1954 Top Ten: Slowly (#3)

Tweet

Truthfully, if you have ANY doubt about the insanity of my music tastes, today’s songs, put together, should settle any hesitations for you. On one hand we have a rollicking Tina Turner song; meanwhile, here in 1954, we have this. With a hearty Linda? HELL NO!!!!!, here’s today’s song that’s now 70 years old. #3: Slowly - Webb Pierce This means that the pedal steel guitar as a predominant instrument in country music would have turned 70 this year if they still used it in country music. “Slowly” bears the distinction of being the first #1 song in country music history to have a pedal steel guitar on it. Although the “regular” steel guitar had been around for a long time, adding the pedals to make the “whining” sounds easier (whereas older players just did it with their slide bar) took hold with this song, and took off. This is one of my favorite songs in country music, period, even without the history. I should clarify that THIS version, as Jimmy Dean and Dottie West did a duet version in the 60s that turned this into a funeral dirge. Happy anniversary to the significance of the pedal steel! Slowly Written by Webb Pierce and Tommy Hill Recorded by Webb Pierce Released as a single, 1954 I can’t hide my feelings: