In 1953, Bud Isaacs played his new Bigsby pedal steel on a Webb Pierce session. His fluid, expressive chords became an integral component of Pierce’s ballad “Slowly”, the first Nashville hit to feature pedal steel. Granted, Hollywood’s Speedy West pioneered country pedal steel, using his own Bigsby on 1949-50 Eddie Kirk and Tennessee Ernie Ford hits, a fact that Opry announcer Eddie Stubbs’ liner notes never acknowledge. Nonetheless, “Slowly” truly established the pedal steel’s status in country music. Isaacs’ 1954-56 RCA contract produced 24 outstanding, decidedly progressive instrumentals recorded with a studio band generally centered around Chet Atkins and session aces Bob Moore and Buddy Harman. Isaacs uses his distinctive, astringent tone to uncork blazing, inventive ideas (Chet, too, is no slouch) on “Sweet And Hot”, “Bud’s Boogie”, Bill Monroe’s “Kentucky Waltz” and two takes of his signature tune, “Bud’s Bounce”. Taken as a whole, the package ratifies Isaacs’ underrated status as an innovator.