On this day (February 27) in 1935, Norm Hamlet was born in Woodville, California. His career is long and full of musical highlights. Hamlet was Merle Haggard’s pedal steel player for 49 years. As a result, he played on the majority of the timeless classics Haggard recorded over the years. Before he became a member of the Strangers, he taught a young Barbara Mandrell how to play pedal steel, giving her the skills she needed to kick off her career.
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According to a biography, Hamelt heard the steel guitar, then called the Hawaiian guitar, on the Grand Ole Opry. He immediately fell in love with the instrument and, before long, was learning to play. After getting a feel for the instrument, he gathered some friends and started a band.
In the late 1950s, Hamlet’s friend Irby Mandrell approached him and asked if he would teach his daughter, Barbara, to play the pedal steel guitar. According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, she could already play the accordion and read music. Hamlet agreed and taught her all that he could. You can see the result of his lessons in the clip below.
@iwishiwastheredude Before she ever became a country star, Mandrell was already known in Nashville as a pedal-steel prodigy. By age 13, she was so good that she toured with The Johnny Cash Show—not as a singer, but strictly as a featured instrumentalist. She could play complex Western-swing steel parts note-for-note, and seasoned studio musicians used to joke that she was one of the few people who could “out-pick the pickers.” So when people say Barbara Mandrell was one of the best singers in country music, insiders quietly add: she was also one of the best pedal-steel players to ever hit the stage… #country #70s #pedalsteel #music #fyp ♬ original sound – IwishIwastheredude
Norm Hamlet Meets Merle Haggard
Norm Hamlet wasn’t looking for a new permanent gig when he met Merle Haggard for the first time. He was filling in for Fuzzy Owen, his friend and fellow pedal steel player. Owen was leaving Bakersfield, California, to visit his parents in Arkansas. At the time, he was playing two nights a week. Those nights–Sunday and Monday–just so happened to be the days that Hamlet wasn’t playing the County Line Club in Farmersville.
“That’s when I got to start playing down in Bakersfield,” Hamlet recalled. “I got to meet Merle because Fuzzy had hired Merle to play bass and sing at the Lucky Spot,” he explained. “I’d never met Merle at that time. So, I came in to play in Fuzzy’s place. I got my guitar all set up, and we started playing…And then, Merle started singing. I heard just a few bars of him singing, and I decided right then that this guy needs to be on record. He sang so good.”
Hamlet recalled that Haggard further impressed him by imitating the voices of the artists they were covering. “When we’d do a Lefty Frizzell song, he’d sing it like Lefty Frizzell. If we did Marty Robbins, he’d sound like Marty Robbins,” he recalled.
It seemed that Haggard was impressed as well. At the end of the evening, he approached Hamlet and said, “Hey, Fuzzy’s getting ready to record me. How would you like to go out on the road if I get something going?”
Norm Hamlet replaced Ralph Mooney as steel guitarist in the Strangers in 1967. His pedal steel first appears on Haggard’s 1968 album Sing Me Back Home.
Featured Image by Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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