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Bud Isaacs
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Forrest Bud Isaacs (1928 to 2016) was an American pedal steel guitarist, born in Bedford, Indiana. His mother enrolled him for lessons at a music shop in town. He began on an ordinary acoustic guitar in Hawaiian style, held horizontally on his knees, but soon preferred the lap steel style and the tunings of Noel Boggs. At fourteen he played with Pee Wee King's band at the Grand Ole Opry. A job was withdrawn when it turned out how young he was. At sixteen he bought a Gibson Electraharp, one of the first steel guitars with pedals, and left school to become a professional musician.
Music and breakthrough
His best-known contribution is his playing on Webb Pierce's Slowly from 1954, a big hit and one of the most played country songs of that year. Isaacs was the first to press a pedal while the strings were still sounding. In this way he could bend a note upwards from below to a tone that was already sounding, something that was not possible on older steel guitars. He played with Red Foley, Little Jimmy Dickens and Chet Atkins, and was for years a member of the house band of the Grand Ole Opry and of the Ozark Jubilee. From 1954 to 1960 he recorded solo for RCA, including Bud's Bounce.
Influence
That weeping, gliding sound became a hallmark of country music. In 1984 Isaacs was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame.
Listening
Mentioned in other articles
- Steel guitar: lap steel and pedal steel Technology
Bud Isaacs introduced that pedal steel in 1954 on Slowly by Webb Pierce, and ever since it has wept in almost every country song.