JayDee Maness

JayDee Maness is an American pedal steel guitarist. He is known for his work with Gram Parsons, the Byrds, Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, Ray Stevens, Vince Gill, and the Desert Rose Band. Maness received The Academy of Country Music's "Steel Guitarist of the Year" award 18 times and was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 2003. He was born in Loma Linda, California, in 1945 and grew up in nearby Riverside. His father wanted him to play steel guitar and bought him a six-string Magnetone electric steel guitar with amplifier at a price of $30. After high school, he married and began working at a pest control firm in the citrus orchards of San Bernardino County. After four years he decided to pursue a career in music and made the switch from lap steel to pedal steel. His experimentation with the knee levers on the pedal instrument resulted in positioning them contrary to accepted practice. He received his first break into recording session work after Cliffie Stone heard him play and asked him to come to a demo session. He later moved to Los Angeles, was employed as a musician at the Palomino Club.