Born in Leaf, Mississippi, in 1937, Lloyd Lamar Green established the steel guitar as a signature melodic voice in country music while performing on thousands of songs. Green play on 116 No. 1 country music hits, including Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” and “Elvira” by The Oak Ridge Boys, and also performed with Charley Pride, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan. His work on Sweetheart of the Rodeo, The Byrds’ landmark 1968 recording, bridged rock ‘n’ roll and country music and helped inspire the Americana music genre.

Lloyd Green transformed country music in the twentieth century by solidifying the pedal steel guitar’s place in the spotlight on recordings with marquee artists like George Jones, Johnny Cash, Paul McCartney, Loretta Lynn, Don Williams, Ricky Skaggs, and Dolly Parton. Through more than 30,000 recordings he made between the 1950s and 2000s, Green’s name became synonymous with the pedal steel guitar, leaving his sonic footprints on the sound of country music forever.

Green’s journey to becoming one of the most revered session musicians in Nashville is a testament to his dedication and passion for music. At age seven, he picked up an acoustic six-string lap Hawaiian guitar and learned to play in the exotic slide style of the Hawaiian Islands. For the next three years he immersed himself in the instrument before acquiring a 1946 Rickenbacker Electro Model B and performing at local events around Mobile, Alabama, where his family had moved when he was five years old. Here his love for the steel guitar began to flourish. When he was fifteen, Green acquired a double-neck Fender steel guitar. After hearing the Webb Pierce tune “Slowly,” the first recording of a pedal steel guitar to prominently use pedal action as part of a hit record, Green modified his Fender to imitate the sounds created by steel player Forrest “Bud” Isaacs. Green drew up the idea and had a friend weld a pedal from a Ford Model T car to the guitar’s tuning system, adding a new dimension to his developing sound.

Green’s talent and innovation did not go unnoticed. During his time at Mississippi Southern College, known since 1962 as the University of Southern Mississippi, he balanced his studies with regular performances at barn dances in Bogalusa, Louisiana, on Saturday nights. He also performed within a 90-miles radius of Hattiesburg, backing artists like Hank Locklin and the Wilburn Brothers. Despite his growing success, Green still saw his musical career as a temporary detour, intending to “get it out of his system” before settling down. Thanks to his talents and perseverance, though, music became his lifelong vocation. At nineteen, Green moved to Nashville, arriving the day after Christmas in 1956. His gamble paid off twofold when he secured a spot playing with Faron Young, and met Dorothy Jewel Edwards, his future wife, during one of his first appearances at the Grand Ole Opry. At the time, Dot was roommates with Elaine Tubb, daughter of country music legend Ernest Tubb, but just six months later, Green and Dot married.

By the mid 1960s, Green had become a highly sought session musician with the popular artists of the day, thanks to his distinctive melodic intuition. His career soared into the 1970’s, prompting a string of solo albums alongside his work with country stars like Charley Pride, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lynn Anderson, Faron Young, Freddie Hart, Ronnie Milsap, and Crystal Gayle. In 1988, Green’s illustrious career was interrupted by an inner ear disorder and he retired after recording two number 1 hits with Dolly Parton, “Yellow Roses” and “Why Did You Come in Here Lookin’ Like That.” Eventually his ear condition abated, allowing him to record with Alan Jackson and others until fully retiring in the 2000s.