"Six Days On The Road" steel player??

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 1 May 2010 2:48 pm

Here is the original version of Six Days On The Road, done by Paul Davis in 1961, a couple of years before Dave Dudley recorded the song.

http://picosong.com/F5p

Great steel guitar---would anyone care to speculate who it is?

This was released on the Bulletin label out of Nashville, so it may be a well known player, but I have no idea.

Dave Harmonson · Post by **Dave Harmonson** » 1 May 2010 4:28 pm

I never heard this before. Always thought Dave Dudley's was the original. Could that be Ralph Mooney? The open string licks almost sounded like Buck Trent's electric banjo.

Brendan Mitchell · Post by **Brendan Mitchell** » 1 May 2010 5:33 pm

I really like that . Like others I took it for granted it was a Dave Dudley original , this version rocks!

Roger Kelly · Post by **Roger Kelly** » 1 May 2010 6:01 pm

It sounds like Pete Drake....somewhat.

Brendan Mitchell · Post by **Brendan Mitchell** » 1 May 2010 10:34 pm

Dave Dudley with steel :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClnFbpbpUOA

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 2 May 2010 2:08 am

Pete Drake

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 2 May 2010 6:41 am

Brendan Mitchell wrote:Dave Dudley with steel :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClnFbpbpUOA

Looked like Hal Rugg in this Dave Dudley version.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 2 May 2010 11:09 am

Pete was fond of rocking on Pedal 1, wasn't he?

Oh! The memories!! That is a great cut of pure early 60's vintage gold. More stuff like that, please!

Chris LeDrew · Post by **Chris LeDrew** » 2 May 2010 2:24 pm

Nice, rich tone there.....Permanent, I assume? The riff is a lot like "Above and Beyond." Very cool sound!

tom anderson · Post by **tom anderson** » 2 May 2010 7:33 pm

Sorry guys, but this is my favorite version by the Flying Burrito Brothers with Al Perkins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwPTYimA ... re=related
It smokes.

Clyde Mattocks · Post by **Clyde Mattocks** » 2 May 2010 8:33 pm

Yeah,Tom. Thanks, that one smokes!

Richard Bass · Post by **Richard Bass** » 2 May 2010 9:33 pm

That video of Dave with steel guitar that is me on lead guitar, Hal Rugg on steel. Must have been in the mid to late 60's. My first TV show, notice the lovely costume

John Floyd · Post by **John Floyd** » 2 May 2010 11:08 pm

Richard, Nice Hair Too

John

Brendan Mitchell · Post by **Brendan Mitchell** » 2 May 2010 11:13 pm

I love that sound you are getting there Richard .

Larry Bressington · Post by **Larry Bressington** » 3 May 2010 8:11 am

What amp??

Hook Moore · Post by **Hook Moore** » 3 May 2010 8:42 am

Richard the uniform is very nice
Hook

Scott Appleton · Post by **Scott Appleton** » 3 May 2010 10:04 am

I see that in Muscle Shoals there were two guys Carl Montgomery and Earl Green who have the credit for writing 6 days on the road .. Paul Davis later released a few hits and wrote some for a bunch of people but it don't look like ether Dave or Paul wrote that legendary
hit.

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 3 May 2010 11:04 am

Scott Appleton wrote:I see that in Muscle Shoals there were two guys Carl Montgomery and Earl Green who have the credit for writing 6 days on the road .. Paul Davis later released a few hits and wrote some for a bunch of people but it don't look like ether Dave or Paul wrote that legendary
hit.

I read an interview with Carl Montgomery years ago. He said that him and Earl were hauling a load of floor tile from Alabama to Pittsburgh in 1962 and came up with the idea for the song. Carl's brother, Earl "Peanut" Montgomery, was a legendary Nashville songwriter and their sister, Melba Montgomery, sang a few songs now and then.
Carl gave a demo of the song to Jimmy C Newman and asked him if he would cut it, Jimmy wasn't into trucking songs and he gave the demo to Dave Dudley. The next time Dave went into the studio, he had a few minutes left after doing all the songs that were scheduled, so they listened to the demo that Jimmy C gave him and he and the band cut the song in two takes.
The only thing is that he said they wrote the song in '62 and it was copyrighted in '63, but the Paul Davis cut is from '61? So maybe he didn't give it to Jimmy C Newman first, or maybe the Paul Davis one is the demo. Anyone know anything about this Paul Davis?
The Paul Davis who had records out in the '70s can't be the same guy, because he would have been 11 years old in '61, and the cut in the original post don't sound like an 11 year old.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 3 May 2010 12:39 pm

Alvin:

Six Days On The Road may have been the final recording by this Paul Davis.

