On this day (October 4), Lloyd Lamar Green was born in Leaf, Mississippi. A longtime member of Nashville’s prolific “A-Team” of session musicians, his unmistakable pedal-steel licks have helped 116 craft number-one country music hits, including Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” (1968), Charlie Rich’s “Behind Closed Doors” (1973), The Oak Ridge Boys’ “Elvira” (1981), and Alan Jackson’s “Remember When” (2004).
Today we’re reflecting on Lloyd Green’s immeasurable legacy in honor of his 89th birthday.
Lloyd Green Was a Childhood Prodigy
Although born in Mississippi, Llloyd Green spent much of his childhood in Mobile, Alabama. Taking music lessons from age four, Green was about seven years old when he applied to learn from the Oahu Music Company, a popular music education program that taught students to play the Hawaiian guitar.
Despite not allowing students under age 14, the company gave Green a “test lesson” — during which he performed well enough to earn an exception to the age limit…