Brian Roth
Well-known member
The name may not ring a bell, but Steve was both a great friend and a client dating back into the early/mid 1970's when I was a brash kid designing equipment and building studios during my tenure at Ford Audio in OKC.
Ripley (as we all called him) was an amazing man who was a songwriter/singer/guitarist/producer/engineer/luthier/equpment designer/inventor and much more.
He and his band, The Tractors, soared to the top of the country charts in 1993 (?) with the song "Baby Likes to Rock It", which surely wasn't a typical country song at the time. I was flattered when I received a "mention" in the liner notes of a multi-platinum album.
Rather than blather on, here is one newspaper link:
https://www.tulsaworld.com/entertainment/oklahoma-music-artist-steve-ripley-dies/article_9cb0dc83-4d5c-5e43-b76c-becf9190f612.html
If you click through the pics at the top of the article, you can see interior pix of the Church Studio (originally constructed by Leon Russell) and the Neve 8068 desk originally from The Power Station (and sold to Bob Clearmountain when Steve closed the studio approx 10 years ago). Also in the pic collection is the Red Helios desk which Leon originally bought, and it ended up in Tulsa.
For other insights about my dear friend, see:
https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/steve-ripley-inventor-of-the-ripley-stereo-guitar-dies-at-69
http://www.vintagekramer.com/ripley.htm
I knew that Ripley's health wasn't good, but I was really sad when I learned that he had passed two days after his 69th birthday.
Folks, keep up with your health checks.
Bri
EDIT: Ripley created the name of Red Dirt for that genre of Americana, and the past few years was an avid historian/documentor of music that wasn't left/right coast/Memphis/Nashville/Chicago.
Ripley (as we all called him) was an amazing man who was a songwriter/singer/guitarist/producer/engineer/luthier/equpment designer/inventor and much more.
He and his band, The Tractors, soared to the top of the country charts in 1993 (?) with the song "Baby Likes to Rock It", which surely wasn't a typical country song at the time. I was flattered when I received a "mention" in the liner notes of a multi-platinum album.
Rather than blather on, here is one newspaper link:
https://www.tulsaworld.com/entertainment/oklahoma-music-artist-steve-ripley-dies/article_9cb0dc83-4d5c-5e43-b76c-becf9190f612.html
If you click through the pics at the top of the article, you can see interior pix of the Church Studio (originally constructed by Leon Russell) and the Neve 8068 desk originally from The Power Station (and sold to Bob Clearmountain when Steve closed the studio approx 10 years ago). Also in the pic collection is the Red Helios desk which Leon originally bought, and it ended up in Tulsa.
For other insights about my dear friend, see:
https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/steve-ripley-inventor-of-the-ripley-stereo-guitar-dies-at-69
http://www.vintagekramer.com/ripley.htm
I knew that Ripley's health wasn't good, but I was really sad when I learned that he had passed two days after his 69th birthday.
Folks, keep up with your health checks.
Bri
EDIT: Ripley created the name of Red Dirt for that genre of Americana, and the past few years was an avid historian/documentor of music that wasn't left/right coast/Memphis/Nashville/Chicago.
