Snoddy, Glenn

Murfreesboro…Obituary

Glenn Snoddy, age ninety-six, of Murfreesboro, TN, died peacefully at home Monday, May 21, 2018. A native of Shelbyville, TN, he was preceded in death by his parents, Julius and Gaynelle Snoddy; his loving wife of seventy years, Sara Francis Snoddy; and his brother Charles Snoddy.

He is survived by his son, James T. Snoddy; daughters, Dianne Mayo (Lee) and Glenda Keller (Alan); grandchildren, Kyle Mayo (Bracey), Michael Mayo, Curtis Keller and Corey Keller (Maegan); and great granddaughter, Magnolia Francis Mayo.

A U.S. Army veteran, he served in the South Pacific Theatre during WW II. He was an accomplished sound engineer with numerous hit records to his credit and retired as President of Woodland Sound Studio. Mr. Snoddy was a member of North Boulevard Church of Christ.

Visitation will be Thursday, May 24, 6:00-8:00 pm and Friday, 1:00 pm. The service will be at 2:00 pm at Woodfin Memorial Chapel in Murfreesboro. Burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery with military honors. Family and friends will serve as active pallbearers. Associates in the music industry will serve as honorary pallbearers. Memorial donations to the Nashville Engineer Relief Fund@www.theaudiomasters.org. An online guestbook is available at 222.2oowfinchapel.com.

Glenn Snoddy, Nashville Engineer & Inventor of the Fuzz Pedal, Dies at 96

5/23/2018 by Chuck Dauphin

Elmer Williams/Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum/Getty Images

Glenn Snoddy (L) with Owen Bradley in Bradley Studio.

When he was recording Marty Robbins' "Don't Worry" and the transformer in the amplifier blew up, Snoddy helped create what would become known as "The Nashville Sound."

The name Glenn Snoddy might not be well known by the general music fan, but he helped to usher in one of the most exciting -- and financially viable -- eras of Country Music history. Snoddy, who passed away Monday at the age of 96, was one of Nashville's top engineers beginning in the 1940s.

Snoddy -- who began his career as a radio engineer and eventually worked his way up to "The Air Castle of the South," WSM AM 650 -- helped to establish Castle Studios as one of the first major recording spots in Music City and also spent time working at The Quonset Hut. It was there that he helped to oversee sessions from many of the legends of the format -- including Hank Williams (Snoddy engineered Williams' last recording session in 1952), Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins. It was with the latter that he would make a little nugget of recording history.

In 1960, Snoddy was at the Bradley Brothers-owned Quonset Hut working on a session with Robbins for Columbia Records. All of a sudden, he heard something a little different. About a minute and a half into the song, "Don't Worry," Grady Martin's guitar made somewhat of a distorted sound instead of the usual smooth style he was known for.

"We thought there was something wrong, and something was wrong," Snoddy told the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal in the fall of 2016. "The transformer in the amplifier blew up."

It wasn't meant to be. It definitely wasn't planned. However, the sound -- different as it was -- was loved by Martin's fellow musicians. When the recording was sent to Columbia executives in New York City, they stood in agreement with the pickers. The distorted guitar remained on the record.

The Robbins record topped Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in February 1961, setting the stage for Snoddy to find a way to re-create that sound, as it became very much sought after by Nashville producers. He constructed a guitar pedal that was housed in a structure that was similar to a box. All musicians would have to do was to push a button to distort the sound. The Gibson Company heard it, bought the rights to it and manufactured the Maestro Fuzz-Tone.

Just a few years later, that sound Snoddy helped to usher in for the first time became known all over the world when The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards used the invention on the iconic "I Can't Get No Satisfaction."

After the Bradleys sold the Quonset to Columbia, Snoddy stayed with the studio, continuing to leave his mark on the business -- now as a studio executive. During his time there, he hired a newcomer to town from Texas to be a janitor. His name was Kris Kristofferson.

In 1967, Snoddy acquired an old movie complex just outside of town and established Woodland Studios. Among the hits that would be born there included Charlie Daniels Band's "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" and The Oak Ridge Boys' "Elvira." Woodland was also the home of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's landmark 1972 set Will The Circle Be Unbroken. He sold the studio to AVI in 1980, but remained there for another decade.

Visitation for Snoddy will be at Woodfin Memorial Chapel, 1488 Lascassas Pike in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on Thursday from 6-8 p.m. and Friday at 1 p.m. The funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday and burial will be at Evergreen Cemetery with military honors, as he was a U.S. Army veteran who served his country during World War II, earning three bronze stars. .

