hit the top of the charts. This doesn’t include
his million-selling signature song
“Walkin’ the Floor Over You” in 1941, three
years before Billboard started a country chart.
This year would’ve marked Tubb’s 95th
birthday (Feb. 9), and the 25th anniversary
of his death. In commemoration, the British
Archive of Country Music (BACM) has just
released a 22-track album “Ernest Tubb:
Just Rollin’ On,” all recorded in 1944, as
radio transcriptions in Los Angeles.
Although he sings in a slightly higher register
than on his later Decca hits, there’s no mistaking
that distinctive Tubb vocal style. It made
him one of the top country balladeers of World
War II, scoring in 1944 with a near-charttopper
“(Take Me Back And) Try Me One More Time”
and his first #1 charter “Soldier’s Last Letter,”
co-written by Sgt. Henry (Redd) Stewart, who
later found fame with Pee Wee King.
That same year - 65 years ago in January -
Tubb made these tracks (credited to producer
Joe Perry), none were released as singles. These
rare recordings, most of which he wrote or cowrote
himself, withstand the test of time.
Among the BACM standouts are “I Hate
To See You Go,” which E.T. co-wrote with
Homer Hargrove; “I Wonder Why You Said
Goodbye”; and “I’m Glad I Met You After All.”
Commendable, too, are his covers on Al
Dexter’s “Too Late to Worry, Too Blue To Cry”;
Paul Howard’s “With Tears in My Eyes”; and
Fred Rose’s evergreen “We Live in Two Different
Worlds.” boasting especially strong singalong
support by the Texas Troubadours.
Reportedly back then his Troubadours included
Jimmie Short, electric guitar; Johnny
Sapp, fiddle; Butterball Paige, bass; and Melvin
Leon Short, rhythm guitar. Among those later
Troubadours given a helping hand by Tubb
were Jack Greene and Cal Smith, who earned
their own stars in the country music firmament.
In January 1943, Tubb joined the Grand Ole
Opry. Tubb’s hits spanned three wars, and along
the way he took “Blue Christmas” into the #1
slot on Jan. 7, 1950, and into the Top 10 during
two subsequent yule holidays.
Careerwise, Tubb himself was duly recog-
nized by a 1965 induction into the Country
Music Hall of Fame, being named a charter
member of the Nashville Songwriters’ Hall of
Fame in 1970, and voted the 1980 Academy of
Country Music’s Pioneer Award. Music City
News awarded E.T. its Living Legend trophy
in 1984.
After a long struggle with emphysema, Tubb
succumbed on Sept. 6, 1984, at age 70.
Tubb also gave back to fandom in 1947, after
hearing people complain they couldn’t find
the records of such traditionalists, by initiating
his Ernest Tubb Record Shop and its globallypopular
mail-order business. That same year,
the Opry superstar launched his WSM Midnight
Jamboree broadcast, immediately after the
Grand Ole Opry’s Saturday night sign-off - and
it’s still broadcasting 62 years later, thanks to
David McCormick, who carries on the Tubb
legacy.
“Just Rollin’ On” (available at $15.99) shows
once again why they’ve hailed E.T. as “The
Daddy of ’em all!”
Local 257 guitarist Clay Mills was thrilled to celebrate
the success of his song “Don’t Think I Don’t
Think About It,” at ASCAP recently with co-writer
Darius Rucker, who took it to #1 on the Billboard
country chart. The song marks Rucker’s first #1, although
he’s also frontman for the rockin’ Hootie &
The Blowfish, who have sold some 25 million discs
worldwide and won two Grammy awards.
The Time Jumpers’ fiddler Kenny Sears enjoys his
regular Monday night gigs at The Station Inn in downtown
Nashville, and never knows who might stop by,
including such artists as Jeannie Seely and Vince Gill,
longtime Grand Ole Opry cast members. Of course,
both Sears and Gill are Local 257 members in good
standing. (See separate story on Gill on page 20.)
The next General Membership
meeting is scheduled 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 18, in George
W. Cooper Hall at Local 257.
Alison Krauss shares in five wins for Grammys
Multiple award winning vocalist Alison
Krauss just received five Grammys, thanks to
her collaboration last year with Led Zeppelin’s
original lead singer Robert Plant on the indie
Rounder Records CD “Raising Sand.”
A member of AFM Local 257, the bluegrass
queen’s pairing with the rock superstar earned
wins for best pop album. best pop single
(“Please Read The Letter”), best pop collaboration
(“Rich Woman”), country collaboration
(“Killing the Blues”), and best contemporary
folk album (“Raising Sand”). This gives her a
total of 31 wins, the most of any female artist
in any genre.
Lady Antebellum’s another Nashville-based
act earning a pop nomination, in the best new
act category, though new pop diva Adele took
the prize. Bela Fleck & The Flecktones garnered
a win for best pop instumental album with their
Rounder release “Jingle All the Way.” Charlie
Louvin received a nod for his “Steps To
Heaven” as best country/bluegrass gospel album,
but lost to the Gaither Vocal Band; and
Emmylou Harris in best contemporary folk division
for her CD “All I Intended To Be,” losing
to Krauss/Plant. Area rock acts nominated
were Kid Rock, The Raconteurs and the Kings
of Leon, who won as Best Rock Group for their
“Sex On Fire” (See story, page 31.)
The National Academy of Recording Arts
& Sciences (NARAS) also honored Brenda Lee
with its prestigious Lifetime Achievement
Grammy. Winners were announced Feb. 8 in
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Nominees with a Nashville base were, in
part, as follows:
Female Vocalist Country Performance -
Martina McBride, “For These Times”; LeAnn
Rimes, “What I Cannot Change”; Lee Ann
Womack, “Last Call”; Trisha Yearwood, “This
Is Me You’re Talking To”; and Carrie
Underwood, “Last Name.” Carrie Underwood
won.
Male Vocalist Country Performance - Brad
Paisley, “Letter To Me”; Trace Adkins, “You’re
Gonna Miss This”; George Strait, “Troubadour”;
James Otto, “Just Got Started Lovin’
You”; and Jamey Johnson, “In Color.” Brad
won.
Best Country Instrumental Performance -
Cherryholmes, “Sumatra”; Bela Fleck &
Flecktones, “Sleigh Ride”; Charlie Haden, Pat
Metheny, Jerry Douglas & Bruce Hornsby, “Is
This America?”; and Brad Paisley, James Burton,
Vince Gill, John Jorgenson, Albert Lee,
Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert & Steve Wariner,
“Cluster Pluck.” Brad’s all-star latter disc was
the victor.
Best Country/Duo Group Performance -
Brooks & Dunn, “God Must Be Busy”; Lady
Antebellum, “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”;
Rascal Flatts, “Every Day”; SteelDrivers, “Blue
Side of the Mountain”; and Sugarland, “Stay,”
the winning performance.
Best Country Song (writers award) - “Dig
(Continued on page 31)
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20 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
Becky Hobbs promotes brand
new projects; Indian heritage
Becky Hobbs laughs it up with guitarist hubby Duane Sciacqua.
Ageless appears to be an apt description of
energetic Oklahoma songbird Becky Hobbs
these day.
She’s the blonde artist-songwriter who hit
the 1983 Top 10 jackpot with honky tonk hero
Moe Bandy, teamed on the Keith Stegall heartbreak
ballad “Let’s Get Over Them Together.”
Then she wowed ol’ George himself with her
own self-penned 1988 Top 40 single “Jones On
the Jukebox.”
As if that weren’t enough to fulfill a young
girl’s dreams, she got much mileage out of her
song “I Want To Know You Before We Make
Love” recorded by Alabama for their 1985
double-platinum album “40 Hour Week,” charting
104 weeks; next Conway Twitty recorded
it as a single (Billboard #2, 1987), included on
his Top 20 album, “Borderline,” charting 55
weeks.
Actually, those who have recorded Hobbs’
songs include Helen Reddy on “I Can’t Say
Goodbye To You,” Ken Mellons’ “Rub-A-
Dubbin’,” Lacy J. Dalton’s “Feedin’ the Fire”
and Emmylou Harris-Glen Campbell duetting
on their Grammy-nominated “You Are.” Other
duets she helped write were 1985’s “Still On a
Roll” pairing Bandy and Joe Stampley; and “We
Sure Make Good Love,” coupling Loretta Lynn
and George Jones. Others singing her co-writes
have included John Anderson, Zella Lair, Charly
McClain, John Wesley Ryles, Wanda Jackson,
Vikki Carr, Janie Fricke, Shirley Bassey and
Shelly West. Among her co-writers are Don
Goodman, Stan Davis, John Greenebaum,
Blake Mevis and Candy Parton (divorced from
a cousin to Dolly Parton).
In 1993, Alabama released their version of
Becky’s “Angels Among Us” on Dec. 25, charting
six weeks; re-released it a year later to chart
again as a Top 20; and thus made the cut for
their platinum-selling “Alabama: Greatest Hits,
Volume III” (1994). “Angels . . .” was featured
on NBC-TV’s 1994 special Angels: The Mysterious
Messengers. Earlier, Alabama also recorded
her “Christmas Memories,” spotlighted
on their double-platinum album “Alabama
By WALT TROTT
- Dean Dixon photo
Christmas” (#8, 1985), giving mi’lady a nice
chunk of change from those holidays.
When we met with Becky at the Union, she
had just returned from a flight that put her in
Switzerland for a music festival, which coincidentally
she had played 20 years earlier.
“When I went over this time they had a huge
screen up there showing that reunion performance
we did 20 years earlier, and it was kind
of freaky on stage, looking up there seeing
myself as I looked then on that big screen.”
Becky shared the stage two decades earlier
with the Bellamy Brothers, Rattlesnake Annie
and Asleep At the Wheel, as the show was
filmed by a TNN cable crew accompanying
them.
Amazingly, she hasn’t seemed to age that
much, defying time. (Hmmm maybe there’s another
song in that comment.)
“I’ve been back to Switzerland before this
through the years, but there I was in October at
the same hotel we were at 20 years before in
this small village (Grindelwald),” says Hobbs,
59. “It was like a picture-postcard scene there
at the base of Mt. Eiger, from which I think you
can see seven of the other Alps. Looking out
the hotel window, we saw big red geraniums
and pink roses still blooming and it was snowing.
That’s amazing, as it was the first week of
October. It was just breathtaking.”
In August 2008, she performed on an island
for Denmark’s Silkeborg Music Festival. Attesting
to her fan following in Europe, she’s already
booked for a March cruise from Stockhold, accompanied
by Red Jenkins’ band, while sailing
the Baltic Sea to Finland; followed by an Easter
weekend performances in Northern Scotland
at the Northern Nashville Country Music Clubs’
Festival in April: “I played this festival in 2004,
and it was a blast!”
Hobbs continues, “I don’t do many tours in
the U.S., because time you pay the bills touring,
you don’t make that much money. But I’ve
got some shows scheduled in ’09,” including a
Bluebird Cafe Jan. 14 Benefit for Alive Hospice!
featuring A Cowgirl, A Diva and A Shame-
less Hussy a.k.a. Hobbs, Benita Hill and Kacey
Jones; then there’s her Songwriters Session in
the Ford Theater at the Country Music Hall of
Fame & Museum, Jan. 31, featuring husband
Duane Sciacqua.
Becky known to fans as The Beckaroo was
anxious to discuss her latest project, paying
homage to her Cherokee Indian heritage, specifically
the mixed-blood Chieftainess Nanyehi
(meaning one who goes about) which history
documents as a self-educated Ghighua (Beloved
Woman), who became a proponent for
peace.
“This will be about her, my fifth Great-
Grandmother, a mixed-blood woman of the
Cherokees (1738-1822), also known as Nancy
Ward (to the white man). It’s obviously a labor
of love for me and I’m writing songs for an album
and a play,” notes Becky, who hands us an
advance demo containing six-tracks sans titles.
Nanye-hi was the daughter of Tame Doe of
the Wolf Clan (little is recorded on her father,
though some speculated he may have been a
displaced Delaware Indian). She won everlasting
praise from her people by fighting side-byside
with her Indian husband in a raid on the
Creeks during the 1755 Battle of Taliwa. Once
he fell in battle, she rose up to rally his warriors
to fight on, even picking up a rifle to lead
a charge that so unnerved the Creeks, that the
Cherokees emerged victorious. Her valor earned
her the title Ghigua, and she was so respected
that she sat in with the Council of Chiefs, and
later served as a peace negotiator with the
whites.
English trader Bryant Ward, who took up
residence with the Cherokees, took her for his
wife in the late 1750s. They had a daughter
named Betsy, who would have been a closer
great-grandmother to Becky.
How long has this ambitious project been in
the works?
“Years,” sighs The Beckaroo, indicating its
seed was sown in her youth. “It started when I
was in high school in Bartlesville, Okla., when
I clipped an article out of The Tulsa World newspaper
with a caption on one of the pictures, reading
‘White man measured by what he has, and
an Indian by what he did.’ I put that in my jewelry
box. One of my songs - ‘Pale Moon’ - has
that sentence in the lyric, which I wrote like in
1992. A lot of these songs have been a long time
coming.”
What will be the main theme of the work?
“Now that I’ve really gotten into the Cherokee
history, wow! This album’s message will
be one of peace. A lot of the songs I’ve written
in the last three weeks because I’m really getting
into this now.”
Assisting her is fellow Local 257 musicianhubby
Duane Sciacqua, who earned his own
spurs playing guitar 16 years with Glenn Frey
following the breakup of The Eagles, and just
finished three-and-a-half years with Rodney
Crowell. He also played with Joe Walsh and
Paul McCartney, and produced The Beckaroo’s
“From Oklahoma With Love” album (1998).
“Last May, we were married 12 years and
that’s my first marriage,” Hobbs smiles. “I finally
met somebody who could keep up with
me. We’ve been very supportive of each other
and we’re not jealous. You know Rodney’s a
great guy, a good old down-home boy, but they
would be gone so much . . . Duane stayed with
him until the end of October, but it was a very
amicable break . . . Now we’re just a couple of
overgrown kids.”
She and Duane have added a little studio in
their basement: “That’s where we produced
those tracks. Actually we both contributed all
the music, him doing all the guitar stuff. Duane
started off as a drummer years ago in California.
We’re going out for Christmas (’08) to see
his mom. We go back and forth quite a bit.”
Sadly, Becky lost her mother Geneva
(Clayton) Hobbs two years ago. They were very
close and Mom had moved in with them for the
last three years of her life.
“My dad (Bill Hobbs) died in 1982 at age
59, way too young . . . I have a sister (Barbara)
left who lives with her husband in Texas, their
son (Garrett) and his daughter live there, too.
So I don’t have any close relatives left in Oklahoma.”
So what’s the status of their play?
“I’m flying by the seat of my pants,” replies
Hobbs. “But out in Oklahoma, (playwright-director)
Nick Sweet is writing our play. He’s
done a lot of plays including the (outdoor
drama) ‘Trail of Tears’ (and ‘In Our Own
Words,’ while in residence at Oklahoma’s
School For the Deaf). We’re hoping to premiere
it at Talequah, Okla. (headquarters of the Cherokee
Nation).”
Becky promises to keep us informed.
Singer-songwriter Becky Hobbs.
Vince Gill, CMF’s
Artist-in-Residence
Oklahoma-born artist Vince Gill has garnered
his share of honors in a career that’s
spanned three decades, none of which has been
more esteemed than induction into the Country
Music Hall of Fame (2007).
Now the Country Music Foundation, of
which he was once president, is calling on Amy
Grant’s husband to serve as its Artist-in-Residence,
a program saluting performers who have
made a significant contribution to the arts.
Gill will be appearing again at the CMF’s
Ford Theater, 7 p.m. Feb. 24, in an upclose and
personal meet augmented by memorabilia such
as recordings, photos and film clips. The artist
will also autograph his likenesses for the public
in the on-site gift shop.
Those honored previously include Cowboy
Jack Clement, Earl Scruggs, Tom T. Hall, Guy
Clark, Kris Kristofferson and Jerry Douglas. An
accomplished singer-songwriter, Gill hits include
Grammy winners “When I Call Your
Name” and “I Still Believe in You.”
The 18-year Grand Ole Opry member was
1993 and 1994 CMA Entertainer of the Year.
For further information on the CMF’s Artist-in-Residence
program, check on line:
www.countrymusichalloffame.com or telephone
(615) 416-2001. The Country Music Hall of
Fame is located at 222 Fifth Ave. S., Nashville.

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 21
Bluegrass winners bask in the IBMA spotlight during recent ceremony
Kathy Mattea and Tony Trishka named nominees.
Will T. Malone dies on Feb. 6
Bass clarinetist William Thomas Malone,
known on the music scene as “Will T.,” died
Feb.6, in Nashville. He was age 93, and a Lifetime
Member of AFM Local 257.
Malone played in Nashville orchestras such
as The Southern Colonels, Owen Bradley’s
band, Francis Craig’s big band (famed for their
multi-million selling #1 single “Near You”), and
was a charter member of The Establishment, a
unit made up of business and professionals, supporting
scholarship funds. Among fellow musicians
in The Establishment were Otto Bash,
Beverly LeCroy, Paul Lenk, Scoby Dill, Charlie
Dungey, Dottie Dillard, Jack Strotman, Bucky
Doster and, of course, Del Sawyer.
