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Topic: Club Snafu Balto '78: Who was the Steel Player? |
Eric West
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 16 Dec 2002 9:42 pm |
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It came back to me that it was probably the first time I'd ever "sat in" with a band on stage.
It also dawned on me that somebody might remember who it was. It seems to be an incredibly small world here..
The band was fronted by a "Hank Thompson" "clone" ( I don't think that, or "impersonator" is an accurate word. He just liked and did a bunch of HT songs.) He worked civilian in the print shop on AAFB where I was stationed at the time. Can't say I remember his name either.
Anyhow, the steel player was a top shelf guy, and I was just getting started. I remember not being able to "hold up my end" and was treated really kindly.
This was a time where you could go to any number of a dozen clubs from Waldorf to Ocean City and see the most incredible music. Another was Sam's Crab House on the Eastern Shore. I'll never forget all that CH Bay Shrimp either. Prawns as big as your hand.
Maybe somebody's memory can help out here.
TIA
EJL |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 17 Dec 2002 12:10 pm
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| That Hank Thompson fan/bandleader, and singer you saw was Freddie Rick. Freddie Rick knew every one of Hank's songs, and he sounded a lot like him, too. He was a fixture in country music in the Baltimore area for over 30 years. Freddie's band ("The Gamblers"...named long before that Kenny Rogers hit song) featured Lin Strauf (a fine player) on steel at the time you mentioned. Lin played a red Emmons D10 P/P, which Curry Coster owns now. Freddie's brother, Burnell, also played steel in his band for awhile, as did I...many years ago. |
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Eric West
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 17 Dec 2002 1:21 pm
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YES!!
I was thinking of you when I posted.
Yep. They were a class act alright. I was soon to get out of the AF, and didn't stay around. Rough neighborhood, that place. I remember a couple brainless after-dark trips into Charles Covnty. Proctorville too..
Years later I was in a band that backed up HT on one of his "tours". He'd have local agents pick one of their bands, give them a rehearsal tape, and he'd "go for it". It sounds stupid, but two things I really enjoyed about the gig. One was that I had the presence of mind as when I met ET, to call him "Mister" and addressed him as "sir". The other was that they needed a sound check with his big ole guitar. I volunteered, did the check, and to my surprise I handed it back to him without asking him if I could have it.  We got paid cash out of his T-Shirt money. He talked to us, much like ET, as long as we wanted.
"there's a salmon smellin' girl...."
Thanks. That stuff, Smoky Mac, Don West, The String Dusters and BC, gave me the best memory foundation a guy could ask for. The memories are still like it was yesterday.
Priceless.
EJL
[This message was edited by Eric West on 17 December 2002 at 01:29 PM.] |
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Al Miller
From:
Waxahachie Texas
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Posted 17 Dec 2002 2:32 pm
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Eric!!
WE were Just talking about sams crab house a few days ago ,, man I grew up in that place, My dad would take me there to sit in when I was just a kid 11 -12 yrs old .guys like johnny hopkins who don west worked for then and bands like branded with wendell cavin on drums and chuck mandess on steel . WOW when I look back I wonder if I should be a better player than I am with mentors like those guys anyway thanks for the reminder again and I think I might just drive up there one of these days and see if ole sam is still around ..I bet it would blow his mind if I walked in the door now ...
BOO |
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Eric West
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.
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"..
