I would be eternally grateful if anybody in the SGF community had answers or leads to the following questions (which have come up in the course of research for some papers I am writing). All of these questions relate to studio steel playing and the process whereby creative contributions are made to commercial recordings (e.g. coming up with signature licks, fills, solos, etc.).

Any details regarding the nuts and bolts of studio work, changes over time in the nature of session playing, differences between working with different artists/producers, funny anecdotes, etc. are very welcome.

I am especially interested in responses related to commercial centers of country music, but I would love to hear any relevant stories from anywhere in the world, and at any time in history:

1) What is/was the typical process of coming up with intros, licks, etc? Is/was everything done "on the spot"? Do players come up with a set of possible intros that fit different chord changes that they bring to the session in anticipation of the tunes they might encounter? Is this one of the ways that the nashville number system is used by session players? Is there pressure to compose and play these intros, licks, etc. as quickly as possible, or is there allowance for time to experiment with different options? Is all studio work "on the clock"? Does/has the AFM have any policies regarding compensation for time spent "composing" parts or is it all considered part of the hourly scale?

2) Does anybody know of instances where conflicts have arisen because one player feels that another has used his "signature" material or licks on a recording? Has there ever been a legal suit based on this sort of conflict?

3) Are there any examples of steel players owning any publishing rights to songs that they have played on, on the basis of the steel parts, or attempting to get rights and royalties after the fact?

Thanks a trillion for any help you might be able to provide!

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Mullen Royal Percision D-10 Red Laquar Pearl inlay 8&8
"Life is too short for bad tone".

[This message was edited by Robert Jones on 10 December 2006 at 05:17 AM.]

1) Unless the artist/producer/arranger has a preconceived notion of what the intro should be, it's just on the spot, on the floor. It's anybody's game, and one thing might be settled on immediately, or differing ideas might get batted around. Some guys have what we call "bedroom licks," something they've worked on at home and mentally stored away for a moment in time. There is pressure, but it's different than it used to be. We used to cut a whole album in a day. Now, when they can take up to a week or more for an album... well, anybody can be a "musical genius" if they can take all that time to come up with something. That was the magic of the "A-team." They came up with career creating licks in a few minutes. No extra compensation for parts, just part of the job.

2) That's why we have "good Brent" and "bad Brent." If you think I'm going any further into that one, you're nuts. No suits.

3) If a guy writes a song, he will have publishing rights. If he plays on it... nope. The only "royalties" we have are from the Union's Special Payments Fund. The record companies pay into it, and each year monies are paid out to musicians according to the number of union sessions they've done over the past 5 years. The more sessions, the more money.

Hope this helps...

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Mikey D...

I was not a player in my youth but a recording engineer in Nashville during the 70's I got to work with most of the top players including Lloyd,Weldon,Hal,Buddy,Pete Drake,Stu Basore etc.

In those days there was very little charted if anything. The artisit would play either a tape of the song or just strum it out on the guitar. It was once in a blue moon where the producer would have a preconceived lick for the band to play. These guys were so creative, that it was easier to let them put together the arrangement.

Now certain guys think certain ways. After a really great session with Hal Rugg, who played out of his shoes that day I asked him how he kept going from session to session and not repeating a theme. He told me that he always keys into the vocals. The melody was where he would find his licks and not be concerned about using the same fill all day on different sessions.

It was also interesting that once the arrangement was set, the players normally played the same thing on each take until the producer was happy.

There is always an exception to the rule and that was Buddy. He really kept you on your toes and rarely played the same thing twice during the tracking of a tune. No one else I know of could do that on the fly and keep each version fresh and different. An amazing player to say the least.

To sum it up...if you don't have access to the charts before hand, key on the vocals and that should give you ideas of what to play.

Regards,

mtulbert... do I know you?

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Mikey D...

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Are there any examples of steel players owning any publishing rights to songs that they have played on, on the basis of the steel parts

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Thanks for the info on the film music angle-- a very valuable example. I wonder-- does Jay Dee Maness, for instance, get any sort of royalties or residuals for the "Dukes of Hazzard" cues? (which, incidentally, still
sound fantastic.)

