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1926 – 2018
The tie, exactly: Herbert Leroy Remington was born in Mishawaka in 1926 — the date stands in conflict and is printed in conflict: June 9, per his Wikipedia biography and the NAMM oral-history record; July 9, per Indiana Music Makers and SecondHandSongs. He grew up near South Bend. His mother taught him piano from the age of five; as a youth he heard the Hawaiian steel guitar at a local movie theater and took the instrument up, and he became, with Buddy Emmons, one of the two Mishawaka-born men who defined what the steel guitar could do — a fact neither city's compilations state plainly, and one this section exists to print.
The course: After U.S. Army service, Remington went to Hollywood in 1946 and auditioned for Luke Wills's band; Bob Wills hired him on the spot for the Texas Playboys, the greatest western-swing band in the world, and he played with them through the end of the decade. His "Boot Heel Drag" is a signature recording of those years. With Hank Penny he made the side the record catalogs list as "Remington Ride" — Indiana's music-makers roster calls the tune "Remington Steel," and the title variance is printed as found. He was inducted into the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1979. From 1978, settled in Houston, he built his own instruments under the Remington Steel name. He was still a working figure of Houston's music memory at the end: Houstonia magazine profiled him in October 2017, aged 91.
The end: Remington died October 27, 2018, at Houston, aged 92. Emmons named him an influence; the chronology agrees — the Mishawaka kid of 1926 was playing steel for Bob Wills while the Mishawaka kid of 1937 was still taking lessons in South Bend.
Sources:
- NAMM oral history program, Remington record (birth June 9, 1926 — conflict printed)
- Indiana Music Makers roster (birth July 9, 1926; "Remington Steel") — conflict printed; SecondHandSongs catalog record (July 9; Remington Steel guitars from 1978)
- Wikipedia, "Herb Remington," read November 2026 (Texas Playboys course; Boot Heel Drag; Hall of Fame 1979; death)
- Houstonia Magazine, October 2017 profile