Billy Byrd

Famous Country Guitarist in the 50s

The Man and His Music Career

Gibson Byrdland Guitar Designed by Billy Byrd and Hand Garland

Billy Byrd

Country musician Billy Byrd was born in 1920 and could play anything with strings. He attracted notice when he joined Ernest Tubb's Texas Troubadours in 1949, where he stayed through the '50s. He also played with Red Foley, Webb Pierce and Little Jimmy Dickens. With Hank Garland, he designed Gibson's Byrdland guitar in 1950. He continued to record through the mid-'70s, and released a number of solo LPs in the early '60s.

Copy of a letter to DeWitt Scot Who owns and Operates the International Steel Guitar Convention. This communications is about Country Music Guitarist Billy Byrd, and it is about music as a Career. This Article is 2900 Words in Length

Scotty;

In the 80s a kind of loud mouth disagreeable musician who was so much better at bragging than playing music told the story of the Gibson Byrdland Guitar having been designed by Billy Byrd and Hank Garland. Since the guy was so boastful and such a disagreeable loud mouth I very much doubted if his story was true. But it most certainly is true for Gibson Gives Billy Byrd Credit for being a great Jazz Player and for he and Hank Garland Designing the Byrdland Gibson.  Billy Byrd playing pure cornpone with Ernest Tubb made me doubt the story he was a great Jazz Player. However, the cornpone that Billy Byrd Played with Earnest Tubb was delivered in a way that had that certain something that was indeed charismatic music that people enjoy. Billy Byrd was for certain one of the instrumentalist that had that certain something in his playing that made people enjoy it, even when he played the pure Country Music behind Ernest Tubb's singing.

Billy Byrd is given credit for having been the first popular Electric Guitar player who backed up the singers of Country Music. I have always been a great fan of Country music and I enjoy music history very much. I can’t remember any Electric Standard Guitar player on Country Records before Billy Byrd backed up Ernest Tub. Sure there was Electric Steel Guitar, but before Billy Byrd I know of no Prominent Electric Standard Guitar on Country Music recordings. Yes Ernest Tubb had "take it away butterball" but Butterball was not a Charismatic Electric Guitar Player.

Hank Garland Co Designer with Billy Byrd of the Gibson Byrdland Guitar

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Hank Garland Made Jazz Recordings for Columbia Records

Music by the Author of this Web Page Click Here

Owen Bradley attest to Billy Byrd's skills in jazz. More than one web site reports that he could play Charlie Christian and DJango Rheinhardt Music. And these two Jazz Players defined Jazz Guitar in the earliest years. And the Fact that Billy Byrd played around Nashville with some big Pop Bands attest to his highly developed skills on the Guitar.

I can understand Billy Byrd having been influenced by Charlie Christian for Charlie Christian was the Most Popular Electric Guitar Player in the late 30s and very early 40s. Even in Saint Louis the Electric Standard Guitar player for Country DJ Pat Cook played riffs that reminded me of Charley Christian. So I think that Charlie Christian probably influenced many early Country Electric Guitarist.

Since Elvis had a very prominent Electric Guitar Player in Scotty Moore, the Electric Guitar was firmly establish by the music of Elvis. After Elvis came on the Scene everyone and his brother was playing Electric Standard Guitar and the Steel Guitar was not used much on Country Music recordings for a few years. Before Elvis appeared there can be little doubt that Billy Byrd was the best known Electric Standard Guitar Player in Country Music.

It’s true that Merle Travis played Electric Finger Style Guitar on his mid 40s hits. However, the Electric Finger Style Guitar of Merle Travis was not really showcased on even his own recordings. The Merle Travis Recordings had the Big Western Swing Band Sound and some of his recordings featured the Accordion. There is little wonder why you like Accordion Music Scotty for in your childhood I’m sure you heard much Accordion in Country Music. You may well remember the "Buckeye Four" who had a live music show on KSD-TV in Saint Louis in the early 50s. The "Buckeye Four" featured the Accordion and the Guitar Player was strictly rhythm.

I would have to go so far as to say that before Billy Byrd played on the Ernest Tubb recordings starting in 1949 the Accordion was heard playing the featured instrumental part much more than the Electric Standard Guitar on Country Music Recordings. Billy Byrd changed all that and in many ways popularized the Electric Standard Guitar on Country Music Recordings. His cornpone style on the Ernest Tubb recordings was very charismatic and had that certain something that made his Guitar Work stand out and be enjoyed by Country Music lovers. What a shame he had to drive a cab in his later years. One has to wonder what Billy Byrd, in his later years would have told young aspiring musicians who wanted a career in music.

