Herb Remington

Remington stainless steel razors and the flawless pedal steel work of Herb Remington form a logical pairing worthy of shared quarters, with an adjacent outbuilding stocked by the very instruments he himself engineers, designs, and builds. The steel guitar entered his world during high school, though the piano had already occupied him since age five, an early discipline that may explain the unmatched voice he later coaxed from the pedal steel.

After World War II he headed to California, where an intended audition for Luke Wills instead led to an offer from the more prominent sibling, Bob Wills, placing him in a band revered by steel players as the ultimate destination. That move secured Remington’s standing among the most swinging and inventive voices in Western swing, a legacy that endures for any musician still willing to take the stage. Merle Haggard later kept the tradition alive by hiring him for Wills tribute projects beginning in the 1970s; roughly twenty years afterward Remington assembled familiar colleagues for performances and recordings under the name Playboys II.

A parallel Western swing outlet, the River Road Boys, has featured him on regular sessions since 1972. Although such ensembles demand collaborative playing, Remington also pursued leadership roles from the start, releasing his own instrumental singles on Decca and composing “Remington Ride,” which became a staple in the steel-guitar repertoire.

His broader contributions to country and western music encompass largely uncredited work as part of the rotating house band at Starday Records, where he can occasionally be heard on George Jones recordings for the label; when another player appears, Remington may have been occupied with Hawaiian steel engagements. An accomplished stylist in that genre as well, he has maintained a steady schedule of island tours. Based in Houston, Texas, he continues to manufacture instruments, offer lessons, and produce multiple volumes of pedal-steel instructional videos. Among his design contributions is an adjustable truss rod.