Tunes Of The Week #4 - Buddy Charleton

Joe Goldmark · Post by **Joe Goldmark** » 25 Jan 2011 4:32 pm

Steeler: Buddy Charleton
Artist: Ernest Tubb & The Texas Troubadours
CD Title: Almost To Tulsa - The Instrumentals
Tunes: Almost To Tulsa, Waltz Across Texas
Label: Bear Family, originally Decca
Year: 1965

http://www.vinylbeat.com/forum/05AlmostToTulsa.m4a

http://www.vinylbeat.com/forum/16WaltzAcrossTexas.m4a

I am happy to honor a request for some Buddy Charleton music. I never met him, but have seen him play with the TTs, and he's one of my idols. Also, in the mid '90s, I sent out an SOS to many pickers to try and buy some retired Nudie suits and the like for my band, Mental Revenge. Buddy was the only guy to come to the rescue, and we proudly wore a hodge podge of ET suits. San Francisco has never been the same! BTW, Gary Claxton, who recently passed, was the singer in that band, and Jim Campilongo was on guitar.

Most of us have heard and play, or try to play these two tunes. I usually try to find obscure tunes to present, but I kept coming back to these chestnuts to show the two sides of Buddy; the hot C6 and the gorgeous E9. For you newbies, pay attention!

Joe

Cal Sharp · Post by **Cal Sharp** » 25 Jan 2011 5:37 pm

Nice! That half-pedal on WAT is probably where I learned it.

Frank Estes · Post by **Frank Estes** » 25 Jan 2011 7:12 pm

Thanks for posting these. One of my first steel guitar instrumental purchases was Buddy's "Almost to Tulsa" that was part of Tom Bradshaw's cassette club. The bio notes were real interesting.

Billy Wilson · Post by **Billy Wilson** » 25 Jan 2011 7:47 pm

Nice!!

Joe Goldmark · Post by **Joe Goldmark** » 25 Jan 2011 8:01 pm

Hey Cal,

Me too! It was the chromatic 1st string after the half pedal that killed me. His playing is just so musical.

Joe

Ian Miller · Post by **Ian Miller** » 25 Jan 2011 8:16 pm

Joe Goldmark wrote:Also, in the mid '90s, I sent out an SOS to many pickers to try and buy some retired Nudie suits and the like for my band, Mental Revenge. Buddy was the only guy to come to the rescue, and we proudly wore a hodge podge of ET suits. San Francisco has never been the same! BTW, Gary Claxton, who recently passed, was the singer in that band, and Jim Campilongo was on guitar.

Are there pictures? I would LOVE to see this!!

Thanks for posting such great tracks, Buddy is one of my top favorites.

Joe Goldmark · Post by **Joe Goldmark** » 25 Jan 2011 9:41 pm

Ian,

Be careful of what you wish for! If you're a big fan of ET, you'll see three different outfits that are shown on various ET album covers. We were a motley crew, but definitely game. Thanks again to Buddy for parting with these threads. I think at the time that he was plenty sick of the road, and didn't want stuff around to remind him.

Joe

Ian Miller · Post by **Ian Miller** » 25 Jan 2011 11:01 pm

I love it!! Thanks, Mr. Goldmark!

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 26 Jan 2011 5:16 am

Joe, Where are the suits now?, do you still have any of them or does Marty Stuart own them now

Don McClellan · Post by **Don McClellan** » 26 Jan 2011 6:22 pm

Thanks Joe, Beautiful pickin'. Don

Cal Sharp · Post by **Cal Sharp** » 26 Jan 2011 10:13 pm

Marty's got a few.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 30 Jan 2011 9:11 am

Joe, I really love both these tunes and especially Almost to Tulsa. I talked to Junior Brown about Buddy last year and we both agreed on his greatness.

I just finished tabbing and notating Almost To Tulsa--it's one of my favorite tunes to play.

Joe Goldmark · Post by **Joe Goldmark** » 30 Jan 2011 10:40 pm

Hey Mike,

Red Volkaert told me a while back that Jim Murphy used to play ATT on an 8 string no pedal steel! Another fantastic player. Did you tab it for no pedals?

Craig, I still have the shirts and a suit, and still wear them occasionally for gigs and loan them to band members.

Joe

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 31 Jan 2011 5:15 am

Joe, That's very cool that you still have those suits.

Do you know where we can find a copy of 'Almost to Tulsa' ?, I love that tune, please post more songs like that. If not available is it possible to download the clip you posted?

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 31 Jan 2011 5:42 am

Joe Goldmark wrote:Hey Mike,

Red Volkaert told me a while back that Jim Murphy used to play ATT on an 8 string no pedal steel! Another fantastic player. Did you tab it for no pedals?

Craig, I still have the shirts and a suit, and still wear them occasionally for gigs and loan them to band members.

Joe

Joe, yes I did tab it for no pedals, but if you play pedal C6 you would just have to engage P6.

I'm going to try and make a recording of it today. I already did the backing tracks last night.

Craig--you want to get "Almost To Tulsa--The Instrumentals" by the Texas Troubadours. Every home should have this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Almost-Tulsa-Inst ... B001DETFC6

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 31 Jan 2011 9:18 am

Hey, Joe, that looks like Dustin Hoffman standing next to you in the red suit. Where was that picture taken? It looks familiar …..

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 31 Jan 2011 11:22 am

Hey Joe, here's my no pedals version:

Almost To Tulsa

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 31 Jan 2011 1:21 pm

Thanks Mike for the link.

Hey Barry, I think the guy is actually Dusty Hoffman his younger brother

Joe Goldmark · Post by **Joe Goldmark** » 31 Jan 2011 7:41 pm

The handsome guys in that picture are me, Chris Kee, Kenny Owen, Gary Claxton and Jim Campilongo. Barry, that was at the Stork Club in downtown Oakland mid '90s. They're technically still around but they moved. It was always Christmas there. I'm guessing that you managed to miss that one.

Ken, good job on ATT. Nice that you play your solo. When I play it I try and cop Buddy's solo, cause it's so cool, but I probably should play an original one.

IMO, ATT is one of the greatest steel instrumentals.

Joe

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Tunes Of The Week #4 - Buddy Charleton

Tunes Of The Week #4 - Buddy Charleton

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