From the New York Times

By Bill Friskics-Warren May 25, 2018

Glenn Snoddy, the studio engineer who was at the controls for the historic Nashville recording session that inadvertently produced the sound that became known as the fuzz tone, died on Monday at his home in Murfreesboro, Tenn. He was 96.

His death was confirmed by his daughter Dianne Mayo.

Though typically associated with ’60s rock — and maybe most famously with Keith Richards’s fat, buzzing guitar riff on the Rolling Stones’ 1965 hit “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” — the fuzz tone emerged from the studio session that produced the country singer Marty Robbins’s otherwise euphonious 1961 single “Don’t Worry.”

A malfunction in the console through which the playing of the electric bass guitarist Grady Martin was being transmitted caused the original fuzz-tone effect, Mr. Snoddy said in a video made by the National Association of Music Merchants in 2014.

The low, reverberant sound produced by Mr. Martin’s bass on “Don’t Worry,” which reached the country Top 10, was reminiscent of a rumbling car muffler.

From Sandra and Jerry Collins…

Glenn and Francis Snoddy were at Otter Creek while we were there and moved to Murfreesboro sometime in the nineties. Jerry loved playing golf with him and would drive to Murfreesboro to play with Glenn and Bill Vermillion, who went to North Boulevard Church of Christ with Glenn. He was even more famous than we already knew. At the visitation we saw photographs of him with Kris Kristopherson, Charley Daniels, and Liberace. There were golf photos with Sam Sneed and others.

Jerry heard an NPR broadcast telling about Glenn’s life and his three Bronze Stars from WW II. At the visitation, Dianne told us the New York Times had called when she was too busy to respond, and Glenda suggested I Google his name for more pictures. There were stories about his life and death from Billboard and other newspapers including some in France, Italy, and other countries. We knew him as a sweet and humble man who ran the sound equipment at church and loved playing golf with Carl Watts and others.

Google his name and read about the modest man’s remarkable career and legendary contribution to the music industry.

Katherine (Katy)…3/5/2006

Katherine LaHoma Spencer, of Nashville, died Sunday at the age of eighty-one. She is survived by her son, James Terrence Spencer; daughter, Jamie Spencer Durham; grandchildren, Mason Adams Spencer, Sara Spencer Fogelberg, Hanna Christine Durham; great- grandchildren, Samantha Rae Fogelberg, Ella Grace Fogelberg, Bradley Fogelberg; and brothers, Robert Paul Estep and Lloyd Estep. She is preceded in death by her beloved husband, James Herbert Spencer and brother, Joseph Estep,Jr.. A memorial service in her honor will be Tuesday, March 7, 2006, at 1 pm, at the Mount Juliet Church of Christ. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Lakeshore Estates., Inc., 8044 Coley Davis Rd., Nashville, TN 37221.

Memorial Service To Celebrate the Life and Memory of Katherine Estep Spencer December 4, 1924—March 5, 2006 Tuesday, March 7, 2006, 1:00 pm Mt. Juliet Church of Christ

The service included a prayer by Tommy Holshouser; welcome and message by David R. Shannon, minister, Mt. Juliet Church of Christ; congregational singing led by song director, Andrew Phillips, minister, Mt. Juliet Church of Christ; Scripture reading of Revelation 21:1-7 by DeWayne Griffin, elder, Mt. Juliet Church of Christ.

Songs included “How Sweet the Sound,” “The Stirring,” “Sweet By and By,” “Shall We Gather at the River,” When Peace Like a River” and “New Jerusalem.” To Jamie and Terry and to your family, we extend our deepest sympathy. Our prayers have been with you, and to each of you, on behalf of the family, we welcome you and we thank you for coming. Your love, your presence, your hugs, your tears, your smiles mean a great deal and especially at a time like this.

David R. Shannon, Minister…Katherine Spencer lived with a smile on her face. She had a lot to smile about. She loved her God. She loved and served her family. She loved and was faithful to her husband. She compassionately raised her children. She loved the church and was faithful in it. She loved her community and continually supported it, so today, we see both sides of what the scripture speaks of death. We see the side of joy and celebration. Psalms 116:15 says “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints,” and we believe, by faith through hope, that this is a wonderful occasion, but we also see the same side of death that Jesus saw when he went to the tomb of his friend. He had seen Mary and Martha weeping. He had seen a community come around grieving and supporting. He asked where the tomb was and where he was laying, and he was taken to the cemetery.

