Country Club 45: pedal steel master Buddy Emmons

Steel guitar is the quintessential country instrument, with dues respect to banjos, mandolins, and fiddles.  Buddy Emmons is arguably the foremost steel guitarist ever. He has played on hundreds, if not thousands, of country sides, but is stylistically cathollic, having recording in jazz, country-rock, folk, and other idioms. Here's a short display of Emmons' virtuosity.



There are a number of videos of Emmons performing at Steel Guitar conventions and the like on Youtube.  If you like clip above, check them out.

Allmusic.com has a discography of albums issued under Emmons' name.  Some are worth noting.   In 1963, Emmons recorded a highly regarded album for Verve Records, Steel Guitar Jazz, with sidemen such as saxophonist Jerome Richardson. In the 1970s, he recorded with Lenny Breau (Minors Aloud) and Danny Gatton (Red Neck Jazz Explosion) and, still later, did performed and recorded several fine albums with Ray Pennington as the Swing Shift Band, a grouping of Nashville area musicians who did swing and western swing on the side.