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Author Topic:  Hank Thompsun Steeler
Wesley Medlen

 

From:
LaCygne,Ks
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 5:19 am    
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Who was Hanks steeler? Can't remember any thing anymore. Thank you Wes
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Dick Hitchcock


From:
Wayne, Nebraska
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 5:43 am    
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I'm pretty sure that Curly Chalker and Bobby Garrett played for him, and I'm sure there were a few more Wes. that's all I can remember.
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Bob Knight


From:
Bowling Green KY
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 7:50 am     Here's a few more.
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Lefty Nason, Dusty Stewart, Curly Chalker, Pee Wee Whitewing, Bob White, Bobby Garrett and Bert Rivera.
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Wesley Medlen

 

From:
LaCygne,Ks
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 8:10 am    
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Thank you guy's don't get old you forget every thing. Wes
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Wesley Medlen

 

From:
LaCygne,Ks
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 8:10 am    
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Thank you guy's don't get old you forget every thing. Wes
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Erv Niehaus


From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 8:21 am    
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At one time he had two steel guitar players in his band.
If I remember right they both played pedal Bigsbys.
Erv
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Richard Sinkler


From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 8:41 am    
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One was Bob White. Don't remember if it was PeeWee or Bobby Garrett.

At least that is what my old, deteriorating brain thinks it remembers.
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Barry Blackwood


Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 9:08 am    
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Quote:
At one time he had two steel guitar players in his band.
If I remember right they both played pedal Bigsbys.
Erv

That's right, Erv, and here's the proof. I recognize Bob White, but I don't know the other steeler in the photo. Also, who's the Brazos Valley Girl? Shocked

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Herb Steiner

 

From:
Spicewood TX 78669
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 9:19 am     Re: Here's a few more.
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Bob Knight wrote:
Lefty Nason, Dusty Stewart, Curly Chalker, Pee Wee Whitewing, Bob White, Bobby Garrett and Bert Rivera.


And I'll add Lynn Frazier (early 70's).
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Don R Brown


From:
Rochester, New York, USA
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 9:30 am    
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We had a thread on this question about a year back and I think it listed close to 20 names over the years. Maybe somebody has time to search and post a link to that thread.
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Erv Niehaus


From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 9:36 am    
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Barry,
It looks like Wanda Jackson.
I'm sure she was just a guest on the show, not a regular.
Erv
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Jerry Overstreet


From:
Louisville Ky
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 10:52 am    
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Here's one thread. https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=319117&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=hank+thompson+steel+players&start=0

He was popular a little before I became really interested in country, but I know he had a really long career. I do remember the fabulous steel break on Oklahoma Hills that I'm told was Bobby Garrett.

I believe that Johnny Cox was a part of the band sometime in the 90's too...
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Donny Hinson

 

From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 12:46 pm     Other Brazos Valley Boys steelers we shouldn't forget...
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Frank Behrens
J.D. Walter
Reece Anderson
Terry Miller
Junior Knight
Gary Hogue
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Bill Fisher

 

From:
Oklahoma, USA
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 1:02 pm     Hank Thompson Girl
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Wanda Jackson, she is.

Bill
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Erv Niehaus


From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 1:55 pm    
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Bill,
Being from Oklahoma, you should know! Very Happy
Erv
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Ben Rubright

 

From:
Punta Gorda, Florida, USA
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 3:32 pm    
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Some of the time during their tenures, Bob White and Pee Wee Whitewing played for Hank at the same time. Pee Wee told me so some years back.
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Bill Fisher

 

From:
Oklahoma, USA
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 5:20 pm    
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Yes, Erv. They both lived in Oklahoma City.

Bill
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Ben Lawson

 

From:
Brooksville Florida
Post  Posted 6 Dec 2018 8:48 pm    
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Big Jim Murphy was with Hank in the early '70's.
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Steve Hinson

 

From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
Post  Posted 7 Dec 2018 7:45 am    
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Ben Lawson wrote:
Big Jim Murphy was with Hank in the early '70's.


