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Topic: Ernie Hagar with Commander Cody |
Bob Miano
From:
Bergenfield, N.J. (home of "some" country music) - deceased
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Posted 23 Feb 2014 9:09 am |
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Just found an old live tape of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen from The Record Plant in California from 1975 which had Ernie Hagar on Steel. Great Player !
I think he recorded one "LP" with the Airmen too.
Forgot how great a band these guys were.
Bob
New Jersey |
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Bob Blair
From:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Posted 23 Feb 2014 10:46 am
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| Ernie was on that album that had the space ship and all the guys running around in space suits on the cover. He played great. I always got a kick out of "Hawaii Blues". |
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Bob Knight
From:
Bowling Green KY
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Posted 23 Feb 2014 3:47 pm
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I always enjoyed watching Ernie in person, He was about as animated as Speedy. A great loss to the Steel community.
Bob 
_________________
<b>Rick Johnson Cabinets<b>
<b>Brand X Custom Fiber Cases</b>
<b> John Pearse Thumb Picks, Bars and Strings</b>
"Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent."
— Steve Martin |
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Danny Letz
From:
Old Glory,Texas, USA 79540
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Posted 23 Feb 2014 5:05 pm
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| Bob, is that your picture. Looks like your goin to the dogs. |
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Bob Knight
From:
Bowling Green KY
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Posted 23 Feb 2014 8:18 pm
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That's my sweet girl Danny,  3yr old Doberman/lab.
_________________
<b>Rick Johnson Cabinets<b>
<b>Brand X Custom Fiber Cases</b>
<b> John Pearse Thumb Picks, Bars and Strings</b>
"Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent."
— Steve Martin |
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Roger Shackelton
From:
MINNESOTA (deceased)
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Olaf van Roggen
From:
The Netherlands
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Posted 28 Jan 2015 12:09 pm
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Ernie Hagar used to be Speedy West's student back in the days.The tune on the link is from first solo album "Swingin' Steel Guitar" on sage records c-42 and it's called " Swingin' Steel. It's a great record album with different kind of styles.
www.bigvjamboree.com/ErnieHagar.htm |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Frank Freniere
From:
The First Coast
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Posted 28 Jan 2015 1:57 pm
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| Ernie did a nice tribute set to Speedy at the ISGC back in the early '80's. |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 28 Jan 2015 3:00 pm
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Didn't Ernie play what he called an A6 tuning. Seems to me when I spent a few hours with him at the store he worked at in Santa Cruz, he told me it was an E9 with the 3rd & 6th strings tuned to A and 5 & 10 tuned to C#, and played "backwards" similar to Sonny Curtis. Did I just dream this?
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, NV400, NV112 . Playing for 54 years and still counting. |
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Duane Brown
From:
Reno,Nevada USA
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Posted 28 Jan 2015 10:37 pm Ernie's tuning
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Richard you are right about Ernie's front neck being tuned to A6 with pedals 1&2 lowering A's to G# and C#'s to B. He was really a unique player and all you had to hear was a dozen notes to recognize his playing.
When I moved to Reno in 1980 Ernie worked at the Shy Clown in Sparks with Family Portrait. They were the house band and my band often played opposite them with them following us or us following them. He was a monster c6 player and truly loved Speedy's playing. He and I were real good friends and he taught me a lot of Speedy's flashy licks and a lot of C6. He played a Sho-Bud crossover and got great tone. He got an Emmons Legrande in the early 80's and got better tone-I loved that guitar. Ernie moved to Vegas then to Idaho when the business dried up here. I miss him every time I think of him. When he died we lost a true monster. |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 29 Jan 2015 3:38 am
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I'd be interested to know who played on 'My Window Faces the South,' one of my favorites, which kicks off on steel, with Commander Cody.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCop2cgoWk0
This tune is far older than I knew, 1937, recorded by Bob Wills, Reba Mc, Glen Campbell, Willie Nelson and others,
including Fats Waller, here with Hawaiian guitar played by Ceele Burke here.
