It was a trip on wings of music / by Jerry Byrd ; foreword by Will Hoover and DeWitt Scott ; introduction by Chris Planas ; edited by Tom Gray ; design and production by Nirvana Alonso.
| Author/creator | Byrd, Jerry |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Anaheim Hills, CA : Centerstream Publishing, ©2003. |
| Description | 137 pages, 7 unnumbered pages : illustrations ; 23 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Introduction -- Chris Planas -- Lighting the fire -- Childhood -- Possessed by a demon -- The Renfro valley barn dance -- Detroit -- Ernest Tubb -- Nashville -- Cincinnati -- Hank Williams -- Turning out the hits -- The golden years -- George Morgan -- Marty Robbins -- Mitch Miller -- Radio -- Two guitars -- New York, 1958 -- Roy Orbison -- Fred Foster -- Burl Ives -- Grandpa Jones -- Dolly -- A mystery -- Mexico City -- Hawaii, 1972 -- A visit from the dead -- Bill Monroe -- Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan -- Japan -- Recording -- Requests I've gotten (and didn't do) -- The American Federation of Musicians -- Music for money -- Ratings -- Playing music the best are never satisfied -- So you want to be a musician -- Teaching and students -- Tunings -- Pedal steel guitar -- In closing -- The artist and his music / Tom Bradshaw -- Jerry Byrd memorabilia, citations, hall of fame, etc. |
| Abstract | In its 20th anniversary edition listing the "20 that mattered," Guitar Player magazine stated that "Jerry Byrd is the standard by which all steel guitarist must be measured ... THE master of the steel guitar." Byrd's influence began in 1935. When drawn to the music by Hawaiian steel guitar legends, he went on to develop a style and invent tunings that would become synonymous with steel guitar. Later, after he arrived in Nashville in the mid-1940s, following stints in Detroit and Cincinnati, Byrd became a member of what is recognized as Music City's first "studio band" and the beginnings of the "Nashville sound." In the process, he charted the course of steel guitar, not just as a session sideman but also as a recording artist in his own right, recording first for Mercury, then Decca, RCA Victor, Monument and others. Byrd's steel guitar discography is the world's largest. Jerry Byrd was the first inductee into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame and his Rickenbacher lap steel occupies a position of honor in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Nor is it any wonder that musicians revere him the world over... In 1972, Byrd left for the land where the steel guitar began, only to discover that Hawaii had turned its back on the instrument that gave the islands their signature sound... Thus Byrd had found a new mission: to reacquaint Hawaii with its own creation, the steel guitar... Byrd's inspiration not only bridged "country" and Hawaiian music; it has segued into the twenty-first century. And as long as there's a steel guitar and folks who listen to music played with feeling, Byrd's musical influence will continue. |
| Bibliography note | Discography: pages 138-143. |
| ISBN | 157424129X |