Well, the wife and I have returned from a great trip to Nashville. I had a few other ideas for the title of this thread...."I used to call myself a steel player until I heard THESE guys!" or "So Robert Randolph walks into a bar"...(more on that in a bit!)

Anyhow, a few of you had sent me your info as to where you will be playing. Unfortunately, the one person I was unable to catch up with during my brief stay was Smiley Roberts. So, here's who I did catch:

*John Hughey I saw him twice, once with the Time Jumpers and once on Broadway. He was great to talk shop with, being unbelievably approchable and friendly! His was the best live C6th I've seen since I saw Herby Wallace live a few years ago.

*Eddie Lang This kid is only 22 or so, plays a Williams and is really an excellent picker. However, he needs work on his approchability.

*Mike Sweeney I wasn't familiar with him before my trip to Nashville, though I know who he is now....WOW! I kept asking myself...."how in the world is THIS guy sitting here on Broadway in a club at noon on a Saturday, PLAYING FOR TIPS??!!!??" Definitely session-musician caliber. He seemed nice enough but he didn't really chat much. I did catch him twice during my stay though. Great picker.

*Terry Wendt I don't know where to begin with Terry. So, let's just go in detail in a whole new paragraph.

Suffice it to say, Terry has single-handedly inspired me to take a new approach to my entire way of playing. I could not BELIEVE how good he was! I've only chatted with Terry very briefly in the past (mainly with regard to the magazine). Terry was quick to e-mail me when I had asked about who was playing where while I would be in Nashville. When I met him, he was quick to give me some welcoming gifts (including a copy of his book), and I had a great time talking with him and getting to know him. Little did I know when he stepped on stage would I be in for an experience I would not soon forget.

If any of you have never heard Terry, HE IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Chicken picking at its finest....I am still shaking my head at how good he is. So good, that after I left his show to check out John Hughey with the Time Jumpers, I came back to see Terry again after the end of John's show....and again the next night when he was playing a different club.

How good is this guy?

OK....this was probably the biggest mind-blower of all to me, and made my trip to Nashville complete.....ROBERT RANDOLPH comes into the club and stands against the wall just to hear Terry wail on the pedal steel. ROBERT RANDOLPH!!! He even gave Terry his card and told him to give him a call! I, of course, had to walk up to RR and tell him that I, too, was a steel player and let him know that I feel he is an awesome player. I then walked back to my chair to listen to more of Terry, and watch RR take in more of Terry as well.

So....for those of you who think RR lives in some shallow world where Nashville pedal steel doesn't exist in his mind and is of no influence to him....HE WAS ON BROADWAY LAST MONDAY NIGHT LISTENING TO STEEL AT ALL THE CLUBS ON THE STREET!

So, as I was saying, Terry really made my Nashville experience a very enjoyable one. THANKS TERRY!

*Tommy White Saw Tommy on the Opry on Saturday night....as well as a number of others (about four or five pedal steelers in total..including Pee Wee). Tommy did a great job, though didn't seem to get much chance to "spread his wings"....still, it was worth coming to the Opry to see him play. He's one of the best, IMO. Wish I could have met him....oh well, maybe next time!

I met a few other steelers on Broadway via Terry....I'm bad with names, but he did introduce me to (I believe) Tanya Tucker's steel player who looked to be in his 20s/30s, and had a huge SHO-BUD TATTOO on his right forearm! Wish I had the camera with me then!

I also loaded up on some steel guitar CDs when at Ernest Tubbs....some clunkers (including the "Steel Guitars of the Grand Ole Opry" by Weldon, Hal and Sonny....not complaining about their talent, just the production, song selection, etc.). Some good ones too....the best being the reissue of Lloyd's Little Darlin' albums. Good chicken pickin' on the first 10 tracks!

I did get a chance to hit Steel Guitar Nashville....Bobbe was not there, but Dan (Don?) was, and he was very accomodating and friendly....let me try out a number of different guitars including an old Sho-Bud (had the BEST tone of the ones I tried) and a GFI (very close to the Sho-Bud, and played like butter. I was expecting them to have a plethora of steel guitar accessories (multitudes of picks, instruction materials, seats, etc.) but they did have a nice selection of bars (BJS wins, of course...I bought another!).

Well...I've written enough for now.

I'll try to get some pics on here before too long....now that I think about it, I can't believe I didn't take a picture of Robert Randolph! Dang it!

Joe

[This message was edited by Joe Alterio on 21 August 2004 at 06:17 PM.]

Great reading about your Nashville adventures!

cheers,
Drew

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Fessenden D-10 8+8 / Magnatone S-8 (E13)

But Broadway is a must for me and the guys to go close down when I'm back there. Especially with Smiley stiring the place up!

I'll be back in Nashville again in Sept for a session and to let my hair down! Hard to do when it's a crew cut!

We try to get over to NVille very few months for a long weekend and I am always amazed at whats going on. You just never know who you're gonna run into or see playing.

Our last trip we also went over the see JH and Andy R. with the Time Jumpers..and had a chance to see and talk to Mike S, again after maybe a year....be assured, Mike is an excellent "Chatter"..he can chat with the best of em'..! I give him an "A" for chatting...

We are going back for the North Tenn show on Oct 2nd ..but going a few days early to hang out..

ya just never know..but one thing is a common thread..you will never be disappointed..it's always great fun to hang out, meet a few players and take it all in.

Our last trip, my wife was invited up to sing at Tootsies with Jimmy Snyders band..I forget the Steelers name..excellent player..Bonnie called out "Someday Soon"..and joked with the Steeler and said.."Play it like Buddy"..he laughed and said.."yeh right"..then pointed and looked at me and laughed and said.."And he can't either" ...and he was right..

It's always a good time..

Please tell me who this fine Steeler is, he did tell me his name but I forgot it..he did it all..

women..they have all the fun....

t

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 22 August 2004 at 04:50 AM.]

Tony,
The pictures to dark to tell.

Here are some pics....

Tommy White

Eddie Lang

Terry Wendt

John Hughey

Mike Sweeney

Hopefully they don't mind being "caught in the act"

Glad you all enjoyed my rambling....hope you enjoy the pics as well! (And Mike S....check your e-mail!)

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97' American-Fender-Tele-Bender-Blaster-Caster
Line 6 Amps
Jim Walker

Bobbe, sorry I didn't get to meet you....sounds like you need to change travel agents!

Thanks all for the nice comments. For anyone even thinking about a trip to Nashville, I say...DO IT!!! More pedal steel than you can shake a stick at, and these guys are ALL better than you can imagine. Unbelievably good steel all hours of the day, every day....I am already trying to figure out when I can make it back!

I don't recall the girls' name. But, she's from Canada and had a record deal up there before she came to Nashville. As far as the view goes, both Terry and John have better things in front of them than I do. LOL!!!!!

As far as Terry goes his nick-name around here for years is "Two Pedal Terry".

Mike

[This message was edited by Mike Sweeney on 23 August 2004 at 10:32 AM.]

That was a long time ago. 19 years to be exact. That gig alone aged me 10 years in the 4 months I was there. I don't know where the hair went or how I got this middle-age spread but I think I've earned it.