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Author
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Topic: Happy Birthday Bobby Thompson
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Michael Breid
Member From: Eureka Springs, Arkansas, USA
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posted 04 July 2006 02:01 PM
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Tomorrow, July 5th, would have been banjo great Bobby Thompson's sixty ninth birthday. He was an original. My banjo hero. I still miss him. God bless you Bobby. Michael in the Ozarks |
Russ Hicks
Member From: Pegram, Tennessee, USA
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posted 04 July 2006 04:03 PM
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Thanks for remembering, Michael....I miss him too. |
Bobby Boggs
Member From: Pendleton SC
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posted 04 July 2006 09:20 PM
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I never cared for banjo till I heard Bobby play.Yes he was an original........bb |
Stephen Gambrell
Member From: Ware Shoals, South Carolina, USA
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posted 05 July 2006 05:41 AM
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A true innovator, and one of the most modest men I ever met. |
RMckee
Member From: Muldrow, OK, USA
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posted 05 July 2006 03:19 PM
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Back when Hee Haw was on I would tell folks, forget about Roy's faces, forget Ronnie Stoneman's and Grandpa Jones' respective clowning around, and just watch the skinny guy with the beard. If you want to SEE a show watch them - if you want to HEAR some fantastic picking pay attention to the guy who NEVER smiled. He was awesome. I fetched out an old budget album I found several years ago featuring Don Reno and Bobby Thompson and gave it a spin. It was tough.... Randy |
Paul King
Member From: Gainesville, Texas, USA
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posted 05 July 2006 03:46 PM
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Bobby was just a great picker. He sure deserved to be noticed and Hee Haw never gave him the honor he deserved. It always irritated me to see Roy Clark grinning knowing in the background there was fabulous banjo player that could put him to shame. Bobby never was that kind of an individual. He played when he was aked to play even if it was in the background, a sign of a first class picker. |
Michael Breid
Member From: Eureka Springs, Arkansas, USA
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posted 05 July 2006 08:49 PM
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I remember working a show once with Connie Smith and she had just done a segment of Hee Haw. I asked her who played the great Hee Haw banjo theme(I didn't know it was Bobby) and she said Roy Clark. It was all I could do to keep from shouting back at her, WHEN DONKEYS FLY!!! I know today a lot of the great pickers don't get the recognition they deserve. The artist(?) goes into a studio, puts on a pair of headphones and the whole session is on a computer. When you ask them who played the hot guitar or steel ride they say, "One of those great pickers in Nashville". They have no more idea than Charlie's goose who played their session. I loved the days when musicians all sat around and "worked" off each other at a session. Now it's sometimes a basic rhythm section, and everything else is added later. And sometimes it takes three years to cut an album when all the producers get through with it. What is country music coming to? Remember when an album was cut and mixed in a week's time? When artists knew exactly who played on their session and were proud to tell you? Big $$$$$ and mindless high tech has taken over. What a shame. Take me back to the 50's-60's and 70's when country music meant something. Michael in the Ozarks. |
Michael Douchette
Member From: Gallatin, TN
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posted 05 July 2006 09:04 PM
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I remember, back in the day, when I started out as a rhythm player here, I got to work as Bobby's "second" from time to time. The first time I saw him slide a capo to modulate without stopping, I was amazed. He showed me how he did it. The next time we worked together, I slid mine right with him... and he just grinned. He is missed much...------------------
Mikey D... |
Petr Vitous
Member From: Czech Republic
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posted 06 July 2006 01:10 AM
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Yesterday I have listened to Jim and Jesse album The All-Time Great Country Instrumentals (Epic BN-26394), with Bobby on 5-string dobro and Lloyd on steel. Perfect work in solo parts ! Mr. Thompson will never be forgotten.Peter
http://www.luma-electronic.cz/lp/elpe.htm |
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