Billy Byrd lived to be 81 which is a long life for a Professional Guitar Player who played music for as many years as Billy Byrd. One has to believe that Billy Byrd had a good head on his shoulders and was not prone to drink too much or to do drugs. I’m sure that Billy Byrd probably drank for all musicians drank. But he must have did it in moderation to have lived to be 81 years old.

Willie Nelson says in the song Night Life, "The Night Life Ain’t no good life, but it’s my life." That is true for most every musician.

Willie Nelson in his song "On the Road Again" expressed great pleasure in being on the Road. Though "On The Road Again" was good song material I think Willie Nelson and every other life time musician has to work at cultivating a good attitude about being on the Road for I have personally never known anyone who loved being on the Road in Music. Everyone I knew that went on the Road hated it with a passion and lived for the day they were no longer on the Road.

In reality Billy Byrd did pretty well to last from the time he was 18 years old till he was 55 basically living the life of a Road Musician.

Hank Garland, who Billy Byrd taught to play Jazz, landed the studio gigs, and yet Billy Byrd did not land enough Studio Gigs to keep him off the Road. One has to wonder if Billy Byrd was creative enough to adapt to the many styles of singing and music that a Studio Musician must adapt to if they work the Studio Backup sessions with regularity. However, the truth is that in the 50s and the 60s there was a regular studio crew that played on at least 75 percent of the hits that were recorded in Nashville. And if you were not in that crew the studio jobs had to be few and far in between no matter how creative you might be in backup work.

I know it must be hard to land enough Studio Work to remain in Nashville for Jerry Douglas who is considered the premier Slide Dobro Player must work the Road with Allison Kraus. And Jerry Douglas headlines a few shows of his own. This shows how hard it is to land enough studio playing jobs to live in Nashville and not take to the Road for earning a living.

Billy Byrd was one of the earliest accomplished musicians that played Nashville having been on the Opry in 1938. He was there long before Recording Studios were in Nashville. In some ways this may have prevented Billy Byrd from being a full time Studio Player since he was on the road most of the time.

I think Billy Byrd loved show business and being on stage entertaining. But I'm sure he hated the Road Life. I'm here to tell you he was not alone in hating the Road Life. And the truth is there is not enough money in the Road Life for a sideman to make that kind of life worth while.

Ernie Newton who was the original Bass Player with the Les Paul Trio in the 30s came to the Opry in 1946 with Red Foley. Ernie Newton personally told me that after he came to the Opry with Red Foley he no longer considered himself a Road Musician. Ernie said, "Well we did weekend jobs but we most always flew to those jobs. But we were not what one thinks of as Road Musicians." You could very well tell that Ernie hated the life of a Road Musician that he had lived for many years. Ernie Newton is a legendary Bass Player in the earliest years of the Nashville Studios. He played on many of the biggest hits that were recorded in Nashville in both the 40s and 50s.

You might like to hear what Ernie Newton’s economic status was in his later years. I know for Ernie took me to his house in 1972 when I was in Nashville and a member of the Nashville Musicians Local. The house Ernie Newton owned in his later years, was a very modest home in Nashville and not in the high rent district for certain.

When I knew Ernie Newton in the early 70s he was mostly making his living by producing for Independent Musicians and by producing Demos. When I knew Ernie he was 63 years old and a great producer, but financially he was just getting by comfortably. This when Ernie is a Legend in music from his having played bass with the Les Paul Trio and having been on a many hits recorded in Nashville in the 40s and 50s. However, Ernie Newton was one of the lucky musicians who had backed the stars on recordings and on the Road.

By 1959 when Billy Byrd quit the Earnest Tubb Band on the road I'm sure he thought he could work the studios full time. And Billy Byrd did play backup for some of the biggest names out of Nashville. But apparently he could not get enough Studio Work to earn a good living so he went back on the Road.

It was neat that Billy Byrd made a Couple of Guitar LPs as a star. But I never saw those recordings in any of the record stores.

Though Billy Byrd was the first popular Electric Guitar Player backing up Country Singers, and he was the best known of any Nashville Guitar Player in the early 50s, I think he perhaps became type cast as a pure Country Player and this no doubt hurt him in getting the studio backup jobs.

The Billy Byrd Style of Guitar fit perfect on the Ernest Tubb Records but as a solo Style I doubt that it was acceptable to those who are heavy into Guitar Instrumental Music. So most likely his Instrumental LPs never sold enough to matter, if he stuck with his type cast and played the Ernest Tubb Style on his solo Recordings.

