Pete Wade

Wade started playing guitar at a young age and befriended several touring musicians when his band opened their concerts in his hometown of Norfolk, Virginia. Encouraged by Don Helms and Jerry Rivers, formerly of Hank Williams’ Drifting Cowboys, Wade moved to Nashville at 19 years old and landed a job with Ray Price within two weeks. Wade’s electric tic-tac guitar work on Price’s 1956 hit “Crazy Arms,” complemented by the smooth steel guitar, helped define the style known as the Ray Price shuffle. In 1967, after making ends meet by backing artists on the road, pitching songs for Starday, and playing in the Grand Ole Opry band, Wade focused on studio work. His countless studio credits include Tanya Tucker’s “Delta Dawn” and Reba McEntire’s “Can’t Even Get the Blues.”