Steel Guitar Is Not Just For Country Music

[Alan Brookes]

One of my lap steels is tuned like a lute, and I play mediaeval lute pieces on it.

Another of my lap steels is tuned to open E, and I play the blues on it.

My Dobro and National are tuned to open G, and I play folk music/bluegrass on them.

My pedal steel is tuned to E9 and C6, and I play country, hawaiian and western swing on it.

You can play anything on steel. I would be interested to see if anyone has written classical pieces for it.

I love all music (except rap and hip-hop) .

[Mike Perlowin]

I would be interested to see if anyone has written classical pieces for it.

Two composers, Sasha Matson, and Michael Levine, have written pedal steel guitar concertos, but neither man plays the instrument and understood what it can and can't do, and neither concerto really shows off the steel to it's best advantage.

Matson's concerto was recorded by Doug Livingston. Levine's concerto was originally supposed to be performed by Paul Franklin and the Nashville Symphony, but for some reason Gary Morse did it instead, I'm under the impression (perhaps mistakenly) that Levine consulted with Gary and reworked the concerto to make it more reflective of the steel's capabilities.

Another composer named Jim Domaine has talked to me about both composing a piece for the instrument, and arranging some well known classical pieces for steel and orchestra, but the closest we got to actually collaborating was having lunch together at a Mexican restaurant.

The food was pretty good though.

[Del Ray Grace]

Great conversation. I believe that the diversity of the steel guitar has grown much to big to limit it to any one style, sound or venue.

www.sacredstrings.com

[Tom Olson]

I agree that nearly any instrument can be adapted to play nearly any type of music. However, I would also say that because of the musical environment in which the psg was developed, and by whom it was developed and on which groundbreaking recordings it has been used, it is likely that it will, at least for a long time, be thought of by the masses as primarily associated with country music -- much as the b@nj0 is primarily associated with bluegrass.

[James Morehead]

I agree that nearly any instrument can be adapted to play nearly any type of music. However, I would also say that because of the musical environment in which the psg was developed, and by whom it was developed and on which groundbreaking recordings it has been used, it is likely that it will, at least for a long time, be thought of by the masses as primarily associated with country music -- much as the b@nj0 is primarily associated with bluegrass.

Tom said it all for me, except I believe you are limited only by your imagination. I listen to Sara Jory a lot. She plays outside the country "box". Scotty Henderson---much jazz flavor in his music, which is very swing. Jim Cohen has beautiful jazz/swing music. I play country music, because I love it and relate to it. But I do not limit myself to just country.

[Bill Dobkins]

I am in agreement with all of you. Outside of the piano and guitar the steel is one of our more versatile instruments. Its not just for country. On the other hand it wouldn't be country without one.
I like playing blues on mine. I use to play slide and lead in a R&B band ,so I can apply it to the steel very easy. I think the steel can be the most beautiful sounding instrument that has ever evolved.
It rates up there with the harp. I would love to hear one with strings ect. Playing mood music with the Ocean in the background. wow forget about counting sheep.

[Bill Brummett]

While I'm partial to country,there are a lot of excellent examples out there of steel guitar playing all kinds of music, besides county, western swing, Hawaiian, or blues, that I really like. Buddy E has some great stuff like Blue Jade and Deep Purple. Some of the greatest steel sounds you'll ever hear.

Herb Remington has three albums (Steelin' Dreams, Steelin' Love, and Steelin' Memories with nothing but the Big Band stuff like Once In a While, September in the Rain, My Buddy, So Rare, and many more, all done in A6 on an S10. Very smooth and not a hint of "country".

Sarah Jory has an album --- Steelin' at the Blue Room that has some great "non Country" stuff like a fantastic Abba medley, Mac the Knife, the "theme" from the Blues Brothers movie, etc.

If you want to hear some fantastic "non traditional" steel work, get Mike Pearlowin's West Side Story for a taste of Broadway.

Or if you're into heavy metal, get Joe Wright's Powerslide album. He does some riffs in there that you would swear would be impossible on a steel. And when you listen it's also hard to remember that the only instruments on the album are Joe's S12, a bass and drums.

[Mike Perlowin]

Bill, Thanks for the kind words about my CD.

Here are links to 2 MP3s from it.

http://www.perlowinmusic.com/Track10.mp3 (Maria)

http://www.perlowinmusic.com/Track14.mp3 (The Jets Are Gonna Have Their Way Tonight.)


I hope everybody enjoys them.

[Joe Casey]

You don't have to convince me on the Steels versitility,But the 800 million other musicians who are not or have never been into Country Music are a lot tougher...But actually they probably got too many other musicians sitting down on the Job.(Keys Drums)

[Drew Howard]

Steel Guitar Is Not Just For Country Music

...if you have an open mind and want to work.

[Roger Edgington]

I have played country and westen steel for nearly 50 years. Maybe I should push the envelope and try a little Hawaiian.

One of the most enjoyable gigs I ever had was drums,bass,steel and a Great singer. We did everything from Hawaiian,country,pop to rock. We did a Hawaiian floor show twice a night and played whatever the rest of the time.

[Johan Jansen]

Is accordeon just for polka's??

JJ

[Alan Brookes]

Is accordeon just for polka's??

JJ

It's all a matter of what is in and out of favor. Someone earlier in the thread mentioned the banjo in bluegrass, but bluegrass is a modern phenomenon, and if you asked someone a hundred years ago about the banjo they would have thought of it as a rhythm instrument in New Orleans jazz, or a minstrel instrument. The accordeon used to be thought of more as a general pop instrument, long before it became associated in the U,S, with German and Swiss Immigrants and Beer-Barrel music.
Seventy years ago there was a lot of public interest in electric Hawaiian guitars, and they were used for all sorts of music, not just Hawaiian.

[Al Marcus]

Bill-I am glad you mentioned Herb Remington and his albums. I have them . He does a great job on them with only 4 pedals on A6 tuning. That is some to the songs we played back in the old days as they were the pop songs of their day then. I still play, "Once in a while", "September Song" , "My Buddy".etc., maybe I will put a few of them on Tilley's Website, one a month, if I live long enough....all.:

[Bill Brummett]

Bill-I am glad you mentioned Herb Remington and his albums. I have them . He does a great job on them with only 4 pedals on A6 tuning. That is some to the songs we played back in the old days as they were the pop songs of their day then. I still play, "Once in a while", "September Song" , "My Buddy".etc., maybe I will put a few of them on Tilley's Website, one a month, if I live long enough....all.:

Al...

By all means put then up there. I'd love to hear your style on those old classics.

BTW, Herb's A6 guitar only has 3 pedals, but he does use 4 knee levers too.

Bill