This is "The Wiz"
First of all, I am professionally known as "Wiz". I was born at a very early age, in Chicago, Illinois, but moved to Toronto, Canada, in the mid 1970's. I have been playing the pedal steel guitar since 1974.
I had been wanting to try the steel guitar since I was a teenager, in 1964, when I saw Tom Brumley playing steel with Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, at a concert in Chicago. It would take 10 years before I even saw one in person, close up!
The way it all changed was I was working at a small music store (Hudson's Music Box, in Toronto), in 1974, in the rentals department, when I discovered that there was a brand new single-neck Sho~Bud pedal steel guitar in the basement. The owner let me rent it, then buy it, on a monthly payment basis. I had no idea that I was launching a lifelong career! I played that guitar for the next year, before moving up to a Sho~Bud Lloyd Green model, in 1975.
For the first six months I practiced at home, sometimes up to 10 hours per day. I had the police called on me more than once for disturbing the peace! I guess it sounded like a cat fight to my neighbors! Luckily for all, I improved rapidly. On weekends I would hit the various bars, where the local bands played Country Music (I like both kinds of music; Country AND Western!). I already knew most of the musicians and leaders from my job, in the instrument rentals department at Hudson's Music Box. In fact, we used to pull raids on them on Fridays and Saturdays, to collect on overdue accounts. Luckily, they never held it against me! 
I let all of the band-leaders know that I was learning the steel guitar and most of them invited me to sit in, when I felt I was ready to do so.
My first sit-in gig came about 5 months after I began playing the instrument, when I finally got up the nerve to haul the gear out of my room and into my car. I went out on a Saturday afternoon, when the bands did their matinees and began making the "rounds" on the Queen Street Strip, in Toronto. I believe that my first "ok" was at the old Parkdale Hotel, where I knew the guys in the band. For the next year and a half I continued to sit-in at matinees, doing whatever paid gigs I was offered and practicing endlessly. I learned as much as I could from other players, from books and records and by gleaning licks from recordings on the radio. During this time I played in local bars and occasionally went out on short road trips, where the money was better. I got to work with a lot of awesome players in the many bands I freelanced with and got to be quite well known and respected.
I was also fortunate to make friends with several top name steel players from whom I received invaluable assistance, in my music-quest. Some of them are; Bob Lucier, Steve Smith, Mickey Andrews, Al Brisco, Tommy St. Dennis and Doug Jernigan. Thanks guys!
I'd also like to say a special thanks to my long time friend in the music business, Peter Styles, who gave me many gigs and breaks - and who's birthday falls on the same day as mine! Thanks Peter!
Peter is still in the music business in and around Toronto, writing songs and hosting a Karaoke show, under the name "Karaoke Express".
My hard work paid off in the summer of 1976, when, while hanging out at Bob Lucier's steel guitar shop - Southdown Music - I was referred to a recording artist who needed a steel player on very short notice. In order to take his job offer I had to cancel a previous booking which I was loathe to do. However, when I talked it over with the band-leader, who had given me the conflicting booking, he gave me the advice to go for it, since he wasn't booked that far ahead and he wanted me to go as far as possible in the music business. That friendly advice turned out to be a four year favor, as I remained in that recording artist's band from 1976 thru 1980. Artie MacLaren was the artist's name and he released many hit records in Canada, during the mid '70's until 1980. I had the privilege of playing on several of his recording sessions and some TV shows we did live and pre-recorded. Through my connections with Artie's friends I had the opportunity to play on their various demos, singles and albums. While playing for Artie MacLaren I got to do all manner of live radio broadcasts, cable TV, regional TV shows, fairs, backup band work, as well as touring Canadian nightclubs for four years ("The Great Canadian Tour" {by Ian Tyson}).
By the way, I am still friends with that guy who told me to go ahead and take the job with Artie MacLaren. He is Ed Bernard and is still in the music business. In fact, we sometimes work together, are still working together to this day (Jan 21, 2008)! That's 33 years from when we met (January, 1975), when I was a newbie steel player looking to gain experience and he had a band and was willing to give a new guy a chance! Thanks Ed!
