Friday 16 July 2021

Buddy Merrill born 16 July 1936


Buddy Merrill (born July 16, 1936), born Leslie Merrill Behunin, Jr., is an American guitar player and steel guitar player, best known as a regular on The Lawrence Welk Show. He has recorded over 25 albums in his career. 

Leslie Merrill Behunin, Jr. was the oldest of four children, born to Leslie Merrill Behunin, Sr. and Juanita Marie Ortego Behunin, in Torrey, Utah. Nicknamed "Buddy", at age eight he got his first guitar and soon began performing live with his father's band, The Fremont River Rangers. Three years later, he appeared with his father live on local television station KDYL in Salt Lake City. 

His first love was the steel guitar, and Buddy became quite the player on steel, as well as a six string electric guitar. As fate would have it, Buddy’s family moved from Utah to Los Angeles, CA while Buddy was still in high school. As his guitar playing improved, it was his mother that would send his own reel to reel recordings he had made (unbeknownst to Buddy) to Lawrence Welk, who played for a local dance contest each Friday night close to them and was holding a contest for a new guitar player.

He won the contest, and in 1955 he joined The Lawrence Welk Show in 1955, the same year it first went national on ABC. A young buck like Merrill drove the teens wild, he performed his guitar version of "Blue Suede Shoes," a popular hit by Elvis Presley in 1956, even though the show was aimed at “older folks”. 

He briefly left the show from 1959 to 1962 when he was drafted by the Army. On his return to the Music Makers he was joined in the band's rhythm section with fellow guitarist Neil Levang. For the next twelve years the two would perform together on television. Merrill used a Fender Stratocaster guitar for many of his TV appearances, and in 1959 was featured in a print advertisement for the instrument. 


                    

Buddy Merrill was an early proponent of the recording “sound on sound” technique using two tape machines, different guitars, and tape-generated effects in a one room studio. Similar to his early recording he used to practice with (a la Les Paul), it wasn’t long before his recording library grew. Unfortunately though, a dam burst and Merrill lost a good portion of this library and equipment in 1963. 

He rebuilt the house and studio and continued to be a member of the Lawrence Welk Orchestra until 1974  to devote more time to writing music and recording for Accent Records as a solo artist. He had signed with the latter in 1964, creating a lasting partnership with owner Scott Seely on both a personal and professional level. 

His body of work stretches from 1956 up until 1995, and ranges in genre from Easy Listening to Country to Latin to Pop to Rock and beyond. Why wouldn’t he include something funky in his quiver of songs? Buddy also made music for TV and radio while also keeping his solo music career alive, proving he wasn’t just a player under the Welk orchestra, but a solid Musician on his own. He continued to perform live, either as a solo artist or with a band, until 1988 when he retired from the road. He continued to perform as a studio musician. He penned a symphonic work, "Living Sea", as well as original compositions for tape programmers and television commercials. 

He was previously married to Faye Philpott (1957 - 1958), Ruth Graham (1960 - 1980), and Connie Albright  (from 21 November 1983 until she died on 28 July 2009). Today he lives in Shingle Springs, California with his friend and band mate, Brandy Lane. 

(Edited from Wikipedia, Flea Market Funk & IMDb)

5 comments:

boppinbob said...

For “Buddy Merrill – Guitars On Fire (1971)”

https://www.mediafire.com/file/vz0pm7h49vi6x8i/Buddy_Merrill_-_Guitars_On_Fire_%25281971%2529.rar/file

1. Buddy Merrill – Zorba The Greek (2:18)
2. Buddy Merrill – Somewhere My Love (1:48)
3. Buddy Merrill – Two Guitars (2:54)
4. Buddy Merrill – Moonglow (2:58)
5. Buddy Merrill – When The Saints Go Marching In (2:34)
6. Buddy Merrill – Caravan (2:39)
7. Buddy Merrill – April In Portugal (1:57)
8. Buddy Merrill – La Paloma (2:21)
9. Buddy Merrill – Temptation (2:13)
10. Buddy Merrill – Minute Plus Waltz (1:30)
11. Buddy Merrill – Third Man Theme (2:31)
12. Buddy Merrill – Holiday For Guitars (1:45)
13. Buddy Merrill – Laura (3:13)
14. Buddy Merrill – Green Hornet (1:57)
15. Buddy Merrill – Invitation (1:54)
16. Buddy Merrill – Sophisticated Lady (2:29)
17. Buddy Merrill – Sweet September (1:40)
18. Buddy Merrill – The Carioca (2:25)
19. Buddy Merrill – Wabash Blues (2:46)
20. Buddy Merrill – Song of India (2:09)

Here’s a compilation of various 60’s album tracks.

Tracks 1, 6, 7, 8, 12, 15, 17, 20 from 1965
Tracks 2, 3, 11, 14 from 1966
Tracks 4, 10 from 1967
Tracks 5, 9, 13, 16 from 1968
Tracks 18, 19 from 1969

For “Buddy Merrill at the Steel Guitar – Country Capers (1972)” go here:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/li47wnu3eywsxjt/Buddy_Merrill_-_Country_Capers_%25281972%2529.rar/file

Buddy Merrill – 01.Country Capers (2:24)
Buddy Merrill – 02.Spanish Harlem (3:28)
Buddy Merrill – 03.Proud Mary (3:30)
Buddy Merrill – 04.Colors And Lines (4:50)
Buddy Merrill – 05.Jambalaya (4:02)
Buddy Merrill – 06.One Toke Over The Line (3:16)
Buddy Merrill – 07.Okie From Muskogee (3:41)
Buddy Merrill – 08.Blue Eyes Cryin‘ In The Rain (3:50)
Buddy Merrill – 09.Steel Strike (2:02)
Buddy Merrill – 10.Last Date (4:49)
Buddy Merrill – 11.Dream Baby (3:54)
Buddy Merrill – 12.If I Were A Carpenter (4:50)


A big thank you goes to zokyat @ Only Instrumental Music blog for the loan of above albums and active links.

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Here’s my contribution….

For “Buddy Merrill – 25 All Time Hits - The Exciting Guitars of (1997)” go here:

https://www.upload.ee/files/13317535/Buddy_Merrill_-_25_All_Time_Hits.rar.html

01. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head
02. Mack the Knife
03. Impossible Dream
04. Hawaiian Wedding Song
05. Our Day Will Come
06. Galveston
07. Snowbird
08. Somewhere, My Love
09. Do You Know the Way to San Jose?
10. Spanish Eyes
11. Love Is Blue
12. Gentle on My Mind
13. I Will Wait for You
14. Bluesette
15. Ode to Billie Joe
16. Michelle
17. Rose Garden
18. Windmills of Your Mind
19. Hava Nagila
20. A Man and a Woman
21. Pearly Shells
22. Yesterday
23. Midnight Cowboy
24. Misty
25. Zorba the Greek

This compilation showcases Buddy playing both steel and electric guitars on some well known songs from the 1960's and early 1970's. It was originally released in 1988 by Accent Records as a 2 record set titled “25 Great All Time Hits: The Guitar Sounds of Buddy Merrill,” then again re-named as digital download in 1997 by GNP Crescendo with same track listing which I obtained.

rntcj said...

Hi!

Thanx for this one. Know of the artists but should mostly be "new" hears here. LUV the YT vid.

Cheers!
Ciao! For now.
rntcj

Dj Diego MC said...

Qué gran virtuoso de la guitarra. Ya no hay ese espíritu de músical. Gracias bop

D said...

Took The Hits version. Keep keeping the past alive BB. Thanks for that.

Luis said...

Muchas gracias por compartir!! Saludo cordial desde Tucuman, Argentina.