Tommy Detamore, the revered pedal steel guitarist, producer, and recording engineer whose work shaped country and Americana music for more than four decades, died on August 5 at age 70. His wife of 41 years, Sandra Detamore, confirmed the sudden passing in an emotional Facebook post, writing, "It is with a broken heart, I share that my husband of 41 years, Tommy Detamore went home to be with the Lord yesterday."
Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, Detamore picked up guitar in high school before discovering pedal steel in the 1970s under the mentorship of steel guitar legend Buddy Charleton. He moved to Texas in 1981, joining Darrell McCall's band before spending seven years touring with Moe Bandy, appearing on the Grand Ole Opry, Hee Haw, and Nashville Now.
In 1991, Detamore founded Cherry Ridge Studio in Floresville, Texas, which became a hub for country and Americana recording. He went on to produce, mix, or master more than 150 albums and play on over 300 recordings, working with Ray Price, Ronnie Milsap, Johnny Bush, Robert Earl Keen, and Sunny Sweeney, among many others. His work earned a 2001 Grammy nomination and the Academy of Western Artists' 2008 Will Rogers Award for Record Producer of the Year. He was later inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame.
Tributes poured in from artists he mentored. Sweeney, whose debut album he produced, called him "one of the truly great steel players of our lifetime," while friend and fellow musician Gary P. Nunn remembered Detamore as "a life long Christian man" who devoted his Sundays to his church and treated every session in the studio as a labor of love.
Sandra closed her tribute with a note of hope rooted in her faith: "I know where he is and I thank you and one day I too will be with him again in our mansion in the sky. John 14:2." The family is planning a public celebration of his life.
