Don't Worry

Category: News/Obituary

Glenn Snoddy has died.

The man universally credited with inventing the "fuzz tone" guitar pedal died Monday (5/21) at his home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  

Glenn Snoddy was born in Shelbyville, Tennessee in 1922.  He served in the Army during World War II, earning Bronze Stars in the Pacific theater.  While in the Army he began to tinker with radio and recording equipment, which set his course to change country music -- and rock and roll, for that matter -- in the early 1960s.

After the War Snoddy found work quickly in Nashville, working as engineer on, among others, Hank Williams' final session.  He was in demand as he worked with Owen Bradley at the famed Quonset Hut.

His life changed completely by accident in 1961.  He served as engineer for a Marty Robbins session at the Quonset Hut.  While Grady Martin played the solo on "Don't Worry" it came through with a distorted, fuzzy sound.  Instead of re-recording the take, they left it as it was.  And people -- especially musicians -- loved it.  

Snoddy invented a guitar pedal to duplicate the fuzz sound that had happened by accident on the "Don't Worry" session.  "I'm pretty sure what happened was the primary transformer opened up," Snoddy later told the Nashville Tennessean about the ground-breaking accident.

In addition to that happy accident, Snoddy worked on classics by Johnny Cash (including "Ring of Fire"), Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, and countless others.

Farewell and a salute to Glenn Snoddy, who had turned 96 on May 4.