Conway Twitty steel player

David Ellison · Post by **David Ellison** » 23 May 2019 7:28 pm

Does anyone know who played steel on these recordings of Conway Twitty songs: Blue is the Way I Feel, Sitting In a Dim Cafe, Turn the Other Cheek, and Treat Me Mean, Treat me Cruel? This is obviously all the same session.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyAdY2VsY0A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdhGJyh4uBs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k10QeosqOmM

I love these versions of these songs... they're very loose, almost like demos. The pedal steel playing has such a great feel.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 23 May 2019 8:48 pm

That's been discussed on this forum before.

From memory, I don't think it's been answered.

Those are demos--they date from circa 1961, but were not released until the mid 70s or maybe even into the 80s, when a bootleg LP showed up.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 24 May 2019 7:39 am

My 1st guess would be John Hughey, he played steel with Conway for 23 years.

Erv

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 24 May 2019 9:33 am

The last one sounds a little Rugg-ish.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 24 May 2019 9:38 am

Lew Houston was before Hughey (Hughey replaced Lew when he left the band).

The album that has "The Image Of Me" is Lew Houston on steel. Not sure how many cuts he did, John Hughey told me he joined the band and finished the Album project but didn't detail which ones he did.

David Ellison · Post by **David Ellison** » 24 May 2019 4:48 pm

Thanks for the replies!

I've wondered for years who this was. Back in the 80s, a friend of mine had that bootleg album that Mitch Drumm mentioned. There was no information at all on the sleeve about the players or the session. It doesn't sound to me like the recordings I've heard of John Hughey with Conway Twitty.

I assumed they were demos, since Sitting In A Dim Cafe is obviously written for a female singer... unless of course there's something we don't know about Conway Twitty.

Steve Hinson · Post by **Steve Hinson** » 24 May 2019 7:12 pm

Maybe it's Gene Jones...Gene played with Conway quite a bit before Lew...

Jack Goodson · Post by **Jack Goodson** » 24 May 2019 7:21 pm

lew did the album with working girl and i,ve just destroyed the world i,m living in. i do not know what others he might have done on that album, and also he did the image of me. lew sounded a lot like john hughey....thanks jack

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 24 May 2019 8:43 pm

What's the earliest date Conway is known to have carried a steel in his band--after he became a rock star?

Other than an obscure late 1940s KFFA radio recording with Hughey and a 1956 tune with Gene Jones, the standard Conway discography doesn't name a steel player until 1965---Pete Drake and John Hughey.

The Image Of Me is from October 1967.

Working Girl is from April 1967.

I've Just Destroyed The World is from December 1972.

These demo recordings were done in Ontario Canada in 1961 with at least some members of his regular band---Al Bruno and Joe Lewis. Levon Helm was on the session. Even Wesley Pickett, who had known Conway since the 1940s.

Lew Houston's widow Kitty claims she first met Conway in 1964, but I suppose Lew may have been acquainted with Conway before that date.

He appeared a lot in Canada in his early years, sometimes for extended engagements. I'm wondering if he might have used a Canadian player if he did not normally carry a steeler in his band at that time---this was at a time when his rock and roll career was on the wane and before he had signed with Decca and became a country super star.

It just seems a bit of a stretch to think that he typically had a steel in his band that early (1961). But it's certainly possible.

Here's Gene with Conway in 1965. Does that sound like a Fender pedal steel on the demos?

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 24 May 2019 9:31 pm

Hmmm............

Gene Jones says here:

viewtopic.php?p=1630873

"I first met Lew in 1965. I was playing steel with Conway and we were appearing at the Civic Center in Oklahoma City. Lew came backstage with his little Fender 400 in an old beat up case and Conway asked me if it would be OK with me for Lew to set-in because Lew had worked some with Conway back east when Conway was still doing Rock & Roll."

Lew with Conway "back east" pre-1965??

Steve Hinson · Post by **Steve Hinson** » 25 May 2019 5:08 am

Upon a second listen,it sounds more like John to me than Gene or Lew...not the later John...but Buddy Emmons didn't sound in '70 like he did in'58...

Jack Goodson · Post by **Jack Goodson** » 25 May 2019 6:16 am

i have an old cassete tape of lew on his (lew,s) album, and if you did not know it was lew playing on his album you would swear it was john hughey. lew used to come sit in wherever i was playing and he always sounded a lot like john live on stage. also if you will check you tube, conway was on porter wagner show and he did working girl. either way they were both awsome players....thanks jack

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 25 May 2019 7:27 am

I used to get amazed by Lew's picking a lot as we both lived in Kansas City, Mo. Actually, Lew was the first steel player I met when I moved to KC in late 73.

FWIW, Lew told me he left Twitty because he didn't want to fly. Twitty was getting bookings that required them to fly to the shows.

David Ellison · Post by **David Ellison** » 25 May 2019 9:28 am

Here's two more from the same session... lots of great steel playing on these songs, whoever it was.

When I started out playing steel in the late 80s, I didn't have access to many recordings with steel on them. Having a cassette tape of these songs was really helpful to me when I was learning. One thing that really impressed me was the way the steel phrases behind the beat in some spots, the same way a singer would. I don't know if I've heard other players do that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3sTl9Qiocs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0SvaeyMLLM

Jeff Keyton · Post by **Jeff Keyton** » 26 May 2019 7:17 am

That looks like Jesse Ed Davis (yet another great Okie musician) on guitar in the above pic.

