Biography
Ed Black carried the pedal steel guitar and Dobro—longstanding fixtures of country and western music—into rock settings. Though not the earliest to make that leap, he left a lasting mark with the piercing, high-volume solo he cut on Linda Ronstadt’s “Silver Threads and Golden Needles.”
Around 1971 he began working in Phoenix, Arizona, as a member of the wide-ranging outfit Goose Creek Symphony. The band soon headed to Los Angeles, where they shared a bill with Ronstadt at the Whiskey a Go Go. Impressed by what they heard, Ronstadt and her producer John Boylan persuaded Black and drummer Mickey McGee to become part of her group. Black accepted, and the move placed him on three of her albums—Don’t Cry Now, Heart Like a Wheel, and Prisoner in Disguise—while he also toured with her between recording sessions.
After parting ways with Ronstadt following 1975, Black turned his focus to session work. His playing appeared on recordings by Tracy Chapman, Gene Clark, Dwight Yoakam, and numerous other prominent artists. That activity continued until 1990, when declining health forced him to stop. The music community lost a distinctive innovator in 1998 when Ed Black died at just under fifty.
Around 1971 he began working in Phoenix, Arizona, as a member of the wide-ranging outfit Goose Creek Symphony. The band soon headed to Los Angeles, where they shared a bill with Ronstadt at the Whiskey a Go Go. Impressed by what they heard, Ronstadt and her producer John Boylan persuaded Black and drummer Mickey McGee to become part of her group. Black accepted, and the move placed him on three of her albums—Don’t Cry Now, Heart Like a Wheel, and Prisoner in Disguise—while he also toured with her between recording sessions.
After parting ways with Ronstadt following 1975, Black turned his focus to session work. His playing appeared on recordings by Tracy Chapman, Gene Clark, Dwight Yoakam, and numerous other prominent artists. That activity continued until 1990, when declining health forced him to stop. The music community lost a distinctive innovator in 1998 when Ed Black died at just under fifty.
Singles
Live
