Speedy West

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2011)

Wesley Webb West (January 25, 1924 – November 15, 2003), better known as Speedy West, was an American pedal steel guitarist and record producer. He frequently played with Jimmy Bryant, both in their own duo and as part of the regular Capitol Records backing band for Tennessee Ernie Ford and many others. He also played on Loretta Lynn's first single.

Biography

Early life

Born Wesley Webb West January 25, 1924 in Springfield, Missouri to parents, Finley G. and Sue Arthur West. Finley was a Linotype operator at a gospel publishing company, and in his spare time, played guitar and sang gospel songs.

At age nine, Wesley became interested in music because of his friends and neighbors, the Cline's boys, three brothers. One played steel guitar, another banjo and the other played guitar. The boys' parents suggested to Wesley's father, that he should buy him an inexpensive $12 Hawaiian guitar. Wesley spent all the time he could learning to play the instrument with the help of the Cline's as well as his father.

Wesley's interest in music continued to grow and he yearned for a more expensive instrument, namely, a National steel-bodied resonator model costing $125, which the West family could not afford. In order to give Wesley what he so desperately wanted, his father sold his own guitar in order to buy the National. In the 9th grade he won a prize in a school amateur contest. During a jam session sponsored by KWTO-AM, Slim Wilson introduced young Wesley as Speedy West and the name stuck.

West married Opal Mae at 17 and during World War II, West worked in a machine gun factory. Approximately 1942, Wesley and Opal moved to Strafford, Missouri, near Springfield, where they lived on a 200-acre (0.81 km²) farm owned by Wesley's father. Farming was vital to the war effort. One of their main crops was tomatoes. He also milked up to 33 cows daily. Since farming was a vital part of the war effort he was exempt from the draft. After the war ended, Wesley continued to farm but found more time to play music and develop his skills. Wesley began to play the steel locally on jam sessions that were broadcast over KWTO radio in Springfield, and played with friends and other local musicians at every opportunity that came along.

A major turning point occurred when a sailor, who was passing through town, told Wesley about the wonderful musical opportunities available in Southern California. He told him he could make as much as $25 a night, which sounded like a gold mine just waiting for him. On June 13, 1946, with only $150 in his pocket, West and his wife and their nearly 3-year-old son, Donnie, packed all they could into a 1936 Lincoln Zephyr and headed for Southern California. Following several breakdowns, they arrived in Los Angeles three days later.

Early career

During the first few months after arriving in Los Angeles, West worked during the day at a dry cleaners. After working all day he played steel guitar at night, starting out with a group called the Missouri Wranglers, all part-time musicians, who played the VFW Hall in Southgate.

West worked as much as he could at night and on weekends, playing at local bars, such as, Murphy's and the nearby Fargo Club and the four Aces.

West found a new steel guitar idol - Joaquin Murphey, who played with the Spade Cooley band. West soon adopted another idol by the name of Noel Boggs, who played in Hank Penny's band, as well as the Bob Wills and Cooley bands. West admired Murphy so much that he attempted to copy his style and then realized that it would be more beneficial to him to develop his own style rather than copy Murphey's.

In 1947, Tex Williams auditioned West to replace Murphey, who had left the band. Although West didn't get the job, he fondly remembered how Williams encouraged him to sit in with the band, and to keep pursuing his ambition. In fact, sometime later, Williams offered him a job, which he did not accept because of other commitments.

Later that year, West bought an amp created by Leo Fender, who owned a radio shop in Fullerton, California. In addition to amplifiers, Fender also designed and built steel guitars. This amp was called Fender's Professional Model, which had an all-wood body and handle with chrome trim on the front grille.

Now equipped with a new amp, West felt the necessity of having a more up-to-date steel to replace the homemade electric steel he brought from Missouri. Paul Bigsby from Downey, California, a pattern maker, built West a pedal steel. Bigsby had also built a 3-neck non-pedal steel for Joaquin Murphey. West asked for a three-neck steel with four foot pedals, and Bigsby went to work building it.

In the spring of 1948, Spade Cooley, who had a 23-piece Western swing band that included a full horn section, hired West. At the time, Cooley also hosted the Hoffman Hayride TV variety show, broadcast by KTLA on Saturday nights, in addition to playing various dance jobs. West's job with Cooley lasted only five months. Cooley's erratic behavior caused him to repeatedly fire and then attempt to rehire several band members, only West chose not to accept an offer of being rehired after he fell victim to one of his tirades.