Following graduation from Watertown High
School in 1934, Will attended State Teachers
College in Murfreesboro (1934-’36), and earned
his business degree from Cumberland College
in 1939. While on the Cumberland campus, he
was the college’s first band director. He had
played clarinet and saxophone in area dance
bands.
Will had also fronted his own orchestra, The
Collegians.
Malone served as organist in Nashville
churches, most notably 45 years at First Baptist
Church of Donelson.
During World War II, Malone served his
country in the military theater of operations in
Europe.
Back in Tennessee, Malone owned and operated
Roy Warden Piano & Organ Company.
He was also one of the first inductees into
the MTSU Band of Blue Hall of Fame. He was
predeceased by his parents Pattye (Evins) and
S. V. Malone, his wife Ruth (Peek) Malone.
Survivors include daughters Patsy Davis of
Murfreesboro, Michelle Browne of Mt. Juliet,
and Ann Kinney of Murfreesboro; son Bill
Malone of Old Hickory, Tenn.; grandchildren
Karl Gentry, Kelli Johnson, Jim Browne, Beth
Wehmeyer, Robin Kinney and Melody Kinney;
three great-grandchildren Haley Johnson, Wyatt
Johnson and Charlotte Wehmeyer; and brother
Charles Malone of Clarksville.
Services were conducted on Feb. 9 at Mt.
Olivet Funeral Home, Nashville, with The Reverend
W. L. Baker officiating. Honorary Pallbearers:
Charles Malone, Bill Amonette, Jack
Evins, Don McEachern, Eric Wehmeyer, Troy
Halliburton, Bucky Doster, John Evans and
Jimmy Shea. Pallbearers: Glenn Davis, Scott
Kinney, Jim Browne, Chad Johnson, John
Halliburton and Mike Coakley.
Dailey & Vincent won total of seven awards.
PHOTOS (9) BY PATRICIA PRESLEY
Andy Hall won best instrumental album.
Fiddler Michael Cleveland accepts best instrumental award for his backing band Flamekeeper.
The Grascals perform for the IBMA convention crowd.
Harold Bradley holds a USAGEM appreciation plaque awarded to Local 257 (see letter, page 27). Assisting
the former President in accepting the gospel award, is then Secretary-Treasurer Billy Linneman (right).
Others pictured are (from lfeft) TV personality Melanie Walker, USAGEM President Daniel Johnson, wife
Teresa Johnson, USAGEM Musician of the Year John Rees, and USAGEM Vice President Lynn Fox.
Best Female Vocalist Dale Ann Bradley.
Barry Bales won IBMA best bassist for first time.
Rob Ickes took home best dobro honors.
Adam Steffey voted best mandolinist.
Next issue read about Local 257’s
new leaders, President Dave
Pomeroy and Secretary-Treasurer
Craig Krampf; who they are and
what they hope to achieve.

22 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
Duane Eddy brought the guitar out front in R&R
Today’s Duane Eddy.
By WALT TROTT
Duane Eddy’s roots are country, though best
known for single-note melodic, guitar-driven
instrumental rockers like “Rebel Rouser.”
Eddy plays the Feb. 12 Cecil Scaife Scholarship
fund-raising concert at the historic
Ryman Auditorium, conducted as the second
annual Music City Tribute to Elvis Presley.
“I liked country music and Elvis did, too,”
insists the King of Twang.
In retrospect, the artist’s instrumental rockers
would likely fall into the contemporary
country category now, and in fact some did chart
as such in his heyday.
No less than Creedence Clearwater Revival’s
John Fogerty calls Duane a Guitar God, standing
tall among those Eddy’s influenced, notably
Beatle George Harrison, The Who’s John
Entwistle and ELO’s Jeff Lynne.
“I guess I was the first rock musician to do
an instrumental record and become an artist with
a guitar who didn’t sing to make a hit single,”
grins Eddy, noting that was rather revolutionary
in the infancy of rock.
On the record, his pioneering rock instrumental
smashes such as 1958’s “Rebel Rouser,”
brought the guitar to the forefront of rock and
roll. For that and his many achievements since,
Duane Eddy was named to the Rock & Roll
Hall of Fame in 1994, and was just inducted
into the International Musicians Hall of Fame
here, Class of 2008 (on Oct. 28).
“Yeah, that’s an important one to me because
the sidemen have always been my heroes,” says
Eddy, 70. “I’d rather be in the Hall of Fame
with these musicians, so I’m real proud of that.
That’s the icing on the cake.”
Honors, however, are nothing new to this
innovative player. Eddy earned a Grammy
award for his 1986 rock instrumental collaboration
with the British techno-pop trio Art of
Noise on redoing his hit “Peter Gunn,” (which
spent six weeks at #1 on Rolling Stone’s dance
chart); garnered another nomination for best
country instrumental (with Doc Watson) in
1995; was named #1 Rock & Roll Instrumentalist
of All Time by Billboard, the trade bible;
and was bestowed with Guitar Player
magazine’s 2004 Legend Award.
Technique is the key to Eddy’s lasting renown
as Twang King. During our recent chat at
the Blackstone Brewery Pub, we found Duane
to be a no-nonsense sort, quiet but willing to
answer any questions forthcoming, often in his
usual self-deprecating style.
We brought up the much-quoted New Music
Express magazine popularity poll of 1960,
showing Eddy topping a United Kingdom rock
survey displacing Elvis Presley as #1.
“I didn’t really take that seriously,” he chuckles.
“I mean I just toured there for one thing
and they never heard somebody sound exactly
like their record on stage for another, and that
blew them away. Remember at that time I had
great musicians and we’d been doing it together
a couple years, and the band was tight and had
a big sound.”
Thanks to his wife, the former singer Deed
Abatte’s penchant for genealogy, Duane has
learned that the Eddys first came to America in
1630 from England.
“There’s so much available out there to
check on . . . I think we had one idiot in our
family . . . Anyway, that’s how they listed him
on the census. What did they call it, Deed?”
“It’s nothing to brag about,” laughs Deed.
“It was an awful description . . . you don’t want
to know it.”
Born April 26, 1938 in Corning, N.Y.,
Duane was 5 when his daddy taught him
some basic chords on his Martin acoustic
guitar. “Wildwood Flower” was one of the
first tunes he picked out, and at 9 Duane got
his own Kay acoustic guitar.
“I used to listen to radio, stations like
WCKY-Cincinnati with the Chuck Wagon Gang
and different country artists (like Lonnie
Glosson & Wayne Raney), the WWVA-Wheeling
(W. Va.) Jamboree and WSM-Nashville’s
Grand Ole Opry,” recalls Eddy, who at 10
played an instrumental “The Missouri Waltz”
on a local broadcast with his lap steel guitar, a
gift from an aunt.
“Yeah, I was also a Saturday movie matinee
kid and cowboys like Gene Autry and Roy
Rogers got me into C& W music. Those guys
were good singers and musicians, as well.”
Another fond memory came from a local station,
he says, “One of the radio shows, like in
Rochester, Cornell (University in Ithica) or
someplace in midstate or upstate New York, did
a thing where they’d start off with just a bass,
then the drums would come in, then rhythm
guitar, then piano, and then they’d start singing,
and I thought that was the coolest thing I
ever heard, to hear it build up like that, and hear
each instrument individually for a time . . . ”
Among his early guitar heroes were Les Paul
and Merle Travis: “I was fascinated by Merle’s
vibrato for one thing, and you know, just the
way he played was a beautiful thing to hear.
And, of course, when Chet (Atkins) came along,
he took it a step further from Merle and Les.”
Eddy never had any formal instrumental instruction
and didn’t learn to read music. He has
an amazing ear for tone, however, and is particular
about the guitar he plays. Reportedly,
he’s the first rock picker to have his own signature
model guitar - Guild Guitars in 1960 introduced
the Duane Eddy Models DE-400 and
Deluxe DE-500.
“When I was about 12 or 13 my family
moved to Arizona and I finished growing up
there. Out in Arizona, I listened to the Del Rio,
Texas border station where they sold baby
chicks and played lots of good country music.”
Still a youngster, he used to beg station staff
to save their discarded singles for him. At 15
his birthday present was an electric Gibson Les
Paul model, which he played for local performances.
Three years later, he traded that in on
his red Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins’ model (used
to record his early hits).
Still tickets for DJ & Radio Hall of Fame show
Tickets are still available for the Country Music DJ & Radio Hall of Fame induction banquet, at
the Nashville Renaissance Hotel on Tuesday, March 3. The 2009 inductees are Chuck Collier and
Gerry House (DJ Hall of Fame); Bob McKay and Moon Mullins (Radio Hall of Fame). Merle
Haggard will receive the Career Achievement Award and Sheila Shipley Biddy the President's
Award. Single tickets are $105; sponsored tables are $2,100; with proceeds going to Country Music
DJ & Radio Hall of Fame. Contact CRB for availability. CRS-40 will be held March 4-6, at the
Nashville Convention Center, Nashville. For details, call CRB, ( 615) 327-4487 or visit CRB.org
Today, Duane embraces rock - traditional or
avant garde - blues, jazz and country, and began
his career collaborating with Barton (Lee)
Hazlewood in Arizona.
“Lee was a disc jockey to start with, and he
used to dissect those records while playing them
on his radio show,” recalls Eddy. “That way, by
dissecting them, he knew how he wanted things
to sound. So when we got into the studio, Lee
worked with the engineer until he got the sound
the way he wanted it. I still got those records
and they hold up today, 50 years or more later.
Lee’s first job as a DJ was in Coolidge, Ariz.
(at KCKY), while I was finishing up high
school.”
Eddy also learned to play banjo, Hawaiian
pedal steel and 12-string bass: “I sang with another
guy named Jimmy (Dell) Delbridge and
we did like a Louvin Brothers’ type thing, except
we kinda jived it up a bit, and didn’t know
it then but that style would later be called
rockabilly. This was in 1953, before they coined
the word or before we knew about Elvis.”
Duane and Jimmy were of interest to Lee,
then burning with ambition for better things.
“Lee took us up to Phoenix and acted as our
manager, because he’d heard about this talent
show up there, and wanted to get into a bigger
market as a DJ,” explains Eddy. “They put local
acts on and a guy named Ray Odum (a DJ)
would put this on in a place called Madison
Square Garden in downtown Phoenix on Saturday
nights. He’d have local acts on the show
for the first part, then he’d have name country
artists come out and do their show. We auditioned,
and they liked us.”
Hazlewood landed a radio slot in Phoenix
and promoted his teen-aged duo: “Yes, Lee cut
a little record on us, two tracks for his label.”
Jimmy & Duane’s first single “Soda Fountain
Girl,” had the backing of the Western
Melody Boys, but did little to further the pair.
“Jimmy got religion and we kinda went our
separate ways,” smiles Duane. “After he got
saved, he couldn’t sing worldly music. Lee kept
producing and got a hit with a singer named
Sanford Clark called ‘The Fool’ in 1956 (picked
up by Dot Records, it went Top 10 pop and #14
country).”
Eddy continued to play locally: “After the
main event country acts did their show at the
Madison Square Garden, they’d clear all the
chairs away and have a dance. Al Casey played
in that band (Sunset Riders), and I later got his
job as guitar player when he went to California.
I worked there the next two or three years.”
Meanwhile, Hazlewood had tied in with promoter-publisher
Lester Sill, familiar with Jamie
Records, Dick Clark’s label based in Philadelphia.
At the time, Clark hosted the highly popular
Saturday teen dance telecast American Bandstand
from the City of Brotherly Love.
Duane’s distinctive guitar playing and Lee’s
far-out sound experiments proved to be a winning
combination for their collaborations, both
musically and productionwise, resulting in a
string of successes. Their first Jamie effort
“Moovin’ ’n Groovin’” nabbed enough attention
that the label OK’d a follow-up single.
Surprisingly, Jamie’s second Duane Eddy release
featured “Stalkin’,” as its A side, but until
Clark took Eddy’s advice and promoted the B
side, “Rebel Rouser,” on American Bandstand,
it looked like another stalled single.
“I cut ‘Rebel Rouser’ (which Lee and Duane
co-wrote) in March 1958 and they put it out in
June. Well, Dick wanted to open the show live
with ‘Moovin’ ’n Groovin’,’ when he did his
first remote in Miami, Fla. He was getting ready
to do that when he asked me, ‘Would you come
down to Miami and do my show?’ I said yes. In
July, ‘Rebel Rouser’ was doing fine. So we did
that and it went over good. Dick said, ‘I need a
closer,’ but I hadn’t cut any other records really
that would work. The B sides weren’t that thrilling.
Then I remembered I’d cut a track on ‘Ramrod’
(for the local Ford 500 label in 1956). We
worked up a little arrangement on it, and I
played it for them.
Duane Eddy in his heyday.
“Monday morning there were like advance
orders for 150,000 on the desk of Jamie
Records. So we had to take the track, cut it,
overdub and play sax on it . . . That was Tuesday,
and they started mastering and pressing it
on Wednesday and on Thursday they shipped
it, and by Friday, less than a week after I played
it on . . . Bandstand, it was coming into stores.”
Let’s not skip over the uniqueness of Eddy’s
playing style or the visionary sound effects introduced
by Hazlewood to enhance it. During
their early recording stints, Duane used a
Magnatone amplifier with 15-inch speaker (and
tweeter), adding a DeArmond tremolo unit, then
setting the amp’s treble control way up, turning
down the bass while adjusting the midrange
as needed, to create his near-trademark twang.
Of course, he liberally utilized tremolo, echo
and reverb, created by producer Lee placing a
speaker and microphone inside a 2,100-gallon
water tank (serving as an echo chamber), capturing
that signal or echo effect via an Ampex
tape recorder.
Duane Eddy’s distinctive vibrato-bar technique
proved essential to his unique sound. This
he accomplished by using the bar to execute
exaggerated bends or add subtle vibrato to
chords. And his control of pitch was right-on,
and often Duane raised a note up to pitch by
depressing the bar before hitting the string.
Eddy normally picked between the pickups
or near the neck, as he liked the round tone over
the more percussive tone created by picking
near the bridge. However, he did use the
instrument’s bridge pickup for most of his
songs, but occasionally utilizing both pickups
at once. When playing blues he prefers the
guitar’s higher register.
How come he resorted to a saxophone sound
on his hits?
“No, it wasn’t a favorite instrument. If I’d
had my druthers, I would probably had a steel
guitar because I liked country. But, we were
trying to do rock and roll and sax was happening
at the time. I remember we didn’t have sax
players in Arizona in those days, so we overdubbed
a saxophonist (Plas Johnson) on
‘Moovin’ ’n Groovin’,’ our first instrumental.”
“Rebel Rouser” was the single that established
Eddy as an artist to reckon with (featuring
rebel yells and handclaps by a group called
The Rivingtons). Not only did it peak at #6 on
Billboard’s pop list, but crossed over as a strong
country Top 20, and amazingly enough, scored
#8 R&B, the first of six major chartings on that
list. Eddy’s next charting, “Ramrod,” did better
R&B (#17) than it did on the pop chart (#27).
Thus 1958 was a good year for both Eddy
and Jamie Records. “Rebel Rouser” was declared
Duane’s first Gold Record (eventually

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 23
topping more than a million in sales). It was
also the year Elvis Presley reported to Local
Draft Board 86 in Memphis; NARAS awarded
its first Grammys; Columbia Records released
the first stereo album; and among artist debuts
that year were Frankie Avalon, Bobby Darin,
Connie Francis, Floyd Cramer, Smokey
Robinson & The Miracles, and Duane Eddy.
Additional successes for the R&R picker included
“Cannonball” and “Detour,” plus his first
album release: “Have Twangy Guitar, Will
Travel,” a Top Five, that hung on the charts 82
weeks.
Of course, Duane did a lot of that, touring
with top names, and continued to wow viewers
via major TV show appearances. His official
band, The Rebels, boasted a number of solid
players who would surface later as top session
musicians, among them Al (and Corky) Casey,
Larry Knechtel and Steve Douglas. Having attained
all this success, Duane was 20 years old.
Another outlet for Eddy was movies, thanks
to Dick Clark introducing him in his 1960 starrer
“Because They’re Young,” and its title tune gave
him his highest-charting to date #4, though sung
by co-star James Darren in the film (based on
John Farris’ book ‘Harrison High’). Eddy and
band did perform for the flick’s school dance.
“I played my new single ‘Shazam’ (a title
taken from the comic-book character Captain
Marvel) in the movie. You know John Williams
was our conductor on the film, but in those days,
they actually called him Johnny (who won
multiple Oscars later for movie themes a la
‘Jaws’ and ‘Star Wars’).”
How come a ruggedly-handsome chap like
Duane didn’t become a Hollywood hero?
“A lot of people had that idea,” muses Eddy.
“Actually one of my best friends in my life was
actor Richard Boone (of TV’s Paladin - Have
Gun, Will Travel fame). I did a couple of his
TV shows, and he was dead certain I would
became a big actor, but truth is I just didn’t like
acting that much.
“The hours are brutal. You have to get up at
4 or 5 in the morning, work yourself up to do a
scene for a matter of minutes, then sit around
for hours before doing it again at a different
angle,” continues Eddy. “At the time I just didn’t
get it. I guess I’d like to try it now. Don’t misunderstand
me, it was fun at first and I got to
do cowboy things, which were what I wanted
to do as a kid, like jumpin’ on a horse, gallopin’
away and everything. That was cool.”
How did he meet Boone, reportedly a cousin
of Nashville native Pat Boone?