Dave Magram · Post by **Dave Magram** » 26 May 2019 1:06 pm

David Ellison wrote:Does anyone know who played steel on these recordings of Conway Twitty songs: Blue is the Way I Feel, Sitting In a Dim Cafe, Turn the Other Cheek, and Treat Me Mean, Treat me Cruel? This is obviously all the same session.

From PragueFrank:
17 June 1961 [demo session] Kingston Studios, Kingston Road, Scarborough, Ontario, CAN â€“ Conway Twitty (Conway Twitty [vcl], Al Bruno [ld gt], Wes Pickett [rh gt], Joe Lewis [bass gt], Levon Helm [drums])
10806 BLUE IS THE WAY I FEEL BCD 16112 [overdubbed:] Demand 0020
10807 TURN THE OTHER CHEEK BCD 16112 [overdubbed:] Demand 0020
10808 TREAT ME MEAN, TREAT ME CRUEL BCD 16112 [overdubbed:] Demand 0020

http://countrydiscography.blogspot.com/ ... -1_27.html

No steel guitar listed; perhaps the overdubbing took place in Nashville.

- Dave

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 26 May 2019 4:25 pm

I'll have to agree with Steve Hinson on this. Those many tight triads and the somewhat delicate touch are kind of a Hughey trademark.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 27 May 2019 12:07 am

Jeff Keyton wrote:That looks like Jesse Ed Davis (yet another great Okie musician) on guitar in the above pic.

That is Jesse. And probably Tommy Markham peering over the cymbal.

Now: who is the left-handed bass player in the first picture below? I don't want him marrying my daughter.

Is he the same guy as the bass man in the second picture They don't quite look like the same guy to me, but did Conway have 2 different left-handers on bass?

Is the guitar player in the 3rd pic a different guy than either of the bass players? Or is he the same guy as one of the bass players?

Are there lefty bass players who are right handed on a standard guitar?

At least one of these guys (possibly all 3) is Jimmy Ray Paulman, who also played guitar with Ronnie Hawkins.

That's Paulman on the far right in the 4th pic below, with Hawkins' band, about 1959.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 27 May 2019 5:48 am

I believe the guitar player in the first 2 pictures is big Joe Lewis, who later played bass for conway. There are several pictures of Conway and Joe on the web with Joe playing 6 string guitar. Plus, it looks like Joe's autograph in the first pic.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 27 May 2019 6:14 am

Richard Sinkler wrote:I believe the guitar player in the first 2 pictures is big Joe Lewis, who later played bass for conway. There are several pictures of Conway and Joe on the web with Joe playing 6 string guitar. Plus, it looks like Joe's autograph in the first pic.

Yeah, that's Joe in the first 2 pix.

He must be about 6'9"---he's gotta be a foot taller than Al Bruno in this pic:

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 27 May 2019 6:27 am

Here's some info from an old forum thread:

Conway's group in Feb 19, 1965 included Conway on electric rhythm guitar, Jessie Ed Davis (lead guitar), Gene 'Deacon' Jones (pedal steel), Big Joe Lewis (bass), and Tommy 'Porkchop' Markham on drums.
Later in 1965 Lou 'Lew' Houston replaced Gene Jones (don't we know that name?), Conway's group was mainly Porchop Markham (drums), Big Joe Lewis (drums), Lou Houston on steel, while Conway handled the guitar, as the lead guitarist role had been mainly dropped from the group and Houston handled most of the lead parts. In 1968 Houston was replaced by a fella called John Hughey.

He also had another bass player, Jack ??? (I forget his last name).

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 27 May 2019 6:52 am

Great thread! Thank you Mitch Drumm for sharing the awesome early pics of two of my all-time favorites -- Jesse Ed Davis & Levon Helm.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 27 May 2019 7:10 am

Jack:

You might like this thread re Levon, Hawkins, and The Band.

https://allmanbrothersband.com/modules. ... &tid=70195

That Conway gig in the ad in your post is for an appearance in New Jersey in 1965 and is said to have been where Dylan first made contact with Levon's band. I think they walked out on that gig and went directly to work for Bob. Tony of "Tony Mart's" agreed to them quitting and Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels stepped in as a replacement.

I wonder if this New Jersey appearance is the "back east" appearance of Lew Houston referred to by Gene Jones? A "6-man Oklahoma review"?? The 6th man being a steel?

Steve Hinson · Post by **Steve Hinson** » 27 May 2019 1:08 pm

Jack Stoner wrote:Here's some info from an old forum thread:

Conway's group in Feb 19, 1965 included Conway on electric rhythm guitar, Jessie Ed Davis (lead guitar), Gene 'Deacon' Jones (pedal steel), Big Joe Lewis (bass), and Tommy 'Porkchop' Markham on drums.
Later in 1965 Lou 'Lew' Houston replaced Gene Jones (don't we know that name?), Conway's group was mainly Porchop Markham (drums), Big Joe Lewis (drums), Lou Houston on steel, while Conway handled the guitar, as the lead guitarist role had been mainly dropped from the group and Houston handled most of the lead parts. In 1968 Houston was replaced by a fella called John Hughey.
He also had another bass player, Jack ??? (I forget his last name).

Bass player named Jack=Jack Nance.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 27 May 2019 2:14 pm

Jack Nance must have been something else.

He played bass, drums, trumpet, and piano and is said to have written "It's Only Make Believe" in a few minutes between sets while working for Conway in Canada.

Here's a couple of pix; he and Joe Lewis were both members of Sonny Burgess's band around 1956 before hooking up with Conway. Nance did that raunchy trumpet on Sonny's "Red-Headed Woman".

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