Steel Guitar Hall of Fame

Last updated

The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame is an organization established in the United States in 1978 to recognize achievement in the art of playing the steel guitar. The organization's stated purpose is:

Contents

To establish a Hall of Fame and Museum to support the art, popularity, and prestige of the steel guitar, to honor those musicians and composers who have made significant contributions to the steel guitar world, and to educate the public regarding the steel guitar. [1]

In 1984, the organization was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in St. Louis, Missouri. When the Hall of Fame award was initiated in 1978, the awarding body's title was established as the "Steel Guitar Convention Board." For the first nine years of the awarding activity, board members themselves donated the funds to cover the awards. It was not until 1987 that sufficient funds were first raised to cover the annual awards costs. This was derived from individual contributors, from sanctioned benefit shows, and from funds raised at the annual International Steel Guitar Convention in St. Louis. [1]

The idea of a hall of fame was first proposed by Nashville steel guitarist Jim Vest in the early 1970s. [1] Vest intended to develop it, but his recording session work did not allow the time. By mutual agreement, Dewitt Scott took the responsibility and inaugurated the Hall of Fame in St. Louis in 1978. [2] Scott is one of the founders who, for over 40 years conducted an annual international steel guitar convention [3] [4] featuring a fund-raising concert for the organization by renowned guitarists. [5] One and sometimes two members are inducted annually. One plaque is forged for each inductee and has been displayed in St Louis' Millennium Hotel as a temporary site. [6] A smaller replica is given to each inductee. The plaques were cast by sculptor Chris Unterseher [7] in bronze bas-relief, depicting a likeness of the inductee followed by a brief résumé of his accomplishments. [1] The text on each plaque was written by Tom Bradshaw. [8] The organization contains inductees from outside the U.S. [9] and is sometimes referred to as the "International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame" to distinguish it from various regional associations. [2]

The first woman to become a member was Barbara Mandrell in 2009 [10] An ongoing goal of the hall of fame is to secure a permanent museum site to display artifacts and plaques.

Inductees

Related Research Articles

The Southern Gospel Music Association (SGMA) is a non-profit corporation formed as an association of southern gospel music singers, songwriters, fans, and industry workers. Membership is acquired and maintained through payment of annual dues. The SGMA was formed in 1994, and states that its primary goal is "to preserve, protect and promote Southern Gospel Music, its history and heritage".

Copedent is a term used to describe the tuning and pedal arrangement on a pedal steel guitar and is unique to that instrument. Typically expressed in the form of a table or chart, the word is a portmanteau of "chord–pedal–arrangement and is pronounced "co-PEE-dent". It was coined in 1969 by Steel Guitar Hall of Fame member Tom Bradshaw and first reached a wide audience in a 1972 article in Guitar Player magazine. A complete copedent includes the order of strings, their tuning, string gauges, and whether a string is plain or wound; it also indicates how any string's pitch is changed by applying a foot pedal or a knee lever. It has become an international standard used by steel guitar players and manufacturers to describe the specifications of these instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Louis Walk of Fame</span> Award

The St. Louis Walk of Fame honors notable people from St. Louis, Missouri, who made contributions to the culture of the United States. All inductees were either born in the Greater St. Louis area or spent their formative or creative years there. Contribution can be in any area; most of the current inductees made their achievements in acting, entertainment, music, sports, art/architecture, broadcasting, journalism, science/education and literature.

Donald Hugh Helms was a steel guitarist best known as the steel guitar player of Hank Williams's Drifting Cowboys group. He was a member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame (1984).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey</span>

The Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey was established in 1988 to honor athletes, teams, events and contributors associated with the state of New Jersey. There is currently no physical site or structure for the hall, but its members are honored with plaques that are displayed at Meadowlands Arena, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alabama Sports Hall of Fame</span> Sports museum in Alabama, United States

The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) is a state museum located in Birmingham, Alabama, dedicated to communicating the state’s athletic history. The museum displays over 5,000 objects related to athletes who were born in Alabama or earned fame through athletics that reflects positively upon the state, usually through excellence at an educational institution or sporting event in Alabama. The ASHOF was established by state legislative act on August 14, 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Franklin (musician)</span> American musician

Paul V. Franklin is an American multi-instrumentalist, known mainly for his work as a steel guitarist. He began his career in the 1970s as a member of Barbara Mandrell's road band; in addition he toured with Vince Gill, Mel Tillis, Jerry Reed and Dire Straits. He has since become a prolific session musician in Nashville, playing on more than 500 albums. He has been named by the Academy of Country Music as Best Steel Guitarist on several occasions. He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2019. With thirty, Franklin is the most nominated person in CMA history and is notable for having been nominated for the Country Music Association Award for Musician of the Year twenty nine times but has yet to win.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doug Jernigan</span> American musician (born 1946)

Doug Jernigan is an American pedal steel guitarist and Dobro player. He is known for his infusion of country music with jazz using fast single-note solos. He was one of the first steel guitarists to play solos at speeds rivaling the banjo and fiddle. Jernigan performed with Faron Young, Johnny Paycheck, Vassar Clements, Little Jimmy Dickens, and Lorrie Morgan and was a Nashville recording session musician and teacher for decades. As of 2020, he has been the featured artist on nine instrumental albums in both jazz and country genres. He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1994.

Elbern H. "Eddie" Alkire was America's most recognized performer, teacher, and innovator of the twentieth-century Hawaiian guitar.

<i>Loves Ups and Downs</i> 1977 studio album by Barbara Mandrell

Love's Ups and Downs is the seventh solo studio album by the American country music singer Barbara Mandrell, released in 1977. It was produced by Tom Collins.

The Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum is a hall of fame and museum for ice hockey in Manitoba, located on the main level of the Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddy Emmons</span> Musical artist

Buddy Gene Emmons was an American musician who is widely regarded as the world's foremost pedal steel guitarist of his day. He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1981. Affectionately known by the nickname "Big E", Emmons' primary genre was American country music, but he also performed jazz and Western swing. He recorded with Linda Ronstadt, Gram Parsons, The Everly Brothers, The Carpenters, Jackie DeShannon, Roger Miller, Ernest Tubb, John Hartford, Little Jimmy Dickens, Ray Price, Judy Collins, George Strait, John Sebastian, and Ray Charles and was a widely sought session musician in Nashville and Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music City Walk of Fame</span>

The Music City Walk of Fame in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, is a walk of fame that honors significant contributors to Nashville's musical heritage and significant achievements in the music industry.

Neil Lanny Flanz was a Canadian pedal steel guitarist who grew up in Montreal. In the mid-1960s he moved to Nashville and played on the Grand Ole Opry. He later lived in Florida and Austin, Texas. The Austin Chronicle dubbed Flanz' playing style as "country traditionalist". He is perhaps best known for his performance as a member of Gram Parsons' Fallen Angels. He played and toured for over 30 years with artists including Marcia Ball, Emmylou Harris, Charlie Louvin and Joe Sun. Flanz was inducted into the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame</span>

The Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame is a hall of fame dedicated to recognizing athletes and sportspeople associated with Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Heritage Building section of Ottawa City Hall, and includes over 270 inductees as of 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Chess Hall of Fame</span> Chess museum in United States

The World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) is a nonprofit, collecting institution situated in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It features chess exhibits, engages in educational outreach, and maintains a list of inductees to the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame and World Chess Hall of Fame, the latter category being nominated by FIDE. Founded in 1984, it is run by the United States Chess Trust. Formerly located in New Windsor, New York; Washington, D.C.; and Miami, Florida, it moved to St. Louis on September 9, 2011.

Zane Beverly Beck (1927–1985) was an American steel guitarist and builder of pedal steel guitars. He is best known for his 1952 innovation of adding knee levers to the pedal steel guitar to alter the pitch of certain strings, a feature which has become a standard on all modern-day instruments. Other inventors had patented crude knee-operated devices as far back as 1933, but none were successful. Beck revolutionized the concept into a durable and reliable mechanism and was the first to put knee levers on production guitars. He became a member of the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame (1991). As a musician, he performed on the Grand Ole Opry and Shreveport's Louisiana Hayride. Beck formed the ZB Music Company which manufactures steel guitars, later called BMI.

Thomas Lewis Bradshaw is an American steel guitarist, journalist, music historian and businessman and who is known for his contributions to the pedagogy of steel guitar. He is a member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame (2006). Bradshaw is noted for creating what is now an international standard for describing how a steel guitar is configured, and coined the name "copedent" to describe it. NPR music writer Jesse Jarnow called Bradshaw "perhaps the world's leading authority on the instrument". Bradshaw played and repaired steel guitars and sold parts and accessories for the instruments for nearly a half-century. He was editor and publisher of Steel Guitarist magazine and was a columnist and writer for Guitar Player Magazine for many years, interviewing elite players and documenting steel guitar's evolution. His plaque in the Hall of Fame reads in part, " He was steel's foremost journalist of his time"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oahu Music Company</span>

The Oahu Music Company was a music education program in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s to teach students to play the Hawaiian Guitar. Popular culture in America became fascinated with Hawaiian music during the first half of the twentieth century and in 1916, recordings of indigenous Hawaiian instruments outsold every other genre of music in the U.S. By 1920, sales of Hawaiian guitars and instruction had become well established and Oahu Music Company was the leading purveyor of these programs. The organization canvassed nearly every city in the United States, often door-to-door, selling both their Oahu-brand instruments and lessons for young people to join their weekly classes.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Scott, DeWitt. "The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame/". scottysmusic.com. The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  2. 1 2 Poses, Jonathan W. (September 11, 1983). "The Biggest Little Convention of All". Vol. 105, no. 250. St. Louis Post–Dispatch. p. 3–D. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  3. ↑ Beatle, Bob (October 3, 2015). "Remembering a Legend in the World of Steel Guitar". Vol. 137, no. 276. St. Louis Post–Dispatch. p. A–12. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Dewitt (Scotty) Scott/Bio". scottysmusic.com. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  5. ↑ McGuire, John M. (August 28, 1988). "Convention Here is High Note for Steel Guitar Players". Vol. 110, no. 241. St. Louis Post–Dispatch. p. 3–C. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  6. ↑ Helms, Don; Scott, DeWitt (2010). Don Helms Your Cheatin Heart - Steel Guitar Song Book : E13th Non Pedal. Mel Bay Publications, U.S. p. 3. ISBN   9781610654159 . Retrieved May 8, 2021.
  7. ↑ "Chris Christian Unterseher". artland.com. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  8. ↑ Bradshaw, Tom (June 28, 2020). "Tom Bradshaw: One of a Kind/ Thanks and Clarifications". bb.steelguitarforum.com. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  9. ↑ Moser, Margaret (February 5, 2005). "Neil Flanz". austinchronicle.com. The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Barbara Mandrell Inducted Into Steel Guitar Hall of Fame". CMT . Country Music Television. September 11, 2009. Archived from the original on September 8, 2017. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
  11. ↑ Cross, Josh (October 3, 2012). "Greenbrier Resident Inducted into Steel Guitar Hall of Fame". Robertson County Times. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Mullen Artists - Del Mullen".

Official Site

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.