There are a few forum members who lament the passing of 'traditional' country music. If this means country music that made good use of the pedal steel, then it could include songs that were recorded from the mid-1950s (e.g. Webb Pierce's 'Slowly') on up to the early 1980s (e.g. Ricky Skaggs' 'Crying My Heart Out Over You'). Country music has changed since then, and the rustic charm it once had does not appeal to an urbanized record buying public with a more cosmopolitan outlook on life. That so-called 'traditional country music' includes songs about life on the farm, honky-tonks, and cowboys - songs that don't reflect the way most of us live today.

And because the instrument carries that country stereotype, I've always been hesitant to try it. I play in a rock band, and the bassist grew up listening to the heavy metal music of the 1980s. When I told him I was thinking of buying a pedal steel he almost looked at me as if to say 'I don't know you'. My brother hates country music, and when I told him I wanted a steel he thought I lost what was left of my sanity.

Even if non-country musicians want to try pedal steel, the instrument suffers the problem of availability. I've been playing guitar for over 25 years, and where I live I've seen little more than a dozen pedal steels in local music shops during that time frame. And when I decided to buy a steel none of the local music shops had any in stock. If I didn't have access to the Internet I don't think I would have bought one. The SGF was somewhat helpful in my decision to buy.

Closely related to the issue of availability is the fact that pedal steels are made by small manufacturers. Most of these companies are owned by people who are past or approaching retirement. As George Jones once sang, 'who's gonna fill their shoes' when they're gone?

According to one thread in the forum, a lot of steelers themselves are aging. Some forum members seem worried that the next generation of would-be steelers won't give the instrument a second glance. And don't count on country music to carry the torch. Steel has been pushed further to the margins as contemporary country music slowly converges with rock and pop music.

Finally, the steel is often way off to the side or in the background whenever I see a band performing. I'd like to see a group with the steel out front, preferably with the steel player doing some of the lead vocals. If the instrument is ever to going get any attention, it has to be seen.

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Click on the pic!

A few years back, bluegrass music was waning, too, not many young players, older audiences and older performers. Then Alison Krauss came along and then Nickel Creek. All of a sudden, it's popular like it's never been, getting press and popularity and also getting people interested in fiddles and banjos and mandolins and acoustic guitars. I know, I teach a bunch of folks who hadn't even thought of what bluegrass was a few years back.

Same with steel guitar, I hope. It just takes a couple of people in the right place to make a shift in the directions of popular tastes. There are ALOT of new "alt-country" bands - the Mavericks, Son Volt, Whiskeytown, etc. - that are using pedal steel and definitely have perked up some younger ears. But alot of my peers are just discovering the sound of old (classic) country - Ray Price, Earnest Tubb, Buck Owens, etc.

As one of the younger (30s) visitors on the Forum, I say - don't give up hope in the future of the instrument. Every break or ride you take could attract the attention of a young or unexposed pair of ears.

So many people I know who've never heard of a pedal steel end up asking me: "Wow, that's a beautiful sounding instrument" - even when I play! (;

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Larry Chung
ZB D-10 8+4; ZB Custom S-11 4+4; ZB Student Model 3+1 Yeeeeahhh, Bay-Bee.

In short, it doesn't really appeal to the younger generation...and it's not for everybody...it never will be.

After an uninspired career of entertaining my self (self taught) on "real" 6 string guitars, a banjo and a dulcimer that I made from a kit, I found my left forefinger getting stiff and having a catch when I used it to fret strings. Bummer.

I started selling off my goodies. No one wanted the dulcimer and I started playing it because I could (my finger worked better with out the bend in it). After working out the piano chords at the end of "Layla" I lost interest. It just wasn't interesting or a challenge for me.

Then I saw a video and just happened to pay attention to the steel player. No, I don't remember who it was. Several days later, A co-worker was talking about a Dobro his brother had. I don't like most Dobro's. (Jerry Douglas get's a tone unlike any other I have heard and I like it!) Anyway, I started thinking about a steel again and hit the internet and found this here Forum and learned of the Carter Starter and found Shreve Audio and took some money out of savings and started spending!

I can't play this thing worth a darn. I do not play for people - think head phones! I am having a blast making music that I am making myself! It is a challenge and, no, I cannot play the piano chords for the end of "Layla" yet. I am playing for me and I am entertaining me and I am having fun. what more could you want from an instrument?

And that is how I came to the pedal steel.

