Post by Brad Bechtel on Oct 15, 2021 21:51:47 GMT
Another great steel guitarist has left us.
From Chris Scruggs on Facebook:
So sad to hear of the passing of Steel Guitar Hall of Fame member Billy Robinson, age 90.
Billy was a Nashville native who formed a group with some junior high school friends in the mid 1940s called the Eagle Rangers, featuring a “who’s who” of future country sidemen (including bassist Bob Moore, Billy’s brother Floyd on guitar, fiddler Jerry Rivers and more).
Billy’s big break came in 1948 when he was hired to replace Jerry Byrd in the backup band of Grand Ole Opry star Red Foley. His first recording session was in December 1948, backing up George Morgan on Morgan’s first chart topper “Candy Kisses.” In 1949 he backed up Hank Williams on Hank’s legendary Opry debut, playing seven ovations of Lovesick Blues before the crowd would let them off stage.
He also recorded on hits for Carl Smith, Webb Pierce, and appeared on the first million selling country record to be made in Nashville, Red Foley’s 1950 smash hit “Chattanooga Shoeshine Boy.”
He was drafted by Uncle Sam in the mid 50s and played steel guitar for the special services. After he was honorably discharged two years later, he went to art school and spent the next forty years as a commercial artist and graphic designer. His best known work was done as a favor for two of his steel buddies, Shot Jackson and Buddy Emmons, when in 1957 he designed the logo for Sho~Bud steel guitars (in the 60s, he also designed the aesthetic layout of their unique “Christmas Tree amplifier”).
Upon retirement in the 90s, he started painting musically inspired Christmas cards, usually featuring Santa, Santa’s wife, and the elves playing country music. He also recommitted himself to playing steel guitar without pedals (after years of using pedals) and became a master of pulling strings behind the bar get the chord voicings a pedal player would mechanically achieve.
I was fortunate enough to call Billy a good friend. We played lots of jobs together, and due to his night vision issues, I would usually pick him up and drive him to our shows. We spent many, many hours in the car talking about his recollections of growing up in Nashville in the 30s and 40s, and working with Opry stars in the 40s and 50s.
He will be greatly missed.
From Chris Scruggs on Facebook:
So sad to hear of the passing of Steel Guitar Hall of Fame member Billy Robinson, age 90.
Billy was a Nashville native who formed a group with some junior high school friends in the mid 1940s called the Eagle Rangers, featuring a “who’s who” of future country sidemen (including bassist Bob Moore, Billy’s brother Floyd on guitar, fiddler Jerry Rivers and more).
Billy’s big break came in 1948 when he was hired to replace Jerry Byrd in the backup band of Grand Ole Opry star Red Foley. His first recording session was in December 1948, backing up George Morgan on Morgan’s first chart topper “Candy Kisses.” In 1949 he backed up Hank Williams on Hank’s legendary Opry debut, playing seven ovations of Lovesick Blues before the crowd would let them off stage.
He also recorded on hits for Carl Smith, Webb Pierce, and appeared on the first million selling country record to be made in Nashville, Red Foley’s 1950 smash hit “Chattanooga Shoeshine Boy.”
He was drafted by Uncle Sam in the mid 50s and played steel guitar for the special services. After he was honorably discharged two years later, he went to art school and spent the next forty years as a commercial artist and graphic designer. His best known work was done as a favor for two of his steel buddies, Shot Jackson and Buddy Emmons, when in 1957 he designed the logo for Sho~Bud steel guitars (in the 60s, he also designed the aesthetic layout of their unique “Christmas Tree amplifier”).
Upon retirement in the 90s, he started painting musically inspired Christmas cards, usually featuring Santa, Santa’s wife, and the elves playing country music. He also recommitted himself to playing steel guitar without pedals (after years of using pedals) and became a master of pulling strings behind the bar get the chord voicings a pedal player would mechanically achieve.
I was fortunate enough to call Billy a good friend. We played lots of jobs together, and due to his night vision issues, I would usually pick him up and drive him to our shows. We spent many, many hours in the car talking about his recollections of growing up in Nashville in the 30s and 40s, and working with Opry stars in the 40s and 50s.
He will be greatly missed.
