Jerry Byrd Fan Club Photos

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Gerald Lester “Jerry” Byrd (March 9, 1920 – April 11, 2005)

Jerry Byrd with his 7-String Steel

Master of Touch and Tone

Precious Photos Of Jerry's Life

Biography Of The Beloved Jerry Byrd

I foresaw that since Ray Montee (1936-2018) was an elder gentleman, that he likely would pass into eternity sooner than I would (although none of us know what each day may bring, Proverbs 27:1). I wanted to take up the mantle to preserve Ray's work of honoring the legendary steel guitar artists, Jerry Byrd. So I downloaded Ray's entire Jerry Byrd Fan Club website. I am so glad that I did. By the way, I also encourage you to download websites that you highly value, because one day they might disappear forever! Cyotek is a public open source project that is completely free, which I use often, and it works very well. It is easy to use to copy entire websites. On this webpage I am sharing all of Ray's photos and Jerry Byrd, where he lived in Honolulu and many other intriguing photos. Thank God for Jerry Byrd and good friends like Ray Montee, who loved him and desired to preserve his legacy for the next generation. So do I.

Born March 9, 1920: Gerald Lester Byrd, our own “Jerry Byrd” was the first born of Harley and Lauretta Byrd.

Born in Lima, Ohio, the oldest of five children, Jerry was destined to rise to a position of world-wide fame as one of the finest, most versatile and creative steel guitarists, ever.

The year 1932: (age 13)Jerry's interest in the Hawaiian Steel Guitar became evident after seeing a traveling tent show in his hometown, where he chanced to hear the steel guitar being played. So attracted to this beautiful music, Jerry made an early, personal commitment to master this instrument and to make it his career.

The first really impressive "country" steel guitarist he ever heard was Leon McAuliffe, whom Jerry saw in a movie with Bob Wills. Jerry was so very impressed that he sat through the movie four times just to see/hear Leon play one chorus of "Ida".

The year 1934: Jerry acquired his first steel guitar, a $65.00 Spiegel model complete with amplifier, from the then famous Spiegel mail order house. This was after two summers of very hard work as a house painter. He played it tirelessly for some two years. I am not familiar with all the faces, but I will share what I know. Pardon me if I get a few facts wrong.

 

ABOVE: I believe that is Ian Ufton from Canada sitting with Jerry Byrd. I had the privilege of meeting and hearing Ian Ufton for the first time in 1993 at the annual Hawaiian Steel Guitar Convention in Joliet, Illinois. I also met Duke Ching there, and loved watching him play his quadruple neck Fender. Ian was playing his Fender C6th “Slick Stick” while we all ate dinner.

Jerry Byrd and his Bakelite Rickenbacher

Jerry in his autobiographical book titled: “It Was A Trip, On Wings Of Music” says that the years 1930 to 1955 were 'The Golden Years' of music. Jerry said: “Steel guitar was king in 1935!” Jerry was 15 years old at the time. I sure wish I lived in those times.

ABOVE AND BELOW: Jerry's home in Honolulu. Following his heart, Jerry moved the mainland to Honolulu at age 50 in 1970. With the British invasion in the 1960's, and the subsequent change in music genre, steel guitar players weren't in high demand anymore. Jerry said the recording studio work dried up. This is when Jerry took advantage of his free time in the late 1960's to record his timeless Hawaiian instrumental albums, which we cherish so much today. You can find some of them on YouTube.

ABOVE: Harry's Music where Jerry Byrd taught steel guitar lessons. I had the privilege of visiting Harry's Music Store in 2006, before I went to also visit Bobby Ingano at the fish market where he works. I love Bobby, he helped me emotionally at a difficult time in my life after my wife divorced me in 2006. Bobby taught me some valuable life's lessons that his father taught him, about the sweetness of soul that only comes from suffering through hard times in life. Bobby is a special person with a big heart. You'll never see Bobby without a genuine smile on his face. I love the guy!

ABOVE: Harry's Music Store

ABOVE TWO PHOTOS: the rooms at Harry's Music where Jerry taught steel guitar lessons.

ABOVE: "Cold, Cold, Heart" tabbed by Jerry's for his intriguing Diatonic tuning

ABOVE: Speedy West to the left and Jerry to the right. I'm not sure who the middle man is...lol.

ABOVE: I believe this Jerry Byrd Instruction Course is still available from Scotty's son, Dewitt Jr. A MUST HAVE!

ABOVE: Jerry Byrd and Leonard Zinn. I had the privilege of meeting and recording Leonard perform live at the Indy Steel Guitar Convention. Leonard played backup rhythm guitar at nearly all the steel guitar events, including the much miss International Steel Guitar Convention annually in St. Louis. I miss Scotty!

ABOVE: I believe this is Kayton Roberts and his wife

ABOVE: Bobby Koefer. He is an amazing steel artist!

ABOVE: Speedy West, Leonard Zinn and Jerry Byrd

ABOVE: The house where Jerry Byrd grew up in Lima, Ohio

ABOVE: The house where Jerry Byrd grew up in Lima, Ohio

Steel Guitar Legends Of The Past

The Incredible Kayton Roberts!

