Harold Lee "Curly" Chalker (October 22nd, 1931 – April 30th, 1998) was an American country and jazz musician and pioneering pedal steel guitarist.

Harold Lee "Curly" Chalker began playing the lap steel guitar while still in his teens and made his professional debut in the nightclubs of Cincinnati. Over the course of his career, he became a sought after session musician and is considered one of the most influential pedal steel guitarists of all time.

Chalker was also a member of the house band of the television show Hee Haw for 18 years. where he worked with friend and former bandmate, Roy Clark.^[1]

In 1973, in an effort to meet the demands for low-maintenance and lighter amplifiers, Hartley Peavey sought Chalker's guidance, along with that of Buddy Emmons and other steel guitarists in developing the Session 400 amplifier, which went into production in 1974. ^[2]

In 1985 he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame.^[3]

Chalker died on April 30th, 1998 from a cancer-related brain tumor. ^[4]

In 2009, he was honored by the Wiregrass Fesitval of Murals in Dothan, Alabama. His likeness is featured alongside 16 other country music performed with ties to the Wiregrass Region on a mural in downtown Dothan.^[5]

In the 1950s Chalker was touring Texas with Lefty Frizzell, replacing C.B. White and played on the Frizell cuts, "Always Late (With Your Kisses)" and "Mom and Dad's Waltz" (both in 1951).^[6] Chalker played dobro on these recordings.^[7] After this, Chalker joined Hank Thompson's Brazos Valley Boys, and was featured on the 1952 cuts, "Cryin' in the Deep Blue Sea" and "The Wild Side of Life"

Chalker then, after a two year period in the armed forces joined the Springfield, Missouri based Ozark Jubilee radio show backing Red Foley and Porter Wagoner. During this time Chalker swithched from the lap steel to the pedal steel.

In 1959 he moved to Las Vegas where he played behind the fiddler Wade Ray and later joined the band of the long-time Golden Nugget fixture Hank Penny. Roy Clark (of Hee Haw fame) also played with Penny and became and the two became friends.

Chalker relocated to Nashville in 1965, and became very successful as a session musician.

In 1966, he made an instrumental album for Columbia Records entitled Big Hits On Big Steel. This record was produced by fellow steel guitarist Pete Drake.^[8] The follow-up release was "More Ways to Play" and was released in 1975. In 1976 he released an album consisting exclusively of Gordon Lightfoot covers, entitled "Nashville Sundown"

Chalker also appeared alongside the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, recording the album, "Counterpoint" which was shelved for years after it's completion.^[9]

A prolific studio musician and sideman, Chalker performed on records and on stage with artists such as Willie Nelson, the Gap Band, Ray Price, Leon Russell, and Bill Haley and the Comets.

One of his most notable collaborations was S'Wonderful (Four Giants of Swing) (1976), in which he collaborated with jazz violinist Joe Venuti, guitarist Eldon Shamblin and mandolinist Jethro Burns. On this record the quartet played classic swing tunes by composers such as George Gershwin and Duke Ellington.^[10]

Chalker also appeared on work that was outside the country and western and swing genres, including appearances on Simon and Garfunkel's 1969 hit "The Boxer" and Marie Osmond's "Paper Roses".^[11] Proving that he had a mind for the unconventional, Chalker also appeared on Chinga Chavin's raunchy 1976 album, Country Porn.^[12]

While Chalker earned a reputation both as an innovator and performer, he was also known for his quick temper and strong personality.

Sometimes after onstage mistakes, Curly had a tendency to slam down his fretting bar and yell profanities, a habit that led bandleader, Hank Thompson to remark:

I'd say, "If you make a mistake, you're probably the only one who notices it, and also, you don't have to say 'shit' with all the people standing around the bandstand." He was very inconsistent with his playing, but it seemed that when it was really important, he'd come through. On a record session, he'd play you some of the best stuff you ever heard, or some critical concert with a big audience, a lot of people on the show, he'd bear down and play the best you ever saw. Next night, we'd be playin' some club somewhere and hell, every other song he'd mess it up.^[13]

Also, Chalker was nearly arrested once for striking a drunken audience member who was leaning on his instrument with the metal leg of his pedal steel guitar. ^[14]

• • Solo Albums

• Big Hits on Big Steel (1966) Columbia Records
• More Ways to Play (1975) Mid-Land Records
• Nashville Sundown (1977) GNP Crescendo

• • with Joe Venuti, Eldon Shamblin, and Jethro Burns

• S'Wonderful (4 Giants Of Swing) (1977) Flying Fish Records