The Iconic Sho-Bud Steel Guitar Is Officially Back
A steel guitar crying and moaning in a song is one of the most iconic sounds in all of country music. And if you know anything about steel guitars, then you know about Sho-Bud. In the country music world, the hyphenated name in cursive writing is as legendary as the Nike swoosh in basketball.
In 1955, steel guitarist Buddy Emmons joined with Shot Jackson to develop the now legendary “Sho-Bud” pedal steel guitar, and the two men set up a company to sell the instruments to the world, starting in a garage in Madison, Tennessee. The company later relocated to Nashville in 1963 when Emmons left to start the Emmons Guitar Company. But Shot and his sons David and Harry continued on.
Many of country music’s most legendary steel guitar players such as Lloyd Green, Jerry Byrd, Ralph Mooney, and Pete Drake were all Sho-Bud loyalists, with Lloyd Green receiving his own signature model called the LDG. For years, the current location of traditional country honky tonk Robert’s Western World on Lower Broadway in Nashville was the Sho-Bud showroom and production warehouse. That is why the balcony of Robert’s is named the “Sho-Bud balcony bar.”
Beginning in the 1970s, the company also started building acoustic guitars, and partnered with Gretsch to make resonator guitars under the name Sho-Bro. This eventually led to Gretsch purchasing Sho-Bud in 1979, and ultimately, ceasing production of Sho-Bud steel guitars.
But not any more. The grandson and granddaughter of Shot Jackson—Will and Dawn Jackson—have officially reacquired the Sho-Bud name from Gretsch, and with their father David and uncle Harry who’ve continued to make steel guitars under the Jackson Steel Guitar name, they have started once again to build Sho-Bud steel guitars. The family officially reacquired the name in December of 2024.
“We never stopped building,” says now co-CEO of Sho-Bud, Dawn Jackson. “We’ve carried this sound and soul with us for decades. Now, we’re bringing Sho-Bud back home—and forward.”
The new Sho-Bud line includes both classic and more contemporary models of steel guitars, and will also include strings, amps, and volume pedals.
“Sho-Bud was born in a chicken coop. Built in garages. Played on the world’s biggest stages,” says Will Jackson, co-CEO with his sister. “We’re not just recreating the past. We’re evolving the tools, supporting the players, and bending new sounds into existence.”
No different than the music of your favorite artist in country music, it’s good to see a guitar and name so emblematic to country music get a second life and continue into the future.
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April 30, 2025 @ 8:41 am
Thats awesome. Love feel good stories like this
April 30, 2025 @ 8:51 am
I saw a youtube video recently of a guy covering Uncle Tupelo’s discography and I love what he stated about steel guitar coming from a guy who states that he never listens to country.
“If you really want your song or production to stand out and be immediately better just add steel guitar”
Lol this rock guy knows what’s up but not a majority mainstream country artists.
Personally I love the Appalachian/Irish fiddle just a much in a song but Steel just gives a song that missing element
April 30, 2025 @ 9:42 am
While $16,000 for a double neck is comparable to brand new prices in the 60’s when counting for inflation, you can get a Franklin for around 10k. So that’s gonna keep most people out. My first steel was a 74′ Sho-Bud Pro 3 that I paid 2k (which is the bottom price for anyone wanting to get a “cheap” used steel that isn’t a starter or student model)
April 30, 2025 @ 12:51 pm
I play a GFI which is a professional level instrument but lower price. Just FYI for anyone who wants to get started.
April 30, 2025 @ 1:57 pm
I’ve never played one and I certainly wouldn’t poo poo that brand. I see their Expo model sells for 1500+ used on Reverb.com. You can get Mullen steels in the 2k range. Maintenance is the big issue with old Sho-Buds and the availability and cost of parts.
April 30, 2025 @ 6:36 pm
Yes mine is an Expo. Mullen’s are great and probably my next one.
April 30, 2025 @ 8:34 pm
Actually bought another Mullen today off Facebook marketplace.
April 30, 2025 @ 10:45 am
Off topic, but Trigger I would love to hear your take on Kacey Musgraves accouncement about leaving her old label. Did she get dropped after the disappointment of StarCrossed & Deeper Well? Would love to hear your thoughts….
April 30, 2025 @ 11:08 am
I might have more on this soon, but this is very much a lateral, procedural move within the same label group. They relaunced Lost Highway a while back as part of the label Musgraves is already on, and Musgraves was actually signed to Lost Highway before it got lumped in with Mercury Nashville. I’m much more interested to see if she decides to move on from the Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk era, which in my opinion, is what has undermined her career. Country is hot again in country music, and Kacey’s kitschy approach could go over very well.
April 30, 2025 @ 6:06 pm
Whatever you want to call Kacey Musgraves, there’s not a female singer alive in any genre with a better voice. Very excited if she’s going in a more country direction. Also, her name is attached to something like 400(!!?!) song credits if you do a copyright search.
April 30, 2025 @ 7:49 pm
Thanks, Trigger. Knew you’d know more as always.
