Thomas Gordon Huntley (20 December 1925 – 7 March 1988) was a British musician and
steel guitar
A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...
player, best known for being a member of
Matthews Southern Comfort. His early playing career was with the Hawaiian Serenaders in 1959, for whom he played a triple neck Fender lap steel guitar.
[Watts, Derek (2008) ''Country Boy: A Biography of Albert Lee'', McFarland & Co, , p. 84] He converted this to a pedal steel by adding an accelerator pedal from a tractor connected with bicycle brake cable. He formed the Black Stetson Boys in 1959 with John Derek, the two later playing together in Johnny and the Hounders (later to become The Flintlocks).
About 1963 Huntley teamed up with Nigel Dennis (a Newbury solicitor) to manufacture Denley steel guitars (DENnis-huntLEY). The 1960s saw Huntley playing the "Country" circuit, especially the USAF bases, with bands such as George Brown's Alabama Hayriders, The Saddletramps, Dougie Dee and the Dee Men.
In 1969 Huntley played as session musician on
Keith Christmas's ''Stimulus'' album, and on
Iain Matthews' debut album ''Matthews' Southern Comfort'', subsequently becoming a member of the
Matthews Southern Comfort band.
[Cossar, Neil (2010) ''This Day in Music'', Omnibus Press, , p. 75] In 1970 he played on the band's single "
Woodstock", which reached No. 1 in the UK record charts on 31 October and remained there for 3 weeks.
In 1970 Huntley also played steel guitar on the track "Country Comfort" on Elton John's second album, ''
Tumbleweed Connection''.
Huntley was highly respected as a session musician and his steel sound was subsequently heard on recordings by artists including
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
,
Rod Stewart
Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...
,
Clodagh Rodgers,
Barbara Dickson,
The Pretty Things,
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...
, and on the soundtrack of
Cliff Richard’s ''Take Me High''.
In 1974 Huntley released his own album, ''Sleepwalk: The Romantic Sound of Gordon Huntley'',
with arrangements by
Harry Robinson.
Huntley died on 7 March 1988 from
cancer.
References
External links
Gordon Huntley & the UK pedalsteel.co.uk
1925 births
1988 deaths
People from Newbury, Berkshire
20th-century British musicians
{{UK-musician-stub