After Cooley, West played at the Riverside Rancho in the Shambrock Cowboys band. It was about this time that friends familiar with the talents of West, introduced him to Cliffie Stone, assistant A&R man for Capitol Records. West's first recording session was with Eddie Kirk who sang "Candy Kisses".

Beginning in early 1949, West worked full time doing recording sessions. One of the first lessons he learned was to play "commercial," and produce the sound expected by the producer. West learned very quickly that he would not be able to develop his potential for session work if he continued to focus on his own style and try to dazzle everyone with his own talent. West joined the Hank Penny Western swing band in early 1949, where he was allowed to be more creative in his playing.

Late 1949, West left Penny when he was hired by Cliffie Stone for his daily radio program, Dinner Bell Round-Up, as well as Cliffie's Saturday night dances at El Monte Legion Stadium. Like Penny, Cliffie Stone allowed and encouraged West, as well as other band members, to be creative and expand their talents as much as possible. Many performers launched their careers with the help of Cliffie Stone's Hometown Jamboree, such as, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Merle Travis, Eddie Kirk, Billy Strange, Bill Aken(aka Zane Ashton), and many others.

In December 1949, Cliffie Stone took his show to TV. The shows were broadcast over KLAC-TV from 7-8 PM on Saturdays, live from El Monte, and were known as the Hometown Jamboree. After the TV broadcast, the band played for an hour of dancing before they took to the air again for a second Hometown Jamboree over KXLA radio.

While at Hometown Jamboree, West received a lot of encouragement from Merle Travis, who was also a member of Hometown. Travis suggested that in order to promote his name recognition more, West should have Bigsby make him a nameplate for the front of his pedal steel. Bigsby crafted a Birdseye maple panel that snapped onto the front legs with West's name on the front. Travis also took many opportunities to promote West when he would be on tour in various parts of the country.

Capitol Records and Jimmy Bryant

In 1948, West was working at Murphy's Club, located in the skidrow area of Los Angeles, when he first met Jimmy Bryant. Bryant was working down the street from Murphy's, at the Fargo Club. One night Bryant came to see West play and said to him: "I really like your playing -- why don't you come down to the Fargo Club and dig me". West was so impressed by Bryant's talent that he said, "he couldn't believe what he was hearing". That was the beginning of their long professional and personal relationship.

After 1956, Bryant was dropped by Capitol Records, so West cut a solo LP in 1958 called West of Hawaiï, and then teamed up with guitarist, Roy Lanham. Roy, along with Billy Strange, Billy Liebert and drummer Earl Palmer, played on West's last Capitol album in 1962, Guitar Spectacular, including the tracks "Double or Nothing", "Afternoon of a Swan" and "Reflections from the Moon". Strange and Lanham alternated on lead guitar.

1950–1959

Between 1950 and 1955, West (with and without Bryant) played on over 6,000 recordings with a total of 177 different artists. Some of those artists include Frankie Laine, Jo Stafford, and Paul Weston's Orchestra, Billy May's Orchestra, Betty Hutton, Helen O'Connell, Doris Day, Johnnie Ray, Ella Mae Morse, Spike Jones, Jean Shepard, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and many others. Mitch Miller, A&R man for Columbia Records, was so impressed by West's playing on Frankie Laine and Jo Stafford's 1951 recording of "Hey Good Lookin" that he paid him double on that session as well as future sessions.

In 1950, West's steel guitar career and reputation were given a major boost following a recording session with Tennessee Ernie Ford and Kay Starr. The songs recorded were "I'll Never Be Free" and "Ain't Nobody's Business But My Own", and both reached the top hits on country charts as well as the pop field. Ford and Star had offers to appear around the country, including the Grand Ole Opry in 1950. West and his Bigsby were also along.

West's and Bryant's outstanding work on Ford's hit records led to increasing session work for them beyond Capitol, the daily Dinner Bell Roundup radio show over KXLA, and the Hometown Jamboree. Much of the session work was with Capitol artists and Hometown performers, such as, Gene O'Quin, Merrill Moore, Cliffie Stone, Molly Bee and Bucky Tibbs. Some other artists they recorded with were: Sheb Wooley, Johnny Horton, Wade Ray, Johnny Bond, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Doye O'Dell, Gene Autry, Sons of the Pioneers, and many others. West also credits both Lee Gillette and Ken Nelson, A&R men with Capitol, for encouraging their innovative and creative style of playing.

From 1951 to 1956, the duo cut several 45s for Capitol including numbers such as "Stratosphere Boogie", "This Ain't the Blues", "Jammin' with Jimmy", "Serenade to a Frog", and "Bryant's Bounce". Most of these cuts were collected on two Capitol LPs in 1960 entitled Country Cabin Jazz.

Also in the early 1950s, West appeared in three Western movies, while still working the daily Hometown show at KXLA, plus the Saturday night show and dance. During this time, he continued to work on recording sessions. He also landed a guest spot on Red Foley's ABC-TV show, Ozark Jubilee, from Springfield Missouri, in addition to a TV show hosted by bandleader Bob Crosby. He enjoyed another guest spot on Lawrence Welk's popular ABC-TV show, plus The Dinah Shore Chevy Show on NBC.

In 1954, West and Bryant released the album, Two Guitars Country Style containing "This is Southland", "Country Capers", "Midnight Ramble" and "Low Man on a Totem Pole".

In the mid-1950s West helped Bobby Bare get started in show business. He first met him following Bobby's trip to L.A. via hitchhiking and riding rail cars. Bare presented himself as a songwriter when he came to KXLA radio station. He asked West to listen to some songs he had written. They both went to Studio B at the station where Bare sang several songs. West told him he should record them himself. Bare stayed with West for several weeks during which time they went to Bakersfield to record some demo dubs. West started promoting them to various record companies. As a result Ken Nelson at Capitol Records signed him up as an artist. Bare then recorded four songs with West's band on Capitol.

With the onset of rock and roll, the music scene involving Capitol and Hometown Jamboree began to decline. In addition, Cliffie Stone was occupied full-time managing Tennessee Ernie, whose career was exploding with the release of Merle Travis's Sixteen Tons plus beginning his prime time TV show on NBC.

West changed equipment in 1957 to a Fender 1000 pedal steel. He sold his Bigsby, which he later regretted because of its historical value.

The Hometown Jamboree was canceled in 1959 after which West and other Hometown musicians started working the Las Vegas-Reno-Lake Tahoe club circuit. Their group was Billy and the Kids, featuring Billy Strange, Merrill Moore, the Black Sisters and West.

1960–death

In the spring of 1960, West was asked to report to a small studio in L.A. where an unknown singer from Washington and her husband were to arrive to record. The singer turned out to be Loretta Lynn and husband, Mooney. Impressed with her voice, West suggested that they release the musicians in the studio and hire some capable studio pickers and rent a better studio. He rounded up some of the Hometown people he had recorded with for years, such as Roy Lanham, Harold Hensley, Roy Harte and Billy Liebert. West also suggested that Loretta overdub harmonies on her original song, "Honky Tonk Girl", an idea that he borrowed from Patti Page.

With opportunities for country musicians in the L.A. area dwindling, West made arrangements to go to work for Fender Musical Instruments as manager of their warehouse in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He moved to Tulsa in September, 1960. After moving to Tulsa, West continued to play steel guitar, although not full time because of his employment with Fender. He had his own band for several years and played at various locations in the Tulsa area for dances, special events, etc. He had many opportunities to travel around the United States and abroad, performing on behalf of Fender as well as appearing at several universities. In 1964 West divorced Opal Mae and later married his second wife, Mary.

In 1981 West suffered a stroke which left his right side paralyzed but his speech unaffected. A few years later he underwent surgery and limited movement was restored to his right side. Although he never played again, West was a very prominent figure at the steel guitar conventions.

On November 15, 2003, at the age of 79, West died in his home in Tulsa due to long term health complications. He was preceded in death by his eldest son Don, and was survived by his widow, Mary; son Gary who is also a musician and goes by the name Speedy West Jr.; his daughters Tauni and DeAnn; several grandchildren; and ex-wife Opal Mae.

References

External links

• Speedy West at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame