ROOTS of Country Music

Whitewing, PeeWee

Member of the Original Hank Thompson’s Brazos Valley Boys

Wayma K. "PeeWee" Whitewing: PeeWee illuminated the sounds of Hank Thompson’s Brazos Valley Boys (BVB) with his intricate steel guitar arrangements. A pedal steel pioneer, Whitewing distinguished the instrument and is considered one of the best steel players in the business.

PeeWee Whitewing was born on February 11, 1934, in the Kiamishi Mountains of Oklahoma in a community near Concer. As a youngster, he listened to the Saturday night Grand Ole Opry and he became an avid fan of Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. The product of a farming family, the Whitewings moved to California’s Santa Clara Valley (1941) and settled in the small town of Campbell. There Pee-Wee received his first lap steel, a chrome Rickenbacker, which he soon mastered.

In 1946, PeeWee made his professional debut with Tex Randall & the Texans, appearing daily on their (KEEN, 1370) radio broadcast, which aired from the De Anza Hotel in San Jose, CA. They also played Saturday nights at Tracy Gardens and occasionally at Maple Hall in San Pablo, CA. PeeWee later worked with the Cal Schrum show, which took place every Saturday night at the civic auditorium in San Jose. The show featured big name guest such as Smiley Burnett, Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, Jimmy Wakely, and many others.

While in with the supreme honky-tonk vocalist Lefty Frizzell, Whitewing befriended Cajun fiddler Abe Manuel, who helped him land a gig with Blackie Crawford & the Western Cherokees in 1951. With Crawford, Whitewing backed Frizzell, Ray Price, Tex Ritter, and other big names in country music. The exposure brought PeeWee to the attention of Thompson's manager, Billy Gray, who was seeking a steel guitarist to replace the BVB, Curly Chalker, who was entering the military.

Whitewing made his Brazos Valley Boys recording debut on a 1952 session that yielded, The New Wears Off too fast (No. 10, 1952), "Rub-a-Dub-Dub" (No. 1, 1953) and "Yesterday’s Girl” (No. 8, 1953). PeeWee left the BVB for six months in 1953 before returning to the band when Thompson announced plans to pursue a more big band-influenced delivery. Whitewing spent another two years with the BVB, appearing on sessions that generated "We've Gone Too Far" (No. 10, 1954), "The New Green Light" (No. 3, 1954) and "Breakin’ in Another Heart” (No. 7, 1955). PeeWee and the BVB recorded several albums that included the popular hits, String of Pearls, Jersey Bounce and Westphalia Waltz. In 1955, Bobby White left the band and Hank disbanded the BVB.

From 1946 to 1960, the Brazos Valley Boys steel guitar players included: Lefty Nason (1946 to 1948);  Dusty Stuart (1948 to 1949); Curly Chalker (1949 to 1952);  PeeWee Whitewing (1952 to 1955); Bobby White (1953 to 1959); two steel players 1953 to1955 ~ Bobby White & PeeWee Whiteweing

These masters of the touch and tone were among the best players in the music business. However, none were more distinguishable then Whitewing. To compare, listen to Curly Chalker playing steel on "Waiting in the Lobby of Your Heart” and PeeWee playing steel on "A Six Pack to go.” Billy Gray formed another BVB band for Thompson in the 1960's which included Bobby Garrett, Red Hayes, Curly Lewis, Hugo Chambers, Curtis Potter, Bert Rivera and others.

After Hank disbanded the BVB in 1955, PeeWee returned to the San Jose area. There he joined with childhood friends Bobby and Larry Black to form the West Coast All Stars, earning a respectable local following. In 1964, he relocated to Lafayette, Louisiana (LA). There Whitewing emerged as a highly sought-after studio musician, appearing on several sessions produced by J.D. Miller (J. D. wrote, It Wasn’t God Who made Honky Tonk Angels) at his Crowley recording facility.

Miller’s studio generated a seemingly endless number of records, with a studio crew (featuring guitarist Al Foreman, bassist Bobby McBride, pianist Katie Webster, fiddler Rufus Thibodeaux, saxophonist Lionel Prevost and Whitewing) as good as any in the business. PeeWee retired from music in 1971 to join his sons in the oil business. For the next twenty years, he virtually ignored the music business. By 1991, he and fellow steel legend Bobby White began appearing at steel guitar conventions across the U.S.

PeeWee hosted a Branson Style Music Show at the Rice Theater in Crowley, Louisiana from 1998 for about a decade.

Note: In 1960, PeeWee joined Hank and the BVB on a studio recording session that included “A Six Pack to go (No. 10, 1960), which was his final session with Hank and the BVB.

Researched and written by Richard Bell, Roots of Country Music. Apr. 13, 2009.