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Bill Stafford: Steel guitar spokesman
He played with Elvis; now he plays for the world

By MIKE CUMMINGS
THE SUN HERALD

Gulfport - In the early 1950s, steel guitarist Bill Stafford played impromptu concerts with Elvis Presley at Rosetti's Grocery Store in Gulfport.

"We'd play for bologna sandwiches," Stafford said.

Stafford eventually lost touch with Elvis, but his passion for the steel guitar has never wavered.

Last year, he helped found the Deep South Steel Guitar & Musicians Association, a 65-member club for steel guitar enthusiasts.

Stafford routinely invites local steel guitarists to his home in Harrison County for jam sessions. His wife, Betty, said the gatherings often last deep into the night.

"You can tell they really love this," she said.

A vibrant subculture exists around the steel guitar. The Internet contains hundreds of sites and chat rooms devoted to the instrument.

"This thing has grabbed a lot of people," Stafford said.

Jerry Jaye, a former rockabilly recording artist and a Gulfport resident, plays many instruments, but loves steel guitar the most.

"It's kind of like a drug," he said. "It gets you hooked."

Jaye, whose catalogue of songs includes "My Girl Josephine" and "Honky Tonk Women Love Redneck Men," said the steel guitar's enchanting sound mimics human emotion.

"It'll cry for you, and it'll laugh for you," he said.

Stafford is the steel guitar

Stafford, 73, started playing steel guitar in 1938 after a guitar teacher visited his family's home in Gulfport searching for students. The man played a Hawaiian guitar.

"I was hypnotized by it," Stafford said. "I still am."

He plays a 14-string, single-neck pedal steel he designed and a Japanese company built for him. Last year he received the Jerry Byrd Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, which is located in St. Louis.

Jaye said Stafford has built a strong reputation within steel guitar circles.

"Billy is the steel guitar," Jaye said.

Stafford demonstrated the instrument's versatility last week by playing a rendition of "Unforgettable."

He used picks attached to the fingers and thumb of his right hand to pluck the strings while his left hand glided a small bar along the instrument's neck.

His knees manipulated a series of levers on the guitar's undercarriage while his feet danced from pedal to pedal, raising and lowering the guitar's strings, creating a steady string of new notes.

The song ended. Stafford smiled.

"You don't need Nat King Cole when you've got a steel guitar," he quipped.

As a young man, Stafford often backed Elvis while the future king of rock 'n' roll was in town during the summers visiting a girlfriend. They frequented Rosetti's but played other venues.

On Wednesday nights, they staged performances at the Airmen's Club at Keesler Air Force Base. They were paid $7.50 each, he said.

His guitar wasn't very complicated in those days. It didn't have the pedals and levers that adorn his current model. In the early 1950s, Stafford started tinkering with the guitar to expand its sound.

"They didn't make guitars that had the notes I wanted," he said.

He rigged a pedal using a wire coat hanger and an accelerator from a Studebaker. His innovations continued over the next five decades as he developed his signature 14-string, single-neck pedal steel, which produces as many notes as steel guitars with multiple necks.

He scored a movie

Stafford was designing steel guitars for the Sierra Instrument Co. in Portland, Ore., when director Gus Van Sant hired him to perform the background music for the 1991 film "My Own Private Idaho," which starred River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves.

Van Sant, whose films include "Good Will Hunting" and "Drugstore Cowboy," entered the store where Stafford worked looking to rent a steel guitar.

The director was dressed in dirty dungarees and wore a baseball cap turned backward, Stafford said. He was accompanied by a man in a dark suit.

Stafford offered to play for Van Sant. The director asked him if he knew how to play "Home on the Range."

"I played it," he said. "The guy in the suit was a session musician from Los Angeles. He told Van Sant to hire me."

In addition to the movie credit, Stafford has recorded several albums. He performs live as much a possible.

Stafford and Jaye take a lot of pride in their club and its members hail from all over the South.

The club is hosting a special event Saturday at the VFW on Dedeaux Road in Gulfport featuring several prominent musicians, including Pee Wee Whitewing, a member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. Steel guitarist Roy Ayers, who cut the original recording of "Tennessee Waltz," also is scheduled to play. The day will include mock recording sessions to show audience members how professionals lay down tracks.

Ken Henderson, a Gulfport resident and steel guitarist, helped Stafford build a stage inside the VFW to accommodate the performances.

Stafford announced the event on an Internet chat room called the Steel Guitar Forum.

The announcement sparked a long discussion among a group of fellow enthusiasts.

John Floyd, who lives in South Mills, N.C., said he wants to attend the show. He said he appreciates an opportunity to learn from Stafford.

"This isn't a recent thing with Bill. He has always been known to pass on his knowledge to others and especially young and upcoming players," Floyd said. "He is one of the best spokesmen the steel guitar ever had."

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