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Les Thomas's first album session on the pedal steel was in the 4ZA studio in his home town of Invercargill for internationally renowned New Zealand guitarist Peter Posa in 1966. The resulting LP, My Kind Of Pickin', remains a favourite. In the image above, Les Thomas (third from left) is in the studio with The Tunesmen. Earlier, Posa had partied and jammed with Thomas's band The Tunesmen and recommended them to Mosgiel-based impresario Joe Brown who hired them as backing group for his popular Country and Western and Miss New Zealand tours that featured recording acts such as John Hore (John Grenell), Howard Morrison and Paul Walden. Later, when The Tunesmen were unavailable, Les was drafted into The Quin Tikis for another dozen or so Brown promotions. Les Thomas had started out on a homemade lap steel and joined The Southern Ramblers, who performed live on radio station 4YZ for the first time in 1953, when Thomas was in his teens. The live broadcasts would continue for the next two or three years until Thomas eventually formed The Tunesmen. He played pedal steel in the backing band at The New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards in Gore from 1974 until 1981, as well as backing overseas artists Burl Ives, Susan Raye, Slim Dusty, Rex Dallas and Jean Stafford.
The prolific Les Thomas only ever recorded one album under his own name, Steel Guitar Country, recorded around 1979 on the Music World label with his eponymous band, Les Thomas and The Countrymen. Almost unbelievably, despite a career spanning more than 60 years, countless live shows and recording sessions, Les was entirely self-taught, and never learned to read music!
His first experience of playing live broadcasts was for Invercargill radio station 4YZ with The Southern Ramblers in 1953, when he was in his mid-teens. A call-up for compulsory military training saw the end of the broadcasting, and after that he temporarily moved to Australia. After returning to Invercargill, he was recruited to play some Hawaiian music broadcasts in a group that included Graeme Gorton (later to become a renowned opera singer). Through that group Thomas met fellow Invercargill musicians Gordon Mills, Bruce Rennie and Neville Toshach, who along with Thomas's younger brother Colin and Angus Buchanan would become The Tunesmen. Back in Southland, he gave his name to the band Les Thomas and the Countrymen, with brother Colin Thomas on bass, Maaki Goodwillie and Robert Paraki on guitar and vocals, and a series of drummers: Kevin Mahoney, Gavin Piercy and Bill Tipu. Les Thomas and the Countrymen were the backing band for the first eight years of The New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards at Gore, from 1974 until 1981. In 2004, Thomas's sterling contribution to New Zealand country music was recognised when he was inducted into The Gore Country Music Club's Hands of Fame, a year before two of the artists he had played with many times - Peter Posa and John Hore (Grenell).Les was inducted into The Southland Musicians Club Southland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.
Les passed away in Invercargill on September 15th, 2025 at the age of 90 years. |
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