Herb Remington

Herb Remington (b. Mishawaka, July 9, 1926 - ) – Steel guitarist and songwriter. After starting on the piano at age five, Herb Remington switched to guitar and eventually the pedal steel guitar during his years at South Bend’s Riley High School. While still in South Bend, he studied the steel guitar at the Honolulu Conservatory of Music and played with a local group called the Honolulu Serenaders. Following graduation in 1944, Remington went to California to play in Hawaiian groups but ended playing in western swing bands instead. After a brief stint in the military, he returned to Los Angeles and from 1946 to 1950 played with Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, the premiere Western swing band. During his tenure with Wills, Remington wrote his own featured selctions such as “Boot Heel Drag,” while also recording his own singles with Decca. His next major engagement was with the Hank Penny, with whom he wrote and recorded his signature tune “Remington Steel.” In the 1950s, Remington moved to Texas and played with such greats as George Jones and Merle Haggard. For many years, he and his wife Mel have traveled the continental United States and Hawaii with their Hawaiian band called the Beachcombers. Since 1972, he has also recorded and performed enxtensivley with the River Road Boys, a Western swing band. Currently, Remington leads his own Texas-based swing band called Playboys II. Since 1978, he has been a builder and retailer of his own design of steel and pedal steel guitars.