Would love to see a longer article on this.
April 30, 2025 @ 11:54 am
Bought a Carter Starter for around $600 back in 2007. My guitar playing could best be described as ‘clumsy’, and I couldn’t find anyone in San Jose (where I lived at the time) who could give me lessons, so it mostly sat in my apartment. I then moved to Charlottesville, and there’s a store about 40 minutes away that sells nothing but pedal steels, Billy Cooper’s Music. I started taking lessons from a guy there named Buddy. I had no idea at the time that I was taking lessons from a legend, Buddy Charleton of The Texas Troubadours. He was super friendly, but obviously very sick, and I only was able to take a few lessons from him before he passed away. Best advice he gave me was to make sure that I had a stiff drink or two before I sat down to play; it was the only way to get relaxed enough. I learned a couple chords, but life got busy and I stuffed that Carter in the attic, where it remains to this day. One day I’d love to dig that thing out and give it another try…
April 30, 2025 @ 1:12 pm
Sounds like this week would be a great weekend to get that sucker out of the attic.
Cheers
May 2, 2025 @ 7:59 am
…Took beginer lessons from Buddy in the 70’s … i was Blues/RnR guy just get’n into Country… BC told me ..”you play pretty good..but dont know anything!”…Dont know about 1st part…but 2nd is still true !%#%
April 30, 2025 @ 5:10 pm
maverick prices aren’t bad for new steel. the other price ranges are outrageous tho.
April 30, 2025 @ 6:18 pm
There’s nothin’ like a steel guitar cryin’ in the night
There’s nothin’ like a sawdust floor and a good old friendly fight
For me the utmost quintessential and pivotal instrument in American country music is the Steel Guitar.
The fiddle can be traced to other foreign origins. When I think of the banjo, I think of folky Pete Seeger. But the Steel Guitar belongs solely to country music.
April 30, 2025 @ 8:34 pm
that song is my wifi password
May 1, 2025 @ 8:24 am
Love those Sho- Buds. Don Pawlak plays a beautiful one. He told me similar to what you said, parts and maintenance is an issue. Andy Gibson has a really nice one as well. He plays it with The Cowpokes. I’ve long admired them. Cool to see the name is back.
Btw: i have a vintage 63 Standel Hybrid tube amp, beloved by many steel players. It’s newly serviced and purrs like a tiger. If you know anyone wanting some authentic Ray Price sound, give me a holler. My email: Kds10171@gmail.com
May 2, 2025 @ 7:17 pm
That song scarily captures the melancholy of everyday life slipping away.
Beautiful country song.
May 1, 2025 @ 10:43 am
This is probably a very dumb question but can someone with a good musical ear distinguish the sound difference between a lap steel and a pedal steel?
I enjoy reading artists credits on songs and albums and haven’t a clue which is being used if pedal or lap isn’t specifically stated?
May 1, 2025 @ 4:24 pm
Absolutely, unless the pedal steel player decides not to use any of the pedals and play it like a lap. If I was on my computer I’d find ya an example, but anyway, the pedals change the tuning of some of the strings. If you hear the player strike a chord, and two of the notes change while the rest stay the same, that’s a pedal steel. Other ways to tell too, but that’s the most obvious.
May 1, 2025 @ 8:36 pm
Thanks very much.
I can find lots of examples on my Steel Guitar, Media Monkey playlists I have set up. I probably have 50-75 songs where I’m not sure if the player is using pedal or steel. It happens often with Greg Leisz because he plays both pedal and lap & often the credits don’t distinguish which he’s playing on the songs.
May 2, 2025 @ 12:15 am
Acoustic steel string guitar versus electric guitar. That’s a traditional electric 6-string “hawaiian” lap steel versus the pedal steel.
A richer, more varied sound.
Take a listen to the old 40’s and 50’s songs. Hank, Ernest, Bob Wills etc. Good, old electric 6 string lapsteel.
Then compare it to literally any traditional country tune from the last 50 years or so. There’s a huge difference between Buckaroo Tom Brumley’s lap runs on those early 50’s Buck Owens songs and say, Norm Hamlet’s jazzy picking from the early 70’s and onward.
Of course, nobody did the pedal steel better than Lloyd Green. Those ghostly tones can scare you more than a high school political debate ever will.
May 2, 2025 @ 8:23 am
Shot Jackson may have been one of the few people that did both. He played regular lap steel on the Kitty Wells records, but he played dobro on the Johnnie and Jack records. It may have been just to make them sound different.
May 2, 2025 @ 9:58 am
The dobro adds a more rustic sound, lending a touch of folksy blues to the songs.
Listen to Merle’s Jimmie Rodgers bonanza Same Train – a Different Time. James Burton’s excellent dobro picking elevates the recordings far above the regular Rodgers cover.
It makes me happy that someone still remember Johnnie & Jack.
