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Topic: Buddy Emmons cuts on NRBQ album |
Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Larry Dering
From:
Missouri, USA
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Posted 28 Jul 2023 8:16 am |
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| A slick solo from the master. Great stuff. |
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 28 Jul 2023 9:01 am
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Yikes!!! 
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Dave Campbell
From:
Nova Scotia, Canada
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Jim Fogarty
From:
Phila, Pa, USA
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Posted 28 Jul 2023 1:22 pm
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| Is Buddy all over this album? |
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John McClung
From:
Olympia WA, USA
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Posted 28 Jul 2023 5:07 pm
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What a sparkly solo by the Big E.
Anyone know the story of how NRBQ and Skeeter Davis hooked up, and why? I love their work together, but a strange pairing for an R&B band.
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Jim Fogarty
From:
Phila, Pa, USA
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Posted 28 Jul 2023 5:44 pm
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| John McClung wrote: |
What a sparkly solo by the Big E.
Anyone know the story of how NRBQ and Skeeter Davis hooked up, and why? I love their work together, but a strange pairing for an R&B band. |
Skeeter Davis and Joey Spampinato were married. |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 29 Jul 2023 1:28 am
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Thx for these clips Greg, Its the first time I ever heard them ! I think its actually a Skeeter Davis album-- no ?
Buddy was, well, lets put it this way , there are a few really great players out there , we know who they are, but they are still chasing Buddy's approach . Buddy had a unique sense of phrasing ,timing and note selection , comparable to a world class horn player. He didn't just play , he created , he didn't follow, he led .
These clips on both the E9th and the C6th are clearly identifiable Buddy.
Good stuff for sure !
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jobless- but not homeless- now retired 9 years
CURRENT MUSIC TRACKS AT > https://tprior2241.wixsite.com/website |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 29 Jul 2023 1:41 am
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The title of the album is "She Sings, They Play" by Skeeter Davis & NRBQ.
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 29 Jul 2023 12:23 pm
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How terrible it must have been for Joey when she had died. He's not with the Q anymore, but he's still performing.
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Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Jeremy Threlfall
From:
now in Western Australia
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robert kramer
From:
Nashville TN
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Posted 31 Jul 2023 4:27 am
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Buddy Emmons worked a lot with Skeeter. He cut with her in 1959, issued that year on RCA-Victor 47-7570 "Home Breaker" / "Give Me Death" and on LP in 1965: RCA Camden CAS-899 "Blueberry Hill & Other Favorites." From 1959 to 1961, they worked on the Ernest Tubb band together, touring and working radio and TV. Emmons backed Skeeter on the "Grand Ole Opry,' "The Midnight Jamboree," "Prince Albert Grand Ole Opry," "Pet Milk Grand Ole Opry," and on a WSM Saturday morning radio show: "The Ernest Tubb Jamboree" and a Saturday morning TV show: "Grand Ole Opry Star Time," both on WSM.
Side note: Their tenure together on the Troubadours was before and after Emmons relocated to California to work with Gordon Terry at Price's Foothill Club in Signal Hill and then moved back to town to rejoin ET.
"Home Breaker"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DEyqYFdYng&list=RD4DEyqYFdYng&start_radio=1
"Give Me Death"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjroP1VOCnk
Skeeter Davis - "Blueberry Hill" - 1961 "Pet Milk Grand Ole Opry,"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv8FVRYq_Ac
Skeeter Davis w/ The Glaser Brothers - "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know"- 1961 "Pet Milk Grand Ole Opry,"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfZABhjVm2A
Johnny Johnson / Buddy Emmons / Jan Kurtis / Leon Rhodes / Jack Drake backing Skeeter Davis: 1961 "Pet Milk Grand Ole Opry"
Note: the papers were still running an old photo with Dickie Harris and Rusty Gabbard still on the band.
In the 90s, Skeeter and Joey would be backstage at the Opry. Around that time, I saw NRBQ played Nashville. All that talk about them being a great live band: every bit of that was true. |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 31 Jul 2023 4:58 am
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Liner notes:
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Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Pete Finney
From:
Nashville Tn.
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Posted 31 Jul 2023 5:23 am
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| robert kramer wrote: |
In the 90s, Skeeter and Joey would be backstage at the Opry. Around that time, I saw NRBQ played Nashville. All that talk about them being a great live band: every bit of that was true. |
Thanks for all that info above, Robert.
I worked quite a bit on the Opry back then (though probably not as much as you did!) and of course most acts share dressing rooms. I was a huge NRBQ fan and had seen them many times all over the country so it was a real treat to share the dressing room multiple times with Skeeter, and Joey Spampanato. He was super friendly, low-key, and personable - a great hang. I think he is one of the most overlooked of the great pop/rock songwriters, every album has a few of his super-melodic gems. |
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robert kramer
From:
Nashville TN
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Posted 31 Jul 2023 8:47 am
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Pete, I remember those days. I also very clearly remember Patty going into the chorus on "You Don't Even Know Who I Am" on the TV portion, with you and Deanie on her band. I was new and still getting my feet on the ground, so never got to hang with Joey. I do remember Turp going over and hanging with Joey, too.
We've all seen a lot of great acts in our time. For me, some shows, no matter how big the star(s), still have an impact on me. I think of ET, Bobby Blue Bland, and Hag, of course. I also remember NRBQ in this way. |
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Pete Finney
From:
Nashville Tn.
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Posted 31 Jul 2023 8:57 am
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To bring this back to the tracks with Buddy Emmons:
I wonder whose call it was to bring Buddy in? Presumably either Joey, or bandmate Terry Adams, since they produced it and maybe Skeeter suggested him. And it looks like the album was mostly cut in Woodstock, New York which makes me wonder if they brought Buddy up there or had him overdub after the fact in Nashville. Either way it was a great idea!
Forum member Jim Hoke might have some insight; he had a long association with NRBQ as part of the horn-section long before he ever took up pedal steel. |
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Peter Freiberger
From:
California, USA
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Dennis Lee
From:
Forest Grove, Oregon, USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2023 7:43 am Be
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A big "amen" to what Tony said! Buddy is the Holy Grail of pedal steel, always will be.
There is another pedal steel genius that I believe has achieved this elite status, Mr. Buck Reid. |
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Jim Hoke
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 13 Aug 2023 12:30 pm
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| Just saw this. Okay Pete - here's the story I got from Terry: NRBQ was making an album w/ Skeeter up north someplace and Terry had an arrangement of "Someday My Prince Will Come" that had Al doing a Travis-style guitar thing. He wanted to hear steel on it, but playing "heavenly", not "country". The only steeler he knew of who could play jazz was Curley Chalker, but Skeeter wasn't keen on him for some reason and she suggested Buddy, whom she knew and liked. So they flew Buddy up for a day, at his day rate at the time and Terry expected to have to teach Buddy the chords to "Prince" and help him find something to play on it. Of course, Buddy came in and tore it up beautifully and quite enjoyed himself. After that it was a matter of "we're paying this guy to be here all day; what else can we get him on?" so he's on the handful of tunes on the record. Terry's planning a re-issue at some point but meanwhile that record or CD can be found and is def worth looking up. |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 14 Aug 2023 8:04 am
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Thanks for the info, Jim. Today is Terry's 75th birthday.
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Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Jim Hoke
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 14 Aug 2023 8:16 am
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| Yes it is and 2 days later is Joey's. |
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Ken Byng
From:
Southampton, England
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Posted 24 Aug 2023 9:20 am
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| Tony Prior wrote: |
| ............Buddy was, well, lets put it this way , there are a few really great players out there , we know who they are, but they are still chasing Buddy's approach . Buddy had a unique sense of phrasing ,timing and note selection , comparable to a world class horn player. He didn't just play , he created , he didn't follow, he led................ |
Many have tried (as Tony rightly suggests) to emulate Buddy's playing, but his playing was totally unique. The genius of Buddy Emmons is that he could just about play anything musically, and the fluidity of his picking on this track is way ahead of its time as indeed it always was. And he wasn't a pick blocker either.
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Last edited by Ken Byng on 26 Aug 2023 6:44 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Pete Finney
From:
Nashville Tn.
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Posted 26 Aug 2023 6:32 am
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Hey Jim, thanks for the inside scoop on the Emmons/NRBQ match-up.
Makes perfect sense; gotta love unusual or unlikely collaborations like that when they work out so well. |
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Pete Finney
From:
Nashville Tn.
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Posted 15 Dec 2024 6:51 pm
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Just a follow-up to Jim Hoke's post above. As he mentioned, they were preparing to re-release this NRBQ album, and it's out now. Some extra tracks but it doesn't look like Emmons is on them.
https://omnivorerecordings.com/shop/she-sings-they-play/
I'd never listened to the "Homebreaker" track Robert Kramer posted above until today. Straight-ahead country playing from 1959, no fancy licks but just amazing tone, even for Buddy (who always had great tone, of course!). Made my day... Here's the link again for others who might have missed it. Thanks Robert!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5msNeSL24Y |
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