I have a cassette of some Hawaiian stuff by Byrd, called Byrd Of Paradise,
but since it's on CBS Special Products I'm inclined to think this was stuff
he was doing earlier than the CDs you mentioned, Brad.
> Jerry Byrd was a notable session steel guitarist during much of the
"classic country"
> period, appearing on releases by Chet Atkins...
He and Atkins worked awfully well together, in my opinion; you can hear it
on that Country All-Stars stuff. One of the things that I find interesting
is that so many of the guys who played on a lot of hillbilly music records
made in Nashville were interested in jazz; Byrd, Atkins, Dale Potter, but it
was a different kind of jazz, as you can tell by comparing versions of stuff
like "Stomping At The Savoy," "Sweet Georgia Brown," "South," "Caravan,"
"Birth Of The Blues" (which is on one of the Byrd albums I have as well, I
think the same one that has "Steelin The Blues"), "Corine Corina," and a
bunch of other numbers where you can listen to versioins by Wills or some
other more western swing folks. I guess that's one of the reasons that I
often find the pop-ism of Chester and Co. pleasing; if you really look at
and listen to it, it's pop via hillbilly jazz - these guys didn't grow up
playing that stuff, they learned it because they liked it - and some pretty
durn good jazz at that. There were certainly, maybe even mainly, commercial
aspects to the Nashville Sound, but the records work musically (see the
recent Philposted Patsy Cline adoration) because the folks who made them
were able to find things to play that sound good by drawing on that
knowledge and affection.
Jon Weisberger Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger/
