37 Facts About Buddy Emmons

Buddy Gene Emmons was an American musician who is widely regarded as the world's foremost pedal steel guitarist of his day.

Buddy Emmons was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1981.

Buddy Emmons 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.

Buddy Emmons made significant innovations to the steel guitar, adding two additional strings and an additional pedal, changes which have been adopted as standard in the modern-day instrument.

Buddy Emmons's name is on a US patent for a mechanism to raise and lower the pitch of a string on a steel guitar and return to the original pitch without going out of tune.

Buddy Emmons won the Academy of Country Music's "Best Steel Guitarist" nine times, beginning in 1969.

In 2013, two years before his death, he was honored by the Country Music Hall of Fame in a tribute called "The Big E: Salute to Buddy Emmons" featuring testimonials and performances by eminent musicians and hall of fame members.

Buddy Emmons then began figuring out how to play the country music that he heard on the radio.

Buddy Emmons has said that Jerry Byrd and Herb Remington were among his first musical influences.

Buddy Emmons's parents bought him a triple-neck Fender Stringmaster steel guitar, and he began performing with local bands in South Bend.

Buddy Emmons moved to Detroit to play with Casey Clark.

The next year, Little Jimmy Dickens heard Buddy Emmons playing with Casey Clark and offered him a job with his band, so at the age of 18, in July, 1955, Buddy Emmons moved to Nashville.

In late 1956, Buddy Emmons contributed to the evolution of the pedal steel guitar by splitting the function of the two pedals that changed the pitch of certain strings from a tonic chord to a subdominant chord.

Buddy Emmons recalls that he first used this split-pedal innovation on Ernest Tubb's "Half a Mind ".

Buddy Emmons' name is on a US patent for a mechanism to raise and lower the pitch of a string on a steel guitar and return to the original pitch without going out of tune.

In 1962, Buddy Emmons added two additional strings to the upper register of the E9 neck of the pedal steel guitar.

In 1957, Buddy Emmons joined Ernest Tubb's Texas Troubadours.

Buddy Emmons's first recording with Tubb, "Half a Mind ", became a hit record.

In 1958, Buddy Emmons quit Tubb's band and moved to California.

Buddy Emmons's first recording with Price in September, 1962, produced the hit song, "You Took Her Off My Hands".

On this song Buddy Emmons used another of his major steel guitar innovations, adding two "chromatic" strings to the E9 tuning.

Price soon appointed Buddy Emmons to be his bandleader, and Buddy Emmons created many of the arrangements on Price's recordings over the next several years.

Buddy Emmons continued to record and tour with Price until 1967 and, between tours with Price, did recording session work with many Nashville artists such as George Jones and Melba Montgomery.

Buddy Emmons left the Cherokee Cowboys largely due to his disenchantment with Price's growing interest in performing pop-style country with string orchestrations.

Buddy Emmons moved to Los Angeles, playing bass in Roger Miller's band and doing studio work on pedal steel.

Buddy Emmons returned with Peggy to Nashville in 1974, where he quickly resumed studio work with artists such as Mel Tillis, Donna Fargo, Duane Eddy and Charlie Walker.

In 1976, Buddy Emmons recorded a highly regarded tribute to the great Western Swing artist Bob Wills, on which he sang lead vocal and played steel guitar.

In 1977, Buddy Emmons teamed with Danny Gatton for occasional gigs, and then in 1978 they toured as the band Redneck Jazz Explosion.

Buddy Emmons began touring with The Everly Brothers in 1991, which continued until about 2001.

Buddy Emmons discontinued regular session work around 1998 to tour with The Everlys.

About 2001, Buddy Emmons began suffering from a repetitive motion injury to his right thumb and wrist, which caused him to stop playing for over a year.

Buddy Emmons did not to return to regular recording session work, but did record with some artists he had known for many years, such as Ray Price, Johnny Bush, and Willie Nelson.

Buddy Emmons continued to perform at steel guitar shows and on American Public Media's A Prairie Home Companion until his death.

Buddy Emmons struggled with alcohol and amphetamine dependency and credited his wife Peggy for aiding his recovery.

Buddy Emmons has three granddaughters, Crystal, Nikia, and Brittany, and two grandsons, Levon and Buddie III.

Emmons' wife Peggy often accompanied him to steel guitar shows and conventions, and helped Buddy meet fans and sell recordings and videos.

Buddy Emmons died of a heart attack in Nashville, Tennessee on July 21,2015.