He had earlier (1956) recorded some good tunes for MGM, notably "Big Money" and "Make A Little Time With You".

The "other" Paul Davis was largely a pop artist who was much younger.

The Paul Davis version of Six Days is co-published by New Keys (Jimmy Newman's outfit) and Tune Music.

http://tinyurl.com/23kfzzk

Above link is to Billboard, 9/18/61, where the Davis release is mentioned.

BMI shows that the publishing is currently held by Tune and Southern Arts, with this list of artists:

BOXCAR WILLIE
DUDLEY DAVE
EARLE STEVE
FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS
GEORGE THOROGOOD AND THE DESTROYERS
HIT CREW
MAHAL TAJ
MC DONALD COUNTRY JOE
ROTH ARLEN
SAWYER BROWN
SCOTT LARRY
STEVE EARLE AND THE DUKES
WELZ JOEY

Paul Davis gets no mention, but BMI's web site has lots of errors.

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 3 May 2010 3:38 pm

Mitch Drumm wrote:Alvin:

Six Days On The Road may have been the final recording by this Paul Davis.

He had earlier (1956) recorded some good tunes for MGM, notably "Big Money" and "Make A Little Time With You".

The "other" Paul Davis was largely a pop artist who was much younger.

The Paul Davis version of Six Days is co-published by New Keys (Jimmy Newman's outfit) and Tune Music.

http://tinyurl.com/23kfzzk

Above link is to Billboard, 9/18/61, where the Davis release is mentioned.

BMI shows that the publishing is currently held by Tune and Southern Arts, with this list of artists:

BOXCAR WILLIE
DUDLEY DAVE
EARLE STEVE
FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS
GEORGE THOROGOOD AND THE DESTROYERS
HIT CREW
MAHAL TAJ
MC DONALD COUNTRY JOE
ROTH ARLEN
SAWYER BROWN
SCOTT LARRY
STEVE EARLE AND THE DUKES
WELZ JOEY

Paul Davis gets no mention, but BMI's web site has lots of errors.

That's what I kind of thought, that Jimmy C Newman had someone else cut it before Dave Dudley. I bet Paul Davis was a fishin' buddy of Jimmy C, so he got first dibs on the song.

Joe Goldmark · Post by **Joe Goldmark** » 4 May 2010 6:10 pm

Hey Richard Bass,

That Dudley cut looks like lip syncing. Did you guys record a version for the show? I assume that was the Wilburns show.?? I know they were usually live. What do you remember? It's definitely cool Hal Rugg.

Thanks,
Joe

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 5 May 2010 7:17 am

I don't remember the Wilburn Brothers ever using lip syncing, if that was even possible back then. The audio and video are probably just a little out of sync, which is pretty typical of YouTube.

Richard Bass · Post by **Richard Bass** » 5 May 2010 10:29 am

Hi guys, the show and video were live.

Dave Harmonson · Post by **Dave Harmonson** » 5 May 2010 10:46 am

Richard, I really like the way you captured the sound from DD's record. I've never been able to get that "slap" tone. I worked with a guy a few years back that had it down pretty good, but you nailed it.
Wasn't it Jim Colvard who played guitar on the record?

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 5 May 2010 12:06 pm

Colvard was associated with Dudley in Dave's early years, but so was Johnny Voit.

If you try to research it on the internet, most sources say Voit is the guitarist on 6 Days. He continued to play locally (Minnesota?) for many years and is now reportedly very ill. Didn't Colvard go on to Nashville?

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"Six Days On The Road" steel player??

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