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Topic: Lawrence Welk's steeler? |
David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2005 10:36 am |
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| I happened to dip into a rerun and some guy and gal were singing a Hawaiian tune, it might have been called "Blue Skies of Hawaii?" Or at least some of the words were "Blue skies of Hawaii, smile on this, our wedding day." There was a steel guitarist playing what looked like a Fender pedal steel? He had the slicked-back Welkian hair, a floral Hawaiian shirt, a lei, and he looked like he really didn't want to be there. He was playing stuff with the pedals that sure didn't sound like any Hawaiian music I've ever heard - probably took a beating for it after the show. Who was he? |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 17 Apr 2005 10:46 am
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I didn't see the show, but that was probably Buddy Merrill! Welk's long-time steel player, and co-lead player (w/Neil Levange) plays well. Buddy does a great job on Hawaiian, and he plays pedals, too!
(The song you're describing is the "Hawaiian Wedding Song".)[This message was edited by Donny Hinson on 17 April 2005 at 11:50 AM.] |
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Craig A Davidson
From:
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2005 6:38 pm
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| It was Buddy Merrill I would bet. He is the only one I remember playing steel with Welk. I also saw the show and it sure looked like Buddy. He played with Welk at that time. |
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Al Marcus
From:
Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)
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Gregg Thacker
From:
Pasadena, Texas, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2005 9:07 pm
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It was indeed Buddy Merrill.
Gregg
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If it don't have a Steel, it ain't real!
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Bobby Lee
From:
Cloverdale, California, USA
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c c johnson
From:
killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.
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Posted 18 Apr 2005 3:17 am
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| That was Buddy Merrell. If you run across a Welk LP entitled " Songs of Hawaii" it says featuring Buddy Merrell. According to Bernie Kaai, a well known haw steel player of the 30s to 60s, he played lead steel on the album and Buddy did a few fills. Bernie also said that he played an 6 stg Gibson and used B11 and E7. He stated that Buddy used a pedal guitar, fender with white top and black front. Bernie in the 50s and 60s played anonymously on a lot of"Hawaiian" records recorded on the mainland. This was at a time when very few steel players on the mainland could play "hawaiian" music. |
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c c johnson
From:
killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.
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Posted 18 Apr 2005 3:21 am
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| I have 3 lps by Buddy and he does a fine job. One of them is a "hawaiian "lp w/o Welk and is a good one. |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 18 Apr 2005 3:33 am
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It was indeed Buddy Merrill. Having done several concerts myself with the Welk orchestra, I can assure you that #1 he DID want to be there, and #2 he never took a beating after a show. He and his fellow guitarist Neil LaVang were both VERY fine multi instrumentalist.
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c c johnson
From:
killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.
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Posted 18 Apr 2005 4:59 am
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| Buddy was and still is a fine musician. Speaking of Neal LaVang, who I think can play any string instrument and probably others; If any of you have some of the Noel Boggs solo albums notice that Neal is the guitar player on most of them. |
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Jim Florence
From:
wilburton, Ok. US * R.I.P.
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Posted 18 Apr 2005 4:21 pm
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That guy and gal were most likely Guy, and Ralna, a man and wife team that could give you "Goose" Bumps, and she was pretty too.
Probably the reason Buddy might have looked uncomfortable, is everyone on the Welk show had to get in costume for the occasion. If Buddy's hair was black, and slicked down, they were trying to make him look Hawaiin. If I remember, Buddy was blonde headed.
Jim |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 19 Apr 2005 4:15 am
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| Besides the funky "blue" notes and the anti-sexual dancing, I think the costumes and stage sets are what I like best about the Welk show. When they played a "country" tune, they'd all wear overalls and erect a cardboard barn and haywagon in the background. When they go native "Hawaiian", they get the floral shirts, leis, slick black hair and drag out the potted palms. The Rolling Stones' 50-foot tall inflatable penis wilts by comparison.... |
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Jerry Hayes
From:
Virginia Beach, Va.
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Posted 19 Apr 2005 7:08 am
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Buddy's a great player and a nice person as well. At one point when I still lived in SoCal I was working a club called the DJ Ranch in north Long Beach. One of the Monday night and Sunday afternoon bands we used was Danny Michaels and the Rebel Playboys. Danny always had a top notch steeler with him and Buddy did the gig for a while. I was in there for their set once and Buddy was playing a beautiful old standard called "Once in a While" on pedal steel. It was gorgeous to say the least. At break time I asked him about it and he showed me which pedals he used for the changes and all and after a lot of practice I got a passable version down. Buddy also was on the Welk Show as the "only" guitarist for a good while before Neil LeVang came alone. I think he was still only a teenager when he came on board. He's a very accomplished musician on both Guitar and Steel and who knows what else........JH in Va.
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Livin' in the Past and Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.
[This message was edited by Jerry Hayes on 19 April 2005 at 08:10 AM.] |
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c c johnson
From:
killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.
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Posted 19 Apr 2005 8:22 am
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| Buddy was there before Neal, Buddy got drafted and Neal replaced him. When Buddy returned Welk kept both in the band and Buddy later wanted to perform solo and left and Neal stayed on. |
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