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Topic: Slim Whitman's Steel Guitar Player |
Dave A. Burley
From:
Franklin, In. USA
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Posted 23 Jan 2008 7:25 pm |
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Can anyone tell me who was Slim Whitman's steel player in about 1955, 56, 57? The first country package show I was ever to was at the Muskegon High School auditorium in Muskegon, Michigan in the mid-fifties. Webb Pierce was the headliner along with Slim and the Wilburn Brothers. I will never forget the feeling I experianced as I heard Slim's steel player take that single note and slide it up one octave when Slim sang Indian Love Call. Sent chills up my spine. Thanks for any help.
Dave A. Burley |
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Fred Shannon
From:
Rocking "S" Ranch, Comancheria, Texas, R.I.P.
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Posted 23 Jan 2008 7:43 pm
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It was probably Hoot Rains of Shreveport Louisiana. Played with Whitman for years.
Phred |
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Eddie Cunningham
From:
Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 23 Jan 2008 7:45 pm Give a " Hoot "
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| Had to be Hoot Raines !!?? Hoot did those sweeps and high echo slides on Slims records !! As far as I remember !! I loved those old sounds and enjoyed Slims music very much !! Eddie "C" ( the old non-pedal Rickenbacher geezer ) |
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Dave A. Burley
From:
Franklin, In. USA
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Posted 23 Jan 2008 8:03 pm Slim Whitman Steel Guitar Player
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Thanks for the info. Just got off of Google and found all kinds of info when I typed in Hoot Raines.
Thanks again.
Dave A Burley |
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Dave A. Burley
From:
Franklin, In. USA
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Posted 23 Jan 2008 8:09 pm Slim Whitmans Steel Guitar Player
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More info on Hoot Raines, this info
from 'findagrave.com'
----Rains, Thomas 'Hoot' b. September 15, 1914 d. October 12, 1991
Steel guitarist. With "Curley" Herndon, he performed as "Hoot & Curley" on the Louisiana Hayride. He also backed Slim Whitman, providing the distinctive "shooting arrow," or "singing guitar," sound on such songs as "Love Song Of the Waterfall" and "Indian Love Call" (the sound coming as a result of Rains accidentally overshooting a note on his instrument.------
Interesting, huh? Isn't it amazing what you can find out just by asking? Thanks again for the info that led me to more info.
Dave A. Burley |
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Eddie Cunningham
From:
Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 23 Jan 2008 8:21 pm On second thought , may have been local steeler ??
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| Slim didn't always bring Hoot !! Slim came to Boston for the WCOP Hayloft Jamboree shows in the summer of 1953 and 1954 and both years I was asked to back him up. He requested the steel do the sweeps and slides like the records and I did the best I could. I remember doing "North Wind" and "China Doll" , two of my favorite songs . So he may have picked up a local player to do those shows in Michigan !!?? Eddie "C" |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 24 Jan 2008 4:32 am
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Also this fancifull offering is easily found and presumably will eventally become a "Fact"
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| happy accident during one of these radio broadcasts would change electric steel guitar playing forever. Hoot Rains, guitarist in Slim's band, overshot a note. The sound was so unique it was incorporated by the band. It became the definitive "shooting arrow" sound heard on all of Slim's subsequent recordings. The pay for these radio shows was minimal--$18 per week--and Slim had to take a second job as a postal worker to make ends meet. Colonel Tom Parker, who would later become famous as Elvis Presley's manager, heard Whitman on WFLA and, in 1948, helped him get signed to RCA. At the beginning of Presley's career, he toured as the opening act for Slim Whitman. Whitman received $500 per show while Elvis Presley received $50. |
So presumably the "overshoot' occurred BEFORE 1948 and was "Unique" no-one else had done it before ?
Harmonics as full octave glissando's had NEVER been played before..
It MUST be true, I found it on the 'Net'
Yes I'm sure !!
The guitar used on his UK tours and early recordings, was bought by My mom's first steel player Albert Greene and is now in the possession of BJ..
http://www.bjcole.co.uk/guitars.html
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