I left my home in Columbus, Mississippi at age 16 and moved to Meridian, Mississippi to play steel for Red Stanton’s band on WCOC. Vearl (who was 12 at the time and still at home) told me that if I would get him a steel he would learn to play it. Not being able to afford to buy one, I rounded up a few parts (including an old deArmond guitar pickup) and built him a 6-string lap steel from a white pine 2” X 6”. A few weeks after I sent it to him I returned home for a visit and found him playing with a local band on WAVE and doing dance gigs. As I recall, he started on the old open E tuning, Roy Wiggins style. I was amazed at the speed with which he learned to play.

As time went on he continued to improve and soon passed me up in terms of his ability to play. Sometime around 1947 or 48, my boss, Pee Wee King, told me one day that Hank Snow’s steel man (I can’t recall his name) was quitting Hank to start college to study law, and Hank was looking for a steel man. I told him to tell Hank that my brother played quite well and would probably love to have the job. Hank wound up hiring Vearl. A few months later, Hank’s old steel man dropped out of college and came back with Hank, leaving Vearl without a job. Vearl was never bitter about the situation, as he felt the original steel man deserved to have his job back. But, spending a little time on the Opry allowed him to demonstrate his ability and make a few contacts, so he went to work for Jimmy Dickens.

The stuff Vearl played for Snow and Dickens was straight commercial stuff; “stick to the melody” – but when it came to a jam session or a dance gig, he played some great stuff. His was playing a Fender 3-neck by then, and his style was reminiscent of the wild style of Slim Idaho. He was one of those people who had a natural talent for the steel.

After Vearl left Nashville he went to work for a traveling show that featured an Indian (Native American) troupe that booked a lot of their shows in Canada. We didn’t hear from him for a couple of years, not knowing if he was dead or alive. Then one day he called me and said, “Roy can you come and get me? I’m broke and stranded in Wayburn, Saskatchewan, Canada.” He had been having trouble getting his pay from the Induan Chief who ran the show, and the situation had finally gotten into a “showdown” and he had quit the show. I drove up there from Louisville and brought him back. He played the night clubs around Louisville for a few months, then went back to Mississippi.

About 25 years ago, Vearl developed a malignant brain tumor and passed away. We had not seen each other much for a few years, but when I moved to Florida a short while before he died, I stopped in Mobile, where he was then living, and spent about a week with him. He was playing for church services and knew a lot of the local musicians around Mobile. On a Saturday while I was there, he organized a jam session at his place out on Weeks Bay, and we jammed around the clock. It was one of the greatest jam sessions I have ever sat in on. I had started thinking I was a good steel man, but that kid brother of mine cut me sixteen ways to nothing when it came to hot, wild rides on steel. He played steel because he loved to play steel, not because he had to play it to make a living.

Incidentally, after he passed away his wife called me and asked me if I wanted his steel. I told her to let one of his four kids have it, but I would like to have his bar. She sent it to me and it sits on top of a bookshelf in my computer room at home.

And I still have the lap steel I built for him almost 60 years ago.

God Rest his soul, and may God Bless you and
Laurie and all of you,and dont forget my pal
"Chloe".

God Be With All Of You

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Stump Reeves

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JUST 'CAUSE I STEEL, DON'T MAKE ME A THIEF

Fred & Pat

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The spirit be with you!
If it aint got a steel, it aint real

Regards, Paul

[This message was edited by Paul Graupp on 19 April 2003 at 06:59 AM.]