Kayton's Facebook Page

If you are a steel guitar enthusiast like me, you might be surprised to learn just how much Jerry loved and used his newly discovered “C Diatonic tuning.” From studying Jerry's beautiful heart-warming music over the years, I have really come to appreciate the hard work that Jerry invested into his music and the versatile C Diatonic tuning that he discovered. Wow! Jerry Byrd was truly a gift from God! Check out the Theme From Adventures In Paradise, in which Jerry recorded using the C Diatonic tuning. Here are the tabs that I made for you to learn the song. Don't be afraid of the C Diatonic tuning, it is brilliant.

E9th Recordings of Jerry Byrd

By Jack Bird (Jerry Byrd's beloved brother)

       The Vintage Series of Jerry's recordings were re-issued by Tom Bradshaw of Pedal Guitar Products. The packaging isn't much.

It looks like Tom Xeroxed in black and white a lot of wonderful color album covers in producing this series of albums originally recorded for Mercury, Monument, Decca and RCA Victor, but the sound is a pure and crisp as ever and as Jerry said he made more from the re-issue of these albums that he made when they first came out.

Here is a listing of the seven Vintage albums re-issued by Bradshaw. They sold for $6 when they came out.

No. 1 Hi-Fi Guitar (originally Decca DL 8643)
No. 2 Steel Guitar Favorites (Mercury MC 20345)
No. 3 Burning Sands, Pearly Shells and Steel Guitars ( Monument SLP 18081)
No. 4 Hawaiian Beach Party (RCA Victor LPM-1687
No. 5 Byrd of Paradise (Monument SM 14003
No. 6 Satin Strings of Steel (Monument SLP 18033) This is also the same as Memories of Maria (monument M 4008) it was renamed.
No. 7 Admirable Byrd (Monument SLP 18104

CC Johnson is correct on the tuning on Admirable Byrd. Chet made a mistake and that was also what Jerry told me some time ago when I was gathering information for his book.

Also Michael Cord of Cord International owns the copyright of the six Monument albums Jerry recorded. I believe he purchased it from Sony a few years back He intends to issues them as CDs selecting various tunes from the six albums. The first one is titled Jerry Byrd Master of the Steel Guitar, Vol. One. If you go to his site you will find it . It is HOCD 95980 and has 15 instrumentals the URL is www.cordinternational.com

Here are the album notes by Chet Atkins...

Since Jerry has offered me this space to say anything I’d like, I’ll sketch a pet story of mine for you.

The average young musician begins his career with a head full of high ideals; he tells himself, and everybody around who’ll listen, about his determination to play only what he honestly believes in.

By his third or fourth day of working for the public, he has discovered it’s probably going to be just a little tougher than he imagined to reeducate the whole world to entirely agree with his own personal tastes. And then, not more than a week passes until he has become a 100% realist who sees that he’d better hurry and get with the popular trend of the day if he’s going to be able to survive in the business at all.

Now, there are two ways to react to such an unfortunately true story: (1) you can shrug your shoulders and say, “Oh well, I guess that’s life”, or (2) you can join me in paying tribute to the remarkable individualism represented by Jerry Byrd a rare bird in the modern menagerie of musicians, because he has gone against the odds to prove a man can hold fast to his ideals and still have immensely successful career.

My association with Jerry dates back to a 1947 recording in Atlanta’s old Fox theatre. Later, in the Fifties, we shared a three-year experience I’ll look back upon gratefully for years to come, playing together five afternoons a week on a WSM radio series called “Two Guitars”. From that close relationship I learned there are no shortcuts, no compromises in Jerry’s approach to his music, and he has within him no tolerance whatever for the sort of entertainment which must be classed as “musical noise”. Combine these ideals with the gift of perfect intonation and you’ve got yourself an exceptional steel guitarist.

Seven of this fine collection of instrumentals were written by Jerry, especially for this album, and steel guitar fans will be surprised to find that all but three are played in the old E7th tuning, (Chet was in error here, the tuning was E9th-(JB I changed E7th ) a new experiment and a new sound for Jerry Byrd.

I know there must be a much more sophisticated phrase to describe the kind of thing Jerry plays, but to me it’s simply Pretty Music. Unquestionably some of the prettiest music on the steel or any other instrument. Jerry is interested in no other kind. I wish the same could be said of everyone who plays and everyone who listens. Chet Atkins

1990 Steel Guitar West Convention:
Jerry Byrd Playing E9th Frypan from 1990
(right click to download, 135 MB)

Kawohikukapulani ...

Surprise Waltz ...

I'll be All Smiles Tonight ...

Tomi Tomi ...

Jerry Byrd's E9 tuning ... (hi to lo) E - B - G# - F# - E - D - (B - G#)

E MAMA E (E9th by David J. Stewart. Free online tabs and rhythm track)

My Letter from Jerry Byrd 1993
My Letter from Jerry Byrd 1999
My Signed Aloha Card from 1993

Biography Of The Beloved Jerry Byrd

Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven!