THE GREAT TOMMY MORRELL

~ He gave me one of his favorite hats.

~ He called me one night and I told him I just got back from a date. After expressing his opinion on the matter, I ASSURED him my date was a perfect gentleman and "didn't lay a hand on me." He said, "What's the matter with this guy--is he some kind of idiot?!" Haha, GO TOM!

~ His favorite place to stop for soft drinks was Sonic. He loved Sonic Dr. Pepper. And when he got the drink, he would position the straw right over the hole, very carefully, and then plunge it in with one swift move.

~ His nickname was Wolf.

~ The first time I ever hired him for a gig, I was nervous as heck. He showed up in Duncan, OK that day with all his gear, walked in and started setting up...I was speechless. He was so cool, wearing snow boots, black jeans, a loose black sweater with a picture of a Wolf on the front, and one of those Davy Crockett hats. Oooh, and the music....

~ He helped me tune my non-pedal to an A13 and an E9 on the necks, if that means anything to anyone. I'll never play any other tuning.

~ He had the greatest stories...one of my faves is the one about him being too young (many years ago) to play in the bars with the other guys in the band. He was about 17 or 18, and the guys were all up at the bar taking shots while he sipped a big glass of milk.

~ We drove by this hotel one time outside of Abilene, and he just looked over and said, "Got kicked out of there once...." (Now that's a good story....)

~ He was very humble. And underrated. Most of the well-known legends around today revere him like a God. And if you listen to old Ernest Tubb recordings, as well as countless other popular recordings, many of those arrangements were his.

~ Just kick back and listen to him play a ballad or a bossa nova sometime. Hell, listen to him play anything. It was always so good and tasteful. It didn't matter what he played, it was tasteful. He always left you lickin' your chops and wanting more.

He was my hero. He was a hero to a lot of people. I will miss him.

~ Ginny Mac ~

Tom Morrell has passed away. The greatest non-pedal steel guitar legend that ever walked the face of this lonely little planet is gone. And gosh, he was a character. I was fortunate to know him and share a lot of warm memories with him. He was one of those people that you never forget. A few quirky facts:

~ His birthday was on Halloween. I always got a kick out of calling him and yelling "trick or treat" instead of "happy birthday."

~ He loved cherry cider.

~ He loved a good Vodka tonic.

Here's a good one from Glenn...

Two years ago at the music festival out in Ruidoso, NM... Tom Morrell hitched a ride with us out to New Mexico as we had hoped. The last day of the festival, he slept-in back at the hotel while Ginny Mac went to the festival early to play with some other artists. I was scheduled to go pick up Tom and load his things into the van in time to be ready to leave after Ginny Mac was done playing.

I hadn't really ever spent a WHOLE lot of time with Tom. But I picked him up and we loaded in without a problem...Now we're parked outside the festival waiting. Tom is antsy: most likely hoping the Dallas Cowboys can pull off a win on this Sunday afternoon while we travel back home.

He opens the door of the van to lean out and have a cigarette while we wait. Tom spends some amount of time trying to light it, but the swift New Mexico wind eliminates any chance of doing so. After about a minute of struggling with this, he finally stops trying...turns back in and shuts the door...

I was kinda half paying attention during all this. Just zoned out listening to the Dallas Cowboys pregame show on the radio, otherwise I probably would have offered a solution. I think Tom was allowing about 10 seconds for me to make the next move. Long silence...

By the time I realized this, Tom was ready to offer HIS solution. In his very blunt way, he said... "Tell ya' what... You're not doin anything...go ahead and turn us around so I can light this damn cigarette." Most often times, you don't realize how quickly you can re-position a van until Tom Morrell has just told you to do so. HAHA!!!

He was the coolest of cool. He didn't waste his words. I feel proud to say I was his friend.

~ Glenn McLaughlin ~