Joaquin Murphey recording?

Joel Glassman · From: Waltham MA USA

I love Joaquin Murphey's soloing on Spade
Cooley's records (though Spade's music makes me suffer a little ;^). Murphey did one pedal steel solo recording. Is it good? Can someone describe tunes/players? Thanks, its too bad he didn't record more. --Joel

Smiley Roberts · From: Hendersonville,Tn. 37075

My special favorite has always been,"Oklahoma Stomp",which I have a copy of the original 78 on Columbia.

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Mitch Drumm · From: Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake

his lone pedal steel lp is somewhere around 20 years old. matter of fact, going from memory, i think it may have been recorded about the time he was put in the steel hall
of fame. i read somewhere it was recorded
under far less than ideal circumstances. i don't have it in front of me, but as i recall most of the songs are original. i think "moonglow" is on it too. it certainly isn't my favorite joaquin stuff. not even sure the other musicians are mentioned. i think you can still get at least a cassette of it, possibly from scotty or tom bradshaw.

the prime material is mid 50s back to i guess 1943 or whenever he joined cooley. you have to wade through a lot of dreck on a lot of cooley lps to pick up boggling stuff like his ride in "florida", an otherwise bland instrumental. or "i can't give you anything but love".

maybe someday we will see a bear family boxed set of tex williams. i am also wondering about the cd appearance of his mid-40s recordings as a member of andy parker and
the plainsmen. parker's son andy posted to
this board maybe 18 months ago that he had plans to release all of those plainsmen
recordings, but i have heard no more about it. this is where, in i think 1946, joaquin
did "sweet georgia brown" and "honeysuckle rose" on opposite sides of a 78, possibly his
most electrifying recording.

Clarence Wilson · From: morgantown wv usa

I have an autographed album which I purchased at Scotty's at the time of his induction into the hall of fame. It was recorded shortly before this time in Nashville. Scotty probably has this album on his list for sale.
If not, email me and I will furnish more particulars concerning it. I talked to him for awhile at Scotty's store. He was staying in a camper located in the parking lot at the rear of the store. Koos Beil and I were the only people at the store at the time. We were shown how he tuned the guitar and he explained why he tuned it this way. A fond memory I have of those days.

CEW

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Dana Duplan · From: Ramona, CA

Does anyone know what kind of steel Joaquin was using on these early 40's recordings--prior to getting his Bigsby?
DD

Smiley Roberts · From: Hendersonville,Tn. 37075

I don't know either but,I'm gonna take wild guess & say a Fender.

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Herb Steiner · From: Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064

Joaquin told me he played a National that Smokey Rogers got for him when he joined the band. The earliest videos I've seen of Joaquin had him playing the D-8 Bigsby lap guitar now owned by Chas Smith. Michael Johnstone would be the cat with the details, though.

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Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

Murph told me that his first guitar was a 6 string Dickerson lap steel bought for him by his parents when he was taking lessons from Ernie Ball's father in Hollywood.He auditioned for Spade Cooley on that guitar in the kitchen of some ballroom in L.A. Smokey Rodgers either bought him or loaned him something better to play(a National?)while he awaited delivery of his next guitar-a Bigsby.He had several different Bigsbys including a triple 8 w/no pedals and a single 8 w/6 pedals that had the headstock on the right end and the changer on the left end.I have a picture of him playing it that was taken by Bobby Black in about 1957.Years later,Tex Williams told Bobby that Murph hated it and only played it that one night and gave it back to Paul Bigsby.It was an experimental prototype and looked like a left-handed steel but it wasn't.Tom Morrell told me he drove out to L.A. just to hear Joaquin play(w/Tex Williams)and when he walked into the club,Murph was playing a Magnatone D-8 but he sounded just like he always did.Besides the D-8 Bigsby lap steel Herb mentioned,Murph may have had another Bigsby - a D-8 on legs w/pedals on one neck.When he seriously went to pedals in the early 70s,he played a custom made single 8 short scale(22")w/6 pedals and no knee levers w/his C6Maj7/A7 tuning made by some guy in Burbank named "Woody". That is the guitar he played the one and only time he performed at Scotty's convention.He also recorded the album with "Moonglow" etc on that guitar.He never liked the pickup on that guitar and had it rewound at one point to make it more mellow,but was still not totally satisfied.He played that guitar for a number of years and when Woody died,his son and daughter came to Murph's mobile home and repossessed the guitar - by force - in spite of the fact that their dad had built it FOR and given it TO Murph years before.Heartbroken,bitter,out of work and unable to afford another guitar,Murph said F**k it! and turned to washing cars for a living.Fifteen years later,when I met him,I loaned him a Rick 8 string while Chas built him the last guitar he ever owned-an amazing single 9 with 4&3 and a specially designed 9 string "Bigsby-esque" pickup built by the late Danny Shields.Interestingly,when I first introduced him to Chas,Chas offered to give him back his old Bigsby or any of several real nice Bigsbys that he has in his collection-including a triple 10. Murph said: "Hell,I don't want some OLD guitar-I want a brand new one...and here's the specifications..." -MJ-

