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Post new topic Gene Parsons (Byrds drummer) on steel
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Author Topic:  Gene Parsons (Byrds drummer) on steel
Joachim Kettner


From:
Germany
Post  Posted 27 Jan 2022 9:56 am    
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A friend of mine told me about this recording. Pretty good for a trio!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEcmBvhBbS4&list=OLAK5uy_kb4ONN5o16cQW
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Bob Carlucci

 

From:
Candor, New York, USA
Post  Posted 28 Jan 2022 2:26 am    
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He's a VERY talented dude that gets no where near the acclaim he should, plays a bunch of instruments including drums, guitar, harmonica, pedal steel guitar, banjo, sings beautifully, and is a great machinist/inventor... Ask any good Parsons/White tele player what they think of him... PLUS as far as I can recall, he always played a Fender 800 pedal steel...

here's my all time favorite song with Gene on steel..
Clarence White on vocals, Gene on his Fender steel-whats not to like? bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EB93IYXK4U
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Craig Stock


From:
Westfield, NJ USA
Post  Posted 28 Jan 2022 7:33 am    
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Check out Gene's site, he is a great machinist, and also makes scaled train whistles.

http://stringbender.com/index.php
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Fred Treece


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 28 Jan 2022 11:29 am    
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Bob Carlucci wrote:
here's my all time favorite song with Gene on steel..
Clarence White on vocals, Gene on his Fender steel-whats not to like? bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EB93IYXK4U

How did I go 65 years without hearing this song? My life is but an empty vessel...
Thanks for posting, Bob and Joachim.
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Bob Carlucci

 

From:
Candor, New York, USA
Post  Posted 29 Jan 2022 2:33 am    
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Fred Treece wrote:
Bob Carlucci wrote:
here's my all time favorite song with Gene on steel..
Clarence White on vocals, Gene on his Fender steel-whats not to like? bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EB93IYXK4U

How did I go 65 years without hearing this song? My life is but an empty vessel...
Thanks for posting, Bob and Joachim.



Fred,, since I was a young man, right up to yesterday when I listened to it on YT while getting the link to post here, I have wept over this song.,, NEVER fails. Its so down home, and so beautifully emotional .Its an all time favorite of mine and has been since before I even started playing steel. The steel is simple 3 pedal stuff, but fits so well, and sounds sweet to my ears.. as an aside, I read online that the prototype shoulder strap B bender that Parsons made for Clarence was made with parts from a Fender pedal steel that were donated by Pete Klienow... bob
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Fred Treece


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 29 Jan 2022 7:28 am    
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Bob, if I had known that tune when my dog passed away last year, I’d still be bailing the flood of tears from my house. Clarence’s voice, the guitars, the lyrics and feel - it’s all perfect.

I always thought it was odd that Mr. Parsons, the drummer of the group, invented that bender. And I had no idea that he played steel. A monster talent and highly intelligent guy, obviously. Thank you again.
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Bob Carlucci

 

From:
Candor, New York, USA
Post  Posted 29 Jan 2022 9:48 am    
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Fred Treece wrote:
Bob, if I had known that tune when my dog passed away last year, I’d still be bailing the flood of tears from my house. Clarence’s voice, the guitars, the lyrics and feel - it’s all perfect.

I always thought it was odd that Mr. Parsons, the drummer of the group, invented that bender. And I had no idea that he played steel. A monster talent and highly intelligent guy, obviously. Thank you again.

I read decades ago somewhere that he was an expert machinist and was adept at such things as block and cylinder head machining and such as boring engine blocks and machining crankshafts..They actually showed his letters of recommendation from former employers as to his ability as a machinist.. Not sure where I saw the article, it was decades ago, but I remember it.. Might have even been in the liner notes on one of the Byrds albums.... bob
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Joachim Kettner


From:
Germany
Post  Posted 29 Jan 2022 11:14 am    
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Maybe you've seen it on the fold-out cover of Byrdmaniax, Bob. Sorry, if that it is to small to read.

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Joachim Kettner


From:
Germany
Post  Posted 29 Jan 2022 11:29 am    
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I am sorry for the passing of your dog, Fred.
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Mark Eaton


From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
Post  Posted 29 Jan 2022 11:33 am    
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Gene entertaining on a Ross Shafer-built Sierra at the 2019 Bay Area Amigo Guitar Show in Marin County.

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Bob Carlucci

 

From:
Candor, New York, USA
Post  Posted 29 Jan 2022 11:52 am    
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Joachim Kettner wrote:
Maybe you've seen it on the fold-out cover of Byrdmaniax, Bob. Sorry, if that it is to small to read.

Indeed, thats where I saw it!.. LOOOONG ago!... So cool to see that again.... bob
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I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!

no gear list for me.. you don't have the time......
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Bob Carlucci

 

From:
Candor, New York, USA
Post  Posted 29 Jan 2022 11:53 am    
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double post..
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no gear list for me.. you don't have the time......
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Craig Stock


From:
Westfield, NJ USA
Post  Posted 29 Jan 2022 6:19 pm    
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Lots of great steel on Genes solo albums, what a talented man!
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I cried because I had no shoes, then I met a man who had no feet.

Today is tomorrow's Good ol' days
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Fred Treece


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 30 Jan 2022 9:21 pm    
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Joachim Kettner wrote:
I am sorry for the passing of your dog, Fred.

Thanks, Joachim. You are a true gentleman. I’m glad Smokey went peacefully, unlike poor Bugler. It has been long enough ago now that his memory makes me smile.
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Joachim Kettner


From:
Germany
Post  Posted 31 Jan 2022 7:27 am    
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This is a picture of McGuinn (hardly recognicable)that I took when the Byrds were playing in Frankfort in 1970 and I was so nervous I didn't adjust the camera right. A friend of mine bummed a Benson&Hedges from Gene and gave it to me. I wanted to keep it forever but my addiction was stronger.
The following year the Byrds recorded Farther along with Bugler in England.
I didn't get the lyrics then, but now I do!
Thanks!
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Karl Paulsen

 

From:
Chicago
Post  Posted 31 Jan 2022 9:03 am    
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Thanks for posting the tune and for sending me down an internet rabbit hole learning about a couple of musicians I had almost no previous knowledge about.

Much appreciated!
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