Jerry Byrd Ohana Zoom Call

[Michael Kiese]

Aloha Everyone!

It's my pleasure to share the following video with you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm0ZXr-u_aU

I set up a Zoom call between Luana Byrd (Jerry's Daughter), Bobby Ingano, Casey Olsen, and myself.

We enjoyed ourselves, and recorded the conversation for posterity and I put it up on YouTube for posterity.

Some steel guitars owned by some legends make an appearance.

Hope you like it.

Enjoy!

[Jim Newberry]

Thanks so much for doing that and posting. I really look forward to watching it in detail!

[Michael Kiese]

Thanks so much for doing that and posting. I really look forward to watching it in detail!

Aloha Jim,

It my pleasure and a labor of love.

Some people have gotten back to me and are asking about specific questions on the steel guitars, amps, and other gear some of the old time Hawaiian Steel Guitar Legends used.

Both Casey and Bobby told me the definitely want to do another video, and they can talk gear all length for hours and hours. They'd be the current Subject Matter Experts on Hawaiian Steel Guitar legends.

If you or anybody else has any questions, post them here to this topic. I'll make notes and will be sure to ask them on the next video.

Enjoy!

[Chris Templeton]

Thanks for that Michael, watching it now. The Pic of Billy Hew Len was taken at one of Jerry's Ho'olaule'a's, either '85 or '86.
Billy started playing music as a guitarist. His day job was as an auto mechanic. An engine he was working on fell on his left Hand and he lost it.
He started to have mental problems because he couldn't play guitar, and someone (maybe his minister) suggested he play steel guitar and he became a great Hawaiian player.
At the '86 Ho'olaule'a, I remember Bob Brozman got the biggest ovation.
Does Alan Akaka play out these days? He was a student of Jerry's.
I've mentioned this before, that when I had lessons with Jerry at Harry's Music, on Oahu, he would never play during them, only make comments on my playing,
He'd sometimes tap me on the shoulder saying not to use my shoulder when applying vibrato.
John Ely (Asleep At The Wheel) had to stop playing for a bit because he injured his shoulder by doing that.
Also, Jerry always emphasized when doing a reverse slants kick the bottom of the bar out with the thumb as oppose turning the bar with the hand'

[Michael Kiese]

Thanks for that Michael, watching it now. The Pic of Billy Hew Len was taken at one of Jerry's Ho'olaule'a's, either '85 or '86.
Billy started playing music as a guitarist. His day job was as an auto mechanic. An engine he was working on fell on his left Hand and he lost it.
He started to have mental problems because he couldn't play guitar, and someone (maybe his minister) suggested he play steel guitar and he became a great Hawaiian player.
At the '86 Ho'olaule'a, I remember Bob Brozman got the biggest ovation.
Does Alan Akaka play out these days? He was a student of Jerry's.
I've mentioned this before, that when I had lessons with Jerry at Harry's Music, on Oahu, he would never play during them, only make comments on my playing,
He'd sometimes tap me on the shoulder saying not to use my shoulder when applying vibrato.
John Ely (Asleep At The Wheel) had to stop playing for a bit because he injured his shoulder by doing that.
Also, Jerry always emphasized when doing a reverse slants kick the bottom of the bar out with the thumb as oppose turning the bar with the hand'

Aloha Chris,

Thanks for sharing that picture! Very cool.

Casey Olsen, who's one of the guys in the video, is Billy's grandson. And he also was a star student of Jerry's. So Casey had the benefit of 2 legendary steel players teaching him. Super nice guy, and super humble to boot. We talked a lot about Billy in the video, and Casey showed off a few steel guitars that belonged to Billy and Merle Kekuku.

We'll probably do more videos like that in the future. So if you have any specific questions, I can bring them up in the next video. Just let me know.

Enjoy!

[Chris Templeton]

Ah yes, Casey Olsen, another member of the"The Byrd's Nest", Jerry's Hawaiian students.
Barney Isaacs played at Jerry's show too. He played a doubleneck Maganatone like this.
He didn't use a volume pedal.

[Pat Briggs]

Aloha Mike, I really enjoyed your excellent zoom video. I was lucky to be able to talk with Bobby at the recent steel guitar festival on the Big Island last week. He is very generous with his time and willing to share his knowledge. There were steel players in the past who kept secrets like their tunings but Bobby would share everything. He told me there are no secrets as far as he is concerned otherwise steel wouldn’t survive. Very helpful to someone like me who is just learning steel. Bobby is a real treasure . Casey was terrific also. Really wonderful. You have also been very generous with your time when I have reached out to you with questions. Please do more. Mahalo, Pat.

[Michael Kiese]

Aloha Mike, I really enjoyed your excellent zoom video. I was lucky to be able to talk with Bobby at the recent steel guitar festival on the Big Island last week. He is very generous with his time and willing to share his knowledge. There were steel players in the past who kept secrets like their tunings but Bobby would share everything. He told me there are no secrets as far as he is concerned otherwise steel wouldn’t survive. Very helpful to someone like me who is just learning steel. Bobby is a real treasure . Casey was terrific also. Really wonderful. You have also been very generous with your time when I have reached out to you with questions. Please do more. Mahalo, Pat.

Aloha Pat,

My pleasure. I'm glad you liked the video! Uncle Bobby is 100% correct. Steel will die out for sure if we all keep secrets. Steel is hard enough. It's even harder when you have to chase endless rabbit holes, of which only some of which produce pragmatic results. There are a lot of dead ends.

We all stand on the shoulders of giants. No point in starting from scratch and hack our way through the jungle when other players before us have already made a beaten path.

One of the biggest lessons I've learned when studying Jerry's work is that he already did all the heavy lifting exploring tons of tunings. He always ends up with some form of C6.

Uncle Bobby can get everything on C6 with a high G, which is why he prefers 7 string Steels. There's a lot to that. Why spend a lifetime only to re-discover what Uncle Bobby and Jerry had already figured out, right?

The audience doesn't know or care what tunings we use. They only know whether they like what we are playing or not.

I think Jerry was on to something when towards the end of his life, he switched between C Diatonic, and his C6 neck (which he would alter tunings slightly per song). There's definitely something to that. If only more people picked up where he left off, I wonder what kinds of amazing music would be made.

Enjoy!