Does anyone remember steeler Stan Kester?

[Al Gershen]

Hi SGF:

I receive a weekly newsletter about country music called "Country Music Classics" from Doug Davis and the May 7, 2002 issue contained an interesting article titled, "Story Behind the Song."

Here, read it for yourself:

"One of Elvis Presley's early hits, "I Forgot To Remember To Forget," was
written by an ex-steel guitar player--who became a bass player and later
overheard a restaurant conversation between two guys in which one of them
was apologizing to the other for being late and said, "I'm sorry I'm late.
I just forgot to remember."

Sounds like a plot for a TV movie? Maybe so--but it's all true. That is--according to Stan Kester.

Kester spent the early part of his musical career playing steel guitar on Sun Records sessions in Memphis, Tennessee But as time went by, Kester could see that Sam Phillips was turning Sun Records in a different
direction--one in which a steel guitar player would be needed less and less. So he
decided to switch to the standup bass--thinking that would give him a better chance of staying on the payroll doing recording sessions! And about that same
time..he started writing songs.

He had already scored with an Elvis "B" side with "I'm Left, You’re Right, She's Gone," before he overheard the "I Forgot To Remember" idea in the restaurant and decided to expand it into a song title.

According to Stan, "once I sat down and began working on it, the song came together in just a few minutes."

"I Forgot To Remember To Forget" was the flipside of "Mystery Train," but entered the country charts three months before the
"Train" side!

"I Forgot To Remember" entered the country music charts September 17th, 1955 and rose to number one, where it stayed for five weeks, knocking Red Sovine/Webb Pierces’ "Why Baby Why" off the top of the charts!

"I Forgot To Remember To Forget" was on the charts for 39 weeks.

------End of Article------

We know that for a certain time period Buddy Emmons vacated the pedal steel guitar for the electric bass.

Here's a player, Stan Kester, who appears to have dropped the instrument completely for the standup bass.

Do any of you SGF members have any recollections about Stan Kester?

I look forward to your comments and I hope others will enjoy the subject.

ps: if you'd like to subscribe to this free weekly country music newsletter, send a blank email to:
Countryclassics-subscribe@topica.com


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Regards,
Al Gershen
Grants Pass, Oregon. USA
Fender 1000 (1956),
Fender PS 210 (1971) &
Gibson Electraharp EH-820 (1960)
Al's Photos at http://www.alsphotographs.com

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Al Gershen on 16 May 2002 at 09:05 PM.]</p></FONT>

[Herb Steiner]

For purposes of clarification, the fellow in question is Stan KESLAR, not Kester.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

[Jussi Huhtakangas]

Not trying to be a wiseguy or smart@$$ here, but his name is Kesler, although I've seen it as Kessler too. He was a session guy for Sun playing both steel and bass for Carl Perkins, Charlie Feathers ( who was the co-writer of "I Forgot.. )and Onie Wheeler, to name just a few. Later Sam Phillips used him to engineer lot of the sessions for Sun and recently he has been playing bass and touring with The Sun Rhythm Section!
Jussi

[Herb Steiner]

Jussi
Correct on the spelling. I think he's... or was... an studio engineer in Nashville, correct?

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

[Al Vescovo]

Hey Al, Back in the 50's there was a band leader in Memphis by the name of Clyde leppord. His band was called Clyde Leppord and the Snearly Ranch Boys. He actually had two bands. 1 and 2. Stan Kessler played in one and I played in the other, or vice versa.
We played around the Tri states, Tenn., Miss, and Ark. Some great ole times. At that time I think we both played double 8 str. Nationals. It's been a long time ago. Thanks
Al Vescovo

[Jussi Huhtakangas]

Yep Herb, that's correct, engineered sessions in both Memphis and Nashville. I believe he did some work with Pete Drake.
Jussi