1. Forrest "Bud" Isaacs was an American steel guitarist who made country music history in 1954 as the first person to play pedal steel guitar on a hit record.
22 Facts About Bud Isaacs
1. 2.
Bud Isaacs is known for his playing his innovative technique on Webb Pierce's 1954 recording of a song called "Slowly" which became a major hit for Pierce and was one of the most-played country songs of 1954.
3.
Bud Isaacs became a much-favored session player and performed on 11 top country records the year following the release of "Slowly".
4.
Indiana-born Bud Isaacs was trained on Hawaiian guitar as a youth and quit school early to perform professionally with numerous country artists including Red Foley, Little Jimmy Dickens and Chet Atkins on the road and in recording sessions.
5.
Bud Isaacs became a member of the house bands at the Grand Ole Opry and the Ozark Jubilee.
6.
Bud Isaacs was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1984.
7.
Bud Isaacs's father was a millworker at Bedford Cut Stone Company.
8.
Bud Isaacs's mother enrolled Isaacs in lessons provided by the Oahu Music Company located above Hoover's Confectionary in Bedford.
9.
Bud Isaacs persisted at the Hawaiian academy but preferred the lap steel style and tunings of Noel Boggs.
10.
Bud Isaacs soon moved up to a Rickenbacker electric lap steel.
11.
Bud Isaacs quit high school that year to become a professional musician.
12.
Bud Isaacs made his radio debut on WIBC-AM in Indianapolis and in 1944 began traveling throughout the Midwest to perform on various barn dance shows.
13.
Bud Isaacs worked in Texas, Arizona, Michigan and elsewhere during the following decade.
14.
Bud Isaacs worked for numerous artists in recording sessions and on the road and was a member of the house band of the Grand Ole Opry for many years.
15.
Bud Isaacs recorded as a solo performer for RCA from 1954 to 1960.
16.
Speedy West had been using a pedal steel since 1948; however, Bud Isaacs was the first on a recording to push the pedal while notes were still sounding.
17.
Steel guitar virtuoso Lloyd Green said, "This fellow, Bud Isaacs, had thrown a new tool into musical thinking about the steel with the advent of this record that still reverberates to this day".
18.
Now a favored session player, Bud Isaacs performed on 11 top country records in 1955.
19.
In 1956, the Gibson company hired Bud Isaacs to consult on their pedal steel instrument, later introduced as the "Multiharp".
20.
Bud Isaacs married Geri Mapes, a musician, and they worked together with an act they called the "Golden West Singers".
21.
The couple eventually retired to Yuma, Arizona, where Bud Isaacs died September 4,2016 at the age of 88.
22.
Bud Isaacs was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1984.