“I met him when my publicist in L.A. got
me a part in a cavalry picture called ‘A Thunder
of Drums’ and Dick was the star of that at
MGM. I mean it had a great cast: Arthur
O’Connell, George Hamilton, Richard Chamberlain,
Charles Bronson and Slim Pickens.
Hey, even (rodeo champ) Casey Tibbs was there
hangin’ around. They were a great crew, a good
bunch of people. Dick and I took a liking to
each other and we got to be good friends. Next
thing I knew he invited me to do a ‘Paladin,’ so
I did one, then two. We started hangin’ together
over the next 20 years. Then he died in 1981
from cancer.”
When did Duane record the CBS-TV Paladin
theme ballad?
“My musicians, like Larry Knechtel (on piano),
Jim Horn (sax) and I, cut the theme after
I knew him a couple years. It went Top 40 (for
RCA in 1962).” Theme songs proved fruitful
for Eddy, notably “Peter Gunn” (from Craig
Stevens’ TV series), and “Pepe” (a movie starring
comic Cantinflas with an all-star cast).
Duane’s 1959 singles scoring were “The
Lonely One,” “Yep!,” his second Top 10 “40
Miles of Bad Road” and “Some Kinda Earthquake,”
which set a record of sorts for Top 40s,
coming in at 1 minute, 17 seconds on radio,
where the three-minute single rules.
Another interesting record was his “Theme
From Dixie,” when he was joined in the studio
by both the Anita Kerr Singers and The
Jordanaires (who backed Elvis Presley). That
classic Civil War song, penned by black composer
Daniel Emmett in 1860, was recorded
during its centennial anniversary. Two more
1960 chartings were “Bonnie Came Back,”
adapted from the Scottish folk song “My Bonnie
Lies Over the Ocean,” and “Kommotion.”
Obviously, Eddy wasn’t the first to hit with
an instrumental number, as there was zither
player Anton Karas’ #1 multi-million selling
“Third Man Theme” in 1950; followed by Local
257’s Del Wood piano smash, “Down Yonder,”
a million-seller in 1951, among others.
“Yes, people had one-shot hits, but having a
string of instrumental successes had never been
done before and it sort of knocked them for a
loop,” notes Eddy. “I think we had a string of
like 15 in a row . . . , ” all of which Eddy did the
arrangements on.
Established as a solo star, Duane co-starred
in a routine 1962 sagebrush yarn “The Wild
Westerners,” featuring Nancy Kovack, James
Philbrook and Guy Mitchell, directed by Oscar
Rudolph, about Yankee gold shipments.
At one time, he was being considered for a
TV series of his own: Duane participated in a
pilot film titled The Quiet Three, which unfortunately
didn’t get picked up.
After a long dry spell, Duane returned to
movies in ’68 with low-budget “Savage Seven,”
a motorcycle melodrama starring Robert
Walker, Jr., Eddy and Adam Roarke; and also
played a cameo that year in Richard Boone’s
“Kona Coast,” featuring Vera Miles, Joan
Blondell and Kent Smith, as a fishing skipper
tries to track down his daughter’s killers.
In August 1961, Eddy married teen-vocalist
Miriam Johnson at her preacher-mother’s
church in Arizona, and produced her at Jamie
on a song titled “Lonesome Road.” Although
she toured with him, her career didn’t take off
until she later recorded as Jessi Colter, known
best for her self-penned ballads “I’m Not Lisa”
and “What’s Happened To Blue Eyes.” The
marriage ended in 1968, and she later wed
Waylon Jennings.
Among Eddy’s hit LPs were the #2 ranked
“The Twang’s The Thang” (1959), on which he
first cut “You Are My Sunshine”; “One Million
Dollars Worth of Twang” (1960); and that
same year an all-acoustic album “Songs Of Our
Heritage,” featuring standards such as “On Top
Of Old Smokey” and “The Prisoner’s Song.”
In 1962, after all those hit Jamie discs, Eddy
signed with RCA Records, then run by his guitar
hero Chet Atkins. Why did Eddy fare better
on the indie label than on the major RCA?
“They had a great promotion man (Harry
Finfer) who ran Jamie (named after Harry’s
daughter). He was the best in America at the
time, not only saturating the Philadelphia area,
but out around the country, doing a great job.
Yet, I had a good run at RCA, as well.”
Yes, Eddy had a near-Top 10 with “Dance
With the Guitar Man” in ’62, followed by “Boss
Guitar,” both tracks boasting some vocal backing
by his Rebelettes (The Blossoms). RCA albums
include “Twistin’ and Twangin’,” and
“Dance With the Guitar Man.”
Another major change occurred in 1965
when he cut two albums for Colpix, a subsidiary
of Columbia Pictures-Screen Gems. Lee
Hazlewood’s former partner Lester Sills was an
executive there. Eddy cut instrumental LPs
“Duane A-Go-Go” and broke new ground with
his melodic “Duane Eddy Does Bob Dylan.”
How did Eddy meet Deed?
“She sang and pursued it for awhile . . . Well,
she did a demo for a friend of hers that I heard
when I was working for Jimmy Bowen. Then I
got to meet her, and bang! That was it! But after
she hung around me awhile, Deed decided
not to have any part of that anymore.”
So why did he give up singing?
“Well I think that was my biggest contribution
to music, when I quit singing.”
Son Chris appears to be a chip off-the-oldblock,
singing and playing multi-instruments including
guitar, bass, violin and organ.
“Chris plays and sings really well,” adds
Dad. “He’s worked around here for a few years.
I remember once he had a band with Larry
Knechtel . . . and the guys all liked him.”
Indeed, Chris, a winning contestant on cable
TV’s Star Searcher, received good reviews for
his “Night Toucher” in 2006 with Rich Vogel
and Ted Roper. Additionally, his resume
inlcudes working in the bands of Shelby Lynne
and Shania Twain, and supplying songs for
Lynyrd Skynyrd and Hank Williams, Jr.
“I also have two daughters,” continues
Duane. “Linda’s my oldest and Jennifer my
youngest. Jennifer tickled the devil out of me
when at age 10 she started writing songs. For a
10-year-old, she wrote some pretty good ones;
at least she had the right idea.”
More notable tracks Eddy played on include
Ray Sharpe’s R&B hit “Linda Lu” (1959, with
pal Al Casey); Nancy Sinatra’s #1 “These Boots
Were Made For Walking” (1966), produced by
Hazlewood; B.J. Thomas’ “Rock & Roll
Lullaby” (1972); and Paul McCartney’s
“Rockestra Theme,” a 1980 Grammy winner.
Oddest disc? In 2004, Duane collaborated
with polka prince Jimmy Sturr, mixing polka
and twang, resulting in “Rebel Rouser Polka.”
Did Duane ever dream how lasting his recordings
would be?
“No, because we were just concentrating on
getting hits and having fun at the time . . . now
we’re regarded as pioneers.”
Duane’s received praise for his cover of B.
B. King’s “Three Thirty Blues,” bringing to
mind a show he played in Oakland, Calif.
“I guess it would’ve been 1961 or ’62. I
didn’t know it at the time, but found out later
that John Fogerty and the entire Creedence
Clearwater Revival band was in the front row
that night. Actually, I didn’t even know who
was on that package show. I knew Jerry Lee
Lewis and I were among the headliners, but we
got there late, coming in from somewhere else.
They double-booked us somehow, but we got
there in time for our portion. I did that song
and was back in my dressing room when this
very well-dressed black gentleman came in and
said, ‘Duane, I gotta give you a big hug. I just
loved that ‘Three Thirty Blues!’ I liked it so
much I gotta kiss you on the cheek!’
“Now I’m just standing there helpless thinking,
‘Who is this guy?’ But it was a very nice
thing to do and obviously he really liked the
blues. Then he let me go and stood back and
said, ‘Oh, I didn’t introduce myself, did I? . . .
I’m B.B. King!’ Then I said, ‘Well it’s MY turn
to hug you and kiss you on the cheek!’ He
laughed, but obviously liked the way I played
his blues.”
In 1966 and 1967, Duane recorded two albums
for Frank Sinatra’s Reprise label, playing
big band hits: “The Biggest Twang of Them
All” and “The Roaring Twangies,” respectively.
Another act he admires is the Everly Brothers
and in 1973 actually produced Phil Everly’s
solo album “Star Spangled Springer” in England:
“That was right after he broke up with
Don (when Phil smashed his guitar and walked
off the Knotts Berry Farm stage in Buena Park,
Calif. July 14, 1973, leaving Don to explain
their bust-up to the crowd).”
Did Duane ever meet Elvis?
“Sure. I went to see him in Vegas in 1971,
but we never worked together. I went backstage
after his show, though I didn’t get to attend his
performance. I met him in his dressing room
and Priscilla was there, too. He seemed pleased
to meet me and invited us to go to his goodbye
party (it was his last night). Priscilla took us up
to the penthouse and at their party were other
artists like Dottie West and Merle Haggard . . .
You know he was everything I wanted him to
be. I watched him inter-act with people. He was
the perfect example of how an artist should be.
I was impressed by that, and he and I sat and
talked until about 7:30 in the morning.”
In 1977, Duane had his final country charting
to date with “You Are My Sunshine” with
Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Also featured
on the track were background vocals by
Deed Eddy, Kin Vassy and Jessi Colter, proving
something of a real family affair.
How did Duane get to collaborate with legendary
sitar player-composer Ravi Shankar
from India?
“That’s a long story. I had the hit with ‘Pe-
ter Gunn’ (with Art of Noise) . . . Then we went
to the Montreaux Music Festival in Switzerland.
There I ran into Jeff Lynne who said, ‘Any time
you want me to do anything for you, let me
know. I know you’re going to get an album out
of this hit.’ And I did.
“Well we got one with Capitol, so I called
Jeff, but he said, ‘Oh, I can’t right now, I’m
working on an album with George Harrison,’
which turned out to be ‘Cloud Nine’ (his 1987
comeback hit). I said OK and hung up. Then 10
minutes later, Jeff called back saying, ‘I mentioned
it to George and he wants to put his album
on hold and do a couple things with you!’”
(Eddy’s 1987 Capitol album was titled simply
“Duane Eddy” and boasted input from fellow
Eddy admirers Ry Cooder, James Burton,
John Fogerty, David Lindley, Steve Cropper and
Paul McCartney.)
“So I went over there and met with (George)
and he was real nice . . . So we started to work
on these things, then George hummed me a little
melody and said, ‘Ravi Shankar taught me this,
but he only gave me this much of it,’ playing
the melody, saying, ‘I love that last note. It’s
the greatest note in the world today.’ So I finished
it out and wrote it up. We made it work.
So George gave us both half writer credits on
the number (‘The Trembler’).
“George was a big fan of Ravi’s and he also
liked my playing, and was delighted to have a
cut by Ravi Shankar and Duane Eddy, who
came from such opposite poles. He said, ‘Who
would’ve thought it?’ George had the publishing
on the song, but kept only 20 per cent for
the administration, splitting the other 80 per cent
between Ravi and me.”
Sharing the mic on the tune were Duane,
George and Jeff. An interesting postscript occurred
when film-maker Oliver Stone used “The
Trembler” in his 1994 satirical thriller “Natural
Born Killers.” That same year Eddy had no
idea his signature song was featured in the Tom
Hanks’ movie “Forrest Gump.”
“I went to the movie and when ‘Rebel
Rouser’ came on, I missed that part of the movie
because I was listening so intently to the song
to see if it was mine or a cover version and then
how it was mastered and if it sounded right.
But it was fine. I had to go back to see the film
again to find out what I’d missed.”
How did his participation come about in the
1996 movie drama “Broken Arrow”?
“Well, I went out to do a little video thing
regarding the ‘Forrest Gump’ bit and met Hans
Zimmer, the movie composer. A couple weeks
later, Hans called and asked, ‘How would you
like to do the music for the bad guy in my next
movie?’ I asked, ‘Who’s the bad guy?’ He said
John Travolta and I answered, ‘Yeah, thank you
very much! I’ll be there!’
“So I went out to his studio in Santa Monica,
a beautiful set-up. He played me the whole score
and I sat there and watched the picture and
played where he told me to. He said he wrote it
with me in mind. Hans said, ‘Everybody imitates
Duane Eddy, but I got the real thing.’ It
turned out good.”
How do you make it fresh playing classics
like “Rebel Rouser” and “Peter Gunn” so much?
“I learned very early on in my teen years
when I’d go to see a show and some artist apparently
got sick of doing their hit ballad the
same way and would maybe speed it up or
change the arrangement - I’d be disappointed.
So once I had a hit I figured most people out
there want to hear it like the record. Although
you couldn’t always sound exactly like the
record, we would emulate what was heard on
the hit pretty close.
“I remember one night thinking I was sick
of playing it the same, but not having lyrics,
you’ve got to communicate with your audience
pretty much with the instrument. I came out that
night and thought some of these people are hearing
this for the first time and some are hearing
it for the first time in a long time, and they’re
not going to know it if I do it differently. Sure
I’ve heard it a million times, but they haven’t -
and they paid to hear it, so it’s important to play
(Continued on page 31)

24 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
By WALT TROTT
Letter,” “Each Night At Nine” and probably the
biggest-selling war song from World War II,
“There’s a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere”
(a 1942 multi-million smash for Elton
Britt).
Was tickled to see Mac included the old
Pappy O’Daniel standard “Put Me In Your
Pocket,” one my mom used to sing. But was a
bit disappointed he’d altered a few lines from
the way we remember it: “She gave to him her
photograph, upon which she wrote this song/
Put me in your pocket, so I’ll be close to you/
No more will I be lonesome, and no more will I
be blue/Then when we have to part, dear/
There’ll be no sad adieu/For I’ll be in your
pocket and I’ll go along with you . . .”
Then our hero skipped the denouement
verse completely - depicting the returning
soldier’s final tragedy: “That evening soon had
ended/Her darling went away/But when he did
return again, for their happy wedding day/His
sweetheart she was absent/To Heaven she had
gone, but she left to him her photograph/Upon
which she wrote this song . . .”
It’s depressing, of course, but a great melodic
ballad that’s had far too few revivals. Our
research indicates that in the early 1940s Judy
Martin & Her Mountain Rangers did a cover
version, as did several years later, Terry Preston
(Ferlin Husky) and also Hank Locklin.
Wiseman is due special thanks for bringing
back some of these songs (sung by our forebears),
some fast slipping through the cracks,
perhaps never more to be heard. Most notably
“. . . In Your Pocket,” Henry Burr’s “Mary,
Dear,” and the 19th century hearttugger, “One
of the Boys in Blue.”
Another welcome Golden Oldie is Mac’s
superb take on the Bob Wills’ #1 classic “Silver
Due On the Bluegrass Tonight,” written by
Edith Burton, and released as war was winding
down in fall ’45. A surprise is a “live” version
of his near-trademark tune “I Wonder How the
Old Folks Are At Home,” backed uptempo by
Little Roy Lewis on banjo in Washington, D.C.,
wherein Mac’s heard goodnaturedly querying
a bandmember’s lick, “Was that necessary
there?”
These CDs obviously are quite necessary,
judging by the sheer listening delight one derives
from either of these Wise Record releases.
Here’s a chance to get two for a few pennies
less than $20; check with the Ernest Tubb
Record Shop, telephone (615) 255-7503.
Chesney wins big at CMA’s gala
Aaron Tippin, who campaigned for Republican
candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin
awhile ago, is back promoting a new album designed
to appeal to the nation’s truckers.
“In Overdrive,” which he co-produced with
Tim Grogan - under the watchful eye of James
Stroud, executive producer - hit the street Feb.
3, a collaboration of Nippit Records and the
Country Crossing label.
“I’ve had my heart set on doing this album
for a long time,” says Tippin, who once spent
time truckin’. “Now with the current economic
state, I’m reminded of the unsung heroes of
the road, that legion of devoted Americans,
some four million strong, who make their living
in the trucking industry and hammer down
day after day. And I wanted to make this record
for them.”
Mainly a slate of oldies, Tippin’s 14 tracks
benefit from the muscle the singer puts behind
his hard-drivin’, nasally baritone, backed by
superb studio pickers.
The tried-and-true tunes here include: Jerry
Reed’s “East Bound and Down,” Dave Dudley’s
“Six Days On the Road” (also a later Sawyer
Brown success), Ronnie Milsap’s “Prisoner Of
the Highway,” Eddie Rabbit’s “Drivin’ My Life
Away,” Merle Haggard’s “Movin’ On” and Del
Reeves’ dandy “Girl On the Billboard.” For
good measure, there’s even Cledus Maggard’s
#1 novelty number “White Knight.”
A brand new composition Aaron and wife
Thea created, “Drill Here, Drill Now,” is a partisan
paean to establishing oil fields off shore
along the U.S.’s pristine coastline and in the
Alaskan wilderness. The former corporate pilot
debuted it on Sean Hannity’s show and sang
it on the road: “No more debatin’/We’re tired
of waitin’/Everybody shout out loud/drill here,
drill now . . .”
Local 257 members did well indeed at the
42nd annual Country Music Association
awards, Nov. 12, and union brother Kenny
Chesney again took home the big prize, Entertainer
of the Year!
