ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Jimmy Day: (Country Music's Man of Steel)

(Jan. 9, 1934 ~ Jan. 22, 1999)

James Day, who was a true pedal steel guitar innovator specializing in hardcore honky-tonk and western swing, idolized Shot Jackson, Little Roy Wiggins and Jerry Byrd. Jimmy Day stood among the finest steel guitarists ever to grace country music.

James Clayton Day was born January 9, 1934, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Day longed for a career in country music, but he wasn't always a guitar expert. While growing up in Tuscaloosa he began to get frustrated by his inability to satisfy himself with his guitar practice, especially his fret work. However, that changed when he happened to catch steel guitar master Shot Jackson playing at a local spot. Jimmy Day had found his calling. Amazingly, the following year, he was regularly performing at area honky-tonk shows.

By the 1950s, Day had worked himself into the professional music scene, beginning with the Louisiana Hayride radio show and then becoming part of rising star Webb Pierce's circle of musicians. Studio sessions with Pierce and young pianist Floyd Cramer, who Day had known since childhood, soon followed and resulted in the number-one hit record, "This Heart Belongs to Me.

Steel guitars in all their many variations have long been a fascinating part of music. The distinctive sound they create has become a familiar part of everything from country music to Hawaiian melodies. Variations gradually appeared, among them lap slide guitars and pedal steel guitars. The lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, from which other types developed.

The distinguishing feature of a lap steel guitar is that the strings are raised at both the nut and bridge ends of the fingerboard, typically to about half an inch. Some lap steel guitars are designed to be adapted between lap and conventional playing, or are modified versions of conventional guitars and the only difference may be the action height.

The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal slide (the steel) to stop or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it uses foot pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence its name. The instrument is typically played with thumb pick and fingers or two or three fingerpicks. The pedal steel was developed from the console steel guitar and lap steel guitar.

In 1954, Jimmy began moving away from lap steel, in favor of the pedal steel. Among his final sessions playing lap steel was a Louisiana Hayride gig backing Elvis Presley. In early 1955 Presley assembled a backing band comprised of Day, Floyd Cramer, Scotty Moore, Bill Black and D.J. Fontana.

When Presley relocated to Hollywood he invited the band to join him, but both Day and Cramer declined. When Reeves moved to Nashville (1955), Jimmy soon followed. In 1956 Day switched to pedal steel and Ray Price asked him to join his Cherokee Cowboys. Jimmy remained with the band until 1962. Day immediately placed his imprint on Price's music, beginning with Crazy Arms (No. 1, 1956).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Jimmy Day Studio Session Work

Patsy Cline Recording Sessions

Apr. 25 , 1957

Decca Recording Studio; New York City, New York USA

Producer: W.S. Stevenson

Session Personnel: Patsy Cline (vocal), Grady Martin, Hank Garland (electric guitar), Harold Bradley (electric bass guitar), Jack Shook (acoustic guitar), Don Helms, Jimmy Day (steel guitar), Bob Moore (bass), Farris Coursey (drums), Tommy Jackson (fiddle), Owen Bradley (piano), Anita Kerr, Dorothy Ann Dillard, Louis Nunley, William Wright (vocals)

1. Try Again
2. Too Many Secrets
3. Then You'll Know
4. Three Cigarettes In An Ashtray

Jul. 27, 1960

Bradley Film & Recording Studio; Nashville, Tennessee USA

Producer: Owen Bradley

Session Personnel: Patsy Cline (vocal), Harold Bradley (6-string electric bass guitar), Floyd Cramer (piano), Jimmy Day (steel guitar), Buddy Harman (drums), Hank Garland, Grady Martin (electric guitar), Bob Moore (acoustic bass guitar)

1. Lovesick Blues
2. How Can I Face Tomorrow
3. There He Goes
4. Crazy Dreams

Ray Price Recording Sessions

Date: Mar. 1, 1956

Producer: Don Law

Session Personnel: Ray Price (vocal, guitar), Jack Pruett (guitar), Van Howard (guitar, harmony vocal), Pete Wade (guitar), Jimmy Day (steel guitar), Buddy Killen (bass guitar), Tommy Jackson (fiddle), Floyd Cramer (piano)

1. Crazy Arms
2. You Done Me Wrong
3. Wild and Wicked World

Incidentally, Crazy Arms became the fourth biggest song in the history of country music, when it claimed Billboard's number one chart position for twenty weeks that year. Day also created stunning tonal colors on Price's "Heartaches by the Number" (No. 2, 1959), "City Lights" (No. 1, 1958), "Invitation to the Blues" (No. 3, 1958) and on Charlie Walker's hit "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down" (No. 2, 1958). In 1962, Day left Price to work with Willie Nelson.

Although he eventually earned the nickname Mr. Country Soul, Jimmy was one of the best-kept secrets in country music. A tremendously respected sideman for many of the biggest stars, he was in high demand among the recording circles. Along the way, Jimmy and his beloved pedal steel guitar, which he called Blue Darlin', created a legacy that won't soon be forgotten.

The profound effect Jimmy's playing had on the music can't be put into words. He poured his soul into every note and slide that he forced out of his steel guitar. Players of this caliber who immediately come to mind are Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer, Boots Randolph, Clyde Moody and Buddy Emmons. Modern steel guitar playing would not exist in its present form if not for Day.

Day was inducted into the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1982. Jimmy died on January 22, 1999, in Houston, Texas. To the left of his casket at his funeral rested a plaque that was to be presented to him in February inducting Day into the Texas Music Hall of Fame. To the right was his famed (Blue Darlin') steel guitar.

During the service, a recorded solo of Jimmy mastering his steel set the ambiance. When the song was over, the minister stood up and said, "Let's give Jimmy Day a hand." Jimmy's family, friends, fellow musicians and fans, who had come to pay their final respects, stood and gave Jimmy Day his final standing ovation.

February 6, 1964 

Columbia Studios, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville, Tennessee 

Produced by Don Law & Frank Jones 

Session Personnel: Ray Price (vocal, lead guitar) Harold Bradley (electric bass), Charlie Harris, Grady Martin (guitar), Jimmy Day (steel guitar), Joseph Zinkan (acoustic bass guitar) Johnny Bush (drums), Tommy Jackson (fiddle), Jerry Smith (piano) 

• A Way to Free Myself (Writer: Joe Hayes)
• How Long Is Forever (Writer: Willie Nelson)
• This Cold War With You (Writer: Floyd Tillman)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched and written by Richard Bell, Country Music Historian, Roots of Country Music, USA, Feb. 2,  2011

Watch Jimmy Day Live

Pick Me Up On Your Way Down

How Long Is Forever, Ray Price