Buddy Charleton

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

I was told that Bear was not allowed to purchase or release the original mastered recordings as they were owned by the studios that released them. Bear was able to buy the tapes of the original studio recordings but then had to master them on their own. You are at the mercy of a re-mastering service when it comes to the judgement made in setting the backup instrument's levels.

In some cases I swear the steel track is missing and what you are hearing is just the steel bleeding over from another track. In some cases the stereo image appears to be lost or maybe just the right or left channel is missing certain sounds altogether. I have enjoyed most of the Bears sets but find the ET sets lacking due to my intense love of the steel guitar.

Tiny Olson · From: Mohawk River Valley, Upstate NY

I love the way Buddy Charleton played..!!! I loved his tone too. Whether on the Sho-Buds or the Emmons guitars, it was always awesome. Truly everything about his musicianship was top notch. He was one of my first influences in wanting to play this instrument.

Chris "Tiny" Olson

Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

Thanks Gregg. That's pretty much the same style he uses in my favorite - Thanks a Lot.

Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

By the way, I know he did some stuff with Patsy but, does anyone know of anything he did before Ernest?

Joerg Hennig · From: Bavaria, Germany

I'm too young to have actually seen Buddy with ET, unfortunately never even met him... It may sound funny, but I first became aware of Buddy Charleton through my first "steel guitar hero", Buddy Cage - I read in an interview that Cage considered Charleton his main influence so I just had to check him out and bought the aforementioned Bear Family box sets. And my first impression was, it was basically the same style, only that Charleton of course played in a more traditional, classic country kind of setting. I quickly became a big Texas Troubadours fan myself and would try to figure out as much as possible and practice all those tunes with almost religious fervor for quite some time. I especially love the C6 instrumentals like Rhodes Bud Boogie and Texas Troubadour Stomp and all the others. Of course I never could play them flawlessly like him but at least got an idea. One of my biggest regrets (ever) is that I never got the chance to fly over to the US and take some lessons from him, that might have cleared up the many doubts that I had about how to actually play those things. To this day, I consider Buddy Charleton's tone, especially in the first couple of years with ET when he played the Sho-Buds of the era, the ideal of what a pedal steel guitar should sound like.
Did anyone notice that Buddy used a somewhat unusual knee lever setup on E9th (the pedals were standard Emmons). At least in the TT days, he did not have the F lever as we know it but lowered the 1st string to F instead. (He would eventually add a standard F lever but only in later years.)
And I really like the idea of dividing the 2nd string lower on two different levers, in that way you won't ever have to worry about half stops.
Regards, Joe H.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

I got a chance to meet all the Texas Troubadours at a county fair years ago. Very Happy

Erv

Clyde Mattocks · From: Kinston, North Carolina, USA

I was a Troubadour junkie and if they were within a couple hundred miles, I was there. Nobody ever played with more pure "attitude" than Buddy. He wrung everything he could get out of every solo. He was always very nice to me. I went with Billy Knowles to Buddy's house to take a C6th lesson from him. Billy and I attended Buddy's funeral.
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Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

That's a great picture Erv. I've got a pair of boots just like the ones the band is wearing - I'm sure they won't make me a better player though haha.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Bobby,
It can't hurt! Laughing

Erv

Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

No Erv, those boots can't hurt anything. The ones I have now are cheap knock offs. In the 80's I had the real Naconas but, wore them working in asphalt and kinda ruined them.

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

As I stated in another BC thread, I was never really all that familiar with Buddy's style and tone until his recent years. I was fortunate to see him at least once at St. Louis convention. I can't remember enough to characterize his tone, but I do recall that it was fabulous as was his execution. I really enjoyed getting to see him and hear him play. I was saddened to hear of his illness and passing a few years later.

My dear departed buddy Boogie Sherrard related a story about sitting with Buddy at, I believe, one of the hotel rooms at the DJ convention and having him show him Almost to Tulsa. Boogie played the tune well and showed it to me a couple times....tried his best to teach me the head, but I'm too slow a study to have grasped much of it.

I guess many like me are most familiar with his work with the Troubadors, but his resume goes way deeper and his place seems well cemented in steel guitar history.

Glenn Suchan · From: Austin, Texas

Mike Neer · From: NJ

The first pedal steel players I ever listened to were all named Buddy: Cage, Emmons and Charleton.

I love Charleton's playing, especially with ET. I thought he was a perfect player. Great country player but with the perfect amount of panache. The records I remember most Panhandle Rag and Redskin Rag.
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Joerg Hennig · From: Bavaria, Germany

Thanks Glenn, in fact I already knew that Shorty Masters version. Being very familiar with the tune, I think it's safe to say that Buddy Cage has learnt his lesson! Would love to listen to the whole album someday.

Bob Ricker · From: Nashville Tn

Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

One thing I've noticed about Buddy, is that just about every video I've seen of him, he's playing a different guitar. There are a few where he's playing the old blonde Sho-Bud but, just about every other one - a different guitar. He must have had a warehouse to store all of them haha.

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

Do a YouTube search for Rhodesbud boogie. Be prepared to be humbled.

Kyd Brenner · From: Washington, DC/Harman WV

The high point of the nearly 40 years I've sat behind a PSG remains the 3+ years I spent across the guitar from Buddy at Oxon Hill Music and later at Whitt's Harley dealership down the road. Given the great players he trained I'm sure I ranked as a frustrating challenge for him, but he never lost patience or the desire to help me find a way around a physical or mental roadblock. My day job interrupted my regular steel playing in my mid-30s, and now in mid-'60s with more time on my hands I still come back to some of the very basics he showed me. Shortly before Buddy passed away I had to chance to visit with him at Billy Coopers - once again we sat across from each other and I tried to capture just of fraction of what he was playing. While folks may debate on who are the better PSG players, Buddy ranks at the top of the list of true gentlemen and mentors of the field.

Joerg Hennig · From: Bavaria, Germany

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