'Giant’ Jeff Roberts
I first met Jeff at the Pickin Parlor on May 15, 1974. That was the first night Steamboat Springs began playing a 3 ½ month gig in Myrtle Beach. He and I became fast friends and we hung out it seems like daily. He was working at a music store and turned us on to many recording artists who would later become major influences in my musical development.
To say that the Summer of ’74 was wild would be a vast understatement and I take the 5th in anything anyone might say about that time, but Son! (as Jeff used to exclaim) we had a very large time! The good times had by all who entered the Pickin Parlor and experienced the Steamboat Springs Band are still etched in our hearts as some of the best times of our lives. And Jeff was in the middle of just about everything.
Steamboat left at the end of the summer and returned many times to play at other clubs and concerts. The band became very well known in the Southeast for hard driving original electric bluegrass and country rock music. We stayed together for 2 years and then just got worn out by the constant touring and trying to live on $25 a week. The band got back together in December 1980 for a reunion concert in MB, which Jeff orchestrated.
We all followed our dreams or nightmares to various parts of the country. I moved to Los Angeles in January 1979 and lived there for 8 years before moving to Las Vegas where I still live today. While in LA I played with a band, The Midnight Riders, which won the Non-Touring Band of the Year in 1979 and I was nominated for Steel Guitarist of the Year. Steel guitar maestro Buddy Emmons won it. I won a few similar awards from the California Country Music Association and Nevada Country Music Association. But awards don’t pay the bills or feed a young family. So, after several years playing with various bands I moved to Las Vegas in1987 and went to work in 1989 with a group that owns several businesses in the Las Vegas airport and for 7 years owned all the Pizza Huts in San Diego. I have been VP of Operations and Business Development for many years. I also own 2 jewelry stores in the airport here, and I am a business coach. I also have a beautiful daughter who is the apple of my eye.
I returned to MB 3 times over the years to see Jeff and called him often. There was something about him that just made you want to be around him. Never judgmental, never upset, always encouraging, always had something new to listen to or something good to say about somebody. It just felt right to stay connected with him.
There have been a couple of strange incidences related to this reunion/benefit concert. The way I found out about Jeff’s passing was from my 8th grade girlfriend, Pam Hartsell O’Connell, who is a nurse at the hospital where Jeff died. It was the Thursday after Jeff died and I had my phone in my pocket and bent over to pick something up off the floor. The phone dialed Pam’s number but she was at work so she didn’t answer. She called me when she got off work and we chatted. Then she said “Didn’t you say you had a friend that works at Sounds Familiar?” I said yes. She said, “I hate to tell you this but I think he just passed away.” I was stunned as she told me the details but I later sent an email to my brother and the other members who I had emails for. That got us talking. Les (Burnett) and Gary (Davis) and I had not seen or spoken in many, many years. We started talking about what we could do to honor Jeff. We had to do something. So we came up with the only thing we know, playing music. Becky Warren and Les started talking and it just exploded into this awesome event to benefit SxSE and Jeff’s son, Hunter.
Had my phone not dialed Pam’s number by itself, we probably would not know that Jeff had passed and none of this would be happening. So now all 8 members and 3 road crew members and all of our families will be there on June 12th. We have not played together for 30 and with one member 35 years. We are diligently working with rehearsal cd’s to get polished up so that we will be able to put on our best show ever. It is sure to be another very large time. Everyone will be there enjoying the reunion except the one person that brought us all together… ‘Giant’ Jeff Roberts. But, ever the jokester, somehow I think he’s had a big hand in getting us all together.
Joel Ferguson
Steel guitar/Banjo
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