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Topic: Jerry Byrd with Connie Smith-"Once A Day" '65 |
Chris Templeton
From:
The Green Mountain State
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Nathan Laudenbach
From:
Montana
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 6:20 am |
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| Thanks for posting that Chris! Looks like Jerry was playing a long scale Fender there, am I right? |
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Chris Templeton
From:
The Green Mountain State
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 7:38 am
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I love watching this early clip of Connie Smith. So much youthful energy and talent!
That's a custom built S-8, non-pedal steel that Fender made for Jerry. Leo built it to Jerry's specs, so that would be a 22 1/2" scale length. And I believe he wound the pickup to sound less thin than production Fenders. In general, Jerry was not a fan of the Fender sound. He was a Rickenbacker man and Rick made a JB Model. Fender never made custom instruments for any musician in that era, but JB wasn't just "any musician".
The guitar is on the cover of his "Satin Strings of Steel" album.
Forum member HowardR owned this guitar several years ago and probably still does.
_________________
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Last edited by Doug Beaumier on 16 Jan 2018 7:50 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Chris Templeton
From:
The Green Mountain State
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Bill Sinclair
From:
Waynesboro, PA, USA
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 8:39 am
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Oooo. Now who wants to fabricate that custom bridge and nut with the peaked break and presumably higher action?
Connie and Jerry are a great combination. Thanks for posting. |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 8:54 am
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"Forum member HowardR owned this guitar several years ago and probably still does.
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Oh cool. Howard and I are planning on getting together next weekend, maybe I'll see if he can bring it up |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 12:02 pm
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I'd never seen that clip, that was great.
Jerry and the band are flawless.
Connie's voice is a little pitchy but I like it. No b.s. here - real live TV. And this had to be one of her earliest television appearances not too long after connecting with Bill Anderson.
She looks a little awkward and wasn't yet the polished performer she later became.
My wife and I saw Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives last Friday evening at the Mystic Theater in Petaluma, CA. As always, they put on a stellar show. And Gene Parsons drove down from his home and workshop on the Mendocino Coast and joined in on a couple tunes, one where he played a acoustic stringbender Martin while Marty was on "Clarence." Pretty cool. It was the Vern Gosdin tune "There Must Be Someone" which The Byrds recorded on The Ballad of Easy Rider. He also played banjo on "Pretty Boy Floyd."
Thinking about this and knowing there is a significant age difference between Marty and his lovely wife Connie, I had to look it up - Connie is 17 years his senior. Talk about a "cougar!" 
As Chris wrote earlier, pedals were knocking on Jerry's door around this time. He was only about 45 and if he weren't so adamant about avoiding the pedal steel no doubt he could have had a lot more years of work in Nashville.
But with "Hawaii calling" to him five years or so later, I guess it worked out for Jerry in the long haul.
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Mark |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 12:36 pm
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Nice to see Jerry in this context on a Fender but Connie Smith? Meh. For this style, I personally prefer Dawn Sears any day.
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Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 1:37 pm
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Well Dawn, may she rest in peace, would have been about four years old when this show aired.
That's an apples and oranges comparison at its finest, Andy. The era of the video is getting to be from a long time ago. And the performance by Ms. Smith - alluding to what I wrote earlier, kind of rough around the edges. She was pretty new at the job.
I loved Dawn's singing as much as anyone, and got to see her live in different configurations several times. But if she were still among the living and happened to read your comment, though I'm sure she'd accept the compliment graciously, I'm guessing she might admonish you a bit for "dismissing" Connie Smith here.
Speaking of The Byrds as I did in the earlier post, I've had for decades a vinyl album of theirs before they were even called by that name entitled "Pre-Flyte." As I recall it was a series of demos prior to Terry Melcher becoming their producer and working with them on their debut album at Columbia. Some of it's kind of rough, but you could hear the potential. Might be the same sort of deal with this Connie Smith performance.
I'm not some giant Connie Smith fan, but I found this quote on her website - no clue as to the year, likely during the '70s:
"Dolly Parton once noted, famously, that there were just three real female singers around—Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, and Connie Smith. "The rest of us," she said, "are only pretending."
