Pedal Steel Legend and Producer Tommy Detamore Has Died

Certain people in music just have a distinctive touch that their fellow musicians recognize, and want to tap into whenever they’re making music, whether on the stage, or in the studio. Pedal steel player, engineer, and producer Tommy Detamore was one of those people with that distinguishing gift. That is how he ended up in the credits of so many records, played on stages with so many country legends, and why the news of his passing hits so hard. He died on Wednesday, August 5th according to his wife.

If nothing else, the career and contributions of Tommy Detamore were prolific, and spanned multiple decades. From the oldtimers like Ray Price and Johnny Bush, to more contemporary artists such as Sunny Sweeney and Robert Earl Keen, to the breakout album from Ty Myers in 2025 called The Select that Tommy worked as the master engineer on, Tommy Detamore left his fingerprints all over country music, often centered in Texas, but listened to well beyond.

He might have made his home base in Texas at his famed Cherry Ridge Studio in Floresville, but Tommy Detamore’s story started in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was in high school where Detamore took up guitar, and later found an interest in pedal steel while attending college in Virginia, studying under the mentorship of steel guitar legend Buddy Charleton. Tommy played in numerous bands in the early years, but the big leap came when he moved to Texas to play steel guitar for Darrell McCall in 1981.

A year later, Tommy Detamore became the mainstay steel guitar player behind Moe Bandy, who he’d tour with for seven years, and perform with on hallowed stages and programs like The Grand Ole Opry, Hee-Haw, and Nashville Now. This led to gigs with Johnny Bush, Ronnie Milsap, and Clay Baker. Then in 1991, Detamore opened his Cherry Ridge Studio in Floresville, Texas, which became a destination for country music artists from Texas and beyond. In the later portions of his career, he became mostly known as an engineer and producer.

“With the most giant broken heart, I want to wish my great friend and mentor, Tommy Detamore, smooth sailing up to heaven,” Sunny Sweeney said at the news. “I just spoke with him three days ago and we discussed a new project we were gonna work on. He produced my very first album “Heartbreakers Hall of Fame,” and taught me more about producing than I could have ever learned in a class. His fingerprints are all over all of my music since day one. I called him Tommy Jesus cause he could fix anything musically. He had the best ears in this business and was one of the truly great steel players of our lifetime. He carried me thru some of my earliest and most important moments of my musical career.”

Tommy Detamore was also a big part of the sound behind the recent albums from Jesse Daniel Rollin’ On and Beyond These Walls. He also worked on projects from Johnny Falstaff and Amber Digby.

Some of the other artists that Tommy Detamore performed or recorded with over the years include Jim Lauderdale, Micky Dolenz, Dallas Wayne, Doug Sahm, Augie Myers, and The Texas Tornados, Raul Malo, Bill Kirchen who received a Grammy nomination for the Detamore-engineered song “Poultry in Motion,” Redd Volkaert, The Derailers, Gary Nicholson, Eleven Hundred Springs, Mando Saenz, and Tommy Alverson among many others.

Detamore was also very active in church music. He played guitar and steel guitar at San Antonio’s Trinity Baptist Church, served as Pastor of Music at Floresville’s Oak Hills Baptist Church, and also played at the First Baptist Church in Floresville, and the Life Church in La Vernia, Texas.

“Tommy was and will always be remembered as a respected musician, producer, collaborator, mentor, and creative force in Country Music,” his wife Sandra of 41 years said. “Not to mention the love of my life. His work has and will always leave a lasting mark in the country music community. His Godgiven gift for playing and producing music allowed him to lift others up and help shape the sound of country music we hear today. Dr. Tom.. Sir Punchalot …Drama Papa … The Man …were just a few names people called him. Just recently we were celebrating another project he produced and played on that went platinum.”

Tommy Detamore was a member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame.

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