A friend found this video from 1997 of my late brother Harold doing a concert at the Smokey Mountain Steel Guitar Jamboree. This is unfortunately not Harold at his best but after he'd had an accident that left him paralyzed so he struggles a bit with his playing. In the past I've seen photos from this concert and it's my understanding this is his last public performance. What a find for me. Hope you find his performance enjoyable.

1997 SMJ Harold Fogle

I really enjoyed this video. I’m normally impatient and don’t stay long but I heard it all. I particularly like “Jesus Loves Me” I haven’t heard that played since I was a kid in Sunday School. (60 or so years ago).

Thanks for pointing us to this.

Tony

This must be priceless to you, I watched it all , your brother seemed so at ease up there it made me wonder How he was before the accident.

This was a great find and a treasure , I really enjoyed this.

Thanks

That could have gone on for another hour as far as I am concerned. Obviously a lot of emotion there on the stage and in the audience, feeling which readily transferred to the video viewers. Thanks for posting that.
If I were to comment, it would be to note the talent of making the steel guitar talk, directly related to a very fine touch with timing and a great ear, meaning, to play those 16th, 8th,
and quarter notes perfectly and hear the phonic effect, talents Harold was clearly blessed with, appear to have survived the nerve damage. Puzzling, because we might think those talents would be the first things to go. To the contrary...

Thanks for sharing this Charlie. I enjoyed watching and listening - and really enjoyed your brother's sense of humor and sense of joy to be there doing what he was doing...

What a great find Charlie. I'm sure this gives the Fogle team a lot of joy, knowing that Harold and his music are immortalized on YouTube. I'm sure he was a very funny guy. The "standing O" at the end of the show was very fitting indeed.

+++ HERE +++ is a recording of Harold playing "Stardust" on the steel.

The first photo shows him playing an Emmons pedal steel. The Emmmons has a blue formica finish as that was the band color when he was touring with Loretta Lynn.

The second photo was taken in the front yard of our house. Harold had just received the Fender 400 pedal steel and Fender amplifier.

The third is a video of Harold playing on the Grand Ol' Opry. Still playing an Emmons but this one has a brown formica finish.

The fourth photo he is playing a different steel but I don't know anything about that one except it was the last one he played.

In his prime he was voted European steel player of the year by a steel fan club in England.

Harold was a fantastic musician. He proficiently played many instruments including guitar, bass, keyboard and saxophone. I remember one time a cousin received a toy plastic ukuele with nylon strings for Christmas. Harold tuned that thing up, played it and made it sound like a million dollars.

It's great that so many people thought so much of him.

What a great find.

Thanks all for the kind and thoughtful comments and taking time to enjoy Harold on stage. The most compelling moments in the video for me were the screen shots where I was reminded how I could always tell what Harold was thinking because of his constant facial expressions. I got more blessings from seeing his face than from anything he said or played. I appreciate Jim posting the older video I created several years ago so you could get a better idea of his true musicianship. A note about that video is one of the last photographs is a picture taken at this same event.

What a great find, Charlie. This must have come as a wonderful surprise.

I enjoyed he video clip. It was a pleasure to meet Harold.

Regards,
Noel

Charlie ...

What a wonderful find. i can only thy to imagine the joy and sentimentality this brought you. It was a real joy to listen to and Harold's sense of humor is terrific! My older brother, Ronnie, passed away last July. he was one of the best singers you've never heard. I so delighted you have this fabulous video. It's so special.

DeWitt Scott "Scotty" was a good friend of mine from St. Louis. He put on the International Steel Guitar Convention for many many years. I'm a huge fan of the pedal steel.

This left me with a real smile on my face. Thank you so much for posting this. And congrats on having this memory to cherish.

Alan

Thanks for taking time to listen and comment Noel and Al. Coming across this video was totally unexpected and gratifying.