It wasn’t because the Lord did not understand resurrection. It was not because he thought that there was no hope for Lazarus. It must have been because of the enemy, death, that John 11:35 says, “Jesus wept.” And no wonder when the great resurrection chapter speaks, in I Corinthians 15, it declares that Jesus, putting away all enemies, and the last enemy that shall die is death. In a victory song, the chapter ends, “Oh, death,

where is thy sting. Oh, grave, where is thy victory.” Thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

When I think of Katy and her love for her family, I think of the virtuous woman. When I think of her as a mother, I think of Eunice, or as a grandmother, I think of Lois, one that instills faith to the next generations. When I think about her hospitality, I think of Martha, and when I think about her being one that remembered the greater part, setting at the feet of Jesus, I think of Mary. When I think of one that was active in the work of the church, I think of Phoebe. When I think of one that as Paul would say of Aquila and Priscilla, that they put their neck out for me. I think of Jim and Katy as they put their neck out for the work of the Lord, involving and risking themselves. When I think of Miss Katy, I think of Sarah, one that instills this faith to her children, but also one that was faithful and supportive of her husband, and when I think of Miss Katy, I think of David; one that lost a child in infancy and came to realize that that child would never return to her, but that she could go and be with that child.

We do not celebrate an end today. For a Christian, death is a transition. It is the end of life on this earth, but it is the beginning; the beginning of something wonderful. It is the time of the great resurrection when we will rise up but then bow down to worship the Almighty God. In the presence of God, in a city whose builder and maker is God, under the shade of the everlasting tree, the Tree of Life, to drink of the waters that are crystal clear. Death is not an end. Death for a Christian is just a stirring, it is just an awakening to something so much better.

PRAYER, Tom Holshouser:

Holy God, we come before you here this morning with about as many mixed emotions as we could possibly have. We are sad, God, because we have lost a sister and a mother, a grandmother, a friend, someone that we have known and laughed with and cried with, supported the good times and bad times for a long time.

Father, we are sad. We hate to see Katy go because we all love her so much in our own way.

Father, we are happy. We have the greatest happiness in the world, knowing that Katy is well now. Katy is not missing Jimmy. Katy is with you, and we have wonderful memories of the happiness that she has shed in our life, the laughter that we have had. We pray, Father, that we will always remember her in that light. We take great joy in the fact that because of Katy’s life, that she has influenced her family and all of us to live for you in one way or another. We take great joy, Father, in the fact that Katy is home.

Father, as we look at Katy’s life, and as we think about her and talk about her and Jimmy and all that she meant to us, I pray that your spirit will preserve the good, preserve the good memories, preserve the joy that we had. Help us to remember the good things. Forget the sickness and help us to always live and bathe in the joy that she gave us.

Father, I pray that as we observe Katy’s death, that you will reawaken in us a sense of our own mortality; that each of us will reaffirm to live and do the things that Katy encouraged us to do, to be true to you and to be true to each other, to stand by each other through thickness and thin, and to be there in times of joy and sadness to support and to show our love as she did.

Father, we thank you so much for Jesus. We thank you so much that he came here and lived like we live, experienced the loss of friends. He experienced death himself, but Father, he is not dead. He arose and

because he arose, we have faith and we have conviction and we have the joy that Katy is with you and that one day, we are going to all be back with Katy.

And Father, we pray all of this in the name of that risen Jesus, our Lord. Amen

Congregational singing

Jamie has written a beautiful description of her mother’s life, and I would like to share that with you at this time.

Katherine LaHoma Estepp as born on December 4, 1924, to Joseph and Blanche Estepp in Charleston, West Virginia. She had three brothers; Joe, Jr., Paul, and Loyd. She met the love of her life, James Herbert Spencer, and they were married on January 24, 1941, and they had three children: James Terrence, LaHoma Antoinnette, who lived only one moth, and Jamie Faith.

Katy was baptized into Christ eight years after the devasting loss of their second child. Shortly after her baptism, she discovered that she was expecting their third child, so she gave her the middle name of Faith. She remained a faithful Christian all of her life, and because of her steadfast love of the Lord, her husband, Jimmy, also gave his life to the Lord. Both of her children, all three of her grandchildren have been baptized into Christ. There is no greater legacy. Her faith gave her confidence that she would one day be in heaven and she wanted all of her family to join her there.

