I grew up in a house that had constant music playing thanks to my Mother.
If the radio wasn't on, then there was a stack of LP's on the turntable.
Her favourites were Frank Ifield & the other top radio stars of the day, plus the American country greats like Hank Snow, Hank Locklin, Marty Robbins, Jim Reeves & Charlie Pride, to name a few.
I didn't know it at the time, but I was absorbing all those sliding sounds played by the famous backing musicians for those, & other stars.
One day I heard Rob E G (Robert George Porter) on the radio, & that was it, I had to have a guitar & try & emulate what he was doing. I'm still trying!
At age 20, I bought my first cheap acoustic guitar & managed to learn some chords, & during the next 25 years, basically played for my own amusement, with friends & at the occasional party here & there.
A couple of years prior to joining BSGC, I inherited an early Dobro brand resonator guitar.
As I had always loved their sound, I decided that I should learn how to play it, but how & where?
I had an "in", Mum had long time friends Winston & Maureen Black, who she knew from the country music club scene.
When I asked Winston at a Steel Guitar Festival to teach me to play, he said: "Sure, come back when you can play a tune."
A year later at the next festival, & after persevering with a couple of badly attempted numbers, I approached Winston again.
Fortunately for me, in the interim, he had acquired a Des Anthony resonator, & had decided to learn to play it "for kicks," as Pedal Steel remains his prime instrument.
A lesson was duly arranged, & the rest, as they say, is history.
I learnt more about guitar & music at that first lesson, than the preceding 25 years crashing about on my own.
