It has been a sad time of late for the steel guitar. In just the last few years, the music world has lost Alvino Rey, Hal Rugg, Sneaky Pete Kleinow and Jerry Byrd, all brilliant visionaries on perhaps the world's most difficult instrument. But it was especially sad for me to hear of the death of John Hughey, a humble genius, who died this weekend at age 73. Peter Cooper wrote a nice obit that emphasized his huge influence on the sound and success of Vince Gill, his work with Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty, his long tenure with the Time Jumpers, and his unique style (on an instrument that greatly rewards and encourages individuality).
I suppose I fell in love with Hughey’s sound at the same time I discovered country music.
Vince’s “Look At Us” was a remarkable song from one of the first country albums I ever spent money on. I heard Hughey’s silver sound all over the place for many years after that, culminating for me in one of my favorite bands I’ve ever known, the Time Jumpers. They are Monday night regulars at the Station Inn and have been for going on a decade, playing western swing and hillbilly jazz with amazing precision and joy. It’s a big band, but everyone gets their say, and John’s solos were simply amazing, serene when they wanted to be, hot when the tune called for it. And he’d answer the singers with perfect punctuation. (You can order an excellent DVD of the Time Jumpers at the Station Inn with John playing here.) Hughey was genuinely one of the finest musicians I’ve ever had a chance to hear up close. His Steel Guitar Hall of Fame plaque says his sound was “flavored with haunting eloquence.”
But there’s more, a deeper sentimental attachment that is all my own. When I got married four years ago, my wife and I hired John England and the Western Swingers to play our barn dance party the night before the wedding. John called before the gig and said he regretted to inform me that his regular steel player couldn’t make it, but would it be all right if Hughey subbed? Uh, yeah John. That would be fine. But not only did Hughey play the soundtrack to one of the best nights of country music in my life, I got to sing a couple with the band (one of my own and Buddy and Julie Miller’s “I Don’t Mean Maybe”) with that steel sound floating behind, beneath and beside me. That would count as awesome.
And he was as nice a guy as I ever met. Rest in peace John.
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