My name is Les Burnett and I was the bass player for Steamboat Springs. Today I live in Ball Ground, Georgia with my wife Susie. For the last 25 years I have been involved with computers as an operator, programmer, and programming manager.
We appreciate you taking an interest in this and helping to get the word out to everyone about the tribute to Jeff Roberts on June 12th. One thing I want to be clear about is that this is an event dedicated to Jeff’s memory and is not intended to be about Steamboat. The band is simply joining with the all of Jeff’s other friends to mourn his passing and celebrate his life while benefiting the organization he cared so much about, South by Southeast. We are honored to be a part of this.
Joel Ferguson called me the Saturday after Jeff passed away to give me the news. The news about Jeff had a lingering effect on me. It seemed that whenever I had a quiet moment, my mind would wander back to Jeff. The best way I can think to describe the feeling was simply ‘sad’. Jeff was a good friend and someone we all respected a great deal. I’m sorry to say we had not talked in a long time. I guess we get caught up in our own lives and I’ve never been very good at staying in touch with people. But that didn’t change the fact that we were friends. I have a lot of memories around Jeff and they represent a time in my life that was special to me.
I’m sure you will get a lot of information about the ‘Summer of ‘74’, so I’ll talk more about my time with Jeff between ’78 and ’80. Steamboat came back to the beach in 1978 to try another Summer at the Pickin’ Parlor. I guess the band had run its course and after that summer, we called it quits for good. I had taken a job at the Myrtle Square Record Bar to earn some extra money during the day. Sam Hannaford was managing the store and Jeff was there too (Assistant Manager I think). So when the band broke up, I stayed at the beach instead of returning to Macon, Ga. Jeff and I spent a lot of time together during this time. I guess more days than not, after closing the Record Bar we would head to The Tale of Sixty Days for a beer. Hanging out with Jeff was like being promoted to ‘local’ status for me. He introduced me to lots of local friends and he made life at the beach so much more fun for me. We went to a NASCAR race, cookouts and parties around the beach, and I even survived the Bunny Bust one year (barely). Myrtle beach was so different back then. When the Summer was over, the town was totally different. No more gridlock traffic on 17. Everything slowed down and while I guess it was tough economically, it was like having Myrtle Beach all to yourself until Can-Am week the next year. So, we were just good friends hanging out together and having a good time. That was like a second life for me at the beach that didn’t involve a band. I was just living at the beach and feeling at home there. Jeff was a big part of that.
I have one little story – One day we were riding down Oak St. and as we came up to a light, Jeff put his truck in park, got out and walked up to the car ahead of us. It had North Carolina plates I think, but definitely out of state. I didn’t know what was going on but it looked like Jeff was kinda upset with them for some reason. I can imagine the people in the car looking out their car window into Jeff’s belt buckle. Before the light changed, Jeff was back in the Blazer. I asked him what that was all about. Apparently they had thrown some trash out of the car. Jeff was simply reminding them that he didn’t drive to their hometown and throw out trash and he would appreciate it if they’d show the same courtesy. Jeff was proud to be from Myrtle Beach and from that story to the work he started with South by Southeast, he put his pride into action for the community.
In the summer of ’79, I started playing with Don and Steve Russell down in Murrells Inlet and eventually we became the Russell Brothers Band. The Russell family opened the Grey Man Restaurant down in Pawley’s Island in late 1980 and we were the house band. As I migrated farther South to Pawley’s, I didn’t see Jeff as often.
After Joel called with the news, the members of Steamboat started emailing each other with links to news stories about Jeff and lots of talk about the old Steamboat days. It took a while for us to find everybody. I think Bill Pruitt was the biggest challenge. It took me several days of searching the Internet to come up with Bill. I found a picture of him and passed it around to everyone for their opinion. Someone would say yes, someone would say no, but if you looked at the picture long enough and removed the moustache and goatee, you could recognize the grin. It had been over 30 years since we had talked with Bill. So not long after we all started talking again, the idea of a Steamboat reunion came up. I had heard about SxSE while reading about Jeff and came up with the idea of a reunion gig for Steamboat that would honor Jeff and benefit SxSE. After checking with all the Steamboat members, I reached out to a couple of friends at the beach for their opinion. I talked with Steve Russell and Phyllis Tannerfrye to see if they thought it was a reasonable idea. They thought it was and Phyllis went so far as to attend a SxSE meeting and make the suggestion. Phyllis and Steve provided me with contact info for SxSE and I wrote a note making the suggestion. Honestly, I was prepared to get turned down. Steamboat did a reunion appearance at Cowboy’s in 1980 (with a lot of help from Jeff), so it had been thirty years since we played at the beach. It seemed likely that no one would be interested in a band from 30+ years ago. Well, luckily I was wrong about that. The correspondence between Steamboat and SxSE started flying, more and more people at the beach started getting involved and that’s where we are today – well on our way to making this idea a reality.
Sorry, I know this is getting long but I have to mention the relationship between this band and Myrtle Beach. It’s probably a mistake to put a lot of complicated thought into it (and I have) when the connection is really very simple – we like them and they like us. When I think about the band in 1973 - 74, we were all 19 to 21 years old. Most of us were going to school at the University of Georgia but not really trying that hard. The series of events that brought us to the Pickin’ Parlor is interesting in itself, but in 1974 that’s where we found ourselves with one thing going for us – we really liked playing music. I think the music was fun and the effort was honest. It probably wasn’t that important if the music was good or not. But that was just the band’s side of things. The other ingredient, the more important one was the people in Myrtle Beach. You could have taken the same band and put us in a club in another beach town and it would not have been the same. I remember playing at the Pickin’ Parlor and one of our local friends would come in and we were glad to see them. Their being there made it fun. The way they treated us and even took care of us was amazing. I’ve heard a number of locals say that those were some of the ‘best times of their life’. Personally, I’m glad to have been a part of that and I have to agree. I want our friends in Myrtle Beach to know that they hold a special place in our hearts and the history of the band. Jeff is a big part of all this. Jeff and all the special people in Myrtle Beach made Steamboat happen.
The band will always be grateful to our friends at the beach.
Les Burnett
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