May 4, 2025 @ 9:53 am
Shot also played a pedal Dobro on Kitty Wells’ original recording of “Making Believe”. He hooked up a plunger system in the headstock of his Dobro and hooked cables I believe, running them down to some pedal configuration on the floor. Listen to it. Pedals were used sparingly back then, mostly to end a phrase or in answer a vocal line, much melody still being played with the bar.
Johnnie and Jack featuring Kitty Wells ca. 1949, a Bluebird label compilation…,.,you’ll hear Shot on pedal dobro with what sounds like ‘split pedals’. That concept is generally attributed to Buddy Emmons and Jimmy Day, but not until around 1955. Yet in ’49, there’s ol’ Shot on the aforementioned recording, and if those aren’t split pedals, I’m the first female member of the Iranian Parliament.
May 2, 2025 @ 8:45 am
Thanks much for the suggestion. Going to do so today.
May 2, 2025 @ 12:07 pm
It’s not a dumb question. The difference in sound is obvious if you are familiar with playing either instrument or are a nerd for instruments in general. Some lap steel (or console steel ‘no pedals or levers) players are very good at making a lap steel sound like a pedal steel. Chris Scruggs is a good example of that. A pedal steel allows the player to manipulate the pedals and levers to get different chords and note selections without having to move the bar or pick different strings – making the playing action smoother and more ‘modern sounding”.
Notable examples:
Lap Steel: Chris Scruggs, Cindy Cashdollar, Jerry Bryd
Pedal Steel: Paul Franklin, Ralph Mooney, Buddy Emmons (too many to list)
May 1, 2025 @ 10:57 am
“Ain’t nothin’ like a steel guitar, to drown a memory… “
May 1, 2025 @ 1:29 pm
Traded a Sho Bud guitar for a old Silverstone
Arlo Guthrie in the late seventies.
May 2, 2025 @ 4:44 am
I have a single 10 string red Sho-bud I bought from Dan Dugmore years ago, I cant really play much but lent it to Richie Furay a few years ago when he was on tour since they didn’t want to fly with one. They are pretty heavy and bulky.
It sounded great!
The Steel Guitar Forum is a very valuable site for anyone to learn more about them, many pros also post and are members.
As they say playing a pedal steel is like flying a helicopter blindfolded.
Great write up Trig!
May 2, 2025 @ 8:41 am
James Hetfield of Metallica compared it to picking the guitar with the right hand while simultaneously playing the drums with the left hand.
May 2, 2025 @ 8:11 am
Josh Turner’s band has a great steel guitarist. It tied his songs today. Don’t miss his show.
You really aren’t a good country artist unless you have a steel guitar.
May 2, 2025 @ 8:36 am
It’s my firm belief that the steel guitar will do great in the blues genre.
I praise those rock bands who dare including a steel guitar, Dire Straits with Paul Franklin among the few. Nothing wrong with the slide guitar (listen to Chris Rea), but it’s not a steel guitar.
May 2, 2025 @ 8:47 am
I like Robert Randolph a lot but I think he was more influenced by Allman & Hendricks than traditional country steel players.
May 2, 2025 @ 10:05 am
I like the picking of the brit Basil Henriques (who backed Tammy Wynette, among others).
Mostly doing hawaiian tunes now, on a lap steel, but he’s a master of both.
A sadly underappreciated picker, who also picks some sweet jazz on the pedal steel.
May 2, 2025 @ 11:32 am
I love the pedal steel – it really is the heartbeat sound of real country music. But, though I have tried to understand it, I am a complete ignoramus about the musical theory involved.
Can anybody explain in simple terms exactly why the note-bending arrangements have been arrived at in the form which they generally take? That is, why have the instrument designers set things up so that using the pedals and/or knee-bars vary the particular notes that they do?
As a simpler (but related) question: why did Clarence White choose to vary the B string – as opposed to any of the other strings – when he invented the B-Bender guitar?
Thanks in advance for any insights!
A similar ‘simpler’ (?) question
May 3, 2025 @ 6:02 am
My guess would be it was the easiest note change. Going from B to C is only a half step, so if you’re playing an open C chord with your first finger not on the B string, you’re going from C diminished to C major. Clarence White did quite a bit of experimenting with tunings. I have Russ Barenberg’s book of Clarence tabs, and it says a few years before Clarence died, he had worked up a new version of “Soldier’s Joy” where he tuned the A string down to G. And I read somewhere when Marty Stuart first got Clarence’s Telecaster, one of the Scruggs banjo tuners was on the A string instead of the low E.
May 7, 2025 @ 1:37 pm
Why have the note-bending arrangements been arrived at in a certain way? The simple answer is that certain “distances” between notes – and even more specifically “moving distances” between notes are like candy to the human ear. Sustaining a C (root) note and bending a second note from a D (second) to an E (third) is very pleasing to the ear. That is just one example. There are countless other “distance movements” – or even multiple simultaneous “distance movements” – sometimes in opposite (up/down) directions – that tickle the ear. The steel guitar is made to manufacture exactly those kinds of sounds.