Duane Becker
Duane Becker started playing the dobro and steel guitar professionally in 1968. He has been playing with local country and western groups throughout the Northwest for many years. Also involved in recording, Duane has played steel on numerous recordings in the area as well as several national TV commercials including, Toyota Trucks and the Wheel of Fortune Hawaii Show.
Since 1996, he has been the featured steel/dobro player for Wylie and the Wild West. Duane has traveled through the United States and Canada playing fairs and festivals including the Lincoln Center in New York City, Michael Martin Murpley's Westfest, the Birchmere in Washington DC, the Northwest Pedal Steel Jam, the 1996 Linkon Steel Jam in Winnipeg MB, and a 1999 tour of Japan. He has appeared on PBS, NPR radio, TNN's Prime Time Country, CMT, and as a regular on WSM's Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
In 2001, wanting to spend more time with his family, Duane left Wylie and the Wild West and began playing locally around the Pacific Northwest. Currently on occasion, he subs for Wylie and the Wild West. In 2002, Duane joined the Marauders, a group based out of the Spokane/Coeur d' Alene area. He plays steel and piano for the group. (Marauders web site: www.themarauders.net) The Marauders have one CD album out and are working on their 2nd. Duane is currently in the studio recording his first and most likely his only instrumental steel guitar CD to be released in early Spring 2005. Duane has also played at the steel guitar jams around the area, including the British Columbia Steel Guitar Jam, and the old Pacific Northwest Pedal Steel Jams that Wally Giffin used to host.
Duane owns 5 different models of Sho-Bud pedal steels, and 7 different models of Fender non pedal steels. In 2000, Duane began playing a 1968 (serial number 1224) push-pull Emmons pedal steel. The Emmons push-pull quickly became Duane's favorite steel. He says, " ...this push-push fits me perfectly. Its like an extension of my hands and legs-the best pedal steel that I have ever played, it has the sound that I have been looking for." Although he loves and plays the Emmons pp, Duane's first love is the Sho-Bud pedal steel. After several years of research and interviews with former Sho-Bud employees, Duane complied a history on Shot Jackson and the Sho-Bud Guitar Company in 2001. His can be found on the Unofficial Sho-Bud Web site. Duane also is the question contact person for the web site. (This Unofficial sho-Bud web site is: www.planet.eon.net/~gsimmons/shobud/index.html )
Duane and his wife Terri have started a Steel Guitar Bed&Breakfast at their home in Elk, Washington. He provides one to three day seminar/instruction on the steel guitar. Those who come are treated to a home cooked breakfast, private lessons, practice time, home cooked dinners and more lessons-plus a private bedroom and bathroom. The bedroom has been decorated complete with steel guitar memorabilia that Duane has collected through the years. All this in the beautiful mountains of Northeastern Washington state. Anyone interested in attending the B&B may contact Duane at his email: becker@nwsteelguitar.com Duane and his wife Terri, have 2 children and live in Elk, Washington.
I was born and raised in Mead, Washington, a small town north of Spokane, Washington and began playing the steel guitar professionally in the early 1950’s. I am self-taught, for the most part, as there were no steel guitar teachers available in Spokane, at that time. In the beginning, I played a six-string lap steel guitar then progressed during the 1960’s to a double neck 20-string steel guitar. I have continued playing the steel guitar professionally with several country bands, playing country and Hawaiian music and today I still enjoy working in music on a part time basis.
My first pedal steel guitar was a Fender 400. In the late 1960’s I purchased a Marlen double ten with eight floor pedals and two knee levers. In 1976, I purchased a new ShoBud Steel Guitar with eight floor pedals and four knee levers from Shot Jackson whom owned the ShoBud Steel Guitar Company at that time. In the 1970’s I joined a group called the Jerry Raver Trio. The Band spent the majority of the 1970’s playing music four to six nights a week at a local Chinese restaurant named the Cathay Inn. In 1996, I purchased an Emmons LaGrande II pedal steel guitar that I play now. While back in St. Louis, Missouri in September 2001 for the International Steel Guitar Convention, I met Dick & Kay Miller & Terry Bethel whom has played steel guitar for Mel Tillis for about 20+ years. I fell in love with the Bethel Steel Guitar on display at their booth. Terry Bethel played on stage for the show and I loved the sound of his steel guitar. I asked Dick to build me a Bethel Steel Guitar similar to the one on display using coca bola wood. Terry & his wife, Pat, invited us to stop and see him perform in Branson, Missouri using his Bethel Steel Guitar. My custom Bethel Steel Guitar arrived in Spokane in February 2002. It is a double ten, with eight floor pedals and five knee levers. It was one of the few beautiful wood guitars that Dick Miller built before he unexpectedly passed away on September 11, 2002.
In the late 1990’s I joined Mingo & the Desperados Band, a very fine true-country band. We currently play music in clubs, etc. in the Spokane, Eastern Washington and north Idaho areas.
