Steve Canaday

 

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Stephen Paul Canady
1944 - 1999

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"Steve Canaday is responsible for almost everything that happened to us a a professional unit". 
Steve Cash

Ozark Mountain Daredevils

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"He was probably more instrumental than any of the guys in the band...."
"Supe" Granda
Ozark Mountain Daredevils

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"It was through Canaday that we first got a record company interested and that was a real kick in the wazoo for everybody.
Randle Chowning
Ozark Mountain Daredevils

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"If it wasn't for Steve Canaday, nothing would have ever happened. .... He's one of the people I miss most"
Larry Lee

Ozark Mountain Daredevils

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"Steve Canaday was a good buddy - a good guy, very good guy. 
John Dillon

Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Steve Canaday wrote "Fair Play" for Brewer & Shipley's ST11261 album in 1974.  A former member of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Steve was a songwriter, played guitar and drums, and later tour managed a variety of acts. 

Steve was instrumental in helping The Ozark Mountain Daredevils get their start.  He co-owned the New Bijou Theater night club in Springfield where the Daredevils first formed.  He recorded their first demo and personally took it to New York City to shop it to record companies.  Through sheer persistence Steve was able to get the legendary John Hammond Sr. to listen to it, which resulted in the Daredevils getting a recording contract.

John Dillon explained, "At some point Steve found himself in New York City and decided to see if he could get into John Hammond Sr.'s office to play our tape.  The story goes that he rode up the elevator without an appointment, and went up to Mr. Hammond's secretary and said 'I have a tape to play for Mr. Hammond.'  His assistant said 'No way will he see you.'  But he did and Steve went in a played our tape.  And when "Black Sky," by Cash, came on, Hammond, who had never turned around from reading the paper, put the paper down and turned around.  Any other given day, any other given moment, John Hammond would not have seen Steve.  It was the right moment for him".

Steve was road manager for the Daredevils for a while, and played in the band for years.  Songs he wrote for the Daredevils include: "Back Roads" & "Horsetrader" which appeared on their albums, Don't Look Now (1977), It's Alive (1978), Modern History (1989).

Steve moved to Nashville in 1990 and tour managed for Shennandoah, Tammy Wynette, Wade Hays, Lee Roy Parnell, and Marshall Chapman. 

Tragically, Steve died in 1999, at the age of 55, in a small plane crash in Nashville Tennessee.

 
       
 
 

 

 
 

Fair Play