Influential steel guitarist Ralph Mooney, whose own home-built steel guitar design influenced the instruments that came out of Leo Fender’s factory, died of complications from cancer on Sunday at his home in Kennedale, Texas. He was 82.
Mooney is credited for restoring the popularity of the steel guitar to country music recordings in the 1950s and 60s. His melodically rich and buoyant sound bolstered dozens of country music hits by artists including Buck Owens, Wynn Stewart and Merle Haggard before joining Waylon Jenning’s band for a 20-year stint.
He also wrote several successful country songs, the most popular being “Crazy Arms”, which became Ray Price’s first number one hit in 1956 and was later a Top 20 hit for both Marion Worth and Willie Nelson.
Mooney once said, “It has been recorded by so many different people. I would starve to death if it wasn’t for those royalty cheques.”
Mooney was named steel guitarist of the year by the Academy of Country Music in 1966 and received six more nominations for that honor over the next 15 years. He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in St. Louis in 1983. His induction plague includes this quote, “So uniquely original that he remains unduplicated.”
Most recently, Mooney played on four tracks on Marty Stuart’s 2010 Grammy-winning album Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions.