Pete Drake

• Name — Pete Drake • Birth Name — Roddis Franklin Drake • Born — 8 October 1932 • Birthplace — Augusta, Georgia U.S. • Died — 29 July 1988 • Place of death — Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. • Instrument — Pedal steel guitar • Genre — * Country • rock • Occupation — Guitarist, songwriter, actor, producer • Label — Smash, First Generation Records • Website — PeteDrake.net

Drake was born in Augusta, Georgia, the son of a Pentecostal preacher. In 1950, he drove to Nashville, heard Jerry Byrd on the Grand Ole Opry, and was inspired to buy a steel guitar. Later in the 1950s, in Atlanta, Georgia, he organized the country music band Sons of the South, which included future country stars like Jerry Reed, Doug Kershaw, Roger Miller, Jack Greene, and Joe South. In 1959, he moved to Nashville, joined the Nashville A-Team, and went on the road as a backup musician for Don Gibson, Marty Robbins, and others. In 1964 he had an international hit on Smash Records with his "talking steel guitar" playing on Bill Anderson's 1963 album Still. The single "Forever" charted in March 1964 and reached No. 25 in the Billboard Hot 100, eventually sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The subsequent album with the same name reached No. 85 in the US. His innovative use of what would be called the talk box, later used by Peter Frampton, Joe Walsh, Roger Troutman and Jeff Beck, added novel effects to the pedal steel guitar. The album Pete Drake and His Talking Steel Guitar harkened back to the sounds of Alvino Rey and his wife Luise King, who first modulated a guitar tone with the signal from a throat microphone in 1939. The unique sound of the talk box with a steel guitar was new in the 1960s, and it made the sounds of vocalizing along with the strings of the steel guitar. According to an interview of Drake: The equipment was only loud enough to be useful in the studio for recordings. Drake played on Bob Dylan's three albums recorded in Nashville, including Nashville Skyline, and on Joan Baez's David's Album. He also worked with George Harrison on All Things Must Pass, and produced Ringo Starr on Beaucoups of Blues in 1970. Drake produced albums for many other musicians, and founded Stop Records and First Generation Records, Countryrecords.com. Recording country legends, Ernest Tubb, Jean Shepard, Jan Howard, Justin Tubb, Billy Walker, Ray Pillow, Ferlin Husky, Stonewall Jackson, The Wilburn Brothers, Lonzo & Oscar, Cal Smith, Charlie Louvin, Vic Willis Trio, George Hamilton IV. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame's Walkway of Stars in 1970 and the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2010. Inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame May 7, 1987 as a member of the "A" team Nashville Session players. On May 1, 2022, Drake was one of four inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame for the year 2021 along with Ray Charles, The Judds, and Eddie Bayers.

Developing emphysema and congestive heart failure after four decades of smoking, Drake's health began declining in 1985. He sold Pete's Place recording studio at 809 18th Avenue South to Mel Tillis in 1985, then built Pete's Place studio in Berry Hill (currently County Q studios) and the last recording studio he built was in the Drake's own home in Brentwood, Tennessee. He died on July 29, 1988, at the age of 55. He is buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville.

Pete Drake is recorded with the occupation record producer. Classed in the genre country music. Recorded as musician, guitarist, record producer and composer.