Tommy Detamore, pedal steel player and producer, has died

Tommy Detamore, the pedal steel player, engineer and producer, died on August 5 at the age of 70, according to his wife, Saving Country Music reported on August 6. His touch was distinctive enough that fellow musicians sought him out for stage and studio work across multiple decades, which is how he ended up in the credits of so many country records.

Detamore's career ran from oldtimers like Ray Price and Johnny Bush to contemporary artists such as Sunny Sweeney and Robert Earl Keen, and he worked as master engineer on Ty Myers's breakout 2025 album The Select. He got his start on guitar in high school in Charlottesville, Virginia, later studying pedal steel under Buddy Charleton while in college, before moving to Texas in 1981 to play for Darrell McCall.

A year later he became the mainstay steel player behind Moe Bandy, touring with him for seven years and performing on the Grand Ole Opry, Hee-Haw and Nashville Now. In 1991 he opened Cherry Ridge Studio in Floresville, Texas, which became a destination for artists across the state and beyond.

"He produced my very first album, and taught me more about producing than I could have ever learned in a class," Sunny Sweeney said of Detamore.

Detamore was a member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, and he was also active in church music, playing guitar and steel guitar at congregations around San Antonio and Floresville. The story lands in our country coverage.