Welcome to the official "Friends and Fans of Hal Rugg" music myspace. I am Tammy Rugg- Klinefelter, Hal's daughter. I am excited to present a place where my father's fans and friends can come to celebrate his music and memories. It has taken some time for us to come to grips with our loss. The popularity and demand of his music inspired us to create this page. Many Thanks to Vince Moreno for reminding me of the importance of this project and getting it started.
My father was a unique, yet simple person. The passion he had for playing steel began at age fourteen. He loved the sound of Jerry Byrd and worked to imitate it long before he could afford his own steel guitar. He raised the nut on an acoustic and played it with a knife blade. I say unique in that he was so innovative and outside the box creatively yet so humble and unmaterialistic. He was a show up on time and "Where do I plug in?" type of a player.
Early on in his career he was on the road playing with Bobby Lord who did package shows frequently with George Hamilon IV. George had a guitarist playing for him, whom my father said was under-rated, by the name of Billy Byrd. Billy taught dad alot of inside chords and jazz licks. Billy didn't, as dad used to say, have the "fastest chops in the world". But he taught him some great licks and taught him a bunch of his first jazz stuff. Like thousands of other players in the world Hal (Dad) began playing at an early age in clubs under-age discreetly. He began in southern Arizona, mainly Tucson, in the 1950's.
Born July 21, 1936 in New York City, New York Hal was moved to Tucson at an early age when his mother took a position as principal of the Arizona Dessert School. He stayed and played in Arizona until marrying his wife Vicky in 1957. Soon after in 59 he moved to Minneapolis, where Vicky was from, and began working with Dave Dudley at the Flame Club. This is where he met Grand Ole Opry acts such as Bobby Lord and Billy Grammer who encouraged him to move to Nashville in 1961. He worked the road with many Opry acts such as Jean Shepard, Sonewall Jackson, Bill Carlisle and Leroy VanDyke. Hal joined the George Jones Band in 1963 and did his first recording session. Soon after his first session, he was too busy with recording to work the road. In 1963, he joined the staff band at the Grand Ole Opry where he performed until 1979. He also worked television with the Wilburn Brothers, where he met producer Owen Bradley. As a result he recorded with the Wilburn Brothers and Loretta Lynn. A partial list of shows he played on are: Good Ole Nashville Music, Country Junction with Eddie Hill, The Jimmy Dean Show, Music Hall America and for seven years in the 1990's, the Statler Brothers Show. He was also the steel guitarist for several annual awards shows as a result of his relationship with Bill Walker, who produced The Statler Brothers Show and several Capitol Records artists such as Donna Fargo and Roy Clark. Hal was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1989. Hal played on many hit records for artists such as: Billy Walker, Jean Shepard, Ray Pillow, Nat Stuckey, Porter Wagoner, Sammi Smith, Ray Stevens, Ronnie Misap, Ray Price, Barabara Mandrell, K. D. Lang, Eddie Rabbit, Johnny Russell, Joan Baez, Ricky Van Shelton, Sammy Kershaw and Steve Wariner. Hal's contributions to the music of these artists and his innovative playing style have firmly placed him at the top of recorded history for his instrument with only a select few. His influence is immeasurable among his playinng peers.
Although my father passed away August 9, 2005 his music lives on. The artists who most aprrectiated and called on him time and again were the artist/pickers who not only sing but play. His creativity and blinding speed commanded the respect of the hot picker/singers such as Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner and Brad Paisley.
If a picture is worth a thousand words then not much more needs to be said about something that can be heard. My father's music is in so many places that the very best tribute to him is the smile it puts on peoples faces when they hear the sound of his steel guitar. As Clapton said "You got to lay it down good." Hal Rugg layed down some purely unforgetable licks.I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)
