Remembering Steve Waller
Shared by Mike Eisler:
I first met Steve Waller in 1964. We were both attending Oregon State University. My first day in the dorms, I heard him down the hall playing guitar and introduced myself. He was fingerpicking a four-string-Martin-tenor guitar that he had tuned in fifths instead of the standard tuning for that instrument. At the time, I finger picked a six-string guitar and so we formed a folk duet.
He was originally from Sale Creek, Tennessee and had been exposed to country music all his life. I had recently become enamored with the five-string banjo, and by the next year, we switched our focus to bluegrass and formed the Sawtooth Mountain Volunteers. Steve was a strong vocalist and became the mandolin player in the band.
Over the next decades we kept the band going. Steve had many talents and was an exceptionally gifted M.C. He had an unmatched energy and enthusiasm that he also used to promote the band. He often found a way to get backstage and “shake and howdy,” as he put it, with other acts that came to town. He first used his “shake and howdy” to meet the Dillards, and a few years later he managed to get backstage at a Bill Monroe concert in Eugene. At that show, he actually got Monroe to sing a song with him before going on stage.
Over the years, he orchestrated tours to Great Britain and on several occasions to Europe. Although concentrating mostly on the West coast, he managed to take the band as far east as El Paso, TX. And he managed to book the band as an opening act for some big names: Merle Haggard, Flatt and Scruggs, Gene Watson, and for the father of bluegrass himself, Bill Monroe.
Steve used the same energy when he was contributing to the O.B.A., bringing in numerous iconic bluegrass acts to perform in the area. Two performances I remember are when he brought Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys to Corvallis. His love for the music seemed to have no bounds and his song repertoire was immense.
Steve had other talents as well. He became a first-class carpenter specializing in remodeling historic homes. Using Martha White corn meal (of course, what else?), he made the best cornbread I ever tasted and he did it in an iron skillet. And Steve was a collector and an avid photographer with bluegrass related photos numbering in the thousands. His bluegrass album collection rivaled any radio station.
Traveling with Steve was not without its risks, however. In Norco, California after an evening performance the band stopped at a donut shop. Our bass player at the time, George Bailey, had a full beard and mustache. Sitting across the room a man who had the same style whiskers, and he kept staring over. Finally the man said, “these hands they talk!” We assumed he was referring to some martial arts skill. Steve, undaunted, held his hand in the air forming a little mouth between his thumb and index finger and said in his highest fake voice, “these hands, they talk too.” We finished our donuts and left quickly.
There are too many stories to tell, many of which can't be told in good taste. The stories would cover a period of 40 years, so you'll have to use your imagination. When I think back on them, I still laugh to this day. R.I.P. my old friend.
-Mike Eisler
Special thanks to Joe Ross for providing photos!
