Though there are many great artist-musician relationships in country music history, some stand out a little more others. Don Rich’s enticing Telecaster licks helped to make Buck Owens one of the top recording artists of the 1960s. At the same time period, you would be hard pressed to find a Connie Smith RCA Victor release without the ringing steel guitar licks of Weldon Myrick.
The legendary instrumentalist, who passed away Monday at the age of 76 following a stroke, played on records by such iconic singers as Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. His work was a vital part of classic hits such as Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. Bojangles,” George Strait’s “Let’s Fall To Pieces Together,” and Alan Jackson’s “Chattahoochee.”
Myrick was born in Texas, and was playing the steel before he was ten years old. He moved to Nashville in 1963, and started working with Grand Ole Opry star Bill Anderson. The next year, Bill helped secure a recording contract for Connie Smith with RCA, and many of his band played on her first session for the label – which yielded the chart-topping “Once A Day.” It was the first of many of her hits that his steel work graced!
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