During my tenure with Artie MacLaren I traded up my steel to a red double-neck Sho~Bud Pro II Custom, with 8 pedals and 6 knee levers. This was my third steel guitar in just three years (1974 - 1977).
One of the high points of those haydays was the period of time around 1978, when Artie teamed up with the recording artist and TV star, Ronnie Prophet. I got to play with Ronnie on a rotating stage, at an outdoor show attended by about 10,000 people. It was video-taped by a production company, then sold and re-run on network television for 4 seasons. Ronnie Prophet is an ace guy and a great musician and comedian. He always gave a proper introduction of his sidemen in the band (We went as The Ronnie Prophet Show). He even introduced Artie MacLaren, explaining to 10,000 people that this was actually "his band" and then gave Artie a spot to feature one of his own songs (translate into writer's royalty-$$$ and free publicity)!
Another high point of my time with Artie MacLaren came when we went out on a tour in Eastern Canada, I think in 1979, taking along singer-songwriters Gary Buck and Dallas Harms. Dallas Harms is best known as the author of Paper Rosie, which was recorded and released by Gene Watson. Dallas told me that his first royalty check had 6 figures on it! I'm here to tell you that we partied a lot on that tour!
In those days bands played 6 nights, plus a Saturday matinee, with some gigs running for one week and others for two. Mostly we lived like gypsies, traveling from town to town in a Dodge van. Most of the sidemen were single and we didn't mind living out of a suitcase, often for weeks at a time, on the road. The leader always got his own room, while the rest of the band doubled, or tripled up in the other room(s). Sometimes I even got a room to myself! I wouldn't have missed it for the world!
I left Artie MacLaren's band in 1980 and went out as a freelance musician again. In the spring of 1981 I traded up my steel guitar - from a red Sho~Bud Pro II Custom, to a green Sho~Bud Super Pro, with 10 pedals and 10 knee levers. After going back on the road I discovered that the kneelever mounts on my Super~Pro were made from cheap pot metal, which caused them to break at the worst times - while I was playing gigs. On one of my road gigs I met another steel player who worked in a machine shop. He had run into the same problem of cracking kneelever mounts and had made a pile of solid aluminum replacements. I got 10 of his replacement mounts and didn't break any more kneelever mounts for as long as I owned that guitar. I continued playing that Super Pro Sho~Bud steel until I sold it in January, 2004, for a total of almost 23 years.
My next highpoint came in 1983 when I joined Johnny Burke and EastWind; a fabulous six piece Country showband. EastWind consisted of front man Johnny Burke, on rhythm and lead vocals; a super hot fiddle player named Brian Barron, a hot lead guitarist (Neal?), a rock solid bass player - Randy Russell, an excellent drummer - Jim Cadden, and myself on pedal steel guitar. Everything was rehearsed, as per the recorded version of whatever song we were doing. Each one of us listened to his own parts as we travelled across the country in a 21' box van, which was customized for band use and equipment storage. By the time we arrived and set up our gear we had learned two or three more songs, without having picked up an instrument. Johnny hired people who could think on their feet! Mistakes were discouraged. It was the hottest band I have ever played in to this day. I played hard and aggressively; a trait which I have kept to this day. I developed a killer instinct when on stage, which is needed for precise, intense execution of a branch of music which has a lot of mixed emotions and meanings in it. This is part of being a hunter / gatherer.
I eventually moved on to other acts and venues, mostly on the road, through 1986. I even made it up to the 60th Parallel, playing in the Northwest Territories in Hay River and Pine Point. I got to work with numerous Canadian recording artists during my 10+ years on the road, including the legendary Tommy Hunter.
From January 1987 until the spring of 1989 I stayed at home, playing the Toronto area clubs, with just the occasional 60 - 90 mile road gig. During this time I played mostly with the Mike McGivern and Derek Pilgrim bands, in various cities in Ontario, Canada.