Last issue’s centerspread artist Brad Paisley
won best male vocalist - and won for his video
Reportedly, “East Bound and Down,” heard
to good advantage in the 1978 flick “Smokey
& the Bandit,” will be Tippin’s premiere single
off the set. We especially enjoyed his take on
“Girl On the Billboard,” and was pleased that
“Waitin’ On a Woman” - while Carrie
Underwood was voted best female vocalist.
Local 257 trio Rascal Flatts earned Best
Group honor; and guitarist Mac McAnally won
Best Musician. Tony Brown, producer, shared
both Best Album trophy for “Troubadour,” and
its single “I Saw God Today” was tops.
Winners also include:
Best Duo, Sugarland; New Act, Lady Antebellum;
Jennifer Nettles’ “Stay” named Song
of the Year; and Local 257 sister Alison Krauss
won Best Musical Event with Robert Plant for
their single “Gone, Gone, Gone.”
(Continued from page 17)
Mac Wiseman may have quit touring the
U.S.A., but he hasn’t stopped making records,
and in fact has a twofer for fans of bluegrass.
Yes, the godfather of bluegrass has just released
an album remembrance of great war
songs, “Waiting For the Boys To Come Home,”
along with another devoted to parlor-type tunes
of yesteryear, “Old Likker In a New Jug.”
A member of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame
since 1993, Wiseman’s currently busy pulling
together his thoughts, and thanks to memorabilia
saved through the years, plans to pen his
autobiography this year. That should be an eyeopener.
Listening to these new collections, it’s easy
to see why he’s still singing, mainly because he
can. How many octogenarians do you know
who have the breath and stamina to sustain
notes, as “The Voice With a Heart” succeeds in
doing here on these acoustic sets.
Little wonder the National Endowment For
the Arts singled him out last fall for its prestigious
annual National Fellowship Heritage
Medal of the Arts, America’s highest honor bestowed
on behalf of the folk and traditional arts
(accompanied by a $20,000 stipend).
A decade ago, producer-promoter Scott
Rouse showed up unannounced to bring his
father’s favorite bluegrass idol back into the studio,
inviting Mac to join Doc Watson and Del
McCoury, recording as the funky GrooveGrass
Boys, who charted their “Country Macarena”
many months. (Rouse has just released a 10th
anniversary edition of their album
“GrooveGrass 101” via iTunes.)
The result was that ol’ Wiseman received
more booking requests for daughter Maxine to
turn down, and eventually invitations to join
Johnny Cash, John Prine and Charlie Daniels
separately in the studio, which he did do, not
bad for a man who started recording more than
60 years ago.
Molly O’Day took a chance on the musical
stripling in the postwar year of 1946, taking
him to Chicago where she cut such classics as
“Tramp On the Street.” Bill Monroe heard him
on Bristol radio and made Mac a Blue Grass
Boy, and by the way, he’s one of the original
Flatt & Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Boys.
Dot Records signed him solo and during
the 1950s’ his chart hits included covers “The
Ballad of Davy Crockett” and “Jimmy Brown
the Newsboy.” Talk about versatile: In 1979,
Mac mixed it up with big bandsman Woody
Herman on “My Blue Heaven” and “Scotch and
Soda,” then shared the mic that year with bluegrass
boys, the Osborne Brothers, to revive his
country cut “Shackles and Chains.”
On these two latest sets, Mac invites mandolin
master Jesse McReynolds (of Jim & Jesse
fame) as special guest artist. Dave Ferguson did
the engineering duties, at the Butcher Shoppe
Studio in Nashville.
Highlighting the “. . . New Jug” selections
are slow country weepers “I’m Thinking Tonight
of My Blue Eyes,” “I Was Seeing Nellie
Home,” “When the Work’s All Done This Fall”
and “Be Nobody’s Darlin’ But Mine.” As close
to uptempo as Mac gets here is “Darlin’ Little
Joe” and “Ballad of the Haunted Woods.”
Mac gets into flag-waving on “Waiting For
the Boys To Come Home,” which also features
“Reveille Time In Heaven,” “Soldier’s Last
Kenny Chesney
. . book celebrates country humor
kitchen.’ The dispatcher said, ‘But how do we
get to it?’ She said, ‘You can come through the
living room or off the back porch, either one.’
He said, ‘I mean how do we get from where we
are to where you are?’ She said, ‘Ain’t you got
one of them red trucks?’”
Charlie Louvin recalling a joke he told a
half-century ago, concerned an irate highway
patrolman who finally succeeded in pulling over
a speeding car that didn’t stop right away: “He
asked him, ‘Why didn’t you stop when I first
put the red light on you back yonder?’ The guy
said, ‘Officer, I’m sorry about that, but when I
seen a state trooper behind me, I remembered
that about two or three months ago my wife ran
off with a state trooper, and I was afraid that
was him bringing her back!’”
MEMBERS’ REMINDER
Remember to attend the next
General Membership Meeting,
slated 6:30 p.m. Wednesday,
March 18, at the George W.
Cooper Hall.
he used the Reeves’ trademarked “Doodle Do
Doo Doo.” Courageous.
Another interesting track is “Ballad of Danger
Dave and Double Trouble.” Though obviously,
this set’s not about to add any new
charttoppers, it’s a solid, workmanlike album
that mostly works well for the artist.
Tippin’s last album - “He Believed” - was
sold mainly through the Cracker Barrel restaurant
chain last year. We gather he’s decided to
go the standard route this time around, so check
out your local retail outlet or try Amazon.com
on the internet. - Walt Trott
. . . Marty Stuart signs accord
(Continued from page 3)
want to get this exactly right, play by the rules
and do it by the book - and make sure everybody
is satisfied in every seat at the table. So
when you’re not trying to do anything wrong,
there’s no problem.”
Amazingly enough, last week Marty and his
Fabulous Superlatives band performed in
Zurich and Rome, before winging their way
back to face the cameras again.
There are just six episodes remaining in the
first season. Local 257’s Eddie Stubbs serves
as announcer, and Marty’s wife Connie Smith
is featured singer.
How has the show rated thus far?
“I really don’t know yet, as I haven’t seen
any Nielsen ratings. But judging by the viewer
response of written mail and e-mails, and the
amount of merchandise orders that come in, it’s
pretty staggering.”
Does he remember first joining the union?
“I sure do. Lester Flatt dook me down to Mr.
George Cooper’s office. Well, he had given the
spiel so many times, that Mr. Cooper was tired
of it, and had put it on a cassette tape. Then he
sat and smoked a cigar, I think, while he played
me that tape. (Marty’s now laughing heartily.)
“I was 13 years old and he played the tape
and said, ‘Now look, this is a big business. Why
don’t you go back home, finish shcool, and
come back and see me in a few years?’ I said,
‘No, sir!’ When he saw he wasn’t going to persuade
me to go back to Mississippi, he brought
Lester in and he paid my initiatiion fee, and it
was understood that Lester would take $5 a
week out of my paycheck to pay that back.
“Mr. Cooper asked, ‘How much did you
have in mind to pay this boy?’ It was considerably
less than what the others in the band made.
‘Now Lester, if he’s going to be doing everything
else that the others in the band will be
doing, you might want to bring that number up
a little bit.’ So Mr. Cooper hit up Lester on my
behalf to get me a better paycheck than I was
originally to get!”
Archie Campbell related how a traveling
salesman stopped at a country store and saw a
man playing checkers with a dog, and said,
“That’s the smartest dog I ever saw. The man
said, ‘Oh, he ain’t so smart. I beat him three out
of five times.’”
Indeed, they lit up the stage, delivering
laughs to lighten the load for a musical troupe,
ensuring audiences would come back again for
such well-rounded entertainment.
Randy Franks, who in addition to acting and
fiddling, is a syndicated newspaper columnist:
“Mr. Jones is recognized as one of the true authorities
on the humor and traditions of our region.
For 23 years he was director of the Appalachian
Center at Berea College. It is such an
honor to be recognized and included with so
many of my comedic heroes such as Wendy
Bagwell, Jerry Clower, Minnie Pearl and ‘Doc’
Tommy Scott and friends and contemporaries
such as Jeff Foxworthy and Ron Thomason and
so many more.”
Jones takes Southern humor back to its last
century origins in vaudeville and radio barndances,
then brings it right up to television’s
Hee Haw and onto today’s blue collar comedy
scene. The result is both informative and highly
enlightening.

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 25
Dean of Nashville guitarists to focus on AFM position
Shortly after he succeeded guitarist Harold
Bradley for Local 257’s presidential post, Dave
Pomeroy summoned your editor to discuss the
post-election edition. He suggested an article
on Harold Bradley, citing his respect for his illustrious
career and many years of service to
Local 257 and the AFM.
Dave recalled a time that he and Harold had
worked together with Harold’s brother Owen
Bradley, producing Brenda Lee at Bradley’s
Barn in Mt. Juliet. The band included Buddy
Harman, Floyd Cramer and Hal Rugg.
“Cutting it all at once with that amazing
band, Brenda’s vocal, 12 live strings and six
singers, it was a sound and a feeling, I’ll never
forget,” said Dave, who’s played on record with
everyone from Emmylou Harris to Elton John.
Harold and his wife Eleanor.
Bradley’s amazing recording span began in
1946 with his first session, accompanying Pee
Wee King & His Golden West Cowboys to
Chicago in mid-winter. This occurred three
years after having hit the road the first time as a
teen-ager on summer break from Isaac Litton
High School, touring with Ernest Tubb’s Texas
Troubadours.
Born Jan. 2, 1926 in Nashville, Harold
Ray Bradley first learned to play banjo
(which came in handy in the 1950s playing
Dixieland), and joined Local 257 at 16. After
a U.S. Navy stint, Harold attended Peabody
College on the Vanderbilt University campus,
under the GI Bill.
One of Harold’s more memorable early sessions
was for King Records (1947), backing
R&B favorite Ivory Joe Hunter: “In that recording
session held at Castle Studios (in the old
Tulane Hotel), I was the only white musician.
Fact is, I’ve got that recording at home. Of
course, they misidentified me on the record.
They said it was Owen Bradley on guitar. I took
it to Owen and said, ‘This is why you’re rich
and famous, and I’m not. They keep getting us
mixed up . . .’ And they did that on my first solo
album (‘Misty Guitar’), identifying Owen as my
guitar player, but as long as he and I knew who
we were, it was OK.”
Incidentally, mention of Castle reminds us
that Harold, along with pianist Owen, drummer
Farris Coursey, bassist George Cooper
(then Local 257 president) and singer Snooky
Lanson cut the first session in that historic studio
- a commercial for Shyer’s Jewelers.
Harold Bradley
In 1952, Owen and Harold opened their Bradley
Film & Recording studio downtown, and
after a couple moves, bought an old house on
16th Avenue, which with the addition of a
quonset hut, they converted into a major recording
facility (now owned by Mike Curb). Literally,
it was the start of Music Row.
Thanks to such A&R pioneers as Steve
Sholes, Ken Nelson, Don Law, Chet Atkins and
Owen, Harold became a first-call studio guitarist.
As one of the heralded A Team of session
players, he sat in with fellow pros Grady Martin,
Hank Garland, Bob Moore, Floyd Cramer,
Ray Edenton, Buddy Harman, Pig Robbins,
Tommy Jackson and Charlie McCoy, all of
whom played a part in developing the fabled
Nashville Sound, which kept Music City humming
along during the rock insurgence.
“We didn’t realize we were making history,”
said Harold, who did numerous sessions a day,
sometimes sleeping on a cot in the studio. “We
thought we would wake up one morning and
this recording industry would be gone . . .”
Harold participated in the recording of hits
ranging from Ray Anthony’s 1952 fad “The
Bunny Hop” to John Anderson’s “Swingin’,”
1983 million-seller. Artists he’s played for include
Hank Williams, Red Foley, Brenda Lee,
Buddy Holly, Kitty Wells, Perry Como, Patsy
Cline, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Loretta Lynn,
Conway Twitty, Tammy Wynette, Henry
Mancini, Burl Ives, Roger Miller and Joan Baez.
He’s also the picker who fostered the ’60s
Tic-Tac style of playing guitar, reminiscent of
Zeke Turner’s and Sammy Pruett’s earlier playing
(on the bass strings). That was true later of
Luther Perkins with Johnny Cash.
Guitar Player magazine’s Jon Sievert called
Bradley the world’s most recorded guitarist. He
was especially proud to play on the Owen Bradley
Quintet crossover Coral hit, “Blues Stay
Away From Me,” recorded in 1949 (and according
to Billboard, #7 country, #11 pop).
Aside from his own solo albums, Bradley
also produced veterans acts Slim Whitman and
Eddy Arnold, and newcomer Mandy Barnett.
His guitar stylings can be heard on some 40
movie soundtracks, including a trio of Presley
pictures: “Kissin’ Cousins,” “Clambake” and
“Stay Away, Joe.”
In union matters, George Cooper, Jr. was
his mentor, having served 36 years, the longest
of any Local 257 president. Of course, Bradley’s
the second-longest serving leader with 18 years
as president, and is equally proud of the constituency
and how the union’s progressed.
“If you think about what happened to
Muscle Shoals (Ala.) and Memphis,” said
Harold. “Their best players moved to Nashville
because they were being paid on a weekly salary
and found out they could make as much in
a three-hour union session here as they were
making in a week. We got all the great players
from those towns, whose recording has practically
died as a result.”
Harold was the first president of the National
Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences’
Nashville chapter, and also has served on the
Tennessee Film, Entertainment & Music
Commission’s advisory council. In 1990, he was
elected president of Local 257, and has served
as Trustee to the Board of Directors for AFM’s
Employers’ Pension Fund, was president of the
AFM Southern Conference, and in 1999, became
the AFM’s International Vice President,
a position he still fills.
In 2006, Harold Bradley was inducted into
the Country Music Hall of Fame, where Owen
was enshrined in 1974, making them the only
behind-the-scenes’ brothers inducted to-date.
Harold became a charter member in the International
Musicians’ Hall of Fame in 2007, along
with fellow A Teamers.
On Aug. 26, 2008, the Bradley family -
Owen, Harold, Patsy, Jerry and Connie - were
collectively acknowledged as Music Row’s First
Family with Leadership Music’s Dale Franklin
Award. (Patsy, long affiliated with BMI, and
her brother Jerry, former RCA head, are the children
of Owen. Connie Bradley, who heads up
ASCAP-Nashville, is Jerry’s wife.)
To what does Harold attribute his success?
“Versatility. I think that was a big consideration
. . . I played Dixieland on banjo; I play
country; I’ve worked with (18) Rock & Roll
Hall of Famers . . . I’ve gone all the way from
Bill Monroe to Henry Mancini - and that’s a
pretty good stretch, a wide variety of music. I
would advise anyone coming up to play all different
kinds of music, if they can.”
Harold Bradley says ‘Thank you . . .’ to fellow members and staff
Dear Members:
As I leave this office as President of the
Nashville Association of Musicians, Local 257,
I will take many wonderful memories with me.
I will always fondly remember the musicians,
who supported me during the many trials
and tribulations that occurred these past 18
years.
During my Presidency, I was privileged to
watch the scale wages of the recording musicians
grow from $6 million to $15 million a
year. I’m proud of my role for negotiating with
the gospel recording companies, resulting in
their signing the recording agreement (SRLA).
I also was involved in Symphony negotiations
that raised the average wages from $19,000 a
year to $52,000 a year.
As a 67-year member, I was proud to see
the Local go from a one-room office to owning
outright its own building. I look forward to our
new officers maintaining Nashville’s position
as a major recording and entertainment center.
I encourage all members to support their officers.
After the 9-11 financial crisis of Local 257,
I determined that I would stay until the Local
was financially stable. I am proud to state that
as of Dec. 31, 2008, the day I left office, Secretary-Treasurer
Billy Linneman informed me
that all of Local 257’s bills were fully paid.
Speaking of former Secretary-Treasurer
Linneman, I would like to say that Local 257
and myself were truly blessed to have Billy
Linneman as our Secretary-Treasurer for the
past five-and-a-half years. Billy is not only
musically and mathematically talented, he is a
very honest, sincere and hard-working man.
Thanks Billy!!
I leave behind a dedicated staff of office employees
who are the best of the best. They all
know their jobs and are hard workers. Thanks
staff! I love Local 257 and will still be representing
its members as the International Vice
President and as a Pension Trustee. Just stay in
touch with me. You can visit my website
BradleyHarold@ATT.net
Fraternally yours, Harold Bradley
Norm Ray
Norm Ray waxes nostalgic
Saxophonist Norm Ray has played on
records for the likes of Elvis Presley (“I’m 1,000
Years Old”), Paul McCartney (“Wide Prairie”),
Willie Nelson (“Me & Paul” ), J. J. Cale (“Anyway
the Wind Blows, The Anthology),” and Ray
Stevens (“Everything Is Beautiful/Unreal!”),
but numbers among his fondest memories a
breakfast show he did at WSM.
A Local 257 Lifetime Member, Ray remembers
vividly playing on WSM’s Waking Crew
program. Called the Crew’s “resident hippy,”
Ray’s strong point was improvisations, including
his character creation “Death Valley Norm.”