She was a avid volunteer in the community, helping to organize events for ladies’ auxiliaries, the Arts Council, and Mars Hill Bible School. She also taught Sunday School classes. Together, Jim and Katy were instrumental in helping establish a Church of Christ in Midland Park, New Jersey. They co-signed a note with a handful of other members, allowing them to purchase property so that the congregation of 65 could have a place to worship. She was an accomplished seamtress also. She learned to sew from her mother, who was a tailor. She made all of Jamie’s clothes until she was about 12 years old. Jamie asked her mother if they could go to a store and try on clothes. It was then that Katy realized that Jamie had never been inside a store fitting room, and they regularly enjoyed shopping trips together after that, even though Katy enjoyed wearing beautiful garments that her mother continued making.

She passed on this family talent by teaching her daughter-in-law, Ann, and Jamie to sew also.

Katy was a great gardener. It seemed there was always something blooming in her yard and she kept vases all around her house to enjoy the fresh cut flowers. Together, Katy and Jim grew enough vegetables for their table, to share with friends, and to still fill a freezer and to can and have enough jars to open throughout the year. She was an excellent cook. She enjoyed entertaining in her home. She would often have large fish frys with all the fixings for neighbors and family when Jim would have a good day of fishing, and fortunately for everyone, that was often.

Katy loved to exercise. She went to aerobics classes four to five times a week. Her granddaughter, Sarah, always thought that she looked so cool in her bubble gum pink high-top sneakers.

The family always had the most fun visiting Katy and Jim at their home in Sheffield, Alabama, on Wilson Lake. Katy would go swimming with the grandchildren at the lake and she watched them learn to ski. She would even play hard with them out in the water, as long as she didn’t get her hair wet.

Jim and Katy enjoyed traveling in their retirement years. They made trips to England, Scotland, Wales, Mexico, Italy, Wyoming, and several trips to Florida.

What most people will always remember about Katy is her infectious smile. She loved to laugh and she could light up a room by her simple presence.

Her love for her husband, Jim, was a great example of the kind of marriage that God intended all of us to have. These two were truly one. They remained faithful to each other for 58 years until Jim’s passing in 1999.

The family would like to express their heartfelt thanks to the staff at Lakeshore Heartland who took care of their mother when they were no longer able to do so.

They are also especially appreciative to those of you who have gone to the Heavenly Father on behalf of Katy during her illness. It has meant more than you will ever know.

Shortly after Jesus began his earthly ministry, he went back home. Perhaps his visit back home was not everything he expected, but he did do what he had always done, as a faithful Jew, living under the old law, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. Probably as had happened many times, the attendant at the synagogue handed him a scroll to read that day. This time, he chose a passage for a particular reason. This time, as he rolled the scroll open, he stopped at Isiah 61, and he said “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Then he closed the book and he gave it back to the attendant and he sat down, and the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him, and he began to say to them, Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Occasions like this, because of the life that Katy Spencer lived, make us appreciate passages of truth like this all the more.

Do you realize what Jesus was saying as he said, I come to preach the gospel. I come to give good news to the poor. Who are the poor? The scriptures teach us that if we gain the whole world and lose our soul, what have we profited, or if we have lost our soul and we want it back, what would a man give in exchange for his soul? There is nothing more valuable than eternal life.

So therefore, it doesn’t matter what riches we have on this earth. What matters is that we have a Savior in Jesus Christ. That we have the promise of eternal life, and so it is as Jesus would begin the sermon on the mount, the very first of the beatitudes that he would list, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. You see, there the poverty being spoken of is that we are poor of self and full of a richest grace that God offers.

How wonderful it is that as a young mother and a young wife, she saw her poverty and she accepted the riches of Jesus Christ, and what an effect that has had. Could she have ever known at that time that her decision would not only have a direct influence on her eternity, but also her husband and her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and so many others that we don’t even know. What a blessing it is to be rich with God !!

The famous Patrick Henry wrote in his will, this is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ will give them one which will make them rich indeed, so it is, as Jamie wrote, that is her legacy.

But did you notice also in this reading, we read that Christ came proclaiming liberty to the captives. When we think of sin separating us from God and the bondage we experienced, we then appreciate even greater the relationship with Jesus Christ that makes us free from all that.

In Romans 6, Paul wrote about being free from that, as he spoke earlier in that chapter about being baptized into Christ, and it is that relation into Christ that we have that cleansing of sin and then later in that same chapter, he would say that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered and have been set free from sin and became slaves of righteousness. What a blessing it is that we can be set free from sin so that we can understand the greatest freedom that has ever been offered, and the freedom that is experienced for eternity.