Read Lee's fascinating, unedited bio at: http://members.shaw.ca/steelguitarist/lessigbio.htm
Tom Palmer
Tom Palmer owned his first pedal steel in 1971 and learned a few of the basics before moving to Nashville Tennessee and meeting a 14year old steel player by the name of Johnny Cox. This encounter left Tom so intimidated he sold his steel and did not play again for 25 years. In 1997, he found himself playing lead guitar in a band called Northwest Stampede, but felt barely adequate at the job. Then the band hired Sean Davin to play rhythm guitar and do some vocals. After Tom heard what an accomplished guitar player Sean was, he asked him to learn the lead parts and Tom bought another steel. Over the next several years he developed his skills and made the transition from guitar to pedal steel. He left Northwest Stampede at the end of 2003.
In February of 2004, Tom received a call from Billy Olsen, last years winner of the Washington State CMT Nashville Star Contest, and they immediately hit it off. Billy and Tom have been working together since April, 2004. Billy Olsen and Tom Palmer can be heard at many venues around Washington State in the coming year.
Tom lives in Kirkland, Washington with his wife Jan and has a son 38, and a daughter 27. He and his wife own Dance Time, a dance studio which teaches ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern, and hip hop forms of dance and employs 8 instructors.
Russ Rask
Russ was born and raised back in the cold country of the small Northern town of International Falls, Minnesota. The town is famous for being “The Ice Box of the Nation”. It is located right on the border of Ontario Canada. Russ moved out of the cold country to the Spokane area in the later part of 1974. In Spokane Russ married his wife Ruby in 1975 and they raised three children Michele, Deborah and Billy. Russ and Ruby to this date are proud grandparents of “FIVE” grandchildren and counting???
Russ started playing guitar at the age of ten. “While all the other kids were outside playing ball, I was inside trying to strum along with all those ole’ Hank Williams and Earnest Tubb records”. But in the long run it really paid off for Russ.
“I’ve been really fortunate to be able to support my family and the majority of the time my main source of income came from playing music. I had a wonderful Father-in-law who told his daughter (Russ was a guitar player when you met him so don’t ever try to change him and everything will turn out fine!) Thanks to him, I’ve been able to enjoy music and let it flow without any problems coming from the home front. I’ve always had family support. I feel that support is very important and I am one of the luckiest musicians on this planet because of it”.
“I bought my first steel just shortly before I met my wife. It took me three weeks to figure out you have to hold down the pedals or levers when you try to tune them form the right end with the wrench. First I’d tune it open, sounds great, push down a pedal, then it sounds terrible so I would tune the pedal with the left tuning key again. Pedal down sounds great, pedal off sounds nasty again! What the h#@% am I doing wrong? That was almost the bitter end of my steel playing. But I finally got it to work and what a wonderful sound it was…. it still sends chills up my spine when it’s played the right way! It’s the hardest instrument in the world to play right but it’s also, the easiest instrument to play badly.”
“In those early years my steel playing was pretty weak, but I still loved it. Then after a little coaxing from some friends, we went to Scotty’s convention back in St. Louis and did a survey about starting a steel guitar magazine. Most of you know the rest of that story. For the next ten years I was owner, editor and publisher of Steel Guitar World Magazine”.
“I thought boy when I do this magazine I’ll have everything at my fingertips and I can learn all this great steel stuff… well guess what? My steel guitar sat in the corner and collected dust; it was a rack to put papers on. I didn’t have time to play it, and when I did have some free time I wanted to do anything but play steel. It’s just like a carpenter having time to build his own house or a mechanic having time to fix his own vehicles…. it just never seems to happen”.
“However, by doing the magazine I learned a very valuable lesson. And again guess what? This is your (Lucky Day) because I’m going to share with you the secret of learning how to play this instrument! It’s not the next piece of tab you buy or the next video or the next steel guitar course or the next lesson you take. I was lucky to learn this secret and I learned this from my good friend Joe Wright back at one of Scotty’s conventions”.
Joe said, “Russ, I’m going to tell you the secret and it solves all the real mystery of how to play this instrument that we love so well”. Are you ready? .... Here it is! …. It’s called “ASS TIME”…. You sit your ass down behind the guitar and practice. You’ll never play it well until you put in your ass time! That is the secret and it’s that simple. Anyone can do but it takes ass time and until you devote the ass time, your playing will not advance to the next level. That solves all the deep dark secrets and the mystery”.
“And Joe was right…. the more ass time one devotes, the better the steel playing. Thanks Joe”!
Russ is currently employed full time at the law firm of Wells, St John PS. in Spokane, WA. The firm specializes in Patent, Trademark and Copyright law and Russ is a technical illustrator for the firm drawing patents and trademarks. Russ says he has over 5,000 sheets of patent drawings in (USPTO) United States Patent & Trademark Office in Washington D.C.
