Buddy Emmons: Gram Parson's "That's All It Took"

Chris LeDrew · From: Canada

For those who are familiar with this version, isn't Buddy's steel sound very unique on this track? It is trebly but not piercing......very high-mid but not honky. I really like this tone. It sounds nothing like any steel I've heard. I know what kind of guitar he's playing, but I'd be curious to know what amp he was using.

Would this happen to be.........drum roll...........that elusive push-pull sound?

I wish I could put a clip of the song up here for listening purposes.
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Dave Harmonson · From: Seattle, Wa

I don't have any knowledge of the amp he used, but I love Buddy's playing on that GP album. That's one of my all time favorites. Still Feeling Blue knocks me out, too.

Chris LeDrew · From: Canada

Dave,

I believe Buddy only played on a few cuts, like "Blue", "New Soft Shoe" and a "We'll Sweep Out The Ashes". Someone may have a definitive list of the Buddy songs. I believe Al Perkins does most of the playing on both albums. I love Al's playing on "Return of The Grevious Angel".
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Dave Harmonson · From: Seattle, Wa

I know that Buddy and Al are both listed as steel players on "GP" but I don't know of any track by track listing. I'd like to see one. It sure sounds like E on That's All It Took, Streets Of Baltimore, and the ones mentioned here to me.

Shane Reilly · From: Melbourne, Australia

That's quite a sound he's got going on there Chris.I wonder if it was the producers choice or Buddy's.It really leaps out of the track at you and you can't ignore it.Actually,how cool is that piano part as well?It grooves the whole tune along.That solo is cool too,you can sing the whole thing.Do you think it has a kind of Bakersfield tone to it?A bit Brumleyish maybe?I know Gram was after Hag to produce that album so it wouldn't surprise me if he asked Buddy to give him the Moon,Ralph that is.Or do Hamlet,Norm my good man."...that elusive push-pull sound?" hmm,sounds like it to me,but I got fooled once before.Maybe someone knows what amp Buddy was hauling around in Sept-oct '72.Whatever the verdict,it's a great track and a funky tone.Cheers,Shane Cool

Pete Finney · From: Nashville Tn.

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Shane Reilly · From: Melbourne, Australia

Hey Pete,I have the Gram Parsons/Buritos Sleepless nights album and it credits Al Perkins as steel on Sleepless nights.I think She is my favourite Gram song,absolutely georgeous,and if you get bored you can sing Yesterday over the first part.

Pete Finney · From: Nashville Tn.

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robert kramer · From: Nashville TN

Re: Emmons' guitar and amp: I've read (Guitar Player Magazine) where the "Suite Steel" LP was cut with the "Blade" and a Twin with Lansings. So it's possible the 70's California sessions were cut with this set up. That doesn't mean different amps weren't availible from studio to studio or that Emmons didn't have other guitars.

In a perfect world, wouldn't it be great to have a complete Emmons session discography? It's a compliment to Emmons that this would be impossible to research and compile.

Shawn Brown · From: Ontario, Canada

Gram Parons gave a taped interview to Ottawa journalist and part-time steel player, Michael Bate, March 1973 (6 months before he died). When asked, Gram said his favourite steel guitar players were, Buddy Emmons, Jimmy Day, Ben Keith, and also Neil Flanz. Neil Flanz was on tour with Gram and the Fallen Angels at the time.

Steve English · From: Baja, Arizona

What about the sneakster? When did he fit in to all of this? Was this after his time?
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chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

that is the specifically emmons (not so much the steel as the man) tone that i refer to as 'gooey'...and it spoiled me for years in my early playing days for appreciating other players 'cause it's just so expressive and cool!

Joe Shelby · From: Walnut Creek, California, USA

I think that tone, if you could duplicate it, would be difficult to get used to or be comfortable with as
your 'regular' tone.
The high mids and the general lack of body would just make you feel like a small fry in a band situation. I'm not saying nobody else could make it
work, but getting your 'touch' would be no walk in the park, JMHO.
It's a testament to Buddy's seemingly limitless abilities that he could pull that one off, and yes,
what expressive playing it is.
I, too, have loved the touch, tone and choice of notes for eons. Neil Flanz may have acheived something really great in his reading of Buddy's solo. Notice Neil never tries to duplicate parts note
for note, but really excels in getting the feel of the original work. His touch (on the live Fallen Angels' album) is so great, and sure you know that he
is more than a casual interpreter of Buddy's work.
I would add that Buddy's tone on 'That's All it Took' is somewhat similar with the sound he gets on Roger Miller's Trip in the Country (album).
All great stuff.

Joe.[/i]

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I have an old promo copy of the LP "Gram Parsons/Flying Burrito Bros. Sleepless Nights", A&M SP-4578. According to the liner notes, this was released in about '76. 9 tunes are the original Burritos recorded in '70 with Sneaky Pete. But the other 3, including "Sleepless Nights", are duets with Gram and Emmylou. According to the liner notes:

"The remaining three tracks were recorded during the sessions for Gram Parsons' 1973 Warner Bros. album Grievous Angel. These were recorded at Wally Heider's in L.A. with Parsons producing and Hugh Davies the engineer. Musicians on these tracks are Parsons and Emmylou Harris (vocals), James Burton, Bernie Leadon (guitars), Herb Pederson (acoustic guitar and vocals), Al Perkins (pedal steel), Emory Gordy (bass), Ronnie Tutt (drums), Byron Berline (mandolin, fiddle), and Glen D. Hardin (piano). All three tracks remained unmixed 16-track masters until February, 1976, when Davies and Emmylou Harris put them into their present mixed form."