I just recalled that Neil once told me that Weldon Myrick's picking inspired Connie Smith to write the vocal part that became "I'll Come Running." I don't have any of the orignal Connie Smith recordings around, so I cannot check to see if Myrick is credited... but my guess, on the basis of what you all have said about the expectations that steel players go into sessions with, is that he wouldn't have been.

The other example that came to mind is that of Bud Isaacs, of course, whose parts definitely seem to have been integral to some of those Webb Pierce tunes. I also heard that Pierce might have bought pedal steels for Isaacs or others to play, which he kept. Was this practice ever done by other singer/stars?

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I was absent-mindedly picking the guitar and the tape was rolling. Tom liked what I did, kept it for the cue and gave me a percentage of the publishing.

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quote:

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does Jay Dee Maness, for instance, get any sort of royalties or residuals for the "Dukes of Hazzard" cues?

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One of my favorite session stories: An overdub date for Turner to get a short steel part to be used on a "Josie and the Pussycats" cartoon, where the girls (cats) are all playing different genres of music, with a brief "country" segment with one of the cats playing steel.
As usual, after setting up (in the control room) I was playing a little bit to help the strings set in before tuning.
They were running the film on the console monitor. I then tuned up and told them I was good to go, when they told me they had all they needed! The engineer had recorded my noodling... I lobbied for an actual take, but they were sure they had it.
Sure enough, when they sent me the film dub, it sounded fine.
Literally 3 minutes work, and also one of the best session paychecks I've ever gotten. Please, Mr., may I have another?

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Nearly four decades after the Summer of Love anthem "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was released in 1967, Procal Harum organist Matthew Fisher is suing his former bandmate Gary Brooker for a cut of the song's royalties. The two appeared in a London court on November 13th; the suit argues that Fisher's distinctive organ melody was integral to the song's success.

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I work for a group of artists, where I help them realize their work. For Nancy Rubins, she describes what the piece is going to be, I design and fabricate the armature that makes it happen. And recently, for Paul McCarthy, there was a large (24' x 42' x 30') animated sculpture, called The Underwater World. I was given a small foam core model of the shapes and their relationship to each other and a description of what he wanted them to do. My job was to figure out how to do it and deliver the finished sculpture, 2000 hours later.

When we were doing the installation, there was a person writing for a Czech publication that was incensed that Paul was getting full credit for the piece and that I wasn't. My explanation was simply that, left to my own devices, I would never have built such a thing and that it was no different than being called in to take a solo on somebody else's tune.

The artist makes art. He, or she, might push some paint around with a brush or chip away at a rock with a hammer and chisel. Or the artist might hire a group of people with specialized skills to build something. It's all the same thing. The artist is exerting influence to make something happen.

Bach put dots, lines and wiggley cryptography on paper. This is, in turn, interpreted, by musicians, to make music. He's been dead for over 250 years and it's still recognized that it's his piece and that the written instructions are his influence on the musicians who are playing.

Herbie

I don't know how much that happens today but it use to happen quite often. Many artist searching for songs will go to the publishing companies and ask for songs and the company might have hundreds of pre-recorded songs that the writer had demoed so that an artist could come and listen to it in hopes of getting it cut.

If the writer had good players play on the demo (many times it was the same players that played on the demos as well as the masters) and they played nice licks then the artist will ask for the players to repeat those licks. Like I said keep in mind that was in the "old" days. I don't know how much that happens today.

These days, most of the so called "producers" don't have the skill to come up with these ideas. The song demos are much more intricate and most have some good intros and hooks and such in them. The demos are many times just copied in the new key for the artist that is doing them. There will be some changes made here and there, but nothing like the times when an artist would come in with just a flat top and sit on a stool and sing the song and then the players would totally create the finished product.

There may not be an intern to order lunch or a reception babe to bring you coffee as often these days but there is quite a bit of studio work to be had.

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Bob
upcoming gigs
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[This message was edited by Bob Hoffnar on 18 December 2006 at 08:20 AM.]