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Carter-Starter, the cutest little Peavey you ever saw, and now a BJS bar!

[This message was edited by Budd Kelley on 24 November 2002 at 06:19 AM.]

I remember when Paul Franklin toured with Dire Straits. I thought the steel would finally get the boost it needed in other types of music and P.F. was the man to do it!!!

I am 36 yrs. old and fortunate enough to be making a living playing steel. If this forum is any indication of what lies ahead, I think we will like the outcome. There are new people getting into the instrument and new members signing on all the time!!

Randall Currie comes to mind as I write this. What a fantastic person and player.

Sorry for the babbling!!! Just my 2 cets worth.

They are not pop, not very commercial, somewhat mysterious, essoteric, borderline cult, loved by millions, rich in history, the foundation for all modern pop music, not a lot of people can play the instruments and music authentically, hard to find on the radio and TV, etc..etc..

The point is, it is the noncommercial appeal that attracted me to both mandolin and pedal steel. The fact that I could play something unique was the attraction! Some people have referred to my mandoin as a ukelele and had no idea what that "electric table with strings" was!!

So why would I want the pedal steel to be more commercially acceptable and more prevalent on radio? I don't!! I know where to find it and I like it just how it is. The more music and the instruments are made to be commercial and pop, the more the music industry execs control how it sounds and what is played. We are still in control in our small steel guitar world and I like it just fine. Play what you love and love what you play! Ralph Stanley and Bill Monroe had no idea that traditional bluegrass roots music would enjoy the kind of popularity it has right now due in part to the movie "Oh Brother". Good music will endure and stand the test of time. I predict that classic country and honky tonk shuffles will re-emerge one day and those of us that stayed the course will have the pleasure of playing to young audiences that are amazed once again by the wonderful traditional sounds of the "electric table with strings"!!

Staying the course,

quote:

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I know where to find it and I like it just how it is.
We are still in control in our small steel guitar world and I like it just fine.

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Terry,
The bands that let me play what I love tend to be pop bands or new music composers. To replay the same brilliant music that Emmons and Green played with the steel back when it was revolutionary and new in current musical contexts adds nothing more than a cliche. I can think of of no better way to kill off the steel guitar as a viable musical instrument.

Bob

[This message was edited by Bob Hoffnar on 25 November 2002 at 07:16 AM.]

This band was not a country rock band. We played Hendrix and Claption inspired hard rock and roll. Our lead singer/guitarist couldn't tell you who who Merle Haggard or Willie Nelson are. I didn't play any E9 country licks in this band, I played things and uzed sounds (distortion) that were appropriate to the nature of the music.

A lot of people in this thread share my opinion about steel: what makes it great is its unique sound and personality - and by extension, the personality of its players. It is uncommon and esoteric and it's those qualities that we should celebrate. As a performer, I love the fact that a steel player gets to sit and concentrate on the sound, the harmony, the "color" of the music. I consider it a luxury.

I used to think that making the market huge would be great. But lately I've come to cherish the fact that it is unique, hard to find, focused. There are "1562 guitar pickers in Nashville - and every one will play twice as better that I will." or however the song goes. Geez - it's nice to go to a jam and pull out the lap steel or pedal and not be one of the other guitar players!

I play steel in a country band but like many areas of this country (US), it's getting harder to book gigs for the old style. Especially in this university town! We play older non-top-40 because we like it - but we don't get to play that often! So because I love non-pedal as well ( and to get more gigs) I suggested we do Hawaiian. So last summer we created an old style Hawaiian band (steel, uke, gui, bass). Having the drummer get a DUI and not be able to drive to gigs anymore helped too , so we fired him and got a uke player.

I've never had an easier time booking a band. The sound is unique, and it fits into lots of events (esp. in summer). Something else I've found is that the songs are so obscure on the mainland due to distance and time - NOBODY's really heard this stuff. The catalog of music is wide open. It's fresh. No more classic rock or country songs I've heard 1000 times! People always ask about the steel!. I get to play steel, and get to learn and polish the basics. It's making me a better pedal player. And it's fun. So Colorado Hawaiian music is alive and well. I forecast an increaseing trend in nonpedal steels showing up in many types of bands in the next 5 years. As a result - the pedal will see growth as well!

Unless someone is a musical bigot, or overly concerned about 'being cool' - most real players appreciate the contributions of all music styles, and all other instruments.
So like many have said - play what you want, follow your heart, see where it leads. I think there's enough passion for this instrument in the world to keep it going.

