JayDee Maness (born January 4, 1945) is an American pedal steel guitarist who is a veteran session musician in Los Angeles.

He is known for his work with Gram Parsons, the Byrds, Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, Ray Stevens, Vince Gill, and the Desert Rose Band.

[2] After high school, he married and began working at a pest control firm in the citrus orchards of San Bernardino County.

[2] On the California folk and country scene of the early 1960s, he played with a number of local acts, including Eddy Drake, Gene Davis and Norm Forrest, and found work as an in-demand session musician in the Los Angeles area.

[3] He first recorded with the band on a pair of singles ("Luxury Liner" and "Blue Eyes") before contributing to the group's sole album, Safe at Home.

[3] After the demise of the International Submarine Band, Maness joined the Byrds in the studio in early 1968 and played on their seminal Sweetheart of the Rodeo album, contributing pedal steel guitar on four of the album's 11 tracks: "The Christian Life", "You Don’t Miss Your Water", "You're Still on My Mind", and "Life in Prison" (session musician Lloyd Green played pedal steel on four other tracks that were recorded in Nashville).

Manness' reputation as a session player led to recording or touring with Barbra Streisand, Vince Gill, Michael Nesmith, Ray Price and others.

In 1985, Maness became one of the founding members of the Desert Rose Band, a country-rock group, with fellow ex-Byrd Chris Hillman, John Jorgenson, Herb Pedersen, Steve Duncan and Bill Bryson.

"[5]In 2018, Maness reunited with Lloyd Green on the 50th anniversary of Sweetheart of the Rodeo to record Journey to the Beginning: A Steel Guitar Tribute to the Byrds at Cinderella Sound in Nashville for Coastal Bend Music.