Buddy Emmons

Buddy Emmons



Born: January 27, 1937; Mishawaka, Indiana, U.S.
Died: July 21, 2015 (aged 78); Nashville, Tennessee

Associated acts: Little Jimmy Dickens, Ray Price, Ernest Tubb, John Hartford, The Everly Brothers

Buddy Gene Emmons (January 27, 1937 – July 21, 2015) was an American musician who is widely regarded as the world's foremost pedal steel guitarist of his day. He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1981. Affectionately known by the nickname "Big E", Emmons' primary genre was American country music, but he also performed jazz and Western swing. He recorded with Linda Ronstadt, Gram Parsons, The Everly Brothers, The Carpenters, Roger Miller, Ernest Tubb, John Hartford, Little Jimmy Dickens, Ray Price, Judy Collins, George Strait, John Sebastian, and Ray Charles and was a widely sought session musician in Nashville and Los Angeles.

Emmons made significant innovations to the steel guitar, adding two additional strings and an additional pedal, changes which have been adopted as standard in the modern-day instrument. His name is on a US patent for a mechanism to raise and lower the pitch of a string on a steel guitar and return to the original pitch without going out of tune. He won the Academy of Country Music's "Best Steel Guitarist" nine times, beginning in 1969.

In 2013, two years before his death, he was honored by the Country Music Hall of Fame in a tribute called "The Big E: Salute to Buddy Emmons" featuring testimonials and performances by eminent musicians and hall of fame members.
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Career
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In 1976, Emmons recorded a highly regarded tribute to the great Western Swing artist Bob Wills, on which he sang lead vocal and played steel guitar. He continued to do session work throughout the 1980s and 1990s with artists such as John Hartford, George Strait, Gene Watson and Ricky Skaggs.

In 1977, Emmons teamed with Danny Gatton for occasional gigs, and then in 1978 they toured as the band Redneck Jazz Explosion. On New Year's Eve 1978, they recorded the album Redneck Jazz live at The Cellar Door in Washington, D.C.