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Jimmy Day

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Jimmy Day
Jimmy Day, c.1975
Background information
Birth nameJames Clayton Day
Also known asJimmy Day
Born(1934-01-09)January 9, 1934
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S.
DiedJanuary 22, 1999(1999-01-22) (aged 65)
Austin, Texas
GenresCountry, Western swing, Honky tonk
OccupationMusician
Instrument(s)lap steel guitar, pedal steel guitar
Years active1950–1992
LabelsAbbott Records and others

Jimmy Day (born James Clayton Day; January 9, 1934 – January 22, 1999)[1] was an American steel guitarist active in the 1950s and 1960s.[2] His career in country music blossomed about the time the pedal steel guitar was invented—after pedals were added to the lap steel guitar. He was a pioneer on pedal steel in the genres of Western swing and Honky tonk and his modifications of the instrument's design have become a standard on the modern pedal steel. Day's first job after high school was performing on the Louisiana Hayride as a sideman accompanying developing country artists including Hank Williams, Webb Pierce, Willie Nelson, Jim Reeves, Ray Price and Elvis Presley.[3] He recorded and toured with all these artists and was featured on hit records by many of them, including Ray Price's, "Crazy Arms" and "Heartaches by the Number". He was a member of Elvis Presley's band for about a year, but, along with fellow bandmate Floyd Cramer, resigned after Presley requested them to re-locate to Hollywood. Day moved to Nashville to work as a session player and a Grand Ole Opry musician. He was a member of the Western Swing Hall of Fame (1994) and the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame (1999). Day died of cancer in 1999.

Early life

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Day was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but grew up in Louisiana. A lean and lanky country boy,[4] he began playing a traditional guitar, but was influenced by a steel guitar performance on local television by Shot Jackson. He decided then with certainty that he wanted to master the steel guitar.[5]: 120  He received a six-string lap steel as a Christmas present in 1949.[4] Just after high school graduation in 1951,[3][6] he auditioned for and was granted a job in the house band on the "Louisiana Hayride", a popular country music radio show which at the time rivaled Nashville's Grand Ole Opry.[2] The show has a weekly broadcast on KWKH from Shreveport. One of Day's junior high classmates also got a job there, the future hall-of-fame pianist Floyd Cramer.[7]

Career

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On the radio broadcast, Day gained experience in backing performers who were on their way to becoming megastars, including Hank Williams, Faron Young, Johnny Horton, Jim Reeves and Elvis Presley .[8]: 138  His first recording session (at age 18) was Webb Pierce's song, "That Heart Belongs to Me" in 1952.[9] He played in Ernest Tubb's "Texas Troubadors"[3] and also Jim Reeves' band, the "Blue Boys".[6] He recorded several songs with Reeves, and had two instrumentals of his own, "Rippin' Out" and "Blue Wind".[9] In the spring of 1952, Day performed with Hank Williams for a six month term.[3] After Williams' death, Day overdubbed some of Williams' posthumous releases.[3]

Day moved to Nashville in 1955 and became a session player, performing on classic hits such as "Crazy Arms" and "Heartaches by the Number" (Ray Price)[6] and "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down"(Charlie Walker).[9] While in Price's band, the "Cherokee Cowboys", Day formed a friendship with the band's bass player, Willie Nelson. When Nelson himself had a hit record called "Touch Me",[8]: 138  he resigned from Price's band in 1962 to go solo; and took Day with him.[9] After about six months, Day left Nelson to perform with various artists including Ferlin Husky, Buddy Emmons, and Little Jimmy Dickens.[5]: 120  Day released a solo album, Steel and Strings in 1963.[3] His nickname for his pedal steel guitar was "Blue Darlin'".[4]

Day began transitioning from lap steel to the new and more versatile pedal steel guitar about 1954, while performing with Lefty Frizzell.[3] One of his last lap steel performances was a Louisiana Hayride show in 1955 backing Elvis Presley.[3] Presley assembled a band consisting of Day, Cramer, Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and D.J. Fontana. This group remained his supporting band for much of the year; however, when Presley relocated to Hollywood, both Day and Cramer declined to follow him there, preferring to remain in Nashville to pursue independent careers.[3]

