Ollie Strong’s career began in the 1950’s playing Steel Guitar in the era prior to the instrument having Pedals. He was among the first small handful of pickers in Canada to begin playing Pedal Steel Guitar. Noted as an early member of the house band on CBC TV’s Tommy Hunter Show, over the course of his long career Ollie backed up legends such as Ray Price, Jean Shepard and, Jim Reeves. His playing is featured on albums by Canadian heroes Gordon Lightfoot, Murray McLauchlan and, Dick Damron along with countless other "lost" Canadian Country sessions on the Arc and Marathon/Paragon labels by singers like Chef Adams, Brent Williams, Al Hooper and, Bill Long. He’s even credited as the Steel Guitarist on Funkadelic’s 1972 album, America Eats Its Young, and I sure wish I’d known that ahead of our conversation.
