Pete Adams And The Cobble Mountain Band

[Chris Templeton]

The Cobble Mountain band, with Pete Adams on steel, from Tyringham, Mass, in the late 70's was an early influence on me and inspired me to get a used Marlen pedal steel.
The lead singer and guitar player, Walter Palmer, was my school pal's cousin. My pal was Rick Plant, AKA Richard Pappenheimer, a great guitar player, who has worked and recorded with Allison Moorer, Walter Hyatt and others and now lives in Australia.
It was in rough shape, but inspired me to pursue the steel guitar.
Anyone familiar with them?

[Bob Hoffnar]

I remember Pete coming down to nyc and sitting in with a very cool band that had Jon Graboff playing guitar if I remember right. They had a steady gig at some bar below Houston st on the lower east side.

[Chris Brooks]

Hey Chris, great to hear guitarist Rick Plant mentioned here!

I wasn't familiar with Cobble Mountain, but when I sojourned in New England briefly in the mid 80s, I played with Rick Plant in Liz Bordo's band (remember her?). Rick and I worked so well together, and I could never find out (now that I live again in the Northeast) what happened to him.

So thanks for this flashback, amigo! And Rick, if you are out there, good on ya, mate.

[Pete Finney]

Didn't know Pete Adams but knew Rick Plant pretty well during his Nashville days (90s and '00s). Great guitarist and bass player; he was Buddy Miller's right-hand guy on bass for years, among many other gigs, and we both played with Allison Moorer at different times and were regulars in the house-band for several years at Billy Block's weekly throwdowns at the Exit In. Rick's wife Sherry Rich is a great singer who's originally from Australia and they left Nashville for Melbourne 20 or so years ago. Rick and I visited in Melbourne when I was on tour down there in 2006; great time with Rick and a fantastic city.

[Chris Templeton]

Pete- I went to a couple of Billy Block's shows. I often wound up at The Grapevine at Wooten Brothers shows.
Here is Rick Plant playing electric on my "Blues & Greens with Buddy Emmons: https://christophertempleton.bandcamp.c ... and-greens
Rick and I grew up together in Cambridge, Mass. We had a band called "The Froggies. in 3rd grade and also played cellos. together,
Darrell Scott was a "big fish in a small pond" in Boston, and when I was in Nashville and lived in his house that he inherited from his Dad, in Mt. Juliet, while he moved down from Boston..
Darryl had a writing hit with Travis Tritt's, "It's A Great Day To Be Alive" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4tSE2w53ts .
Pete-Did you record on any of Barbara Way's Demos at Rick's Little Black Dog Studio?

[Doug Beaumier]

Pete Adams has been a good friend of mine for 40+ years, and he's a great player!
Here's a short clip of Pete playing the Buddy Charlton tune "Cool It". He's playing my Emmons original through a Quilter TT-15 amp. (2023)

YouTube ----> https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tjJ_E5t5LXY

Instagram ----> https://www.instagram.com/p/DMSuRnXuLD7/

download/file.php?id=10651

[Chris Templeton]

Nice to see some old school pick blocking.
Thanks Pete for inspiring me to pursue the steel!
What is his picking hand thumb doing? I don't think it's muting.

[Doug Beaumier]

I don’t see anything unusual in his picking hand, but his bar hand… It looks like his thumb reaches over the bar sometimes to block a string. Whatever it takes to get the sound!

[Pete Adams]

Hi Chris, fun to look back on those Cobble Mountain Band days, I was brand new to steel guitar and we made a pretty good run of it recording 2 albums in the process. I was first inspired seeing Clean Living from Northampton area with Paul Lambert on a push pull.
And Bob Hofner- that band in NYC with Jon Graboff was Beat Rodeo. I’m still in touch with Jon…

[Doug Beaumier]

Paul Lambert was my gateway to pedal steel too! What a great player he was.

[Fred Treece]

I don’t see anything unusual in his picking hand, but his bar hand… It looks like his thumb reaches over the bar sometimes to block a string. Whatever it takes to get the sound!

A friend of mine took lessons long time ago from a guy who blocked with his bar hand thumb like that. Seems to work out pretty well for this chap too

[Chris Templeton]

Pete- My introduction to CMB was via my school friend, Richard Pappenheimer's cousin, Walter Palmer in Tyringham.
Now called Rick, Richard moved to Nashville and worked with or recorded with, Allison Moorer, Walter Hiatt, and others.
He know lives in Melbourne, Australia and married someone he met in Nashville.
Here's Rick playing with Buddy Emmons on my song "Blues and Greens":
https://christophertempleton.bandcamp.c ... and-greens