Western Swing

Wayne Burdick’s pedal steel guitar made by Paul Bigsby graced the cover of the luthier’s first catalog. Wayne befriended Mr. Bigsby in the 1950s while Wayne was a member of the Tex Williams Western Swing Orchestra. Wayne’s pedal steel can be heard on hundreds of recordings and in fact the very instrument made by Paul Bigsby was later purchased by Ron Middlebrook who loaned it to the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music for display beginning in 2008. Wayne also had a long friendship with Rob Crook, the creator of the Standel Amplifier.

Art Greenhaw has devoted his entire life to music, from his earliest days at the piano at age three to his award-winning career as a musician, producer, and advocate for music making. The son of a gospel music director and band leader, Art grew up surrounded by instruments and song. His family operated a music store from 1943 to 1997—selling instruments, hardware, and even the first RCA color TV in the Texas area—and became a leading Rickenbacker dealer in the 1980s.

Bud Isaacs designed a line of pedal steel guitars, teaming with fellow country music performer Shot Jackson to form the Sho-Bud Company. In his pursuit to create and develop new sounds for the instrument, Bud went to Paul A Bigsby to request a custom pedal steel guitar. The Bigsby became Bud’s main instrument in the heyday of his career as a recording artist in the 1950s. He played the Bigsby on stage at the Grand Ole Opry and recorded a long string of hits with the instrument including the widely influential “Slowly” with singer Webb Pierce. Bud married famed yodeler Geri Mapes w

Ken King performed in several Country and Western bands in and around Los Angeles beginning in the 1940s. While playing his guitar as a guest on the Spade Cooley television show in late 1949, two fellow musicians in the band (Jimmy Wyble and Cameron Hill) showed Ken the new solid body Fender guitar. “What is a Fender?” he recalls asking at the time and soon found himself traveling down to Fullerton to meet the man behind the name, Leo Fender. Ken ordered himself a Fender - a model Leo called “The Broadcaster” - and within a year Ken received what he believes was the sixth Broadcas

Buddy Merrill played the pedal steel guitar on the Lawrence Welk TV program from its start in 1954 until he left the show in 1974. Buddy played Fender products while on the Welk Show, which was an exciting time as several key instrument innovations were released during this time, including the Stratocaster. His passion for music and musical products started as a child when he played alongside his country-western singing father, Les Merrill. After leaving the Welk Show, Buddy worked in the movies and wrote background music for many years.

Rich Neville spent his life making music and, for decades, helped others achieve their musical dreams. He was a touring musician who later built a career in music retail, never letting go of the passion he first discovered as a kid in the school band playing trombone. He gigged in rock bands on bass, and after a stint in the U.S. Army, began setting up PA systems for Sound West in San Diego. That opportunity led to engineering and playing jobs, including running sound for Return to Forever in 1974.

Herb Remington was the steel guitarist for Bob Wills and the Texas Playboy who built his own line of guitars called Remington Steel.  Among his fascinating history: being long time personal friends with Leo Fender.  For a while, Fender made steel guitars and, in the beginning, Leo would often give Herb instruments to try out while traveling with Bob Wills.  On more than one occasion, when Herb would call Leo after a tour to provide  his feedback, Leo would tell him he had a pile of orders from fans who saw Herb play and wanted a steel guitar of their own!

DeWitt Scott knew about as much as a person can know about steel guitars! As a retailer he sold them, as a performer he played them, as a composer and author he wrote about them and as a fan he promoted them everyplace he went. As the founder of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, Dewitt (known as Scotty) promoted and honored fellow players with inductions into the Hall of Fame, a series of method books and by staging a yearly event for steel guitar fans around the world to gather together. For his great contribution to the instrument, the committee he formed back in the late 1960s ind