_________________
Those that say don't know; those that know don't say.--Buddy Emmons |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 29 Jan 2015 3:51 am
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That's Bobby Black, Charlie.
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 29 Jan 2015 3:52 am
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Thank you, Joachim.
_________________
Those that say don't know; those that know don't say.--Buddy Emmons |
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Olaf van Roggen
From:
The Netherlands
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Posted 29 Jan 2015 9:55 am
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This is one of my favourite songs from the Commander Cody album with Ernie Hagar, "willin'
http://youtu.be/L-TBiCJQVlQ |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 29 Jan 2015 10:23 am
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Yes. Ernie was a great player. His name comes to mind when the word "underrated" comes up. Well, except those who knew of him, or knew him. He wasn't a household name like Buddy, Lloyd, etc. Not only do I remember his Cody days, but spent many hours watching him in the Santa Cruz area when he was with Larry Hosford.
I know this is a long shot, but does anyone have shots of his Sho~Bud where the knee levers didn't swing from side to side, but pivoted around a central point. You would probably be able to pivot the lever in a complete circle if no rods or stops were attached. Or might I have dreamed this too?
NEVER MIND I found the following thread that shows the underside of a Guitar with these knee levers. I was always intrigued by them.
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=132609
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, NV400, NV112 . Playing for 54 years and still counting. |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 1 Feb 2015 3:34 pm
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A couple of things strike me about the Ernie Hagar copedent as published in the back of the Winston book. Apart from the A & B pedals working upside down, the rest of his setup was pretty conventional.
If you consider that the A&B spend half their time up and half their time down, and that the pedals-down position is a frequent starting point, then the normal way of doing things is arbitrary. (I presume that it came about because in the early days a raise was simpler to engineer than a lower.) And having those pedals operating lowers instead of raises ought to make them lighter.
Why not an A6 Uni? In the rest position you're looking at a 6th tuning without having to shift gear like on a B6/E9. If you can already do swing stuff on the E9, imagine having both feet and both knees free!
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Olaf van Roggen
From:
The Netherlands
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Bob Blair
From:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Posted 14 Aug 2019 7:58 pm
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| Wow this is an old thread! Thanks for posting that Olaf. Since I posted the above comment about "Hawaii Blues" Cody has suggested to me that it was actually Bobby Black who played that cut. I keep meaning to ask Bobby about that. In any case, Ernie's work was first-rate - I'm sorry I never met him. |
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Olaf van Roggen
From:
The Netherlands
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Posted 15 Aug 2019 1:13 am
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| Hawaï blues recorded on their first Warner Bros album is actually Ernie Hagar. The book " Star making machinary " by Geoffrey Stokes,is about the process of making that álbum. Very interesting to read. |
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Bob Blair
From:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Posted 15 Aug 2019 4:52 am
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| Thanks Olaf, I didn't know about that book! I had always thought it was Ernie (who of course was credited with it) and was surprised when George suggested it might have been Bobby. |
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Olaf van Roggen
From:
The Netherlands
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Posted 15 Aug 2019 7:45 am
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You're welcome Bob, there's a Commander Cody live show on YouTube where the description says Bobby Black on steel guitar. It sounds really like Ernie Hagar and on one solo as I mentioned in the comments, Bill Kirchen yells "yeah Ernie". So this is also quite confusing.
https://youtu.be/Y2KMfJlNBh4
It is actually" looking at the world through a windshield"
There used to be a YouTube live recording where you could actually hear the Speedy West influence Ernie had, but I cannot find it anymore.
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Bob Blair
From:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Posted 15 Aug 2019 7:53 am
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| This is just great, thanks!! |
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Olaf van Roggen
From:
The Netherlands
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Bob Blair
From:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Posted 17 Aug 2019 7:42 am
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| Wow that is an amazing article Olaf! Some of the stuff in there I knew but not all of it. The Bakersfield scene as it was back then just amazes me. I kind of knew he was Canadian - my brother went to school with a relative of his. Thanks! |
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