Comments on: Country Heritage Redux: Webb Pierce

By: Vol.34: The Drunk in the Shiny Suit (Webb Pierce’s “There Stands the Glass”) | Perfect Pop Singles

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 23:13:00 +0000

[...] Thanks to Pedal Steel Music and My Kind of Country for supplying the biographical info for this last paragraph. I’m just learning about Webb, but [...]

By: luckyoldsun

luckyoldsun — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 04:31:35 +0000

I’ll defer to your knowledge on the various forms of the steel guitar and their histories.

I’ll just say that Webb Pierce had such giant accomplishments that the industry’s refusal to induct him into the HoF when it mattered was an absolute disgrace–and was not really cured by them putting him in long after he died, and when they threw his name up together with about five other people.
I have no idea what the reason for the snub was. Claiming that it’s because the industry didn’t like his Pontiac or his swimming pool sounds ridiculous.

By: Paul W Dennis

Paul W Dennis — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:07:10 +0000

Actually Webb’s “Slowly” was indeed the first record to feature PEDAL steel guitar, which, if not actually invented by Bud Isaac, he certainly did much to improve (many sources credit Isaac with its invention). The steel guitar itself had been around for a long time, with origins tracing back to Hawai’i. I don’t know how far back in time its use in country music goes, but it can be found on recordings of Jimmie Rodgers dating back to the late 1920s

By: luckyoldsun

luckyoldsun — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:36:27 +0000

Webb Pierce is one of the biggest country stars of all-time. He’d belong in the Hall-of-Fame even if you were to cut the size of the H-o-F in half. The fact that they waited until the ’90s to induct him is a disgrace of the Hall-of-Fame, not on Pierce.

But I do not believe he intruduced the steel guitar to country music.Speedy West was playing steel guitar on country music records by Tennessee Ernie Ford and others.

By: Paul W Dennis

Paul W Dennis — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 10:05:07 +0000

That’s true, at least from Billboard’s perspective; however, until the 1990s Billboard wasn’t necessarily regarded as THE authority on popular music as about half the radio stations (regardless of genre) either based their charts off Cashbox or used the Cashbox charts

Webb Pierce had a #1 during the 1960s acccording to Cashbox with “Memory #1″

Buck Owens had two additional #1s in the 1970s according to Cashbox: “Ruby (Are You Mad)” and “Rollin’ In My Sweet Baby’s Arms” (both off his bluegrass album)

Alabama with twenty-six #1s during the 1980s had six more #1s during the 1990s so I presume you were referring to Earl Thomas Conley who had eighteen #1s, all during the decade of the 1980s

By: Razor X

Razor X — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:30:23 +0000

Webb’s introduction of the pedal steel to country music alone made him worthy of a spot in the Hall of Fame.

By: luckyoldsun

luckyoldsun — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:16:02 +0000

I meant “outside the ’60s…” above.

By: luckyoldsun

luckyoldsun — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:15:09 +0000

The artist with the most country #1′s in the ’50s never had a #1 outside the ’50s.
The artist with the most country #1′s in the ’60s only had one #1 outside the ’50s (not counting a duet that he guested on).
The artist with the most country #1′s in the ’80s never had a #1 outside the ’80s.

I guess people have their decades.