Buddy Emmons
b. 27 January 1937, Mishawaka, Indiana, USA. A multi-instrumentalist and sometime singer, Emmons began playing the fiddle when he was 10 years old. Encouraged by his father, he switched to a lap-top steel guitar and then graduated to bigger models. However, he states, ‘I wanted to be a boxer, but when I found out how easy it was to play and how hard it was to box, I changed my mind.’ When only 18, he stepped in for Walter Haynes, steel guitarist with Little Jimmy Dickens, on a local date. As Haynes wanted to leave the band, Emmons took his place. In 1957, he and Shot Jackson built a steel guitar from scratch, the Sho-Bud, and Emmons subsequently gave his name to a steel guitar company. Emmons played with Ernest Tubb's Texas Troubadours (1957-1962) and Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys (1962-1968), and he played on records by George Jones (Seasons Of My Heart, Who Shot Sam?), Ray Price (Nightlife) and Faron Young (Sweet Dreams). He then moved to Los Angeles, played sessions for Linda Ronstadt and Henry Mancini, and became a king of the road with Roger Miller. In 1975 he returned to Nashville and established himself as a leading steel guitarist. He worked on albums by the Nashville Superpickers, and among his credits are the classic albums, G.P. ( Gram Parsons), JOHN PHILLIPS—THE WOLFKING OF L.A., NOW AND THEN (the Carpenters), and WHO KNOWS WHERE THE TIME GOES? ( Judy Collins). He has also worked on albums by Sandy Denny, Doug Dillard, Annette Funicello, Mickey Gilley, Arlo Guthrie, John Hartford, Albert Lee, Manhattan Transfer, Rick Nelson, Willie Nelson, Mickey Newbury, Ricky Skaggs and John Stewart. In 1993 Emmons was in sparkling form as a member of the The Everly Brothers’ touring band.