I agree on "Sleepless Nights" - it has to be my favorite Gram Parsons performance.

Peer Desmense · From: Netherlands

When Emmylou went solo after Gram died, she did "Sleepless nights" again, this time singing her own harmonies. I rememeber her commenting on this version saying that she believed that the beautiful song that it allready was could even become more beautifull by reviewing the harmonies, which she did.
I agree with her, this solo version of her is IMHO one of the most beautiful songs I ever heared.

Goosepimples and spineshivering for me.

Peer

Jonathan Shacklock · From: London, UK

If anyone hasn't yet heard Gram's recently released "Complete Reprise Sessions" set, it's really worth it. There's a version of She with a different mix of Buddy's steel where it comes in right from the start. Also the "live" Hickory Wind without all the dubbed on crowd flabber which reveals some beautiful Al Perkins stuff. Just two highlights out of many.

emil noothout · From: Amsterdam, Netherlands

In 2002 i asked mr. Emmons on this forum which amplifier he used on "Sound of a Heartache" from Johnny Bush, it was a Standel, and after some confusion he conluded he used that amp also in California.

Chris LeDrew · From: Canada

I've heard second-hand that Buddy doesn't remember much at all about the Gram sessions or Gram himself, really.

The solo on "That's All It Took" has this farty little punchy tone that's just awesome. Very unique. I guess it's that metallic push-pull thing combined with a nice sparkly amp tone and, of course, Buddy's famous touch. Sounds like there's a bit of compression coming into play as well.
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Marc Jenkins · From: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

I just gave 'That's All It Took' again, and that tone really is unusual. (And great!) It kind of sounds like something in between a six string and a steel, but not specifically either one.

Thanks for bringing this up, Chris. I haven't listened to Gram in a while. Great stuff!

Chris LeDrew · From: Canada

No problem, Mark. Every so often I'll take out that double CD and throw it in the car for a trip or something. A steel part always jumps out at me somewhere.
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Ben Jones · From: Seattle, Washington, USA

The steel sound on "thats all it took" is indeed very unusual. I am listening now and wondering how much of that sound is attributable to the mixing and engineeering of the track. To me it sounds highly compressed and as if ALL the bottom end was rolled off. Just sayin it could have as much to do with the mix as his amp or steel. But I am certainly no expert.

John Steele · From: Renfrew, Ontario, Canada

It seems that Buddy was going for a different sound when he went west. The Roger Miller sessions are another example from around the same time period that feature alot thinner, razorish tone than he usually went for.
When I listen to "She", the other thing that I notice is how comfortable Buddy is navigating the chord changes while the fiddle player (Byron Berline?) seems a bit like a fish out of water, relying on the roots.
Those sessions resonate strongly with me, as my older brothers played them continuously as I was growing up. They are part of the reason I decided to play steel too.
-John
edit: Joe Shelby, I missed your comment, I think you're right.

Mike Cass · Posted 10 Aug 2007 7:36 pm

"Thats All It Took"; yessir!!!.....the tone that Buddy was getting on that song,and really all of those LA sessions he did sure opened up my ears as well. "A Trip In The Country" also. Another project in that vein is an LA period Elektra album he did with Ronee Blakley who was featured in the Robert Altman film "Nashville". Buddy's playing on the cut entitled "Dues" is simply awesome...stately,even.
Buddy and John Hughey also played on what was perhaps Ronee's 2nd album for the same label but its title escapes me. Some fine,fine performances by both fellows and the steel mixed right where we like it:)
Im so glad to see people getting exposed to those LA cuts nowadays. When they talk about "hippie steel players":)then Emmons name should surely top the list,imho. Paul McCartney,Parsons,Ronstadt,Judy Collins,John Sebastian,etc,etc,etc,...any questions?
If Jerry Garcia turned a whole generation on to the steel guitar,as has been alluded to from time to time on the forum,then Buddy Emmons showed them the gold mine at the end of the trail. If a player cant get inspired to tackle this psg-contraption after listening to those cuts,then he/she must be dead.
And btw, about compression; it may have been squeezed a bit, but E gets that popping sound from his right hand blocking technique as well, no outboard gear necessary:)
Great thread!

Olli Haavisto · From: Jarvenpaa,Finland

On "She", the counter melody Buddy with harmonics behind vocals towards the end of the song is pure genious !
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Joe Shelby · From: Walnut Creek, California, USA

That album is a little goldmine of Buddy's playing.
"Dues" is a heartbraker that Buddy spins some very
elegant playing around. The song by itself would count for a lot, but when you add Buddy's playing it
takes the lyrics to another level. Not an unusal accomplishment, especially when we add in "Someday Soon," subject of another thread here.
The other cut Buddy appears on (on the Ronee Blakely
album) is "Down to the River," a duet with Linda Ronstadt (Buddy is said to have appeared with Linda on some gig in Tennessee in 1974; still seems to be
some question about that. lol, lol...).
Buddy does great things as well on this tune; one of
his many signature phrases is used as the intro, and
if you can find the album, you'll thank yourself for it.
Mike C.'s comment about Buddy belonging in the hippie
steeler's hall of fame is truly appropriate. He made
the most of every session --Judy Collins, Linda, John Sebastian, Ronee Blakely, Dewey Martin, Gram Parsons, Don Everly, the Suite Steel album, and many others I've
forgotten.

Joe.

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