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Topic: Let's talk about Bruce Bouton ! |
Ken Crisp
From:
North Carolina
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Posted 10 Sep 2007 6:47 am |
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Bruce replied to the 'Big E tuning moment' thread so kindly, I thought we should talk about him and his beautiful playing.
Well, let me just say Bruce and I spent a lot of summers together [Okay, honestly it was Bruce's recorded steel playing with Ricky Skaggs on my cassette player], especially when Ricky Skaggs "live" album hit the stands.
When I heard Ricky sing the lyrics "Those blue eyes now they smile at someone new" and Bruce would tastefully rock that B pedal, it caught my ear, and a new zest for me in my love for the steel. Bruce's tone is commercial yet mellow and full bodied, which is how I like my tone to be. I appreciate the high thin tone and it fits a lot of country music, but my preference is that of a Bouton tone.
So, for the next 3 or 4 years or so, Ricky Skaggs live album played our families summer get togethers, while we flipped some burgers, pitched some horseshoes and just plain ole fellowshipped.
Bruce, Thanks for the great music you've produced over the years. I've thoroughly enjoyed it.
Forgot to mention Bruce, I was deeply disappointed however in the "Rockin' the boat" steel guitar break. 
_________________
Sho-Bud D10 Super Pro 8/6. Peavey Session 500 Black Widowed |
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Mike Archer
From:
church hill tn
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Posted 10 Sep 2007 6:59 am same here Ken
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Ken
same thing for me
I was playing lead guitar for
a singer in knoxville tn 6 nights a week
and he bought me my first steel!!
and at the same time out comes the ricky scaggs
tunes wow i spent years learning those great songs
and soon after i was at the knoxville
steel show and up walks bruce bouton
hes a heck of a nice guy and took time to
answer all my questions yes his playing was
just right on all those tunes and man what a tone
yep hes the man for sure!  |
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Jerry Roller
From:
Van Buren, Arkansas USA
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Posted 10 Sep 2007 8:33 am
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I suppose this is very strange and I have even told Bruce this fact. The only steel guitar solo that I remember where I was the first time I heard it was "Highway 40 Blues". Bruce is one of my favorite players and ego is non-existent with him. He has no idea how good a player he is.
Jerry
Last edited by Jerry Roller on 10 Sep 2007 1:13 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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James Morehead
From:
Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.
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Posted 10 Sep 2007 9:33 am
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| Bruce, I have learned a bunch from your instructional material. I am also a huge fan of yours. Thanx for being there!! |
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Olaf van Roggen
From:
The Netherlands
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Posted 10 Sep 2007 12:05 pm
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I met Bruce,when he still played with Ricky Skaggs,I wrote him a letter and he wrote back to come backstage after the show so we could talk a bit.
He inroduced me to Ricky Skaggs and all the band members,I had a wonderful night.
I was about 15 years old..
He was very,very nice and very modest,one of my favourite steel players. |
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Ben Jones
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 10 Sep 2007 1:29 pm
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| I am guessing its a thankless job but a "part 2" of Bruce's instructional dvd would be most welcome. |
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Roger Crawford
From:
Griffin, GA USA
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Posted 10 Sep 2007 2:45 pm
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| I said it in Buddy's thread, and I'll say it here, too. Bruce is one of my heroes. Like so many others here, I've spent a lot of hours listening to and trying to emulate what Bruce did on the Skaggs stuff. I changed bands a couple of years ago, and the first question they asked me was, "Do you know the kick-off and turn-around to Highway 40 Blues?". I had heard it countless times, but never had been called on to play it. Talk about some serious wood shedding! Thanks for the great listening, Bruce! |
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Alan Rudd
From:
Ardmore, Oklahoma
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Posted 10 Sep 2007 2:54 pm
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| Man, that whole era with that group of guys captured me. I think that is one of the greatest country music recordings ever made! It was during that time I fell in love with the Flacke tele styles and Bouton's steel playing. Yes, part two would be a plus in my book, too. I wanted a pedal steel ever since then (early 80's), and should have purchased one back then, but I was way too broke! I could have been 25 years more ahead by now. |
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Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
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Posted 10 Sep 2007 3:24 pm
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I consider the tone Bruce captured for the solo on Ricky Skaggs' "You May See Me Walking" to be the best steel sound I've ever heard on record, and I emailed him a while back to tell him this. He replied and told me what he used (Emmons PP & Session 400) and that he was also very fond of the particular tone that was captured on that recording. I learned it note for note, as well as many other Bruce Bouton solos. I incorporate what I've learned from Bruce into a lot of my own solos. Not a night goes by that I'm not stealing a Bruce lick somewhere.
_________________
Jackson Steel Guitars
Web: www.chrisledrew.com |
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Bill Simmons
From:
Keller, Texas/Birmingham, AL, R.I.P.
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Posted 10 Sep 2007 3:36 pm Great Player!