Others who became regulars on the one-hour
and 15-minute morning program over time, included
hosts Dave Overton, singer Teddy Bart,
Rhyming Weatherman Bill Williams, fellow
newsman Mike Donegan (Donegan’s
Doodlins’), bandleader Bill McElhiney, guitarist
Jack Shook, trombonist Clarence (Dutch)
Gorton, bassist George Cooper, Jr. (also Local
257 president), singers Dottie Dillard, Delores
Watson, clarinetist Harry B. Johnson (The Old
Angler), singers Marty Browne, Carolyn
Darden, Kay Golden, Tom Grant, saxophonist
Jack Gregory, bassist Rex North, trombonistphotographer
Beverly LeCroy, guitarist John
Pell, drummer Terry Waddell, singer Darlene
Austin, Professor Maxwell Lancaster (Dr.
Philologue), Lou Muex (Prize Lady), pianistbandleader
Joe Layne, trumpeter Ron Keller,
sportscaster Larry Munson, sports director
George Plaster, Ralph Emery succeeding Bart
as M.C., and engineers Terry Farris and Chuck
Sanford, among others.
The popular program grew out of a Jack
Stapp a.m. show titled Eight O’Clock Time, featuring
music master Beasley Smith (known for
hits “That Lucky Old Sun” and “Night Train
To Memphis”). Launched in 1951, the spontaneous
and wacky Waking Crew continued for
more than 30 years, first broadcast from WSM
Studio B, boasting a live audience. Other home
bases: The Hermitage Hotel’s Grill Room, and
the WSM TV studios (Knob Hill) in suburban
Nashville (sans audience).
Dutch Gorton, Local 257’s Secretary-Treasurer
during his Waking Crew tenure, reportedly
offered sage advice to promising musicians
who hoped to succeed in Music City. When he
picked up his instrument to join LeCroy, their
“Twin Tombones” bit made them the Waking
Crew’s best known act.
According to an anniversary feature in the
Columbia, Tenn., Daily Herald newspaper
(dated March 21, 1982), saluting their high ratings:
“While everyone makes his own contribution,
some members of ‘The Crew’ are louder
and zanier than others, and perhaps the title of
Waking Crew Jester properly belongs to Norm
Ray. Always quick with a quip, Ray is well
known for his characterizations: The Vanderbilt
Fan, The Belle Meade Belle, Death Valley Norm
and The Senator. A master of accents, Ray can
improvise a comic monologue from almost any
situation.”
Apparently both Ray and Joe Layne kept
host Ralph Emery on edge due to their tendency
to deliver off-color commentary. But Norm
noted, “For just plain crude, Joe is the winner
hands-down. My crude has a bit of finesse!”
Aah, sweet nostalgia. -WT

26 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
It’s Miller time, Sonny that is
Remembering a lifetime of music, and ones who made it possible
By WALT TROTT
Drummer-vibraphonist Sonny Miller has
enjoyed a long and multi-faceted music career,
having been sideman, bandleader, talent coordinator,
booking agent and a dominant force in
big band circles.
Veteran Nashvillians may remember him
best leading local orchestras, before moving on
to broaden his horizons in New York, Florida
and California.
“I was born in Lebanon, Tenn., and back
then it was an all-day trip to get into Nashville,”
says Miller, christened Allia T. Miller, Jr. “Of
course that was my father’s name, but I never
heard of anyone else named Allia - and nobody
knows it today, because I’m always called
Sonny.”
We chatted nearly an hour on the phone with
Miller, who was at home in Burbank, Calif.
So why were drums the instrument of choice?
“I started playing drums after listening to radio.
I always enjoyed keeping time to the music,
so when I was 12 years old, I got a set of
drums (the Slingerland brand). By the time I
was 14, I was playing a lot of places around
Nashville.”
He recalls that his first paying gig was at
age 14, playing the Elks Club in Nashville.
What was a particularly memorable gig?
“I played for the Cheeks on their houseboat
(of course, the Cheek family - Leon and Joel -
founded Maxwell House Coffee),” replies
Miller, adding, “You know, I was awfully young
to be playing that type of party.”
After moving to Nashville, the Millers lived
on Hollings Street: “I attended East High
School. Originally, I took piano lessons and
learned chords (from George Jackson). I was
taught chords and the chords took me through
everything. I picked up on the vibraphone, but
didn’t have lessons on those. I did take steel
guitar lessons at one time, and Bobby Martin
was my teacher. But I didn’t pursue guitar at
all.
“I couldn’t tell my mother, but I played every
joint in town including the Black Diamond,
all the little places and made $2 a night.”
Sonny also performed with a group headed
up by Bob Curry on WLAC-Nashville. Another
gig that springs to mind was playing Shacklett’s
Cafeteria, along with George Jackson playing
organ: “Then I just started playing all the various
events around town.”
This prompted Sonny, now a Lifetime Member,
to join the Nashville Association of Musicians’
AFM Local 257 on Sept. 17, 1936, shortly
after his 17th birthday (Sept. 12). He has retained
his Nashville membership ever since:
“George Cooper was president, and Robert
Payne was secretary at the time.”
While in New York, Miller would join AFM
Local 802, and later Los Angeles’ Local 47.
“I still pay my dues there. (President) Hal
Espinosa and I are friends. He used to be in Les
Brown’s band back when I put them on cruise
ships. I actually had my band on 11 different
cruise ships. Life on the ships was unbelievable.
I booked entertainment for Princess
Cruises 17 years (including The Love Boat).”
Did Sonny ever learn to read music?
“I was not a fast reader. When I played vibraphones,
I learned chords primarily, and was
kind of following Lionel Hampton’s style. And
you know, I came to know him well.”
Sonny Miller on drums, though he doesn’t play now.
Sonny Miller’s Orchestra played The Palms, Nashville, 1939. That’s the bossman on drums.
Once he got enough experience, Sonny began
fronting his own bands, playing mostly jazz:
“We played house parties and all that stuff. Back
then, Nashville had a good number of dance
bands - and liquor by the drink was illegal.”
Owen Bradley was an inspiration to Sonny:
“I would go to every show he ever played back
then. Did you know Beasley Smith? He had that
great (WSM) show Sunday Down South, and
wrote some wonderful songs (‘That Lucky Old
Sun’), and I think he was Owen’s mentor.”
Among fellow drummers Sonny knew were
Farris Coursey, Otto Bash, Walter Lenk and
Buddy Harman. In drummer Paul Broome’s
book “The Other Music City” (co-written with
trumpet player Clay Tucker), Miller’s
misidentified as “Johnny” Miller in a photo and
accompanying text regarding his combo in New
York City.
“I was disappointed because otherwise it’s
a pretty good account of the band days in Nashville,”
says Miller. “Otto Bash called and apologized
for the mistaken identity in their book.”
During World War II, relates Miller, “I
joined the Navy and they sent me into the Maritime
Service, on a small island between Brooklyn
and Staten Island called Hoffman Island.
The band we had there was led by (violinist)
Emery Deutsch, who wrote ‘Play, Fiddle, Play.’
In this band was Buddy Morrow who played
trombone and did the famous instrumental recording
of ‘Night Train.’
“Whenever I wasn’t doing my naval duty -
teaching people how to abandon ship - I played
in the band. When they needed a marching band,
I was in it. Now these were all very good musicians
. . . I was there four years (and playing
weekend gigs off duty).”
In New York City, Miller’s band indeed
played such sought-after venues as The Stork
Club, the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and The Pied
Piper Club, a jazz spot where Dizzy Gillespie
and other greats would drop in. Miller’s Pied
Piper combo included former Nashville musicians
Tommy Knowles on tenor sax, and vocalist
Bobby Johnston, who was Gene Howard’s
brother (who sang with Stan Kenton - think
‘How Many Hearts Have You Broken’). While
in New York, Johnston sang with the legendary
Paul Whiteman’s unit.
Another memorable musician Sonny
worked with was Barney Kessel, one of the finest
guitarists he ever encountered, and a fivetimes
winner of Downbeat’s jazz guitar polls.
“Almost every night columnist Walter
Winchell came into the Stork Club and sat over
to the side, as well as Hollywood celebrities,
and even J. Edgar Hoover (FBI chief).”
Could it be Hoover heard Sonny’d once
played Greenwich Village and was checking up
on what he figured was a Bohemian musician?
“No,” Sonny chuckles. “I was a pretty good
kid and never got into booze or drugs.”
Other New York bookings included the
fabled upstate Catskill Mountain resorts, where
Miller’s crew found themselves backing household-names
like Red Buttons and Milton Berle.
Another favored booking Miller played was the
Traymore Hotel in Atlantic City.
“I had trios, I had four-men, five-men and
15-men bands, whatever the occasion called for.
I got into booking the band and also played in
the smaller groups. In the 1947 Downbeat Poll
on trios, I placed 12th with my trio while playing
the Syracuse Hotel in Syracuse, N.Y. We
were there three months and would broadcast
every night. That was the year the Nat (King)
Cole Trio was #1, and actually I was ahead of
Les Paul’s. No big deal. The point is, I worked
all the time.”
In New York’s off-season, his contingent
played Palm Beach, Fla., during their winter
months’ high tourist time, appearing with such
notables as Sophie Tucker and Morton Downey
at the Riviera Club.
“I played the San Carlos Hotel in Pensacola
twice,” continues Miller. “We also played the
Tampa Terrace Hotel in Tampa. That was nice,
but remember there was no air-conditioning
back then. So it wasn’t as comfortable as now.
“I have been very fortunate myself to be
among the best musicians and I get along well
with so many of them, but I never felt I was in
their class,” confides Miller. “Yet, I always had
a band and was able to get work when a lot of
them couldn’t.”
Shortly after migrating to California, the
Miller band played the mezzanine of the popular
Roosevelt Hotel, a Hollywood landmark frequented
by show business elite, and site of the
first Academy Awards’ ceremony in 1929.
Sonny also played singer Harry Babbitt’s CBS
radio program, featuring Bill Schaeffer, another
Nashville native who’d played trombone with
Francis Craig’s Orchestra (“Near You”).
“Harry had the #1 hits ‘Three Little Fishies’
and ‘Who Wouldn’t Love You’ (in Kay Kyser’s
Orchestra). He was a really nice guy. It was a
morning show and he made a point of mentioning
my name several times. I was very lucky.”
Then Miller became an agent and subsequently
began his Hollywood film phase, appearing
in numerous movies during the 1950s
and ’60s, often playing a sideline musician,.
“I was on screen but you never knew if you
were going to be recorded or not. I did several
Frank Sinatra movies, including ‘The Joker is
Wild’ (the story of comedian Joe E. Lewis), and
I was in Mike Todd’s ‘Around the World in 80
Days.’ I played vibes with Sophia Loren in a
scene from ‘Houseboat’ (with Cary Grant). Let’s
see, I was also in two with Danny Kaye, ‘The
Five Pennies’ (about jazz great Red Nichols) -
‘There were six different bands on screen in
‘Five Pennies’ and I was in each of them’ - and
‘White Christmas’ (with Bing Crosby, Kaye and
Rosemary Clooney).
“I also played Rosemary Clooney’s (TV)
show twice. She was a wonderful singer and I
have some pictures of her from that time . . . ”
Yet another singer he worked with was
torchy Julie London (“Cry Me a River”): “I did
a thing with her at NBC. It was a commercial. I
think she was married to piano player Bobby
Troup at the time (who also appeared in ‘The
Five Pennies’).”
Miller’s own favorite pianist was Dave
Harris: “I had him with me 15 years, and he
was the greatest. He had been with the Raymond
Scott Quintette (which had the 1937 Top 10
novelty number ‘Dinner Music For a Pack of
Hungry Cannibals’). They were one of the great
groups. Dave did all the Bing Crosby shows
and the Colgate Comedy Hour.”
Among dance bands Miller booked were
Les Brown & His Band of Renown, Freddie
Martin’s Orchestra, Nelson Riddle’s and Harry
James’ band.
“I booked Les Brown until he died (Jan. 4,
2001). His original drummer Don (Kramer) is
my best friend. He played for Les at Duke University,
where the band started. Well, he’s now
95 and in good health. You know, on the road
he used to travel with Doris Day, the band’s
singer . . . Of course, Les backed Bob Hope,
whom I also knew. He loved big band music
and especially Les Brown.”
Miller has a son Patrick: “You know he’s
got a drum tattoo on his arm, but he never made
a penny playing professionally.”
Sonny and Hedda Miller have been wed 20
years.
“She’s a great wife,” adds Miller, who says
they travel a lot, having visited such foreign
ports as Australia, New Zealand and England.
Meanwhile, Miller feels fine except for eye
troubles: “I’ve got Macular Degeneration, so
my vision’s really terrible.”
That hasn’t stopped his involvement in the
Big Band Academy activities, chief of which is
saluting musical greats of yesteryear during the
organization’s annual reunion.
“I’ve been on their board of directors 20
years. Last June, we honored Stan Freberg, even
though he did novelty numbers (a la ‘John and
Marsha’), but you know he’s a pretty good
singer. We also saluted The Modernaires, now
carrying on with Paula Kelly, Jr. (a 1940s’ vocal
group known for hits ranging from ‘To Each
His Own’ to ‘Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah’ and once
sang with Glenn Miller’s band). We also honored
Peter Marshall, the former band vocalist
(Bob Chester Orchestra), who hosted ‘Hollywood
Squares’ (and brother to late screen star
Joanne Dru). This is a good organization and
we hold that reunion every year at the
Sportsman’s Lodge, though we’ll be changing
the venue next year. Mainly, we’ve honored big
bands such as Louis Bellson, Tex Beneke, Billy
May and, of course, Les Brown.”
Sonny (on vibes) in New York, had fellow Nashvillians Tommy Knowles and Bob Johnston in his combo.

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 27
Community outreach . . . and more
Volunteer musicians needed
Donicè Kaufman, Director of Youth and
Wellness at The League for The Deaf and Hard
of Hearing, is reaching out for volunteers. There
will be a special camp weekend coming up this
May, and it would be wonderful for the kids to
have some first-hand musical experiences.
Through some research, Donicè and I have
learned that percussion/drums, bass, guitar and
harp are instruments that are conducive to being
comprehended by people who are deaf and
hard of hearing, since their vibrations can be
felt more readily.
I volunteered, last summer, to give percussion/drum
and some basic music lessons to the
children attending camp and I must say that it
was an incredibly rewarding experience. I can
still see their smiles as they played various percussion
instruments and drums. Some of the
kids actually astounded me with how quick they
picked it up and how good they played.
This is a wonderful way to spread the joy of
music to a segment of our community that usually
gets ignored when it comes to music. Please
consider this opportunity that promises to be
fun, educational and challenging for both you
and the students.
Lir Corbitt learns to drum with aid of instructor
Craig Krampf and interpreter Beth Moss.
Jazz station WMOT on endangered list - here’s how YOU can help?
Dear Local 257 members:
WMOT-FM, Nashville’s flagship jazz station, is in serious danger of losing its funding due to
impending budget cuts at Middle Tennessee State University. One of our members with long-time
MTSU involvement has suggested that an e-mail and letter-writing campaign to the President of
MTSU, Dr. Sidney McPhee, could help turn the tide. The following is a suggestion for any of you
to use if you like, but PLEASE feel free to write your own. WMOT has been a huge part of our
music scene for many years, and has always promoted Nashville jazz artists alongside national
names. Our community would lose a very important voice if WMOT is silenced. This is a unique
opportunity for us to make a difference in our community. I will be sending an e-mail and a snail
mail letter, and urge you do the same. PLEASE take a moment to let MTSU know how you feel.
Thanks, Dave Pomeroy
Dr. McPhee’s E-mail address is: smcphee@mtsu.edu - For letters, his address is:
Dr. Sidney McPhee, President, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132
As you have heard, state budget cuts are forcing
Middle Tennessee State University to end
many campus activities, including their awardwinning
jazz public radio station, WMOT-FM
Jazz89. The final decision will be made soon,
so we are asking you to join a city-wide effort
to save this important outlet for classic American
jazz.
“A great nation deserves great art." Too
many of our current generation are totally unaware
of their own cultural heritage. The history
of American music begins with the jazz
and blues of the Mississippi Delta. Without
WMOT, there will be no daily access to classic
mainstream jazz, almost no access to jazz-related
programming from NPR, and significantly
Letter/E-mail Example . . .
To: Dr. Sidney McPhee, MTSU, President, Murfreesboro, TN 37132
From:
Re: WMOT-FM funding
Dear Dr. McPhee: As a member of the Nashville Association of Musicians, AFM Local 257, and
the greater Nashville community, I am very concerned about the news that MTSU is considering
cutting future funding of WMOT, one of the finest radio stations to be heard anywhere. WMOT’s
jazz and community programming is an indispensable part of our music scene here and is an
important source of information, art, and culture for an audience that ranges far beyond the
student body of MTSU and the confines of Murfreesboro. I urge you to carefully consider all of
the negative consequences of taking WMOT-FM off the air, before making any decision of this
magnitude.
Respectfully, (Your name and address)
Jazz pioneer Austin Bealmear calls on Local 257 members to join in the campaign to save renowned jazz station
A Night of Burnin' Love, a tribute to Local
257 member and legendary songwriter Dennis
Linde at the Musicians’ Hall of Fame & Museum
on Feb. 9, lived up to its promise of a
high octane event.
Hosted by actor James Marsden and Dennis'
daughter Lisa, the show was a benefit for
the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF), the
disease that claimed Dennis’ life (see
www.coalitionforpf.org).
Obviously, attendees were wowed by both
the music and the message. PF is an insidious
disease that has been under the radar too long,
and Vanderbilt’s in the midst of research that
it’s hoped will lead to a breakthrough soon.
