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Pete Drake

 
Artist: Pete Drake
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Similar Artists:

Buddy Cage, Bobby Black, Ringo Starr, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Buddy Emmons, John D. Loudermilk, Ben Keith, Sandy Posey, Roger Miller, Tammy Wynette, Dottie West, The Stoneman Family, David Houston, The Geezinslaws, Bobby Bare

Influenced By:

Speedy West

Followers:

Johnny Cox, Andy Reiss, Gary Carter

Worked With:

Charlie McCoy, Henry Strzelecki, Billy Sanford, Hargus "Pig" Robbins, Bob Moore, Ray Edenton, Jerry Carrigan, Kenneth A. Buttrey, Harold Bradley
  • Born: August 08, 1932, Atlanta, GA
  • Died: July 29, 1988, Nashville, TN
  • Active: '60s, '70s, '80s
  • Genres: Country
  • Instrument: Guitar (Steel)
  • Representative Albums: "Fabulous Steel Guitar," "The Amazing and Incredible Pete Drake," "Sleepwalk & Other Steel Guitar Classics"

Biography

When rock artists, including Bob Dylan and members of the Beatles, began to record in Nashville, Pete Drake (born Franklin Drake) was the natural choice as steel guitarist. Although he had a Top 30 hit, "Talking Steel," in 1964, Drake recorded very little on his own. Instead, he used the trademark mellow tone of his steel guitar to strengthen albums by other artists. In addition to working with country artists, including Marty Robbins, Bobby Bare, Johnny Cash, the Louvin Brothers, Dolly Parton, and Ernest Tubb, he pioneered the use of the steel guitar in rock, performing on recordings by Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley. He played on such seminal recordings as Lynn Anderson's "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden," Charlie Rich's "Behind Closed Doors," and Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man." Featured on Dylan's albums John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, and Self Portrait, Drake also produced and assembled the band for Ringo Starr's country album, Beaucoups of Blues, and played on George Harrison's solo debut, All Things Must Pass.

The son of a Pentecostal minister, Drake began his career with a group, the Drake Brothers, that he shared with his brothers, one of whom, Jack, went on to play with Ernest Tubb's Texas Troubadors for nearly a quarter of a century. Drake's melodic steel guitar playing made him one of Atlanta's top young instrumentalists. He joined with future country music superstars Jerry Reed, Doug Kershaw, Roger Miller, and Joe South in a mid-'50s band. Although this group failed to record, it provided Drake with the impetus to move to Nashville in 1959. Drake's involvement with Elvis Presley, which began in May 1966 when he played on Presley's How Great Thou Art album, lasted for more than a year and included appearances on the soundtracks of Presley's films Double Trouble, Clambake, and Speedway.

Launching his own record label, First Generation, in the late '70s, Drake signed Ernest Tubb, who had left MCA after 35 years, and released an album, The Legend and the Legacy, in 1977. Comprised of reworkings of Tubb's greatest hits, the album included guest appearances by Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Paycheck, Charlie Daniels, Conway Twitty, Marty Robbins, Loretta Lynn, Vern Gosdin, George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Johnny Cash. Drake occasionally stepped into the spotlight, releasing solo album of pop-gospel standards, Steel Away, and a eponymously titled album that included steel guitar interpretations of Dylan and Beatles tunes. ~ Craig Harris, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Pete Drake
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Pete Drake
Birth name Roddis Franklin Drake
Born October 8, 1932(1932-10-08)
Augusta, Georgia
US
Died July 29, 1988 (aged 55)
Nashville, Tennessee
US
Genres Country
Occupations Musician, Songwriter, Actor
Instruments Guitar

Pete Drake (8 October 1932 – 29 July 1988), born Roddis Franklin Drake, was a major Nashville, Tennessee-based record producer and pedal steel guitar player.[1]

One of the most sought-after backup musicians of the 1960s, Drake played on such hits as Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden", Charlie Rich's "Behind Closed Doors"' Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay"' and Tammy Wynette's "Stand by Your Man". (Drake's work on this last tune is debatable, in that some sources claim Sonny Curtis to be the steel guitar player on that record.)

Contents

Career

Drake was born in Augusta, Georgia, the son of a Pentecostal preacher, in 1932. In 1950, he drove to Nashville, heard Jerry Byrd on the Grand Ole Opry, and was inspired to buy a steel guitar. He organized a band, Sons of the South, in Atlanta in the 1950s, which included future country stars like Jerry Reed, Doug Kershaw, Roger Miller, Jack Greene, and Joe South.

In 1959 he moved to Nashville and went on the road as a backup musician for Don Gibson, Marty Robbins and others. In 1964 he had an international hit on Smash Records with his "talking steel guitar" playing on the album Forever. His innovative use of what would be called the "talk box", later used by Peter Frampton, Joe Walsh and Jeff Beck, added novel effects to the pedal steel guitar. The album Pete Drake and His Talking Steel Guitar, harkened back to the sounds of Alvino Rey and his wife Luise King, who first modulated a guitar tone with the signal from a throat microphone in 1939. The unique sound of the talk box with a steel guitar was new in the 1960s, and it made the sounds of vocalizing along with the strings of the steel guitar. According to an interview of Drake:[2]

"You play the notes on the guitar and it goes through the amplifier. I have a driver system so that you disconnect the speakers and the sound goes through the driver into a plastic tube. You put the tube in the side of your mouth then form the words with your mouth as you play them. You don't actually say a word: The guitar is your vocal cords, and your mouth is the amplifier. It's amplified by a microphone."

The equipment was only loud enough to be useful in the studio for recordings.[3]

Drake played on Bob Dylan's three Nashville-recorded albums, including Nashville Skyline, and on Joan Baez's David's Album. He also worked with George Harrison on All Things Must Pass, and with Ringo Starr on Beaucoups of Blues in 1970.[2][4]

Drake produced albums for many other musicians, and founded Stop Records and First Generation Records. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame's Walkway of Stars in 1970 and the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1987.

Death

Drake died of lung cancer in 1988 at the age of 55. He is buried in Spring Hill Cemetery, Tennessee, inscription reads "His Courage, His Smile, His Talent and His Love, Warms Our Hearts." His headstone is inscribed "For Pete's Sake."

References

  1. ^ Pete Drake Bio @ Augusta.com
  2. ^ a b Green, Douglas. "Pete Drake: everyone's favorite" - Steel Guitar Stories @ Calsharp.com
  3. ^ ProSoundWeb. Forum: Recording Engineering & Production. Thread: JUNE is "Ask Bob Heil" Month! Message: 347458. Bob Heil responds about the origin of the Talk Box. Posted June 6, 2008
  4. ^ Review: Shultz, Gary. Beaucoups Of Blues - June 9, 1999

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 
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Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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