My Emmons Story

My older brother, Wayne, would give me loads of information about the guitarists and the gear they used, as he was classmates with Lucky Oceans, Ray Benson and David Waldman. We all grew up together in Montgomery County, PA. I kept hearing the name brand Sho-Bud as a pedal steel guitar choice for the sound I heard. Soon after my 16th birthday, I took a 25-year deep dive into Country Western Music, Bluegrass and Texas Swing, studying mainly the sound, the singers, and the steel and rhythm section. It should be noted that attempting to learn steel is musical suicide if you don't have a taught or natural sense of rhythm, and country/jazz-minded players to support you. It's really hard work to play "in the pocket” without one or the other. But it's pure magic after you master it! Soon a friend from school, John Cerami, shared all of his record collection with me, and his love for Country Music. Lots of Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, and steel guitar instrumental albums. Around that time, I heard Buddy Emmons and the Emmons Steel Guitar. My competitive nature, being from Philadelphia, inspired me to "chase” Buddy's speed and phrasing on the Emmons. I learned a lot of instrumentals. So I saved up one summer, 1975 to be exact, and bought a blue Emmons S-10. It had four pedals and three knee levers. That thing was cool! KNEE LEVERS! Now I was cookin'! Very soon after that I became aware of the double neck models and what the back neck offered with C6th tuning and the jazz voicings. The S-10 pickups through my Twin with Altec Lansings were the bomb! I began listening to a lot of Bob Wills, Asleep at the Wheel, Commander Cody, Louis Joran, Count Basie, Ray Price, Ernest Tubb and the Texas Troubadours, and a fine, fine gentleman named Buddy Charleton. I dug into Pan Handle Rag, Coconut Grove, Bluemmons, C Jam Blues, Red Top, Steel Guitar Rag, Steelin' the Blues, and Four-Wheel Drive. I was in a "Country-Rock-Swing-Bluegrass-anything-to-stay-employed-in-PA" band with my three brothers and a dear friend, Art DuHaime, working 6 nights a week. I practiced during the day and gigged at night. It was an invaluble experience. I had to get it right! I was on a vision quest. To get a double neck in my hands, I had to sell the Emmons, and traded for a Marlin D-10. Not being satisfied with the Marlin, I came across a green Sho-Bud Pro lll. I traded the Marlin, and my brother loaned me the $300 to make it a fair buy. That was around 1976. The world and the price of music instruments sure has changed. Life moved on, and I played that Sho-Bud literally every night for 10 years. I always wanted an Emmons to lean on as an alternative, but I was too lazy to get an extra job and save up. Fast forward to 2012. Between 1986 and 2012, I had played several various brands of steel guitars. However, to stay employed as a musician and put food on the table for my growing family, I was playing piano and singing as often as time and energy would allow. Piano provided me the necessary theory to understand what was self-taught. I was always employed as a musician, but I didn't have a whole lot of opportunities to play traditional pedal steel guitar, which has always been my desire. That said, it wasn't for my lack of trying. I moved to North GA, and my wife Suzanne encouraged me to get my 1977 Sho-Bud Pro ll back from the gentleman I had sold it to. By a miracle of fate, it found its way back to me. A very special thanks to Billy and Wanda Cooper for their help and friendship. (Check out their store for great steel guitar gear!)