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Mark |
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Bob Watson
From:
Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 1:43 pm
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Thanks for sharing this with us Chris. It was interesting to hear Jerry Byrd playing on a song that had such a memorable pedal steel part on it. Connie Smith is a national treasure, it was cool seeing a video of her so early in her career. HowardR had that Fender at one of the Joliet HSGA shows years ago and was gracious enough to let me play it. I just played a few licks on it but it meant a lot to me to get to play an instrument that was owned by the one and only Jerry Byrd. I was walking on air for the rest of the evening.
Last edited by Bob Watson on 16 Jan 2018 1:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 1:44 pm
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You're right, Mark. I posted like a crank because it had just taken me 13+ emails to get paid on a gig that previously always took just one. I apologize Connie, you were just a kid and you sang from the heart. Don't get me started on Bob Dylan and Buffy Saint Marie! 
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Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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Tom Wolverton
From:
Carpinteria, CA
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 6:14 pm
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This is a fun read, BTW
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To write with a broken pencil is pointless. |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 7:27 pm
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Weldon Myrick played a lot of classic steel parts on Connie's early records. His intro on "I'll Come Running" is amazing. Connie says she uses that song to audition her steel players! Weldon also played some nice stuff on "Hinges on the Door" and many others. I enjoy watching the early video posted here. It's been on Youtube for a few years and I've watched it quite a bit. She was only 24 at the time and kind of green, plain and simple (in a good way). There's some charm in that.
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 8:53 pm
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| Tom Wolverton wrote: |
This is a fun read, BTW
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Tom, for years I have kept meaning to order that book but I never seem to get around to it.
When I was a kid taking lap steel lessons at a music studio in San Jose in the '60s, Jerry Byrd was "the patron saint" of the operation. There was a signed 8" x 10" glossy on the wall behind the owner's desk, and during the weekly lessons there were a lot of Jerry Byrd references.
In my life there have been three major Jerry music guys: Byrd, Garcia, and Douglas.
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Mark |
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David Cook
From:
Florida, USA
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Posted 17 Jan 2018 5:25 am Jerry Byrd
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Can't stand it!! That vibrato is soooo good. Not even speaking about the intonation! It is magical
Thanks for the post |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 17 Jan 2018 9:36 am
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Marty Stuart first met Connie Smith when he was just a teenager.
He said: "Some day I'm going to marry you" and he did!  |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 17 Jan 2018 10:13 am
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Erv, I don't think he was even officially a teenager when that happened - I believe the story goes that he was 12!
And it wasn't long after that when his mother approved of the deal to have him join Lester Flatt & the Nashville Grass and he took a bus to Nashville where he was picked up by band member Roland White.
Some people live lives that even the most imaginative novelist couldn't make up, or if they did it wouldn't get published because it sounds "too fake" - Marty Stuart is one of those guys.
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Mark
Last edited by Mark Eaton on 17 Jan 2018 10:17 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 17 Jan 2018 10:15 am
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Mark,
Thanks!
Erv |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 17 Jan 2018 11:01 am
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deleted
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 21 May 2018 1:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 17 Jan 2018 11:18 am
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I learned a lot from this, it's where I first got acquainted with the C6th tuning:
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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David Matzenik
From:
Cairns, on the Coral Sea
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Posted 17 Jan 2018 10:27 pm
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Man, that's a solid performance. Connie makes it look and sound so effortless.
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Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 18 Jan 2018 8:49 am
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Doug,
I see he's still playing a Rickenbacher.
Erv |
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Andy DePaule
From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
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Posted 18 Jan 2018 7:03 pm Before or after the Weldon Myrick version?
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Pardon my ignorance, but does anyone know if this was recorded before or after the Weldon Myrick version?
To my ear in the one with Weldon her voice was smoother, though I really like the live TV version a lot.
Amazed to see how close the Jerry Byrd non pedal version is to the Weldon Myrick one on E9.
Thanks for the post Chris.
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project. |
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