David Lindley passed this 1979 Grammys gig on to me. I got to wear a tux and hang out with not only Olivia, but Barry Gibb, and Glen Campbell. Watching the 95-year old Eubie Blake was the other highlight of the evening for me.

I’m playing my double-12 Emmons pedal steel through a Webb amp. If you noticed that the very first dotted quarter note is missing from my performance, you are correct. After the one rehearsal (One time through. Time is money. Keep it all moving.), I’d pleaded with conductor, the other Jack Eliot, for some kind of indication of what his wild gesticulations meant as far as where in the world the downbeat was going to be—just a nod to me, since I was right there—but he said, “No, you’ll get it.” Nope. Also at the rehearsal, Olivia’s producer, who had played the parts on the record by multi-tracking a Telecaster and wrote out every single note for me, said something like, “That was OK, but in bar 17, you played an A and then an F#, where clearly it goes F# then A.” Well, they were paying the bill, and it is a beautiful arrangement, so I managed to do as requested.