In the late 1950s, Day formed a business partnership with Buddy Emmons and Shot Jackson in the Sho-Bud Company.[6] The company designed and manufactured the first pedal steel guitars with push-rod pedals.[9] Up to then, individuals were trying to retro-fit pedals to add to existing lap steel guitars; Sho-Bud was one of the first companies to manufacture pedal steels de novo.[10]

Contributions to the E9 Pedal steel

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Day is credited (along with Buddy Emmons), with splitting a single pedal on a pedal steel guitar which changed the pitch two strings simultaneously; he made it into two separate pedals, one for each of the strings.[11] Emmons had the same idea, but the two men reversed the strings affected by each pedal. This led guitar manufacturers to ask whether the customer wanted a "Day" setup or an "Emmons" setup. Both Day and Emmons changed the instrument from 8 to 10 strings.[12] Day added a new E string (a duplicate of the tonic note) at the 8th string position in 1958. This change has become a standard on the modern instrument.[13]

Personal life

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In the 1970s, Day left Nashville to move to Texas to live in Buda, a commuter town south of Austin. He became active in the Texas music scene, working with Price, Nelson and Johnny Bush; he ventured back to Nashville only occasionally.[9] He created an album saluting Don Helms and in 1992 paid tribute to another guitarist, Western swing artist Herb Remington, with whom Day recorded an instrumental duet album.[9]

According to former bandmate Johnny Bush in his 2017 book, Whiskey River (Take My Mind): The True Story of Texas Honky-Tonk, Day was a "first-call" session player and the "master of the E9 sound" on country ballads, but had issues with substance abuse which allowed Pete Drake to take over Day's session work.[14]: 119  In the book, Bush said Day quit drinking in the last twenty years before he died, but his health had suffered because of it.[14]: 119  Bush had known Day since they performed together in Ray Price's "Cherokee Cowboys".[15]

Day died of cancer in 1999 and is buried in Austin. He was inducted into the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1982. .[6] He was also a member of the Western Swing Hall of Fame (1994).[9]

References

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  1. ^ https://www.fold3.com/record/55841097/james-c-day-us-social-security-death-index
  2. ^ a b Nichols, Lee (January 29, 1999). "Jimmy Day, 1934-1999". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ankeny, Jason. "Jimmy Day". allmusic.com. AllMusic, Netaktion. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Biel, Jelle (October 31, 1997). "Jimmy Day - King for a Day". bb.steelguitarforum.com. Steel Guitar Forum. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  5. ^ a b Erlewine, Michael (1997). All Music Guide to Country : The Experts' Guide to the Best Recordings in Country Music. San Francisco, CA: Miller Freeman. ISBN 9780879304751. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e Jasinski, Laurie E. (2012). Handbook of Texas Music (ebook ed.). Austin: Texas State Historical Assn Press. ISBN 9780876112977. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  7. ^ "Country Music Hall of Fame To Welcome Floyd Cramer and Carl Smith". bmi.com. Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI). August 13, 2003. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  8. ^ a b Rumble, John; McCall, Michael; Kingsbury, Paul; Gill, Vince (2012). The Encyclopedia of Country Music : the ultimate guide to the music (ebook) (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199920839. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Wadey, Paul (February 1, 1999). "Obituary: Jimmy Day". independent.co.uk. The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-06-08. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  10. ^ Miller, Tim Sterner; Stimeling, Travis D., Ed. (2017). The Oxford Handbook of Country Music (Chapter 9). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190248178. Retrieved December 3, 2020.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Van Allen, Mark (April 4, 2016). "The Logic of E9". bb.steelguitarforum.com. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  12. ^ Edgar, W.C. (July 19, 2019). "The top three pedal steel players of all time". bb.steelguitarforum.com. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  13. ^ Kurck, Charles (January 3, 2014). "E9 Charts". bb.steelguitarforum.com. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  14. ^ a b Bush, Johnny (2007). Whiskey river (Take My Mind) : The True Story of Texas Honky-tonk (1st ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 9781477314425. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  15. ^ Hudak, Joseph (October 16, 2020). "Johnny Bush, 'Whiskey River' Songwriter and Texas Country Singer, Dead at 85". rollingstone.com. Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
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