Evan Skopp
SDUGF Founder
Originally from the North-East where his dad worked together with Seymour’s dad at DuPont, Stephen Bruton moved to Texas as a young child and progressed from growing up in his parents’ record store, to being one of the best banjo players around, to a long and wonderful relationship with Kris Kristofferson as his guitar and mandolin player. He also played guitar with Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, Rita Coolidge, Elvis Costello, Sonny Landreth, and many more. Artists ranging from Johnny Cash to Willie Nelson to Jimmy Buffet to Little Feat have recorded his wonderfully insightful and straight to the truth-written songs. He also worked as a first call producer for such artists and bands as Storyville, Alejandro Escovedo, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Hal Ketchum, and Marcia Ball.
Stephen was also an accomplished actor. You may have seen him in Heaven's Gate, A Star is Born, Miss Congeniality, and The Alamo to name a few. It was during production on Heaven's Gate that Stephen met Jeff Bridges and started a friendship that would last many years.
One of my good buddies, we’ll call him “DW,” introduced me to Stephen around 12 or 15 years ago. Both Stephen and DW came out of the Ft. Worth music scene and they were very close friends for many years. DW introduced me to Stephen and I got a chance to hang out with him at his home in Austin. He was a great guy and a great singer-songwriter. Once DW and I drove 8 ½ hours from Ft. Worth to Bandera, Texas just to hear The Stephen Bruton Band; which also included Yoggie Musgrove on bass and Brannen Temple on drums, one of Austin's finest rhythm sections.
If you haven’t checked out Stephen’s music, I would highly recommend it. Stephen is a really top notch song writer and musician. You can check out his CDs on-line here and you can always buy Stephen's recordings at Record Town in Ft. Worth Texas (817-926-1331), the record store Stephen's parents opened in the late-‘40s. The store is still run today by Stephen’s brother Sumter—a great guitarist in his own right—and his mother, Mrs. Katherine Bruton.
If you want to learn more about Stephen, there’s a really nice documentary about his life here. And here’s a cool music video shot in the studio with Stephen shredding on DW’s Esquire.
I was very proud to sign Stephen to a Seymour Duncan artist endorsement. I used Stephen as a beta tester many times for Seymour Duncan and D-TAR products. He’d often call me from the road and we’d talk about whatever product he was testing for us; and we’d talk about music and life.
Stephen was diagnosed with tongue cancer at the end of 2006. He struggled with losing his voice, but then he got it back and he started touring again. I remember seeing his band The Resentments play at the Saxon Pub in Austin on November 9, 2008. I took Doreen to Austin that weekend for her birthday and we stopped in, unannounced. Stephen was really happy to see us and we were really happy to see him. He looked great. He told us that his cancer was in remission, but that the doctor had "seen something" and he was going in the next day to get it checked out. When we said goodbye to him that night in the parking lot of the Saxon Pub, I had an uneasy feeling it might be the last time we saw him.
Around that same time, Stephen started working on the film Crazy Heart, starring Jeff Bridges. Stephen was brought in to work with Jeff on how to come off on screen like a hard-working, hard-touring, down-and-out, guitar-playing, hustler. Stephen co-produced the soundtrack for Crazy Heart with fellow Ft. Worthian T-Bone Burnett.
Stephen consulted with DW and the folks at Gretsch on what guitar Jeff Bridges’ “Bad Blake” character should play in the film. DW sent Stephen a new Gretsch G6122-1959 "Chet Atkins Country Gentleman" also known as a “Nashville Classic” which Stephen immediately fell in love with. It’s a big 17” hollow-body with painted "f" holes over a flamed maple top. It’s based on the guitar that Chet Atkins and Paul Yandell played most of their careers. It’s got Filter-Tron and Super-Tron pickups and a blinged-out Bigsby tailpiece with a “wire” arm. When three of the other high-level music people on the movie got a chance to play Stephen’s guitar, they immediately wanted one. And that’s the same Gretsch model that Bad Blake played in the film, though the on-screen guitar was a cosmetically aged. Here's Jeff Bridges with the relic "Nashville Classic" that you would've seen if you saw Crazy Heart.
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Stephen was also an accomplished actor. You may have seen him in Heaven's Gate, A Star is Born, Miss Congeniality, and The Alamo to name a few. It was during production on Heaven's Gate that Stephen met Jeff Bridges and started a friendship that would last many years.
One of my good buddies, we’ll call him “DW,” introduced me to Stephen around 12 or 15 years ago. Both Stephen and DW came out of the Ft. Worth music scene and they were very close friends for many years. DW introduced me to Stephen and I got a chance to hang out with him at his home in Austin. He was a great guy and a great singer-songwriter. Once DW and I drove 8 ½ hours from Ft. Worth to Bandera, Texas just to hear The Stephen Bruton Band; which also included Yoggie Musgrove on bass and Brannen Temple on drums, one of Austin's finest rhythm sections.
If you haven’t checked out Stephen’s music, I would highly recommend it. Stephen is a really top notch song writer and musician. You can check out his CDs on-line here and you can always buy Stephen's recordings at Record Town in Ft. Worth Texas (817-926-1331), the record store Stephen's parents opened in the late-‘40s. The store is still run today by Stephen’s brother Sumter—a great guitarist in his own right—and his mother, Mrs. Katherine Bruton.
If you want to learn more about Stephen, there’s a really nice documentary about his life here. And here’s a cool music video shot in the studio with Stephen shredding on DW’s Esquire.
I was very proud to sign Stephen to a Seymour Duncan artist endorsement. I used Stephen as a beta tester many times for Seymour Duncan and D-TAR products. He’d often call me from the road and we’d talk about whatever product he was testing for us; and we’d talk about music and life.
Stephen was diagnosed with tongue cancer at the end of 2006. He struggled with losing his voice, but then he got it back and he started touring again. I remember seeing his band The Resentments play at the Saxon Pub in Austin on November 9, 2008. I took Doreen to Austin that weekend for her birthday and we stopped in, unannounced. Stephen was really happy to see us and we were really happy to see him. He looked great. He told us that his cancer was in remission, but that the doctor had "seen something" and he was going in the next day to get it checked out. When we said goodbye to him that night in the parking lot of the Saxon Pub, I had an uneasy feeling it might be the last time we saw him.
Around that same time, Stephen started working on the film Crazy Heart, starring Jeff Bridges. Stephen was brought in to work with Jeff on how to come off on screen like a hard-working, hard-touring, down-and-out, guitar-playing, hustler. Stephen co-produced the soundtrack for Crazy Heart with fellow Ft. Worthian T-Bone Burnett.
Stephen consulted with DW and the folks at Gretsch on what guitar Jeff Bridges’ “Bad Blake” character should play in the film. DW sent Stephen a new Gretsch G6122-1959 "Chet Atkins Country Gentleman" also known as a “Nashville Classic” which Stephen immediately fell in love with. It’s a big 17” hollow-body with painted "f" holes over a flamed maple top. It’s based on the guitar that Chet Atkins and Paul Yandell played most of their careers. It’s got Filter-Tron and Super-Tron pickups and a blinged-out Bigsby tailpiece with a “wire” arm. When three of the other high-level music people on the movie got a chance to play Stephen’s guitar, they immediately wanted one. And that’s the same Gretsch model that Bad Blake played in the film, though the on-screen guitar was a cosmetically aged. Here's Jeff Bridges with the relic "Nashville Classic" that you would've seen if you saw Crazy Heart.
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