- Nokie Edwards
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Nokie Edwards (born Nole Floyd Edwards, May 9, 1935, Lahoma, Oklahoma) is an American musician and member of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is primarily a guitarist, best known for his work with The Ventures.[1] Edwards is also an actor, who appeared briefly on Deadwood, an American Western drama television series.
Contents
Early life
Edwards is the son of Elbert and Nannie, a Native American Cherokee. Edwards came from a family of accomplished musicians, so that by age five he began playing a variety of string instruments including the steel guitar, banjo, mandolin, violin, and bass. His family relocated from Oklahoma to Puyallup, Washington.
During Edward's late teen years he joined the Army Reserves. After traveling to Texas and California for training, he returned home and began playing regularly for pay in numerous country bands in the area.
Music career
In January 1958, country songwriter and guitarist Buck Owens relocated from California to Tacoma, Washington as owner of KAYE radio station. Prior to the formation of The Buckaroos with Don Rich, Edwards played guitar with Owens with the new band he formed in the area and also in the house band on KTNT television station in the same building. In 1960 Edwards recorded a single Night Run b/w Scratch on Blue Horizon Records with a band called The Marksmen.
The Ventures
The Ventures are an instrumentalmusical quartet founded in Tacoma, Washington in 1958. Original members included Don Wilson on rhythm guitar, Bob Bogle on lead guitar, he later became the bass player, and drummer Howie Johnson, later replaced by Mel Taylor. Edwards met Wilson and Bob Bogle when they performed on KTNT. Edwards originally played bass for The Ventures, but he took over the lead guitar position from Bogle.[1] The Ventures released a series of best-selling albums through 1968, at which time Edwards left the band.
Edwards continues to tour Japan annually with The Ventures, primarily in winter.
Other work
In 1969 Edwards began a solo career and released several albums through 1972. His solo attempt was unsuccessful in America, and he returned to The Ventures as lead guitarist in 1973. Edwards performed with the band until 1984 when he left again to pursue a music career in Nashville, Tennessee. Edwards played lead guitar for Lefty Frizzell, on what would become Frizzell's final recording sessions. In the late 1980s Edwards re-joined The Ventures once more for another short stint of recording and touring before returning to Nashville. Throughout the 1990s he was involved with numerous country-influenced recording projects.
Edwards also performs occasionally in the United States as both a soloist and member of various bands, including AdVenture, Art Greenhaw, and Texas Western swing outfit The Light Crust Doughboys. The fruitful and critically acclaimed collaboration of Edwards and artist-producer Greenhaw has resulted in a number of albums in several music genres including Edwards' two nominations for "Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album of the Year", album titles 20th Century Gospel (2005) and Southern Meets Soul (2006) .[2]
In July 2010, Deke Dickerson announced on his Facebook page that he is currently working on a new studio album with Nokie Edwards. Dickerson and his band have backed Edwards for several shows, including Deke's yearly Guitar Geek Festival held in Anaheim, California.
Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
In 2008, Edwards was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with The Ventures. The award was presented by John Fogerty. The band performed their biggest hits, "Walk Don't Run" and "Hawaii Five-0", augmented on the latter by Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame musical director Paul Shaffer and his band.
Acting career
After accepting an offer to pursue an acting career, Edwards landed a role on Deadwood, an American Western drama television series. Edwards played the mysterious friend of Wild Bill Hickok and a local citizen, who serves as a bridge between the villains and heroes of the show. During production, Edwards temporarily relocated to Santa Clarita, California and lived on the set's location with his wife Judy.
Nokie Edwards equipment
Fender Signature Model Telecaster
Edwards played Fender Telecasters during the 1950s and early 1960s, before briefly switching to Mosrite guitars in The Ventures. For solo projects and in The Ventures, he also toured and recorded with Telecasters during the 1980s and 1990s.
Edwards designed the Nokie Edwards Custom Signature model Telecaster for Fender Guitars, which features a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, sloped-back tilt headstock, zero fret, sealed tuners and Seymour Duncan humbucker pickups with split coils.
HitchHiker Guitars
Edwards designed and currently sells his own custom guitar, the HitchHiker, a hybrid of the best elements of the Fender Telecaster and Mosrite guitars. The HitchHiker features a sloped-back tilt headstock, neck through body with swamp ash and quilted maple, zero fret, gold control plates, [[Seymour Duncan] Humbuckers with split coils, and an ebony fingerboard. Its bridge works on a slide scale invented by Edwards. The HitchHiker can simulate an acoustic guitar, and provides 15 different sound selections. The body design is essentially the original Mosrite body, which Edwards preferred.
Dual Blade Humbucker Pickup
Edwards designed the Nokie Edwards Dual Blade Humbucker Pickup. Manufactured and sold by Seymour Duncan, it produces tones similar to Nokie's Telecaster and HitchHiker guitar models.
References
- ^ a b Prown, Pete; Harvey P. Newquist (1997). "3". In Jon F. Eiche. Legends of rock guitar: the essential reference of rock's greatest guitarists. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 22. ISBN 0793540429. http://books.google.com/books?id=60Jde3l7WNwC&pg=PA22&dq=Nokie+Edwards&client=firefox-a&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Nokie%20Edwards&f=false. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
- ^ official records, National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, 2005-2006
External links
Categories:- 1935 births
- Living people
- Musicians from Oklahoma
- American guitarists
- American television actors
- People from Puyallup, Washington
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