I think the term "Roller Coaster Ride" is completely appropriate for describing the life of a professional musician. Though some music personalities make a big enough name to always be considered stars, at some time the popularity of their recordings goes down and they cannot get hits anymore, except maybe an occasional hit. But they lose that top spot in music that made them become so very famous. This is indeed hard to take for any star, even if they have enough money to live fine.

For the rank and file instrumentalist that backs up the big names on the Road and in the Studios it is live their life on the Road. Very few Studio players ever do well enough to completely quit the Road. And for the Majority of the instrumentalists that back up the big names the Road life is probably 99 percent of what music is all about.

The sad truth is that the Road Musician’s Pay is not enough for a musician to retire early, even if they have toured with the biggest names in show business. So what does a Musician do when they get old enough that they simply cannot take the Road Anymore? Well Billy Byrd at 55 decided to drive a Cab.

Music is grand. But, as a career to provide a living all your life it pretty well sucks. Music is most suited for the young who are full of pep and energy and ready to conquer the world and play music for a living. The young people are in tune with the current music and they tend to get booked for the studio work and for the Road Jobs with the biggest stars.

A Saint Louis Musician who played backup for one of the biggest names in Rock Music, on the road and in the Studio, for many years, made just enough money to buy a modest home in north Saint Louis County when the Rock Star hit a slump and fired his entire band. Now the Rock Star was playing the million dollar Concerts so he had the money to pay his musicians well, but that did not happen and most likely will never happen for it's a supply and demand market for musicians. The Supply far exceeds the demand and so the pay was never good for musicians, but in today's world the supply is so great that it is actually hard for a local musician to get a paying gig any more.

A career in music is like a trip in a Rocket. The Rocket is fired, it goes as high as it can go and then it falls. Only the very biggest stars, and I'm talking really big names, super stars, make enough money that they can live well the rest of their life when the rocket falls.

Scotty in reality you chose the only real stability in music, you chose the business end of music. The only person that has real security in the music business is the man who has great business management skills and goes into the business end of music and has a secure job in music.

However, when one is hot in music they most certainly enjoy their career in music. I suppose there is no better high in life than when one is hot in music. But taking the music life after one is no longer hot is what is the most difficult to do.

What a shame it does seem that Billy Byrd who was the best known instrumentalist in the early 50s ended up driving a Cab when he was 55 years old.

You want to hear another story that the average person does not know about. A Black Trumpet Player who was a very high paid musician in New York City in the 30s making over $300.00 a week during the depression years in later life ended up driving rental cars from one location to other rental car locations.

There is little wonder that one college in Ohio requires it's Music Majors to Minor in Business. Most musicians live high when it’s coming and when it's over they have nothing.

Billy Byrd's Story demonstrates almost perfectly what happens to musicians. In some ways it is good that his story is known. The Billy Byrd Story seems like an impossible thing to happen but it has probably happened in one way or other to tens of thousands of musicians.

If one did enough research they could fill and entire full size book with stories of musicians who made it pretty big and then ended up working menial day jobs after their music careers were over. The book would most certainly be depressing to read. But it would illustrate what can happen to musicians who are addicted to music to the point of not seeing the reality of what it takes to earn a living for all of one’s life.

Garth Brooks got a masters degree before he went into music. Someone asked him a question about how to make it in music. Garth Brooks told them to get an education first, an education that would prepare them to make a living for themselves, then they could make their big try for the life in music. Garth Brooks no doubt knew many stories of people who went into music and later had to go to working regular day jobs. Garth Brooks knew that there is little security in the music business so he gave the young person very good advice by telling them to get an education before they even considered trying to make it in music.

I love playing music so much that I made the big try. I managed to work ten years making a living by playing music with no day job. Then circumstances forced me to go back to working day jobs. I was 37 years old when this happened. I was still young enough to return to repairing electronic equipment, a job I had done before going into music full time. If I had gone on 5 more years in playing music full time most likely I would not have been able to go back to repairing electronic equipment and become a Computer Repairman then program computers. Life was very good to me by forcing me out of full time music when I was 37 years old for it was not to late to have a good career in Electronics.

I would advise anyone who is young and addicted to music to make the big try, go for it, go all the way. However, I would tell a young person to set age 35 as being the time when they should decide if they will have any security in music the rest of their life. If by age 35 a musician has no security for the rest of their working life in music, then they should quit full time music and pursue a day job career that will provide them a living the rest of their life for if one waits to late to quit full time music they may well end up driving a Cab as Billy Byrd did at age 55.

Lee

By Robert Lee Johnson Author This Web Page