The ceremony was held at the 44th International Steel Guitar Convention in St. Louis, Sept. 3-5.
Since 1998, Howard, a resident of Franklin, in Warren County, has been known locally for his weekly radio show, heard on Saturdays and Sundays on Classic Country Radio WBZI AM 1500 and FM 100.3 out of Xenia.
He is known by friends and listeners for his encyclopedic knowledge of classic country music. This comes honestly to Howard, whose roots run deeply in that musical genre.
Born in 1926 in Gooserock, Ky., Howard said that music and the steel guitar have been a part of his life since he was very young.
“When I was a little feller, my dad played a little music with this guy who played the dobro. That’s the non-electric steel guitar in the bluegrass world. They got together at the house every once and a while and picked, as they as say. And in my mind, when I heard him play, it said, that’s what I want to play when I grow up,” Howard said.
He got his first electric steel guitar at the age of 10. His father bought it for $65 at Sears and Roebuck. “When I got it (the guitar), back in Kentucky we just barely got electricity. And I plugged that thing in and made all kinds of noise,” said Howard with a laugh.
Howard started his musical career playing honky tonks and eventually amassed an impressive resume, which went largely unrecorded until recently.
It was Howard’s friend, Danny Hammers, who got the ball rolling. Hammers said he often wondered why Howard wasn’t in the hall of fame.
Hammers said he started researching Howard’s life and career with the intent of nominating him and found little.
With the help of Howard’s son Tony, another friend, Stephen Lake II, and a little white lie Hammers said they managed to piece together Howard’s decades-long, star-studded resume, which they submitted to the hall of fame for consideration. “We told him (Howard) that it was for a documentary that would air later that year, which of course wasn’t true,” Hammers said.
Just a small portion Howard’s resume includes the following: playing with Russ Helton and the Trailhands on the “Midwestern Hayride” TV show as well as with Buck Owens’ first band, the Bar-K-Gang, Boxcar Willie and steel guitar innovator Shot Jackson. While with a group called The Swingmasters, he helped back numerous country greats, including Connie Smith for seven years at the Grand Ole Opry.
A Navy veteran, Howard also served his country with his music playing seven USO tours alongside the likes of Roy Acuff. He is responsible for starting the first steel guitar club in 1959 and more recently Chubby Howard’s Steel Guitar Jamboree, which is in its 15th year.
Hammers said he was thrilled when he found out that Chubby was going to be inducted, “He is a dear man. We all think the world of him,” Hammers said.
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