Cheers, Chris

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Chris Kennison
Ft. Collins, Colorado
"There is no spoon" www.seldomfed.com www.book-em-danno.com

[This message was edited by seldomfed on 25 November 2002 at 11:55 AM.]

Here's what I think you should do. I assume there are blues clubs in your city that have weekly jam sessions. Go there a few times as a guitarist and establish yourself as a good player, and casualy mention that you play steel. Sooner or later the time will be right for you to bring the steel and blow everybody away.

The reason I can play blues on the steel is that I played blues guitar, including slide, for about 20 years prior to taking up the steel. At first I played my slide guitar licks on a lap steel, and then adapted them to the pedal steel and added pedal work to the style.

I suggest that anybody interested in playing this style listen to such blues slide guitarists as Fred McDowell, Robert Johnson and Blind Willie Johnson. You should also check out Duane Allman's work on "Statesboro blues" from the Live at the Fillmore East LP/CD

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Some of the confusion over our instrument is due to the fact that the name has three words. I propose we simplify it down to one word. I suggest TIFKATPSG (The Instrument Formerly Known As The Pedal Steel Guitar.)

I recently got back into the game after selling my Emmons D-10 to get the $$$ for my house down payment. I'm rusty as heck, but it's slowly coming back. I love my just-purchased '67? Sho-Bud Professional, it's perfect for me...

In the meantime, I've spent nearly three years dedicated to another "fringe" :- ) instrument -- the 10-button Cajun accordion.

These things are the anti-steel -- LLL -- 10 buttons on one side, two on the other and diatonic tuned like a harmonica. Stone simple to get started on, but the masters of Cajun accordion can really play!

I really think that the best thing we can do for the instrument we love is to work hard at it and expose others to the pleasure we take in playing it. I know of two fellows I turned on to pedal steel in their 20s and they're still playing - one in his 50s (part-time) the other in his 30s (full-time). If each forumite could do just that, we'd have plenty of players to carry the torch. That's my 2 cents worth.

John Borchard

[This message was edited by John Borchard on 26 November 2002 at 02:30 PM.]

Like Theresa says, listen to the new Shania CD. You may not like it, but it has plenty of steel. Hell, there's steel on most country records you hear and also on quite a few other types of music. It ain't dead or dying by any stretch of the imagination.

There will be plenty of players who can make that Mooney or Emmons or Lloyd sound when the occasion demands it in twenty years, and they will be able to play some cool licks like that Franklin guy used to play too. They will have a wealth of information to draw from in the form of recordings, instruction courses, tab, etc., thanks to the great work that is happening today. They will probably still be able to dig up this old steel forum on whatever thing replaces the internet.

As for the instrument, we have the best instruments ever made being produced right now. People probably worried what would happen when they couldn't get a Bigsby or Rickenbacker anymore. Look what we have now!! Zum,Emmons, Mullen, Franklin, Sierra, the new MSA, the list just goes on. These guitars will last longer than I will, and there will always be someone who can fix them if anything goes wrong. As the cliche goes, "it ain't rocket science". No doubt there will be new builders in the future, just like there always has been. And like now, they will probably just keep getting better.

No steel guitar isn't going to die. It's just going to bloom in a different color. Hell, it might even be more pretty!

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Doug Earnest
The only Zum Keyless U12, Fender Cyber Twin

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UTILITY MAN PRODUCTIONS
'73 EMMONS D10 FATBACK, '92 EMMONS D10 LASHLEY LEGRANDE,
'85 DOBRO 60DS, '95 DOBRO F60S,
'95 MELOBAR CUSTOM, 1955 FENDER TRIPLE NECK STRINGMASTER. EVANS, FENDER, PEAVEY,
and MESA BOOGIE Amps.

I like your comments...along with some of the others..If we celebrate the history of this instrument as the present, then there might not be any future. I hold ALL of the historic and icon players with reverned ground and with much respect. My new CD is all about the music. I don't beleive it will drive anyone thats a steel player to thier instrument to try and figure out what I've done and that wasn't the point of it. However, I'm finding that it is driving people who didn't know or weren't familiar with the instrument, to take a second look. Many things are in store in the not too distant future, and although it may not be in the more traditional sense or present preconveived idea of the steel, it will contain a lot of exposure and interest..but then, what the heck do I know, I'm just a musician