"Slowly" is a 1954 song by

Webb Pierce Michael Webb Pierce (August 8, 1921 – February 24, 1991) was an American honky-tonk vocalist, songwriter and guitarist of the 1950s, one of the most popular of the genre, charting more number one hits than any other country artist during the ...

, written by Pierce and Nashville songwriter Tommy Hill (brother of singer

Goldie Hill Goldie Hill (January 11, 1933 – February 24, 2005), born Argolda Voncile Hill, was an American country music singer. She was one of the first women in country music, and became one of the first women to reach the top of the country music char ...

Background

Beyond its success as a song, "Slowly" was hugely influential in the history of country music, in that it was among the first (and certainly the most successful to date) songs to feature a

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...

. The song's iconic intro, played by

Bud Isaacs Forrest "Bud" Isaacs (1928–2016) was an American steel guitarist who made country music history in 1954 as the first person to play pedal steel guitar on a hit record. He is known for his playing his innovative technique on Webb Pierce's 1954 re ...

, was said to have sent legions of lap steel guitar players scurrying to their closets for wire coat hangers, with which they attempted to modify their existing instruments to get the pitch shifting effect achieved by Isaacs.

Chart performance

The song was one of Pierce's more successful singles, spending seventeen weeks at the top of the

Country and Western A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while t ...

Best Sellers lists and a total of thirty-six weeks in the chart.

Cover versions

*On August 23, 1966,

Connie Smith Connie Smith (born Constance June Meador; August 14, 1941) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Her contralto vocals have been described by music writers as significant and influential to the women of country music. A similarity ...

recorded the song which appeared on her album

Connie in the Country ''Connie in the Country'' is the seventh studio album by American country singer Connie Smith. It was released in February 1967 via the RCA Camden label and contained ten of tracks of material. It was her first to be released on RCA's budget Cam ...

(1967) *In 1968,

Jimmy Martin James Henry Martin (August 10, 1927 – May 14, 2005) was an American bluegrass musician, known as the "King of Bluegrass". Early years Martin was born in Sneedville, Tennessee, United States, and was raised in the hard farming life of rura ...

recorded the song which appeared in the album “Free-born Man” (1969) *In 1971,

Jimmy Dean Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010) was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. He was the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand as well as the spokesman for its TV commercials. He became ...

and

Dottie West Dorothy Marie Marsh West (October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and fellow recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most in ...

recorded a duet of the song, which hit the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "conte ...

on the country charts *In 1981,

Kippi Brannon Kippi Brannon (born Kippi Rolynn Binkley, 1966) is an American country music singer. She made her debut on the country music scene as a teenager, releasing four singles on MCA Records in the early 1980s before leaving her career in favor of a col ...

had her sole hit on the country charts with her version of the song *In 2014,

The Haden Triplets The Haden Triplets, Petra, Tanya, and Rachel (born October 11, 1971 in New York City), are musicians who have performed individually in bands and together. They are the daughters of jazz double-bassist Charlie Haden. The triplets, separately and ...

(

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Ja ...

, Tanya and

Rachel Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her a ...

), daughters of jazz double-bassist

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...

, recorded the song for their debut album on

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975), commonly known as Jack White, is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo the White Stripes. White has enjoyed consistent critical and popular success and is widely c ...

Third Man Records Third Man Records is an eclectic, vinyl-focused independent record label founded and owned by Jack White, Ben Blackwell and Ben Swank. The company operates out of three locations—Nashville, Tennessee, Detroit, Michigan, and Soho, London—wit ...

.Mazor, Barry. (January 29, 2014)
Sister Act
" ''The Wall Street Journal.''

References

1954 songs Webb Pierce songs Songs written by Webb Pierce {{1950s-country-song-stub