Russ is also currently playing lead guitar and steel in the greater Spokane area with the country-dance band “Black Hills Gold”. The band members have worked together off and on for over 20 years, they are: Andi Reyes on rhythm guitar and vocals; Tim Sharp on bass guitar and vocals; Gary Baker on drums; Russ Rask on lead guitar, steel and some vocal. “Black Hills Gold” usually plays Eagle’s clubs; VFW’s and they work occasional weddings and private parties. They have a new CD coming soon so watch for it, and if you hear of them in your area get on your dancing shoes…. you’ll enjoy it for sure…. just good ole’ country music!
Russ plays a Heritage 6-string with 3 Bigsby Palm Pedals and he uses a Fender Showman amp for his 6-string. His guitar effects include a MXR Dyna Comp and MXR Phase 90 with a Goodrich volume pedal. For steel Russ plays a red S-12 Fessenden with 8+5. But for learning sake Russ has restrung his Fessenden to a normal S-10. His steel amps include “Dog Walker’s Stereo Steel” and a Fender Steel King. His steel guitar effects include Digital Delay, Goodrich volume pedal and a Goodrich matchbox
Dean Simmons
Dean Simmons began playing steel guitar in his late teens. His first guitar was a home-made double neck lap steel, with 8 strings on each neck. His first professional job was at 19; however when the owners of the Spokane nightclub found out that he was under-aged, he found himself out of the band. Determined not to let youth hamper his musical career, he set out for the clubs at State Line, Idaho and played with a variety of bands.
The first steel Dean played with pedals was actually a triple-neck Fender with homemade string pullers, which worked as knee levers. Dean played with “T”Texas Tyler at Natatorium Park in the early 50's, which was also broadcast live weekly on the radio station KNEW AM. He also auditioned for Ferlin Husky to go out on the road and tour, however family obligations persuaded him to stay in Spokane and turn down the opportunity to tour. In addition to his demanding playing schedule of 6 nights a week, he was also on the professional teaching staff of Hoffman Music, teaching both standard and steel guitar in the early 50's, a position that he still holds, though he's cut back on the number of students he teaches during his retirement. He also performed on Jamorboree, a weekly TV show on KREM in the 1960's with Cliff Carl.
When the Urban Cowboy craze hit in 1980, the Davenport Hotel jumped at the chance to get a piece of this very lucrative market. Dean began playing a regular gig with Big Bucks Band at the Big Buck's Bar in the basement of the hotel. The gig ran almost 2 years, and also led to further opportunities, such as backing Hank Thompson when he appeared locally, and working with the Kelly Hughes band on occasion. He has also worked for a variety of local musicians doing studio work, including Gary Williams.
Having owned several steel guitars over the years, Dean now has what he describes as "the cream of the crop;" a '75 Emmons push pull. He now plays with the band Pend Oreille, featuring Dave & Suzanne Cannon, Don Giese, and Marge McFaul. He was also the subject of a segment on Northwest Profiles that aired on KSPS in January 2005.
Chris Howie
I came to the Inland Northwest after 25 years on Vashon Island in the Puget Sound. Prior to that I put in 3 years in the Army (including Viet Nam), a couple of years in San Luis Obispo CA when in college, and growing-up time in Mill Valley CA. My wife, Irene, and I have been here since 1996, and we feel really at home.
I'm an electronics engineer/technician by trade, currently working in commercial aviation, but I've been involved in private aviation, marine radio, amateur radio, electric bus controls, and many other things. It's interesting and pays bills, but like most other musicians, I would be quite content to be a successful musician exclusively. Nice dream, eh?
I've been playing pedal steel for something like 25 years, but I started out with guitar and banjo in high school (this doesn't include the 3 years I played French horn before high school). I've covered a lot of ground on acoustic guitar, and only very recently got an electric guitar, which is yet another world. I've played folk, bluegrass, Irish, jazz, bossa nova, and come up with a lot of fingerpicked arrangements of Beatles' tunes and other popular music. I also do a lot of flatpicked fiddle tunes on guitar. Banjo work has largely been bluegrass, but I've subjected other types of music to banjo treatment. I have been in Bluegrass Conspiracy for six years as of this writing, and we're still at it.
My steel work has been here and there, having not played it in many bands. I was in a local group called Sidetrack playing steel for a couple of years, I've sat in with many people over the years, and I've done some showcases with the NWSGA events. I've just joined up with some friends with whom I previously sat in; they were known as Here For Now and One Way Ticket. Since joining forces with singer/songwriter Tim Brummett, we are now known as The Boomers, since some of the material is '50's rock and '40s country. This is good experience for me – though I've performed quite a bit, it hasn't been much with steel. Mostly, my steel work has been solo arrangements of things that Buddy Emmons or Winnie Winston or Lloyd Green might play, though I haven't worked up anything actually done by them. I like to use Band-in-a-Box at home because it knows more variety than I can find in any one person. Plus, it's always ready to go! I am interested in a very wide range of music, and am looking for ways to play different things on the steel. Having people stop by to jam would be a wonderful thing, so give a holler if you're so inclined!
