This is Donna, Duane's wife, letting everyone know about the passing of Chuck Raue. He was a singer in the St. Louis area for many years, and was considered by many as one of the best. He passed this morning after a short battle with cancer. I was privileged to be able to jam with him for the past 3 years. He will be missed.
Chuck was at almost all the early years of Scotty,s steel shows, He could sing a Ray Price song with his talented voice, But Chuck was a good friend he loved the Steel guitar an made a lifetime full of friends.We will miss Chuck.
I am sorry to learn of Chuck's passing. Unbeknownst to him, he played a pivotal role in my evolution as a musician and as a steel player. Back around 1972, when I was going to college in St. Louis, I used to attend the small-scale "steel guitar shows" that Scotty used to put on (long before any "convention") at the American Legion hall down the road from his shop a few blocks. It was there that I got exposed to Maurice Anderson, Curly Chalker, and other jazz-oriented players that were way over my head (and ears) at the time. Having come into the steel guitar world through the door marked "Country Rock", I had no clue what Reece & Curly and others were playing or why, and I probably didn't really like it that much. But then up came this fellow, Chuck Raue, to sing "Secret Love" in a western swing style. Well! I'd never even heard Bob Wills or any western swing at the time -- and I ate it up! I LOVED it! And I would go back to every show, each year, and the highlight for me was always hearing Chuck Raue sing "Secret Love". It really opened up a big window for me musically that ultimately led to me starting my own western swing band years later and western swing was my "starter drug" into the world of jazz. And that's where I spend most of my musical time today, between western swing and jazz, and a good part of that can be traced back to Mr. Chuck Raue.
I did meet him a few times, years later, at Scotty's now-much-expanded ISGC and had the opportunity to thank him for his influence on me. I'm sad to hear of his passing today.
R.I.P. Chuck Raue. He sang a good song in life and will be remembered beyond.
Chuck is one of the first entertainers I met when I started going to St Louis
in the earliest '70's and since then we've been together on the stand
countless times and became good friends.
We'd always look forward to when Chuck took the stand, as all of us
knew Chuck would sing the stuff we like to 'stretch out' and solo on.
Sympathies to Chucks wife, Juanita.
Here's Chuck in an early '70's live Secret Love with Buddy Emmons and Thumbs
Carlille when they we're working the week in St Louis with Roger Miller ~> click
~Russ
Chuck and his great voice were always present at any of the Steel shows that Scotty coordinated in the St Louis metro region. His presence meant a real treat was in store, and he enhanced those shows anytime he was near - or on - the stage.
Sympathies to his family.
chuck is one of the few singers that truly understood the difference between a jam song and a show song. next time your jammin' you might think of chuck. please know he will never be alone. stay tuned, kenny
He recorded a song with my hero Julian Tharpe on Julian's last L.P. It was written by Julian titled "Julie Daddy's Little Girl" and it was a Masterpiece both by the writer and Chuck's vocals.
Russ Wever played bass and Bobby Caldwell did a super twin part on it too!
I could write a book about Chuck. We had many jam sessions at Scotty's Music and in the basement of Chucks home. We recorded every one of them. We would have jam sessions with local steel players and pro players. Wally Murphy, Doug Jernigan, Curly Chalker, Buddy Emmons, Buddy Charlton, Terry Bethel and the entire Mel Tillis band and with Mel too! Herby Wallace, Tommy White, Paul Franklin, Julian Tharpe and many more. Bobby Caldwell was at almost every one of the jams.
Chuck will be sadly missed by all of his musician friends and fans alike. We had a jam session at Scotty's Music with the Greatful Dead and New Riders with both Buddy Cage and myself playing on Lloyd Greens D-10 steel guitar. Chuck was not at this one but if he had known about it I bet he would have been here and sang his heart out. Scotty