I think about the irony of the whole setting of Paul when he was under arrest, and this, too, will probably stand out to you if you will just envision this scene.

He was the only one in that room in plain clothing. He was imprisoned. He was bound and chained, and sitting around him would have been King Agrippa and probably in purple. Beside him Vernice, probably in scarlet. Beside her, the Governor, and then the guards that would have surrounded in beautiful décor, and Agrippa says he will give Paul the opportunity to speak. The one that is chained spoke of his freedom in Christ, and he spoke about how now that he was God’s child, he spent his life going around and urging individuals to turn from darkness to light, from Satan to God, and to receive forgiveness and an inheritance with God, and at the end of this moving presentation of the good news of Jesus Christ, Agrippa voluntarily says, “Almost thou persuadest me to become a Christian.” Paul says, “I would to God that you and all that hear me this day both almost and altogether as I am, yet without these chains.” Hear the irony. Most would say he was a poor man in the room, but yet he was trying to explain to them, I am the richest one here.

Most would say he was the only one in the room that was in bondage, but yet he was declaring I am the only one in the room that is free. I wish you could know that freedom.

What a blessing that today we can celebrate the life of one that has known that freedom in Jesus Christ, but note also, Jesus says I have come to give recovery of sight to those that were blind.

The Psalmist in Psalms 119:105 spoke of the word of God begin a lamp unto my feet and light unto my way.

The wonderful life that she was was because she followed Godly wisdom. God led her way. The wonderful mother that you enjoyed was because of Godly wisdom. The wonderful grandmother and great- grandmother and family member that you loved and appreciated was because of Godly wisdom that was lived in her life. The powerful way she influenced the church and the community was because of Godly wisdom, and she shared that same sight with the next generation.

But also, and finally, Jesus said I come to give liberty to those who are oppressed, and especially as we age, Paul would speak of this temporary tent that we live in, in II Corinthians 5, and he would say we

burden and do groan. He longed for that permanent home that would be given by God. How wonderful it is to think of the perfect place; a place where Mrs. Katherine Spencer is not struggling, wanting to say words, but can’t; wanting to remember, but can’t; wanting to do, but can’t; wanting to serve, wanting to worship, and now she can. This body is no longer oppressing her.

We are not a body with a soul. We are a soul that for this moment is housed in a body. A body that will wear out, will wear down, will one way or another decease, but, thank God, thank God that is not the end. That is only the time to move. It is only the time to move to something that is far better than what we have ever thought or imagined or heard discussed.

I would like to read you a poem that, I admit, the language is quiet ancient, but if you will listen carefully, the reading is beautiful.

We give them back to thee, dear Lord, who gavest them to us; yet, as thou doest not lose them in giving, so we have not lost them by their return. How does the world givest thou, oh, lover of souls. What thou gavest, thou takest not away, for what is thine is ours always if we are thine, and life is eternal and love is immortal, and death is only an horizon, and an horizon is nothing, save the limit of our sight.

It is Well with my Soul.

On Sunday morning, from this very microphone, we had a prayer for our sister, Katy Spencer. Jamie came to me right before service and she said please have a prayer. I think my Mom is real close, and I have had time this week to think back that two years ago, lacking about two weeks, some of the same staff that is sitting back there from Heartland, my mother passed away down there, and I will tell the family that only time can heal. God is a great strength, but I will tell you that our prayer has been answered. Let us pray.

Our Father and our God in heaven, you truly are an awesome God. Father, you answer our prayers sometimes and we don’t even understand it, but as we prayed, thinking back to last Sunday, we prayed that your will would be done on behalf of our sister in Christ, and this mother and grandmother and great- grandmother. We prayed, Father, that at that time, the hurting would cease and the pain would go away. Father, you have answered that prayer and you have promised us that if we are your children and that if we live our lives the way you describe for us to do in your book, that our pain will some day go away.

Father, we thank you for this beautiful service. We thank you for the wonderful memories. We thank you for this wonderful family and for all the friends who have come to support them just at this time.

Father, we ask that you continue to be with them and us throughout this day.

In Jesus name we ask, Amen.

I would ask you to listen to the reading of Revelation 21, versus 1 thru 7.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from Heaven,

saying Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold I make all things new, and he said to me, Write for these things are true and faithful. And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be my Son.

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