[This message was edited by Michael Johnstone on 28 April 2000 at 03:11 AM.]

[This message was edited by Michael Johnstone on 28 April 2000 at 03:12 AM.]

Jay Jessup · From: Charlottesville, VA, USA

This thread inspired me to run downstairs and dig out the LP Joaquin did for Scotty. It was recorded in Nashville in August of 76 with Leon Rhodes on lead guitar, Terry Bethal on rhythm guitar and Buddy Emmons on bass. There are five original tunes on it as well as covers of Sweet Georgia Brown, Moonglow, Sunnyside of the Street, Honeysuckle Rose and your Cheating Heart. The liner notes were written by Ernie Ball and include this little gem in response to a question about his tuning, "I tune all 24 strings on my tripleneck guitar to E, this cuts down on bar movement when playing fast single string passages." On the cover Joaquin is shown standing behind a black S-10 Sho-Bud Pro-1 with six pedals and one visible knee lever.

[This message was edited by Jay Jessup on 29 April 2000 at 12:01 PM.]

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

Those runs he took on the old Smokey Rogers records were great! "New Panhandle Rag", and the likes. I just got a dub from England of "WHISPERING" by Murphy. Really fine stuff. The Tex Williams records were more in number and he did fantabulous runs.
"With Men Who Know Tobacco Best", etc., etc.

Jay Jessup · From: Charlottesville, VA, USA

Just a quick update, after making my initial post above I gave the album a listen for the first time in many years. I have not heard Joaquin on any other record so I don't know how he sounds in the Cooley days but he sounds pretty good on this record IMHO. His tone sounds more Hawaiian than any Sho-Bud I have heard so it may well be that the Bud on the cover was just for show? The album itself sounds like a group of friends (very talented friends that is) who got together for a Saturday afternoon jam session. Everything was well played but there was nothing real special in the way of arangements. I wouldn't be surprised if they just went through the tunes to make sure everyone knew the changes and when to play and pushed the record button. Joaquin on this record sounds like a cross between Speedy West and Buddy Emmons with little taste of Chalker thrown in for good measure. While he is very clean and precise in his execution a lot of fire and emotion comes through in his playing, so for those of you looking to get a taste of what Jaoquin was about I don't think this tape (if it's still available) is a bad place to start.

Herb Steiner · From: Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064

Since Marty Muse is in Europe right now, I will answer what little I know about the Sho~Bud on the album cover.

That guitar was not the guitar Murph played on the Midland album. It was owned by Murph's buddy, Jesse Peck (his photo is on the album) and is now owned by Jesse's son, who lives in Austin and takes lessons from Marty.

Marty was working on the guitar one day when I stopped by the shop. It's in pretty rough shape, fer sure, not cared for at all. Anyway, the photo was posed for the album cover.

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Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

If I ever make a steel guitar album, I would want its artwork to feature a picture of a steel guitar that I have never seen, preferably something unplayable, and backwards so it looks lefthanded.

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