Pete Drake

Pete Drake was a steel guitarist from Nashville who started playing when he was 14. He worked as a session musician in the 1950s, playing on recordings for artists like Elvis Presley and Brenda Lee. His steel guitar playing had a clear, singing quality that made him one of the more recognizable players in country music at the time.

In 1956, he released "Forever" as a solo single. The song became his best-known recording, a slow ballad built around his steel guitar lines. He kept recording instrumental albums through the 1960s and 1970s, like 'Pete Drake Plays the Steel Guitar' and 'The Steel Guitar Story.'

He had some personal difficulties later on, including problems with alcohol and a legal dispute over royalties in the late 1970s. He died in 1988. People who remember his playing usually mention how clean and melodic it was, especially on that song "Forever."