The music proved outstanding, thanks to a
Please call or e-mail me: Craig Krampf, telephone
(615) 244-9514, Extension 224, or e-mail
me at: craig@afm257.org
Feel the vibes! These players enjoy their unique musical
experience at the League for The Deaf and Hard
of Hearing (front row): Latesha Shannon, Mohamed
Mogow, Tyreasha Cowan, Lir Corbitt, Ayman Abdul
Shaheed, Erika Nobrega, Tre Dobbins, and (standing)
Justin Southerland,volunteer, with Craig Krampf,
instructor, and Donice Kaufman, program director.
Lawmaker’s ‘privilege tax’
proposal strikes sour note
Memphis-based Tennessee Legislative Rep.
G. E. Hardaway has proposed that professional
athletes and those entertainers whose incomes
totals $50,000 annually “should pay to play.”
The state lawmaker says funds raised by such
a “privilege tax” could benefit Juvenile Court
programs immensely.
Former Titans’ wide receiver Chris Sanders
says such a tax would not sit well with some
grid-iron players: “There is going to be some
griping a little bit; guys get upset when they
pay a lot of taxes, because they get taxed in so
many areas.”
AFM Local 257’s new President Dave
Dennis Linde tribute concert proves to be a grand night for a great cause
crack band of Local 257 members led by Bergen
White and a variety of guest vocalists, including
Joe Nichols, Mark Chesnutt and the surprisingly
soulful Marsden, running through a
variety of Linde hits, including “Goodbye Earl,”
“Bubba Shot the Jukebox,” sung by Chesnutt;
Ben Lee's soulful rendition of “Walkin' A Broken
Heart,” originally recorded by Don Williams;
and the finale “Burnin' Love,” featuring
hit songwriter Jim Collins filling for Elvis.
It was the proverbial great night for a great
cause in a great atmosphere at Joe Chambers’
Musicians’ Hall of Fame & Museum. If you
haven't checked out the MHFM, do so soon, as
it may get eaten up by the proposed convention
center!
Pomeroy feels that such an additional tax would
be a further burden on musicians, some of
whom are already struggling just to pay their
membership dues.
Bassist Pomeroy stated, “Mr. Hardaway's
bill suggesting a ‘privilege tax' for professional
entertainers and athletes is laughable in its
premise, but also insulting to our community
less support for live jazz events and recordings
by local jazz artists. Without WMOT's website
and streaming audio, local jazz artists will no
longer be heard daily around the world. And
you won't be able to hear JAZZ On The Side,
the only syndicated jazz documentary show
produced in the South.
Yes you can help by joining a letter-writing
campaign to convince MTSU to keep WMOT
on the air, by attending events to rally support
and raise money for WMOT, and by watching
for other efforts to save this cultural treasure.
Please send your e-mail or letters to either
MTSU President Dr. Sidney McPhee, Room
0110, Bld.g CAB, MTSU, Murfreesboro, TN
in a time when intellectual property is under
attack and professional musicians struggle to
make a living in the digital age, when music is
perceived to be ‘free.’ Music isn't free - we work
for a living. While we all share his concern
about funding the juvenile court system, I respectfully
suggest that Mr. Hardaway look elsewhere
for a more equitable solution.”
Sound Health Care program now in place
AFM Local 257 is proud to announce that as of Feb. 10, 2009, the Sound Health Care plan,
originally developed by the CMA and Vanderbilt, is now available for the first time to our members
free of any additional membership charges. Your current 2009 membership in Local 257 is
all you need to qualify to apply for this plan. In the past, you had to be a dues-paying member of
CMA, RMA Nashville, IBMA, GMA or NSAI to be eligible. Just go to www.afm257.org and
click on the Sound Health Care logo.
When this plan was first shown to Local 257 more than a year ago, I was very impressed not
only with the plan but also by the passion and dedication of its administrator, R.J. Stillwell. He
has been a songwriter and musician before entering the Health Care business and has a unique
understanding of the special challenges that musicians face in getting and keeping, affordable
health insurance. The Local did not join the group plan at that time, but we were able to offer it
to RMA Nashville members last August.
For those with major medical issues, R.J. Stillwell points out, “I do think we need to clarify
one element in order to manage expectations, as this isn't a true group guarantee issue plan. All
Local 257 members who apply will need to go through the underwriting process for approval,
and so Sound Health Care offers several plans with different underwriting criteria. As such, our
issue rate and premium savings far exceeds industry norms, and as a music industry advocacy
organization, we will help you navigate the process. And should someone be uninsurable, we
will provide counsel in exploring possible solutions."
Many Local 257 members have already switched to this plan in its previous incarnations and
are saving money and getting better coverage. As the Sound Health Care family grows, it will
help keep rates affordable. As part of our on-going effort to provide meaningful services to our
members, we are proud to finally offer this “Nashville Musicians Association Sound Health
Care” group plan to ALL Local 257 members. For more information - contact R. J. Stillwell, 555
Church St., Suite 2403, Nashville, TN 37219. T: 615.256.8667, F: 615.256.2098 e-mail:
musicrow@aol.com
- Dave Pomeroy
37132, or Dr. Roy L. Moore, Dean of the College
of Mass Communication, to let them know
how strongly we support WMOT. Also let them
know that you will support WMOT financially,
if the station survives, as it will need a serious
increase in individual contributions.
Remember us on-line
Members, the entire issue of The
Nashville Musician is also on our
website for your convenience, or you
can receive it via e-mail. Check it out
via www.AFM257.org
Rally to the cause!
Help keep WMOT-FM on the air
. . . Write letters or send e-mails!

28 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
David Briggs, a product of Muscle Shoals
By WALT TROTT
Being an outgoing sort of guy can pay big
dividends, but you better have the talent to back
it up.
Just ask pianist-producer-songwriter David
Briggs, who is quick to credit his breaks to notables
like James Joiner, Floyd Cramer, Owen
Bradley and Elvis Presley.
Since playing his first studio session at age
14, David’s had a knack for hanging out in the
right circles. On the music scene that’s included
having colleagues like Norbert Putnam, Rick
Hall, Billy Sherrill, Felton Jarvis, Kelso Herston
and Cecil Scaife.
So David jumped at an opportunity to honor
two of his yesteryear contacts, both at the same
time - Elvis Presley and Cecil Scaife - last February.
Briggs joined in the Nashville Celebrates
Elvis Presley all-star concert benefitting the
Cecil Scaife Music Business Scholarship Endowment,
enabling deserving students to attend
Belmont University. (Scaife pioneered
Belmont’s 1970s’ music business program, as
well as working behind-the-scenes for Sam
Phillips’ Studios, and founded the Gospel Music
Association.)
“I was the concert’s Music Director,” explains
Briggs. “I wrote all the charts, came to
all their meetings, talked to the artists, conducted
and played the piano . . . I didn’t mind
because it was for a good cause . . . Shane
Keister was great, he did the strings for us.”
Sharing the bill entertainment-wise at the
SRO show were B. J. Thomas, Pat Boone,
Wanda Jackson, The Jordanaires, Ronnie
McDowell, T. G. Sheppard, Vince Gill, Amy
Grant, Wynonna Judd, D. J. Fontana, The
Stamps Quartet, Millie Kirkham, James Burton,
Larry Paxton, Norbert Putnam, Steve
Turner, Harold Bradley, Danny Parks, Steve
Turner, the Palmetto State Quartet and Joe
Guercio. Most participants had some connection
to the King of Rock & Roll.
Prior to meeting Presley, Alabama-born
Briggs helped lay the groundwork for the fabled
Muscle Shoals Sound, specifically in Rick
Hall’s historic FAME Studio, helping to make
it a regional recording center.
We got with David at Local 257, initially to
promote the second annual Nashville Celebrates
Elvis, since canceled. That’s all the excuse we
needed for an opportunity to talk about David’s
musical exploits, leading to his induction into
the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1999,
alongside Bobby Goldsboro, Wilson Pickett and
The Temptations.
David Paul Briggs was born March 16,
1943 in Killen, Ala., and learned to play piano
as a youngster. He also plays guitar, organ
and synthesizer.
So what did songwriter James Joiner (whose
“A Fallen Star” was a 1957 near-charttopper
for Jimmy C. Newman and a cover hit for Ferlin
Husky) have to do with our subject?
“At age 14, he had me playing guitar in his
studio,” recalls Briggs. “James started Tune
Records (Alabama’s first record company) and
had success with ‘A Fallen Star.’ He wanted to
cut some good demos. But I had to get rides
there, because I was too young to drive. He liked
the way I played (and paid David $5 an hour).
“That’s when I first met Kelso Herston,
James’ partner, who was already living in Nashville.
Kelso brought Jimmy Newman down for
that session. That’s also how I met Jerry
Carrigan, who was playing drums, having
started at 12, a couple years before me.”
James’ family ran Joiner Transit, a bus company,
and upon his discharge from the Army,
James launched Tune Publishing with GI buddy
Kelton Herston (in 1956), who went by the nickname
Kelso. Both were Florence natives.
“James was the first guy to start anything
down in our part of the country during my era,”
adds Briggs. “He and Kelso had their studio in
the bus station. Back then, a lot of us cut records
in radio stations like WOWL-Florence (which
also had a television outlet). We cut records
there sometimes, on so-called town and country
artists.”
Carrigan and Briggs hooked up with guitarists
Terry Thompson, lead; Earl (Peanut) Montgomery,
rhythm; and Norbert Putnam, bass.
“Montgomery played on some things with
us, not everything,” notes Briggs. “Usually he
played rhythm, but he was an excellent bass
player. He’s one of the musicians on Arthur
Alexander’s (R&B hit) ‘You Better Move On,’
but he wasn’t a real rock and roll guy. His heart
was in country (and he co-wrote Dave Dudley’s
smash ‘Six Days On the Road’). He later helped
me and took me to a studio across the street
called Spar Music, a publishing company.”
Later, Briggs would become half owner of
Spar. It’s also where David met Rick Hall and
Billy Sherrill.
Billy’s from Phil Campbell, Ala., Norbert’s
from Green Hill, Ala., all within a 30-mile radius
of the Quad Cities that encompass Muscle
Shoals, Florence, Sheffield and Tuscumbia.
“You know Billy Sherrill was always good
at coming up with names, and Billy suggested
(the acronym) F.A.M.E., which came from the
title Florence Alabama Music Enterprise, and
Rick used it.”
According to Briggs, when Hall started that
studio, “We went over there and became the
first to record there at Muscle Shoals. The other
guys who call themselves the originals played
at his Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, which is in
Sheffield (Ala.).”
Briggs, Carrigan, Putnam, Thompson and
sometimes Montgomery recorded at FAME,
and helped create successes for up-and-coming
acts like Arthur Alexander, The Tams,
Jimmy Hughes, Joe Tex and Tommy Roe.
“We would also go out with Tommy on the
road,” says Briggs. “On one such trip we got to
open with him for The Beatles in Washington,
D.C. (during their first U.S. tour).
“Felton Jarvis produced Tommy and later
Elvis. We cut hits on The Tams, a big R&B
group. Felton produced them, and he brought
us a lot of business down there. It was after we
had that hit on Arthur Alexander’s ‘She Done
Me Wrong’ that drew him down there. Felton
and Ray Stevens were brothers-in-law, having
married sisters.
“After Ray had ‘Ahab the Arab,’ he cut his
stuff down there, like ‘Mr. Baker the Undertaker,’
songs like that. Ray arranged a lot of
things back in those days, and he was a good
one, too. When I came up here, I did a lot of his
sessions as an arranger.”
Actually, recording-wise Rick Hall initially
had singer-songwriter-guitarist Dan Penn (who
co-wrote “Do Right Woman”) and his bandsmen
cutting tracks first off, in an old Florence
tobacco warehouse.
The set of Muscle Shoals’ session aces
Briggs refers to in the studio on 3614 Jackson
Highway, boasted Roger Hawkins, Jimmy
Johnson, David Hood and Barry Beckett, whose
playing enhanced the hits of greats like Percy
Sledge, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Etta
James, Clarence Carter and Candi Staton. Of
course, there were others supporting Shoals
Sound Studio sessions (see page 1), notably
Junior Lowe, Duane Allman and those the Musicians’
Hall of Fame cited as “Friends,” Pete
Carr, Spooner Oldham, Clayton Ivey, Randy
McCormick and Will McFarlane.
While in Alabama, Briggs also began writing
his songs, signing with Rick Hall’s publishing
company. Among David’s successes were
“Taste of Heaven,” which he co-wrote with
Jimmy Rule, a Top 20 for Jim Ed Brown, and
wrote B sides to James Gilreath’s 1963 Top 20
“Little Band of Gold” and Percy Sledge’s “High
Cost of Leaving.”
“Most of these were written before I came
to Nashville,” continues Briggs. “There were
scattered things. I had the backside of Tommy
Roe’s hit ‘Everybody,’ but didn’t get paid. Supposedly,
Lawrence Welk covered an instrumental
release ‘Tender Teardrops,’ though I never
heard it and never received any money for it.”
David believes it was 1959 or ’60 when he
journeyed to Music City to cut a record for Sam
Phillips’ label then called Phillips, though the
players all called it Sun. Cecil Scaife was Sam’s
man in Nashville at the time.
“I remember the studio then was on Seventh
Avenue. Well, Billy Sherrill, who was from
my home area was engineer, janitor and everything
else. Kelso Herston produced the record
on me.That’s why I had Jerry Kennedy and a
lot of the big guys playing on my record. And I
had Pig Robbins playing piano! I wouldn’t play
because I wanted Pig to play.”
David was in college when he was 16: “As
I skipped a couple grades in high school . . .
Cecil always believed in me and encouraged
me in the business.”
Briggs made his sporadic trips to Nashville
to pitch tunes, and in doing so got to know
people like Scaife and Decca chief Owen Bradley,
both he came to regard as mentors.
“Owen had like the kiss of death in listening
to songs. I mean he would hear about eight
bars and stop the recorder if he wasn’t interested,
then quickly move on to the next selection.
When I went back up with some songs, I
had one titled ‘Imagine,’ long before The
Beatles came around. That was about 1960. Incidentally,
when I went with The Beatles later,
I told John (Lennon) about it, saying ‘I had one,
but it’s not as good as your’s.’
“One of my songs, ‘My Dreams,’ I had
pitched Owen for Brenda Lee, but he didn’t
care for it. He asked who the singer was? I told
him I couldn’t get the gal who usually did my
demos, so I sang it myself. He was surprised it
was me.”
The Phillips’ single didn’t do anything to
advance David’s career, so he continud to push
ahead: “Down there in Alabama, I was still singing,
writing and playing, and making trips to
Nashville . . .”
Once after listening without finding any cuts
that caught his ear, “Owen asked if I had anything
else? I said I’d play some for him on the
piano. He asked, ‘You play?’ So when he heard
my playing, he said, ‘You play great!’ Then he
told me, ‘I’m doing some auditions for Decca.
I’ve got to sign another artist pop, so you come
to the audition. I’m not saying I’ll sign you, but
you’ve got a good shot.’
“That’s where I met Wayne Carson. He was
a great songwriter, better than me and a better
singer, too. I’ll never forget that . . . He and I
just sort of stared at each other, because it came
down to him or me.
“Then Owen brought us both back up together.
In those days, going up those stairs to
his office was like going up to God in Heaven!
I remember the pressure we felt. Well, he sat us
down, saying, ‘I can’t make up my mind between
you, so I’m going to sign you both.’ Neither
one of us ever had a big hit. He went on to
ABC. (Later, Wayne charted four singles, but
none made Top 40, though one - ‘Barstool
Mountain’ - did become a Moe Bandy Top 10.)”
David moved to Nashville in 1964, when
Decca signed him. “I remember when I cut for
Owen, he wanted me to play piano, but I said
no, mainly because I wanted Floyd Cramer
playing on my record.”
Briggs’ very first release was Bob
Montgomery’s ballad “When I Think Of You,”
backed with “Leave Her To Me,” which Brad-
ley had been holding for Brenda Lee: “He
thought it might be a good girl’s song . . . Northern
stations like WLS-Chicago favored the ballad,
while the South was playing ‘Leave Her
To Me,’ it was pop not country.”
Decca’s new pop artist didn’t score any hits,
but notes, “I was once in line to record ‘Wooden
Heart,’ which went to Joe Dowell (#1, 1961),
signed by Shelby Singleton to Smash.”
“After putting 30 or 40 songs with the publisher
in Alabama, I got discouraged with writing
and almost quit . . . The first week I was
here in Nashville, I made $800, and would’ve
been lucky to make that in a year down there.”
David began playing regularly in the studio,
thanks to his contacts with Bradley, Scaife,
and others such as Shelby, Chet Atkins and Don
Law.
“Floyd became one of my biggest supporters.
He’d call me 8 in the morning and say,
‘What are you doin’ today?’ I’d say, ‘Nothin’
man.’ He’d say, ‘Be at RCA 10, 2 and 6, I’m
goin’ fishin’ . . . Bye.’ Sometimes it would be
something I didn’t like, for back then I didn’t
particularly like doing gospel - and it would be
the Blackwood Brothers . . . but then, of course,
it paid the same.”
Briggs was reliable and became known for
his versatility.
“Flatt & Scruggs had me come in and play
piano, just for the rhythm, but you never did
hardly hear it on the record. They didn’t want
you to hear it.”