When I was about 16,my mother worked at the NCO club on the base back home...she asked me if I wanted to come out and see HT...of course I did and sat as close to"Murph"as I could for the two shows...he played a ZB and had a folded towel over the Eneck-seems like his necks were reversed like Chalker's,but I couldn't swear to it...but I remember the towel...what a great band-drums,bass,fiddle,Murph and Hank!He did all his hits and they killed it!
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Ford Cole

 

From:
Texas
Post  Posted 7 Dec 2018 1:41 pm    
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Little off maybe, but once I asked Hank who his guitar teacher was. He said, "Merle Travis." Sounds about right, huh?
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Don R Brown


From:
Rochester, New York, USA
Post  Posted 7 Dec 2018 2:47 pm    
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OK, I'll presume all of the posts above are correct. So between this thread, and the older one that Jerry linked to, we have:

1. Curly Chalker
2. Bobby Garrett
3. Lefty Nason
4. Dusty Stewart
5. Peewee Whitewing
6. Bob White
7. Bert Rivera
8. Lynn Frazier
9. Frank Behrens
10. J.D. Walter
11. Reece Anderson
12. Junior Knight
13. Gary Hogue
14. Big Jim Murphy
15. Bobby Boyd
16. Jim Bob Sedgwick
17. Donny Buzzard
18. Whit Taylor
19. Pete Martinez
20. Jimmy Gillimand
21. Don Muzney
22. Craig Davidson

We can add more if y'all list them! And I'm a bit unusual, because I did NOT ever play for Hank! Laughing
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Bill Cunningham


From:
Atlanta, Ga. USA
Post  Posted 7 Dec 2018 8:07 pm     Re: Here's a few more.
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Bob Knight wrote:
Lefty Nason, Dusty Stewart, Curly Chalker, Pee Wee Whitewing, Bob White, Bobby Garrett and Bert Rivera.


Lots of guys, even me Shocked once around 1990, have done one nighters with Hank. FWIW, I asked him who were his steelers over the years he had The Brazos Valley Boys. To the best of my recollection, he named the ones Bob Knight has along with Jim Murphy and Lynn Frazier. It wasn't a really long list.

Hank was very easy to work with. He sent a talk tape to explain what we would do. He kicked off every tune by walking into the down beat with his guitar. He wanted no turn arounds or solos except for the steel to play the 8 bars of Six Pack like the record and play a verse on Wild Side. This was actually a little bit of a let down for me. His records are some of the first music I remember on the hi-fi as an infant in the early 1960's and an early attractant to steel guitar. But he had obviously arranged his act so he could pull it off regardless of the band he had to work with.
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Herb Steiner

 

From:
Spicewood TX 78669
Post  Posted 7 Dec 2018 9:00 pm    
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Hank could be fun to work with or be a PITA, depending on how he was feeling that night. He could get a bee in his bonnet at times, but because it usually was a one-niter, and he was Hank, nobody really minded all that much.

Bill is correct that Hank would send a work tape before the gig and never asked much of his fill-in steel players. Just "Six Pack" and "Wild Side of Life." After a bunch of gigs and Hank got to be comfortable with me, he tossed me the intro to "Blackboard of My Heart" because I played all C6. But that was about it.

Sometimes, especially towards the end there, things could be humorously disastrous. One gig he did with the Bandoleros stands out in my mind. In his last years Hank had macular degeneration real bad; his peripheral vision was "okay" +/- but he was practically blind looking straight ahead.

His featured instrumental in his set was "I'll See You In My Dreams," Travis' arrangement in the key of C. But Hank wasn't looking at his guitar that night and started the song with his left index finger on the SECOND fret instead of the first fret. And he moved up the neck one fret sharp for the entire song. So he was fretting in the key of C#, but the open strings were in C. Laughing Hank was oblivious to it all. Kind of a train wreck. I was sitting next to him and could see the whole thing happening, but Rick Turpin on fiddle and Duane Wavra on bass had no idea what was going on; Rick yelled at me "what f...ing key are we in ?!? Mad" Laughing Bush was trying to follow along and ultimately just let Hank do his thing.

In retrospect it was hilarious, but only a little embarrassing at the moment. By the next song he was back in gear and everything was cool after that. Wink
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Don R Brown


From:
Rochester, New York, USA
Post  Posted 8 Dec 2018 6:32 am    
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I was asked whether Julian Tharpe was among those who played for Hank. I admit I have no clue - what say ye?
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Herb Steiner

 

From:
Spicewood TX 78669
Post  Posted 8 Dec 2018 7:13 pm    
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Don R Brown wrote:
I was asked whether Julian Tharpe was among those who played for Hank. I admit I have no clue - what say ye?


Just my opinion from what I've gleaned about Hank from Bert Rivera and Bobby Garrett, as well as working with Hank a bit myself, but I think that Julian's style was too individualistic for Hank's music.

But he certainly could have. When I met Julian in 1970, he was working for Ray Price and played Ray's music correctly on his tuning, which I think was an F13 or something like that. Ray was carrying a rhythm section and steel on that tour and hiring a large string section at each tour stop. My memory is dim on that score, so someone correct me about his tuning.
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My rig: Infinity and Telonics.

Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg?
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