Public Programs
Nashville Cats
Saturday, April 12 | 2:30 – 4:00 PM | Ford Theater
At the outset of his sixty-plus-year career, renowned pedal steel guitarist JayDee Maness helped sow the seeds of country rock, recording with the Byrds on their landmark 1968 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo and with Gram Parsons’s International Submarine Band. Additionally, he was a founding member of the Desert Rose Band and toured with Buck Owens’s Buckaroos. Many of music’s biggest names have sought out Maness’s driving, precise style. Among his best-known contributions is the pedal steel solo on Eric Clapton’s multiplatinum 1992 single “Tears in Heaven.” His playing also soundtracked the television series The Dukes of Hazzard throughout its seven-season run. Maness is an eighteen-time winner of the Academy of Country Music’s Steel Guitar Player of the Year award.
Nashville Cats showcases stories and songs from musicians and session singers who have played important roles in country music history. Through in-depth, one-on-one interviews with the honorees, gain a better understanding of how musicians made careers for themselves by backing hit artists in the recording studio or on concert tours. Vintage recordings, photos, and film clips supplement the interviews, and in some cases, the honorees demonstrate their techniques and recreate their famous musical contributions.
Past Nashville Cats Honorees Include:
- Richie Albright (2019)
- Eddie Bayers (2010)
- Richard Bennett (2016)
- Harold Bradley (2006)
- David Briggs (2011)
- James Burton (2011)
- Jimmy Capps (2012)
- Jerry Carrigan (2009)
- Cindy Cashdollar (2022)
- Dan Dugmore (2024)
- Stuart Duncan (2014)
- Duane Eddy (2016)
- Ray Edenton (2007)
- DJ Fontana (2011)
- Paul Franklin (2013)
- Sonny Garrish (2018)
- Mac Gayden (2013)
- Steve Gibson (2014)
- Lloyd Green (2006)
- Don Helms (2006)
- John Hobbs (2012)
- David Hood (2023)
- Jim Horn (2017)
- Jerry Kennedy (2008)
- Millie Kirkham (2012)
- Kenny Lovelace (2022)
- Brent Mason (2023)
- Mac McAnally (2017)
- Charlie McCoy (2006)
- Joey Miskulin (2018)
- Bob Moore (2007)
- Wayne Moss (2009)
- Weldon Myrick (2009)
- Herb Pedersen (2023)
- Norbert Putnam (2009)
- Mickey Raphael (2018)
- Leon Rhodes (2014)
- Michael Rhodes (2015)
- Hargus “Pig” Robbins (2007)
- Billy Sanford (2012)
- Buddy Spicher (2008)
- Ray Stevens (2010)
- Gordon Stoker and Ray Walker of the Jordanaires (2008)
- Robby Turner (2019)
- Pete Wade (2016)
- Bill Walker (2015)
- Bergen White (2013)
- Kristin Wilkinson (2024)
- Bobby Wood (2024)
- Chip Young (2010)
- Reggie Young (2008)
- Andrea Zonn (2017)
Watch Videos On-Demand
Hear stories and songs from musicians and session singers who have played important roles in country music history – all at your own speed.