“On one day I might go to a morning session
with a country artist like Webb Pierce or
Red Foley; but at 2 o’clock maybe do Roy
Rogers cutting a cowboy album; then at 6 play
for Al Hirt, who had a 50 or 60 piece orchestra.
Perhaps then we’d go in with Elvis at 10 and
stay till next morning. But I liked playing a variety
of music. I didn’t really want to play just
country, and my background is in R&B.”
It was in 1965 that Floyd was slated for a
Presley session, but was also booked at
Bradley’s Barn with Bill Anderson, and planned
when that studio time was completed, to hurry
over to Studio B.
“It was a 6-9 session and was going to get
through late. So I was hired as a stand-in with
Floyd’s approval and with Mary’s, Chet’s assistant
(who Felton later wed),” says Briggs.
“So I was just gonna play until Floyd got there.
We were playing for his ‘How Great Thou Art’
album, and I recorded ‘Love Letters,’ a nongospel
song.”
Elvis was so pleased by his playing that even
when Floyd returned, he kept David on playing
organ. Through the years, David continued
to back Elvis in the studio and also on the road,
including a three-week Las Vegas gig when the
rock king was backed by a huge orchestra.
“We did a couple records on Elvis where I
used the clavinet on them, like ‘Way On Down’
and he just loved that sound (a clavinet is an
electronically amplified clavichord analogous
to an electric guitar). Elvis was going to Pontiac,
Mich., for a 1976 New Year’s Eve show; it was
called ‘The world’s biggest New Year’s Eve
concert.’ He said, ‘I want you to come and to
make all the noise that you can. Bring that clarinet
or whatever you call it.’ He never could get
the name right. I think he was kinda scared playing
before all those people. He ripped his pants
on that show.”
Later, David produced “The Elvis Medley”
shortly after he’d died: “We put a medley together,
but it wasn’t necessarily done in the order
that showed his career. I put on some of my
favorite Elvis songs like ‘Don’t Be Cruel,’
‘Love Me Tender’ and ended with ‘Suspicious
Minds.’ I actually spliced, edited and stopped
it, then came back and opened up The
Jordanaires again, and kept nothing of the original
records but Elvis, and put a big chorus . . .
on the end . . . retarded it and ended it.
“Jimmy Bowen went nuts! He wanted me
to do one on Conway Twitty and wanted to
know how I did it . . . It was just editing. Oh, it
took me awhile because you’re working with
older tapes. Titled ‘The Elvis Medley,’ it’s got
a beautiful cover. We used cartoon characters

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 29
on it. MTV played them; Elvis cartoon characters
playing around the pool. It did pretty good
(when released in 1982).”
Another challenge for Briggs was producing
The Monkees’ Michael Nesmith: “I met The
Monkees by playing on their things and Michael
and I became friends. He asked me to produce
one of his first solo albums.That was when he
did the first part of ‘Elephant Parts,’ which was
the first video we done. I was going through
some strange stuff at the time, part of it being
Elvis and Linda Thompson, which I don’t mind
mentioning now, but back then I wouldn’t say
anything about it.”
Linda Thompson, of course, is the former
Miss Tennessee who was Presley’s girlfriend
for nearly five years, appeared on the syndicated
TV series Hee Haw, co-wrote with Briggs,
and was also wed to Olympic swimmer Bruce
Jenner and later composer David Foster.
“Michael was going through the same thing
with his wife and best friend, a very similar situation,”
continues Briggs. “So my head wasn’t
even into his album, but I stayed with him and
did all the tracks, until it was finished. I told
him I wanted to quit the job, and didn’t really
want anything to do with it. He didn’t understand
that, but I told him my head wasn’t into
it, and didn’t feel like I did a good job. So I
didn’t get credit, but Michael gave me a little
pay-off later after it sold a few records. It was
an emotionally-strange sort of thing. I’ve still
got pictures of he and I.”
Despite his busy studio schedule, Briggs
found time to perform in a band of session players
called Area Code 615, its name derived from
Nashville’s telephone code. The players recorded
back-to-back albums “Area Code 615”
and “A Trip In the Country” in 1969 and 1970,
respectively.
The band of all-stars included Briggs on piano;
Norbert on bass; Weldon Myrick on steel;
Kenny Buttrey, drums; Mac Gayden; Pete
Wade, dobro; Charlie McCoy, harmonica; and
Wayne Moss, lead guitar.
“Elliot Mazer produced this at Cinderella
Studios for Polydor Records (with an assist
from Buttrey). It’s developed a cult following.”
Mazer worked in the studio with such VIPs
as Santana, Sinatra, Switchfoot and The Who.
Area Code 615’s smooth blending of blues, rock
and country were expemplified by their singles
“Southern Comfort” and “Why Ask Why.”
“You know, before going into the studio we
played baseball out in the yard, just prior to
cutting stuff,” grins Briggs. “Who pulled that
sound together? Well, the other guys will be mad
if I say in an interview that Mike Nesmith’s the
one that put those sounds together or that
Charlie McCoy made it work. Charlie was the
most serious musician, and still is.”
With Jerry Kennedy, Briggs cut the successful
Top 40 1987 instrumental “Hymne”
for Mercury, but credited it to Joe Kenyon, the
name being an inside joke: “The reason being
that if it succeeded we didn’t want to go on the
road to plug it. Well, we did do a few station
promotions, and made the cover of R&R (trade
weekly). But they got calls from like The Tonight
Show inviting us on. We were busy with
studio work.”
David explained that their nom de plume
came from Jerry’s attorney, inspired by
Kennedy’s initials J.K., resulting in Joe Kenyon.
For the most part, did producing give him a
greater sense of satisfaction?
“I never did want to be a producer. But the
thing that I’ve done that paid me more than the
Elvis stuff was Willie Nelson’s ‘Shotgun Willie’
album (1973). I was producer on that, coming
in behind Jerry Wexler (Atlantic’s executive
producer) and Arif Mardin, the great producer
who just died a few years back.”
Briggs worked on the set in both Nashville
and Memphis. He smiled recalling the time he
and Willie were being interviewed on TV regarding
their project: “The guy asked him which
is the most important, the music or the lyrics?
Willie said, ‘Let me think on that while you talk
to David.’ So I said, ‘Well, you can’t hum a
lyric.’ Willie laughed, he liked that.”
In 1988, he began production on a (Virgin
Records) project that warmed his heart, working
with Roy Orbison: “I started some good stuff
with Roy, but unfortunately you’ll never hear
it. Don Was was president . . . I was the leader
on it and Don just loved it, but it was completely
redone after Roy’s untimely death (Dec. 6,
1988).
“Then Barbara, Roy’s widow, wanted me to
redo the songs with different musicians. She
wanted me to take Reggie Young off the track
and add Eric Clapton. I said, ‘I’m not going to
do it.’ Roy loved Reggie and once even said,
‘Man, that’s my favorite guitar player.’ So a lot
of those songs, she and the guy from England
did with name musicians. She wanted as many
name players as she could get.
“I produced the vocals that were on that album
(‘King of Hearts,’ released in 1992), and I
did get credit on one track ‘Wild Hearts Run
Out of Time,’ a theme for a movie considered
about Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein. One
of my writers wrote it. We produced the
soundtrack on Roy and got credit for that.”
It was probably in 1990, says Briggs, when
Owen Bradley approached him about re-doing
some of the Patsy Cline product. “He said,
‘We’re going to do all the Patsy Cline stuff over.
I’ve managed to isolate her voice . . .’ and had
those Korean three-tracks, I think they were,
and her voice was totally isolated, singing all
those haunting classics. Owen said, ‘What I
want you to do is totally change it, hire a rhythm
section, strings, the whole bit and write the arrangements
. . .’
“I said, ‘Oh my God, I’m gonna get crucified
and all these critics will say, ‘You’re messing
with the classics.’ Owen said, ‘They already
have that other stuff! I did that 30 years ago,
whatever. I want to do another to show these
songs could’ve been done another way, like we
do today.’ So I hired Reggie (Young) and all
the more modern guys and we produced a totally
different album. Owen loved it. But a lot
of people hated it. Well, they forgot to put my
name on it and Owen apologized.
“When they put out a single - it may have
been a version of ‘Faded Love’ - it says ‘Arranged
by David Briggs’ . . . When he was still
mixing, they sent me a tape and Owen wrote
on there, ‘It’s not quite there, but it’s almost
there.’ I still have that.”
With good buddy Norbert Putnam, he
opened the Nashville-based Quadrafonic Studios:
“We had Quad together, starting out in ’69
on thru ’79. We could trust each other. Norbert
had the savvy and daring, with adventure in his
heart. Ours was the first studio with three-channel
headphones, a choice of stereo - all the singers
wanted themselves louder than anything -
That studio was the first to offer anything more
than monaural in this town. And we had Quad-
8 - we thought the four-channel sound was going
to be the big thing, but as it turned out, it
wasn’t, because the consumer couldn’t afford
to buy the hardware.
“When we sold it, I had to sign a three-year
non-compete clause. So officially, House of
David started in 1982, though I already had the
studio, but before that just for me. I couldn’t
open it to the public; actually I built that studio
with Elvis in mind, but he died before we got it
finished. I had already quit the road with him,
though we were going to do some of his stuff
in there.”
Who was the first to record in Briggs’ latest
studio?
“Joe Cocker was the soulful antithesis of like
nothing I was doing. He was the first guy to
use my House of David, so I started off with a
big one . . . Neil Young cut ‘House of Gold’ in
the studio.”
For some 20 years, David and co-director
D. Bergen White were music directors for the
Country Music Association’s awards shows.
Briggs also did This Country’s Rockin’, a 10hour
HBO Special; and a 2-1/2 hour TV Special
in tribute to Grand Ole Opry comic grand
dame Minnie Pearl.
Briggs’ playing’s heard on the recordings of
such artists as Barbara Mandrell, Kenny Rogers,
Loretta Lynn, Mark Chesnutt, Reba McEntire
and Tom Jones.
Smiling, Briggs points out, “I played on two
or three of his albums, but I never met Tom
Jones. Back in the early 1980s I could’ve met
him one time in Los Angeles, as he wanted me
to come out and do the strings. But I would have
missed like 20 sessions. You used to not cancel
sessions. That was the kiss of death.”
Who’s his favorite producer to work with?
Unhesitantly he replies Owen Bradley:
“When I was playing piano for Owen, he could
put the fear of God in you, because he expected
that you were able to do it. You never got to
play piano until it’s time to cut. He played the
piano and rehearsed with the strings, the whole
group and the arrangements. You’re just standing
there. Everybody’s used to what he’s played,
and he was playing some incredible stuff, then
he’d say, ‘OK, let’s roll it!’ You’ve got to sit in
and he’s recording it and you haven’t even run
through it. All of a sudden, Owen might say,
‘Bring it up a half-step,’ which may have taken
it from B-flat to B-natural, which changed all
the music and you’re transposing . . . I did that
because I was scared to death, and you know
what, I’m glad I did.
“After working for him, playing for all those
David Briggs recently at the Union.
Following session, Tommy Roe (guitar) with Muscle Shoals associates (from left) Rick Hall,
Jerry Carrigan, Felton Jarvis, Ray Stevens, David Briggs and Norbert Putnam.
Roy Orbison, Jeff Carlton and David Briggs take a break from recording.
- Kathy Shepard photo
other producers was a joke. Owen actually knew
what he was doing. Most of the others didn’t
know anything; they’d just set the clock and sit
in there and drink. But listen to his records, how
great they still are.”
It was in 2000 that David stepped back after
45 years working steady: “I quit and
wouldn’t even go downtown for a year. I was
just burned out.”

30 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
Legislation & Labor reporting
President Pomeroy and Secretary/Treasurer
Krampf have been invited by AFM President Tom
Lee to be part of the AFM's Legislative Action
Committee.The committee also includes AFM
Director of Government Relations Hal Ponder and
AFM Local officers from New York, Chicago, Los
Angeles, and Atlanta. All will participate in sharing
ideas and plans for upcoming legislative action
and events.This year is shaping up to be an
important year for legislation that affects musicians
and creative performance rights.
Local 257 supports the AFM's "$2 Drive" to
fund the AFM Legislative Action Fund (formerly
known as TEMPO). This Fund is used to promote
musician-friendly legislation and support those
legislators who are working with the AFM to pass
important bills like the Performing Rights Act
which is currently before Congress. A mere $2 is
the requested donation but you can donate any
amount through the Local and we will pass it on
to the AFM Legislative Action Fund.
Beginning with a preliminary AFM caucus on
Feb. 18, President Pomeroy will be in Los Angeles
participating in the Motion Picture and Television
Negotiations between the AFM and the TV
and Film Industry on behalf of Local 257. Dave
will also attend the AFM's Western Conference
in San Diego the weekend of Feb. 20, and return
to L.A. for the actual Negotiations that begin on
Feb. 23. Drawing on his experience as one of two
Rank and File negotiators for Phono recording,
Dave will be looking out for Nashville musicians'
best interests in the Film and TV worlds.
Secretary-Treasurer Krampf along with a small
diverse group of Local 257 members will be guests
at a luncheon/meeting at Lowe's Vanderbilt Friday,
Feb. 20. Rep. Jim Cooper and perhaps, Rep.
Marsha Blackburn, will be in attendance along
with representatives, officers and members from
AFTRA, The AFM and The Recording Academy.
The topic of discussion will be the latest status of
the current campaign to get Performance Rights
legislation enacted by Congress, so that the artists
and musicians who create recorded performances
and the music labels who invest in the creation of
those musical performances get royalties when
their music is played on AM/FM radio, like almost
everywhere else in the world
An update from Hal Ponder, AFM Director of
Government Relations. The recent inauguration
of President Obama and the beginning of the 111th
Congress means that it is time to ramp up our performance
rights campaign for this year. As many
of you may remember, this past summer AFM and
the MusicFIRST coalition hosted many AFM
members and other musicians in Washington, D.C.,
so that they could lobby members of Congress on
performance rights. As a result, the House Judiciary
Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and
Intellectual Property approved our performance
rights bill. That was a good beginning. This year,
we intend to have the bill passed by the House
and Senate. To launch this effort we will have a
lobbying “fly-in” on March 3.
For those that may not recall, the MusicFIRST
coalition is made up of 13 founding organizations,
Agenda items for the 6:30 pm. Wednesday, March 18,
General Membership meeting in George Cooper Hall.
(Continued from page 1)
being proposed by officers and board members of AFM Local 257 to the existing By-Laws of the Nashville
Association of Musicians. For information on these and any other information needed, prior to the
next General Membership meeting, feel free to contact Secretary-Treasurer Craig Krampf at his office,
or telephone (615) 244-9514, Extension 224, or via e-mail: craig@afm257.org
Free Speech By-Law change proposal
Whereas, Local 257 By-laws contain two sections:
Article II, Section 7 – “Any member found guilty of fraud upon the Association, or as an
accessory thereto, or who imperils the interest of any member or members shall, after due
trial and conviction by the Hearing Board, be fined an amount to be determined by the Hearing
Board, and approved by the Executive Board.”
Article III, Section 2 – “Any member who by improper conduct, in any way becomes a disgrace
to this Association, or who imperils its interest and existence, might, upon specific
charges in writing and after due notice of opportunity to be heard, proof-hearing and conviction,
may be fined and/or suspended or expelled in accordance with the By-laws.”
that protect individual members and the Local from improper behavior, libel charges and harmful acts
damaging to the overall welfare of the membership; and
Whereas, Article II, Section 8 -
“The members shall consider all the business of the Association private. Any member found
guilty of discussing the private business of this Association on the street or any other public
place, where it imperils the existence of any member, or the Local, shall be fined an amount to
be determined by the Executive Board.”
is confusing in its intent and language, is redundant and offers no additional protection to members, and
could potentially be used to suppress free speech rights under the First Amendment; Therefore, be it
Resolved, That Article II, Section 8 be struck from the By-laws; and, be it further
Resolved, That the cross references to Article II, Section 8 [which is misidentified as Section 9 in the
current By-laws] in Article I, Section 26 (Executive Board) and Article I, Section 39 (Hearing Board), be
deleted as follows:
Article 1, Section 26 - Executive Board members shall refrain from breaching the confidence
of any Executive Board proceeding and shall be guided by Article II, Section 9.
Article 1, Section 39 - Hearing Board members shall refrain from breaching the confidence of
any Hearing Board proceeding and shall be guided by Article II, Section 9.
And, Be it further
Resolved, That the following language be added to Article XIV, Standing Resolutions as the new No. 12:
“All meetings of the Executive Board, Hearing Board and Emergency Relief Board shall be considered
private business of the Association and shall remain confidential, except for any necessary public records
such as minutes of said meetings. Regarding General Membership Meetings, all members attending
agree that it is in the best interest of all concerned that the private business of the Association shall
remain confidential.”
- Submitted by Dave Pomeroy
Board Recommendation: Favorable
including AFM, The Recording Academy,
AFTRA, RIAA, A2IM, Sound Exchange and others,
and 160 founding artists. You can learn more
about the Coalition by going online to
www.musicfirstcoalition.org . The Coalition's
goal is to secure the passage of legislation, the
Performance Rights Act, which would grant a performance
right on all sound recordings broadcast
over AM/FM radio. Currently, terrestrial radio
broadcasters do not pay performers when their
work is aired. The Performance Rights Act will
change that. Satellite radio, Internet radio and cable
radio all pay a performance right, but due to a loophole
in the copyright regulations AM/FM radio is
exempt.
For the “fly-in,” we are targeting members of
Congress who sit on key committees, particularly
the Judiciary Committee. These members are from
the states listed below. Members of Congress are
especially attentive to issues affecting their state
or district. By showing them that the Performance
Rights Act would have a positive impact on their
constituents, it becomes more likely that the Senator
or Representative will favor it.
AFM and the MusicFIRST Coalition will be
meeting with members of Congress from the following
states: Vermont, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania,
California, Iowa, New York, Arizona, Illinois, Alabama,
Maryland, South Carolina, Rhode Island,
Texas, Oregon, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Delaware,
Tennessee, Colorado, and West Virginia.
Name Change Proposal
Whereas, the name “Nashville Association of Musicians” does not easily lend itself to acronyms, abbreviations,
or easy pronounciation, and,
Whereas, in an era where marketing is essential to continued success, an effective logo and title helps to
brand an organization or product effectively, and that a name change to “Nashville Musicians Association”
will help identify AFM Local 257 with “Nashville Musicians,” who we exist to represent, and
Whereas, we have been advised by legal counsel that a name change to “Nashville Musicians Association”
will not cause any undue confusion or legal issues to the way in which Local 257 does business
within the AFM and in the community at large,
Therefore, be it proposed that the name “Nashville Association of Musicians” be changed to “Nashville
Musicians Association” legally and in practice from this day forth. Accordingly, Article 1, Section 1 of the
Local 257 By-laws shall be amended as follows...
ARTICLE I - NAME AND JURISDICTION Section 1. This Association is and shall be known as the
Nashville Association of Musicians, Nashville Musicians Association, Local 257, American Federation
of Musicians.
It is understood that some time will be needed for this transition to be complete, and care shall be taken to
use all existing materials with the previous name as long as possible in order to be financially prudent.
Respectfully submitted,
Dave Pomeroy, President Local 257
Craig Krampf, Secretary/Treasurer, Local 257
Board Recommendation: Favorable
Road-scale By-Law change proposal
Worker, Retiree and Employer
Relief Act of 2008, now the law
By unanimous consent, on Dec. 2, 2008, the
Senate passed this important legislation, modifying
the Pension Protection Act of 2006, to react to
the current economic downturn.
President Bush signed this into law on Dec. 23,
2008. This act protects multi-employer benefit
pension plans like ours, the AFM-EPF.
The Employee Free Choice Act
Labor's eyes are watching whether or not President
Barack Obama will sign the Employee Free
Choice Act. The EFCA would restore workers' freedom
to form unions and bargain for better wages,
benefits and working conditions.
Obama co-sponsored and voted for the EFCA,
which is supported by a bi-partisan coalition in
Congress.
For union groups, hopes are high the EFCA will
prevail in the new administration.The President has
said that he wants to “strengthen the union movement
in this country, and put an end to the kinds of
barriers and roadblocks that are in the way of workers
legitimately coming together in order to form a
union and bargain collectively.”
Union advocates say the Employee Free Choice
Act would level the playing field for workers and
employers and help rebuild America's middle class.
(Editor’s note: Report by Linda Rapka, Local
47’s Overture publication.)
Whereas, Local 257 scale rates for Road Engagements have not been changed in over 15 years, since
1993; and
Whereas, It is a well recognized fact that Road Engagements are an important part of our business; and
Whereas, One of Local 257’s goals is to promote an increased participation in the AFM-EPF (the Pension
Fund) by Nashville-based touring groups; and
Whereas, A cost of living increase for those 15 years would result in a large increase of what is considered
minimum scale; Therefore, be it
Resolved, to make the following changes to the Nashville Road Scale:
a. Raise the established minimum of $140 to $250 along with the corresponding 10% pension contribution;
b. Add language to clarify that “This rate reflects one show in one location”;
c. Raise Back-Up Performance Scale from $50 for each additional artist to $100 and the Music
Preparation Scale (chord number charts/musical arrangements) be raised from $15 to $25 per
hour;
d. Raise the daily per diem from $25 to $35;
e. Raise the daily per diem rate on days without show pay from $35 to $70.
- Submitted by Kathy Shepard and Dave Pomeroy
Board Recommendation: Favorable

January-March 2009 The Nashville Musician 31
. . . . Duane and his days as king of twang
(Continued from page 23)
it the way they want to hear it. I work off the
audience.”
Does he wish that he was a flashier picker?
“I love it when they play flashy. I just wish I
could do it,” he wryly replies. “But I also know
I always liked the playing on records where
people were commercial with it. Billy Byrd with
Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadours is a good example.
He just kept it simple and layed that
melody in there and it was thrilling. The people
at home or young musicians who heard that
record would be able to play that solo after a
few minutes.
“I’ve probably taught more kids to play than
anybody who does the fancy stuff, because they
pick up a guitar and could probably play ‘Rebel
Rouser’ in five minutes or approximate it
enough to where they can recognize it and think,
‘Oh, I’m doing pretty good. It doesn’t take too
long to learn.’ A lot of people have told me they
learned off those records of mine.”
Does Duane have any how-to instruction
booklets or tapes? “No, but I would’ve liked to
have done that, but I never did.”
Too late now? “I don’t guess it is.”
Eddy would welcome another tour abroad.
“After that first major visit to England, I
came back about two years later, and then went
back a couple times in the 1970s. I did visit
some bases here and there in Europe through
the years, playing for the troops. Then I went
over in the ’90s with the Everly Brothers.”
Don’t mention the Germany-based Bear
Family Records or its compilation box-sets:
“They put one out on me, but they didn’t pay
anything and the stuff they put on it (liner notes)
was pure fiction. You know they don’t pay copyright
or anything.”
What discs still available does Duane recommend
as most representative of his twang?
“Rhino Records has an album (1990) called
‘Twang Thang: The Duane Eddy Anthology’
(boasting two discs) and it’s available on the
Internet.” (www.rhino.com or Amazon.com)
Does Eddy have any guitar models on the
current market?
“In the 1990s, Gretsch finally caught up to
me and made a Duane Eddy Signature Model
(DE-6120, issued in 1997), just like the original
one I bought in 1963. Then I parted company
with them and Gibson heard about it and
called me up, asking if I’d like them to build
me one?
“Sure, I said. Well, my friend Mike
McGuire’s out there and he had wanted to build
me one all those years. He knew what kind of a
guitar that I like anyway. (Duane Eddy’s Signature
Gibson premiered in 2004).”
Does Duane still practice daily?
“Well, there’s practice and then there’s practice.
I have a guitar all day where it’s handy,
whether I want to pick it up to relieve some
stress or just to try something, whatever. I may
try to write something that I could record, or
just come up with a different approach to a song
. . . More Grammy winners
(Continued from page 19)
Two Graves,” Ashley Gorley & Bob Regan; “I
Saw God Today,” Rodney Clawson, Monty
Criswell & Wade Kirby; “In Color,” Jamey
Johnson, Lee Thomas Miller & James Otto;
“You’re Gonna Miss This,” Ashely Gorley &
Lee Thomas Miller; and “Stay,” Jennifer
Nettles, the winner.
Best Country Album - “That Lonesome
Song,” Jamey Johnson; “Sleepless Nights,”
Patty Loveless; “Troubadour,” George Strait;
“Around the Bend,” Randy Travis; and
“Heaven, Heartache and The Power of Love,”
Trisha Yearwood. Veteran Strait earned his first
Grammy, thanks to “Troubadour.”
Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” featuring
Beau Bridges, Cynthia Nixon and Blair
Underwood, won for Best Spoken Word Album.
For a complete list of NARAS’ Grammy nods,
check out Grammy.com
that might work even if it wasn’t a hit. I’m always
lookin’ for something that might be unusual.”
Has Duane contemplated retirement?
“No . . . like Les Paul says, ‘Real men don’t
retire.’ I just played with him a few weeks ago
in Cleveland and he’s like 93, an amazing man.
They did a tribute to him for the Rock & Roll
Hall of Fame and he brought his trio up there
for Les Paul Week. I think his mother lived to
be 98. Hey, he might outlive us all!”
New officers named to
Recording Musicians’
Association (RMA) . . .
Dave Pomeroy, upon being elected president
of the Nashville Association of Musicians
AFM Local 257 on Dec. 12, 2008, promptly
resigned as president of the Recording Musicians
Association (RMA).
Mike Brignardello, former vice president,
has agreed to fill the vacancy (see page 9 RMA
column ).
The following list represents the current
RMA roster: Mike Brignardello, president; Tom
Wild, treasurer; Lauren Koch, secretary; and
Executive Board members David Angell, Barry
Green, Tim Lauer, Duncan Mullins, Carole
Rabinowitz, Jim (Moose) Brown and Jeff King.
. . . Rex’s ‘remarkable life’
(Continued from page 8)
“I would have to say his devotion to music.
That devotion was almost like a religion to him.
He also had an excellent sense of humor.”
There was a sensitive side, as well, apparent
when Rex told Ryan about an incident he
witnessed on the road that bothered him:
“One time when the Goodman group was
riding on a tour bus down South, they stopped
at a restaurant. Dad remembered someone,
maybe (black trumpeter) Charlie Shavers, asking,
‘Hey Rex, can you get me a sandwich while
you’re in there? I can’t go in,’ and that injustice
really impacted him.”
For most of the last 20 years of his life, Rex
and Barbara, his wife of 56 years, had resided
in Hawaii.
Survivors include his daughters Rachel Peer
Thompson, Cindy Peer Green; son Ryan; sister
Dorothy Zehr; four grandchildren and five
great-grandchildren.
Arrangements were handled by Lawrence
Funeral Home of Chapel Hill, Tenn. Graveside
services were held Oct. 17 at Swanson Cemetery,
Chapel Hill. - Walt Trott
Union music
is best!
Alison Krauss and duet partner Robert Plant win big.
Donate to the
Legislative Action Fund,
formerly TEMPO . . .
Nathan, Caleb, Matthew and Jared Followill.
Kings Of Leon
ONCE NASHVILLE’S
BEST-KEPT SECRET
One of Nashville’s most exciting success
stories has been the rise of the Kings of Leon.
Amazingly, they’re all from the same family;
you see, even yesteryear’s hugely popular
Andrews Sisters and country’s soulful Gatlin
Brothers couldn’t do better than a trio, but the
Followill four feature brothers Nathan, Caleb,
Jared and first cousin Matthew Followill.
Awesome, too, is the fact that the Kings of
Leon attained their first star status in the UK,
specifically England and Ireland, and even
Down Under in Australia, where they celebrated
#1 records. Now they’re Grammy winners.
Yep, finally, the U.S.A. has recognized these
rockin’ Dixie talents - who appropriately enough
call Music City home - in no small part due to
their smokin’ CD, “Only By the Night.”
That album peaked at #5 on the prestigious
Billboard Hot 200 albums list, and at press time
(when was that?) was still in the Top 20s after
that many weeks (as of Feb. 14, actually). Incidentally,
“Only By the Night” debuted at #1 in
England.
Helpful, too, was their sizzling single “Sex
On Fire,” an adult Valentine if there ever was
one.
These Southern rockers have already opened
for legends like Pearl Jam, U2 and Bob Dylan.
It doesn’t get much better than that, except that
soon they’ll be the ones engaging opening acts.
How many rock units are headed up by a chap
like Nathan, who graduated from an institution
called Christian Life Academy in Henderson,
Tenn.? In fact, brother Caleb only departed in
his senior year to pursue their joint musical
Odyssey. That’s not surprising when we learn
their pop is an evangelist, who moved his family
hither and yon, while his adoring wife helped
multiply their brood. (She also for the most part
home-schooled her sons.)
Seems their pere’s influence, along with his
father’s, came to the fore in their name: Kings
of Leon. Matthew, of course, shares the same
granddaddy Leon, but calls the preacher Uncle
Leon. Guess it’s something of a Southern tra-
Substance abuse problem?
Need to talk?
Please call:
Bobby Kent, LADAC
Licensed Alcohol & Drug Abuse Counselor
(615) 300-0036
30-year member of Locals 802/257
ALL CALLS ARE CONFIDENTIAL
dition, but all the boys go by their middle names,
i.e., on his birth certificate it reads Ivan Nathan,
while Caleb’s states Anthony first, then it’s
Michael Jared, while their cousin’s reads
Cameron Matthew Followill.
It was in 1996 when the brothers moved to
Nashville, and in 2000, with Matthew, launched
their band. They got lots of attention, thanks to
their experimental “Holy Roller Novocaine,”
an impressive boogie rock EP. How’s this for
interesting tidbits? “Holy Roller Novocaine”
was heard in the movies “Stuck On You” and
“Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.”
Caleb, who plays rhythm guitar, is their gritty
lead vocalist, augmented by backup singing
from Matthew playing lead guitar, Jared on bass
and synthesizer, and eldest player Nathan, born
in 1979, playing drums.
Under the guidance of Angelo Patraglia, they
polished off their Southern swagger and its follow-up,
“Youth and Young Manhood,” exhibited
a new maturity and proved an instant success
abroad. England’s New Music Express,
which followed their early releases, took their
“Because of the Times” ’07 album right to its
bosom, noting it “cements Kings of Leon as one
of the great American bands of our times.” The
overall European media began labeling our
Kings as being at the forefront of a New Rock
Revolution, on the heels of Kings of Leon’s
“Aha Shake Heartbreak” (2004).
Come 2008, and the early release of “Only
By the Night,” co-produced by Patraglia and
Jacquire King, and due to generous airplay and
subsequent sales, it shot straight to the top of
the UK pop charts. Their “Sex On Fire” spinoff
became their first to go #1 on the Billboard
Hot Modern Rock Chart. Meanwhile, on
Australia’s coveted Triple J Hot 100 list, their
single “Use Somebody” hit #3, followed by
“Sex On Fire” peaking at #1!
The result of all that was the Kings of Leon’s
product proved to be the UK’s third biggest
seller, and top seller for the Aussies in 2008.
Veterans of sold-out concerts and major
music festivals overseas, one can Google the
internet to find Kings of Leon’s adoring females
anxiously waiting their next visit. One peasant
maiden in Portugal, however, was bemoaning
that she didn’t have enough Euros to attend an
upcoming gig, or couldn’t get the time away
from work to attend their concert, noting she
was willing to do what it took to meet the boys.
Needless to say, these true sons of the South
merely remind all those shut-out that their
music’s available for download via iTunes. Further,
with those great Followill genes, they don’t
have any problem appealing to the opposite
gender sans bribes.
Meanwhile, just being on the cover of Spin
magazine, and subsequent appearances on national
telecasts like Saturday Night Live! have
made them an equally red-hot act on these
shores.
“This kind of feels like our honeymoon with
America now,” Nathan proclaims. “It’s amazing
just how more popular we’ve become by
playing on SNL or having a song on a TV show
here and there. Pop culture does play a big part
in it.”
What’s so great about all this is that The
Kings of Leon are your fellow brothers of AFM
Local 257. Congratulations guys on your success
and Grammy win - we are proud of you.
Keep rockin’ and spreading the message of the
great musical diversity of Nashville and your
Union, Local 257. - WT
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32 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
Notice: 2009 Dues
LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP DUES
Local Dues $24.25
A.F. of M. Per Capita Dues 40.00
Funeral Benefit Fee 15.00
Funeral Benefit Assesment 40.00
Vic Willis Emergency Relief Fund 3.00
Legislative Action Fund-formerly TEMPO (Voluntary) 5.00
TOTAL: $127.25
REGULAR MEMBERSHIP DUES
Local Dues $97.00
A.F. of M. Per Capita Dues 56.00
Funeral Benefit Fee 15.00
Funeral Benefit Assesment 40.00
Vic Willis Emergency Relief Fund 3.00
Legislative Action Fund-formerly TEMPO (Voluntary) 5.00
TOTAL: $216.00
Members must pay their dues annually on or before Jan.
31. If dues are not paid by Jan. 31, 2009, such member shall
stand suspended. To reinstate after Jan. 31, and no later than
March 31, 2009, such member shall pay a reinstatement fee of
$10, together with all dues, fines and assessments. After March
31, such member shall be expelled. To reinstate after expulsion,
a reinstatement fee of $25, together with all dues, late fees
and assessments must be submitted (ARTICLE II, Section 3).
Next General Membership meeting scheduled 6:30 p.m. March 18
at the Union Hall. Check out the By-Law changes. See page 1.
We’ll give you the chance to play
on the biggest stage of all.
The world.
We’re looking for top-tier musicians to join the ranks of the musical elite. Be part
of the tradition of musical excellence as a member of the U.S. Navy Band.
The U.S. Navy Band’s “Country Current” country-bluegrass group
has an immediate opening for the following position:
ELECTRIC GUITAR
Audition date to be determined
To be considered for an audition, please send your resumé (current members of
the U.S. Armed Forces must also send endorsements from their
Bandmasters) to:
U.S. Navy Band
Attn: Audition Supervisor
617 Warrington Ave., SE
Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374-5054
The minimum enlistment in the U.S. Navy is four years. Longer enlistments may
be required to take advantage of special enlistment incentives (bonuses, if
applicable, and college loan repayment). Annual starting salary
$47,800–$53,300, plus full benefits, including dental and medical care. For
more information, please contact NavyBand.auditions@navy.mil.
General Membership Meet • 6:30 p.m. Monday,
© 2009. Paid for by the U.S. Navy. All rights reserved.