Tom Brumley

Thomas Rexton Brumley (December 11, 1935 – February 3, 2009) was an American pedal steel guitarist and steel guitar manufacturer.

Brumley was born on December 11, 1935, in Stella, Missouri, the third of six children.

His father was Albert E. Brumley, a composer and music publisher whose wrote over 700 gospel songs, including "I'll Fly Away" and "Turn Your Radio On".

Tom received his first steel guitar by mail-order in 1954.

He played jobs using it without knowing how to tune it, using a straight E major.

He met a steel player in Joplin, Missouri who showed him how to tune to an C6 tuning.

To learn new steel guitar "licks" Brumley listened to Nashville's Grand Ole Opry regularly and duplicated what he heard on the radio.

One such broadcast featured Bud Isaacs.

Brumley said "I turned my bar every way in the world, but I couldn't duplicate his sound".

It wasn't until Isaacs played live in Joplin, Missouri, that Brumley went backstage and saw his first pedal steel guitar.

Isaacs let him play it.

The pedals altered the pitch of certain strings allowing notes and chords that were impossible to achieve on the lap steel that Brumley had been playing.

He served two years in the United States Army, stationed in Germany, and during that period he decided to pursue a career as a musician.

He worked at his father's music publishing company after completing his military service.

In the 1960s, Brumley was a part of the sub-genre of country music known as the "Bakersfield sound".

He performed with Buck Owens and the Buckaroos on hits such as "Cryin' Time" and "Together Again".

His solo on "Together Again" received particular acclaim by critics.

In the 1960s Brumley purchased the manufacturing rights to Zane Beck's first pedal steel model and formed the ZB Guitar Company.

Brumley later relocated the company to Texas, near his home in Kingsland where he managed the organization in his later years.

Tom Brumley's brother, Al Brumley Jr., had been signed by Capitol Records and Tom was asked to play steel guitar at a 1963 recording session.

Buck Owens happened to be at the session and heard Brumley play, saying that he would hire him to play if he ever had the chance.

At the time, Brumley lived in North Hollywood and played at clubs in the area, but moved to Kingsland, Texas, to work with his father-in-law, Rollie Spencer, at his construction firm.

After the move to Texas, Brumley got a call to play with Owens; his reluctance to be back on the night scene at bars was mitigated by Mr. Spencer, who told him, "You know, if you don't do this, you'll wish you had. So I want you to try it. You can always come back to Kingsland, but at least you'll know what you want to do and won't be sorry".

Thin and boyish, Brumley worked for Buck Owens during the height of Owens' popularity from 1963 until 1969 and performed on some of Owens' biggest recordings including "Cryin' Time", "Under Your Spell Again", "Foolin' Around" and "Together Again".

His performance on "Together Again" has been considered "one of the finest steel guitar solos in the history of country music", as described in an obituary by Country Music Television.

Music writer Mark Deming echoed that statement, saying the solo was "widely celebrated as among the greatest pedal steel solos".

According to the Los Angeles Times, his "pure" steel guitar sound was known in the music industry as "The Brumley Touch".

He received an Academy of Country Music award for "Top Steel Guitarist" in 1966.

He received an Academy of Country Music award for "Top Steel Guitarist" in 1966.

Buck Owens could be a difficult man to work for, according to his biographer Eileen Sisk who said, "He was prone to drastic mood swings".

Brumley became good friends with Buck Owens' parents, whom he held in high regard.

Owens' mother told Brumley that Ray Charles had called to ask Brumley to do an album with him; in fact, he had phoned two or three times.

Buck Owens had declined the request without ever mentioning the matter to Brumley even though Owens had no exclusive contract with Brumley.

The band's grueling schedule was hard on Brumley.

Brumley later spent a decade with Ricky Nelson and performed on "Garden Party" and the In Concert at the Troubadour, 1969 album.

The father was member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame(1970) and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame(1972).

All six of his children played musical instruments but the father, who had an eighth grade education, made sure his children were well-rounded; they played sports as well as music and they all worked in the family business assembling songbooks in Powell, Missouri.

Tom started playing the bass as a teenager with his brothers Al, Bill, Bob and Jackson who formed "The Brumley Brothers Band" that performed at pie suppers and local music festivals.

Brumley was featured on the cover of Steel Guitarist Magazine in 1980, and is a member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame.

His father was Albert E. Brumley, a noted gospel music songwriter and the composer of the classic "I'll Fly Away".