www.ydr.com/mike/ci_24029143/mike-argen ... eel-player
John's son, Donny, grew up playing the guitar, and inspired by his father, to carry on his memory and the family tradition, he decided to pick up the pedal steel, buying a single-neck guitar to learn on. He taught himself to play, depending on his ears to guide him through the music.
One way to look at it was that his dad lived on through his playing.
Donny played a lot of the same music his father played - classic country, updated with a few newer artists who play in the classic style, people like Alan Jackson and Travis Tritt. None of that modern country, music that sounds like'70s arena rock with a fiddle thrown into the mix.
He carried on his father's name by re-starting The Country Aires. It's a family band. Donny's son plays the drums, and the rest of the six-piece band is filled out with other members of the family.
They picked up where John's old band left off, playing carnivals and fire halls and legions. They had a regular gig at the Trump Yesteryear Family Restaurant in East Berlin. They played at the Dillsburg American Legion regularly.
After a while, Donny thought it would be cool to own his dad's old pedal steel. Playing his dad's old guitar in his dad's old band would be a fitting tribute, he thought.
His mother knew the mother-in-law of the man who bought the pedal steel from John back when he sold it. It was a long shot. But when Donny checked, the man still had the guitar, and upon hearing why Donny wanted to buy it, he readily agreed to sell it back to him. The guitar was Donny's birthright.
The band's last gig was Aug. 17, a Saturday night, at Old Tyme Days in Dover. The following Monday, Donny was driving south on Old York Road near Fickes Road in Warringtown Township when he got into an accident.
The police said his pickup truck crossed the center line of the road and hit a northbound car. The driver of the northbound car suffered minor injuries. Donny was killed. He was 45.
At the visitation, his family, members of the band and his friends wore Country Aires T-shirts in his honor.
The band doesn't want to play on without Donny, his sister said. She hopes the guys will find a way to go on. It's hard. They not only lost a steel player - they lost a father, a brother, a friend. It'll take more than just a steel player to fill his role.