In the course of my road work I made friends with singer/songwriter and bass player - "Sylvia Jo", of Flint, Michigan, with whom I did many gigs. Sylvia Jo bought The Wagon Wheel Lounge, in Flint, Michigan, in the spring of 1989 and I became her house steel player for the next half-year. I then went back to Canada, freelancing from 1990, through 1996, when the country music business all began to grind to a halt in Ontario. I was down to playing about 12 weekends during the first 8 months of 1996, when I finally made the decision to seek a better life in the USA (I was born a US citizen).
I sold many of my belongings, just keeping my music equipment, leathercraft and automotive tools and a few leather sewing machines (I was also in the leather trade for several years), finally ending up in Flint, Michigan, in the fall of 1996. I was able to get right into a working, serious band - The Taylor Brothers Band, with whom I worked from December 1996 through September 2004. The Taylor Brothers are identical twins and recording artists. They played a variety of Country and Soft-Rock Music styles, including an Everly Brothers Tribute Act. I enjoyed some of my happiest times working with them and had the opportunity to open for or backup many travelling recording artists, including the hilarious Haggar Twins. I even met my wife while playing with the Taylor Brothers!
During 2004 the Taylor Brothers Band worked far less than in previous years, so I took work with the Steve Stokes Band, based near Lapeer, Michigan. Steve Stokes is an excellent performer who does a variety of New Country and Medium-Rock music. The band was very powerful and tight and well received most everywhere they appeared. Some of my raunchiest licks were played while I was with the Steve Stokes Band.
On September 24, 2004 I began working three nights a week with the Southern Accent Band, at the #629 Eagles Club, in Flint, Michigan. Southern Accent plays a mixture of Old, Traditional, and modern Country, with a touch of Country-Rock and Classic Rock and Roll. I worked with this band, through May 2007.
On June 4, 2007 I left Flint and relocated to the vicinity of Little Rock, Arkansas, where I had to start from scratch finding gigs and sessions. After several months of floating around there I returned to Flint to finish off the Southern Accent Band's 2007 gigs, at the Eagles Club. Unfortunately, three members of that band quit after the New Years Eve 2007 gig and we had to regroup.
Other steel players should find it interesting that, in 1978, I traveled to Nashville, where I spent a couple of weeks hanging out with with Bill Lawrence, the World Famous pickup designer/builder. I went there to assist him with design parameters for building a humbucking pickup for my steel guitar. I was playing for Ronnie Prophet at the time and he had just received a set of humbuckers from Bill Lawrence, for his Fender Strat. I had single-coil, non-humbucking pickups, which picked up a lot of hum and static noise, as well as being microphonic and prone to feedback (you could speak into the pickup and hear your voice, sounding like it was on an old telephone set). On the other hand, Ronnie's guitar with the Bill Lawrence pickups was totally quiet, except when the strings were played and completely non-microphonic. Ronnie Prophet lived in Nashville and knew Bill Lawrence personally, so he recommended that I get in touch with Bill to see if he could build humbucking pickups for me. To steel guitarists everywhere the rest is history, in the thousands of Lawrence humbucking pickups in use today, on steel guitars around the world. And now you know the rest of the story! In December, 2001, I replaced the original L-705 pickups on my Sho~Bud Super~Pro, that Bill Lawrence made for me, with his model L-710's, after playing through through the originals for 23 years! Good job Bill!!!
After playing the same steel guitar for 23 years I finally traded in my ShoBud Super~Pro for an Emmons Push Pull, in January, 2004. Not being a fan of the hum produced by even the best single coil pickups, I bought and installed a pair of Lawrence LXR-16 humbucking pickups, which are his most recent offering for pedal steel guitars. My Emmons steel guitar produces "that sound," which is so sought-after by professional steel players around the World. There is simply nothing like it in my opinion.
Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! If I think of anything else, or, if anything else of major importance occurs in my career I'll add it to this page.
Thanks for taking the time to read my history page. It has meant a lot to me and I hope you found it enlightening.
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