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| Ditto to the above posts! He's one of my all time favorite players -- such tone and touch on those hit records... |
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Michael Douchette
From:
Gallatin, TN (deceased)
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Stephen Gambrell
From:
Over there
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Posted 10 Sep 2007 8:21 pm
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| I remember meeting Bruce in Rochester, Minnesota back in the 80's. He was playing with Tillis, and we were playing in a combination nightclub/bowling alley(don't even ask). Some of our guys were acquainted with Bruce from back in Virginia, so we got to hang a while. Good dude, GREAT player! |
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Dave Harmonson
From:
Seattle, Wa
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Posted 10 Sep 2007 9:23 pm
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| Back about '82 I was hanging with some friends who opened a show for Ricky Skaggs in Spokane, WA. I still like that version of Ricky's band the best with Bruce and Ray Flacke, and Bobby Hicks. I'd been invited to go out to dinner with the promoter, who I'd met a few times, but shortly after my friends were headed out for another place with Ray and Bruce. I probably made a bad business decision by turning down the promoter, but I couldn't say no to hanging with those guys for a bit. Bruce was a real straight up class guy and when we talked steel players the first guy he mentioned was Sonny Garrish. Maybe Bruce remembers getting some bad prawns and leaving there not feeling too well. If I had've heard he was ordering prawns I could have tipped him off that Spokane's too far from the coast to be ordering fresh shellfish. Great picking Bruce. |
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Paul E Vendemmia
From:
Olney Maryland Mongomery
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Posted 11 Sep 2007 10:03 am Bruce
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AS the stage Manager from the steelin' for heart show
for many years I must say that Bruce was the only big name Player that ever came up to me at the end of the show. And Thanked Me for my hard work!
I can't tell you how much that meant to me.
Thanks Agian Bruce! Your a 1st class guy
Paul |
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Gary Lee Gimble
From:
Fredericksburg, VA.
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Posted 11 Sep 2007 10:17 am
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He makes a mean pot of ketchup soup too   in small batches.... |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 12 Sep 2007 2:43 am
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thanks Bruce...
tp |
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Peter Dollard
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Posted 13 Sep 2007 8:53 am Stopped By The Highway
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| When I first heard "One Way Rider" it caused me to pull off the highway... the perfect synthesis of steel, Mandocaster and Telecaster. The best Bruce Bouton Forum story should be filed under: Find out who the steeler is before you cast stones. A few years ago Bruce played on A Shanya Twain song(possibly "You Are Still The One") and did an unusual kind of clipped steel break. Well there were certain parties (whom I do not remember by name or identity) who were less than kind in their appraisal of his instrumental break and of course when he identified himself as the author there was a lot of egg on a lot of faces. The producers wanted a different non traditional steel sound and thats what they got. |
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Eddie D.Bollinger
From:
Calhoun City, Mississippi
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Posted 13 Sep 2007 9:46 am
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These stories are so familiar to me because "Highways
and Heartaches" was the theme to my last 2 years in high school. I knew I wanted to pursue pedal steel
prior to hearing that record but Bruce's approach
was the "Final Nail". My friends often commented
that the steel fills and turnarounds on that album
were like well-executed, polite words. That album still gets played at my house some 22 years later.
An era of music that still leaves me astounded at times.
_________________
Eddie Bollinger
Mullen RP D-10 w/ Max-Tone
Nash 1000, Peavey PowerSlide |
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Peter Dollard
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Posted 13 Sep 2007 12:34 pm
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| Although "Highways And Heartaches" was released as the second Ricky Scaggs Album it was actually the third. The "Second" album released third was "Don't Cheat In Our Hometown". Apparently the producers recognized the value of the material of "Highways and Heartaches" to the point where they switched the order of release. I for one wasn't all that much impressed with "Don't Cheat In Our Home Town". Peter |
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Leo Grassl
From:
Madison TN
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Posted 4 Nov 2015 7:18 pm
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Whether its traditional country or something more contemporary, Bruce's ability to play so tastefully in whatever situation he is in never fails
to floor me. What a player! |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 4 Nov 2015 7:45 pm
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I first had the pleasure of meeting Bruce in 2000 when we were both in Holland to play at the first Steeldays festival organized by Johan Jansen. A world-class player and a fine gentleman, Bruce is. Here's a little pic from those days, with me in the foreground, then Dag Wolf, Bruce, and Johan.
_________________
www.JimCohen.com
www.RonstadtRevue.com
www.BeatsWalkin.com |
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Brett Day
From:
Pickens, SC
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Posted 4 Nov 2015 8:32 pm
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| As a kid, I remember seeing a Ricky Skaggs video called "Don't Get Above Your Raisin', which was a live video, and it was the first time I saw a steel on TV. I'd asked my aunt about the instrument that looks like a table and she said, "It's a steel guitar". After I started playing steel, I'd learned that Bruce had played steel for Ricky Skaggs. Bruce is one of the guys who made me want to play steel, and just recently I found out that Bruce played steel on the first record by one of my favorite bands called Ricochet-he'd played steel on their songs, "Daddy's Money", What Do I Know", "Love Is Stronger Than Pride", and "Ease My Troubled Mind". Bruce is definitely a great player! |
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John Booth
From:
Columbus Ohio, USA
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Posted 5 Nov 2015 3:43 am
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I'm right there with you guys. It was Bruce's playing on Skaggs albums that made me finally resolve to play steel seriously. I figured out a few of his licks and everything changed after that. Thank you Bruce.
JB
_________________
Jb in Ohio
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GFI S10 Ultra, Telecaster, a Hound Dog, and an Annoyed Wife
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Chris Brooks
From:
Providence, Rhode Island
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Posted 5 Nov 2015 4:40 am
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Beautiful tone and taste characterize Bruce's playing. Just listen to "You've Got a Lover."
And repeated listening to "Highways and Heartaches" got me through a rough patch.
Chris |
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mtulbert
From:
Plano, Texas 75023
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Posted 5 Nov 2015 5:28 am
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Just checked the credits on Ricky's Highways and Heartaches album and it was Lloyd who crafted the beautiful solo on You've Got A Lover.
_________________
Mark T
Infinity D-10 Justice SD-10 Judge Revelation Octal Preamp, Fractal AXE III, Fender FRFR 12 |
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