Steel guitar in movie tracks?

Darrell Criswell · Post by **Darrell Criswell** » 5 May 2009 1:15 pm

Anybody know of any movies with great steel guitar?

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 5 May 2009 10:04 pm

I know one that SHOULD have been FULL of steel,without one note in it,[CHEATING HEART] with George Hamilton,WORST musical Bio,every produced,[just my opinion].DYKBC.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 6 May 2009 1:33 am

The soundtrack album for the movie "Every which way but loose" with Clint Eastwood contains good steelguitar, some of the songs already existed, some were recorded especialy for the movie. There are two instrumentals with J. D. Maness (not sure). There are no credits for the musicians.
Joachim

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 6 May 2009 2:01 am

Gus van Sant`s My Own Private Idaho : gorgeous soundscapes by the great Bill Stafford. I think some of the stuff is on Bill`s Going Home CD.
Recommended !
Edit. The songs by Bill are Home On The Range and America the Beautiful. Both are on the CD.

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 6 May 2009 9:58 am

Hi, Darrell, there's some great evocative mellow steel by forumite Bob Bernstein on the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack. Not intending to open an old can of worms again, but it's very sweet playing.

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 6 May 2009 4:35 pm

Hope Floats actually has a steel guitar in one scene-it's a blue Mullen and I think the steel player is Milo Deering.

Brett

Frank Freniere · Post by **Frank Freniere** » 6 May 2009 5:19 pm

How about this one HERE.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 6 May 2009 5:36 pm

Mark van Allen wrote:Hi, Darrell, there's some great evocative mellow steel by forumite Bob Bernstein on the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack. Not intending to open an old can of worms again, but it's very sweet playing.

I'll be another Mark to second this one. The soundtrack to this film is outstanding, and Boo's playing is perfect.

Bryan Daste · Post by **Bryan Daste** » 7 May 2009 1:49 am

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Cameron Tilbury · Post by **Cameron Tilbury** » 7 May 2009 8:29 am

Not a film, but an episode of Cold Case I saw recently centred around a steel player--who was a murderer. There was some really good incidental background music, and a cover of The Cowboy In Me.

Boo Bernstein · Post by **Boo Bernstein** » 7 May 2009 9:26 am

Mark and Mark --

Thank you so much for the kind words! The recording process -- which included not only the score but most of the songs that were used in the movie -- was an amazing experience. And a real "high" when the score won the Academy Award. Hopefully, that helped raise the profile of our beloved instrument!

Interesting footnote: Gustavo Santaolalla who did the score really dug the sound of the pedal steel and had me play on a track on the next Juanes album he produced. Juanes is a Rock en Espanol superstar and the album won the Latin Grammy of the Year ... again introducing the pedal steel to an expanded audience!

Thanks again! Boo

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 7 May 2009 10:40 am

You go, Boo! Your playing on the soundtrack was just what the music asked for, I thought, mellow, pensive, tasteful. I'm thinking maybe not just new steel guitar fans, but maybe some composers will take notice.
Very nice.

Frank Freniere · Post by **Frank Freniere** » 7 May 2009 5:11 pm

Hey Cameron -

"Cold Case" was scored by Michael Levine. I'd never heard of him before now.

Cameron Tilbury · Post by **Cameron Tilbury** » 8 May 2009 1:42 am

I'd never heard of him either. Interesting link.

frank rogers · Post by **frank rogers** » 17 May 2009 1:30 pm

Your's truly in the Matthew Mcconaughey, Bill Murray flick, "Larger Than Life" from 1996. You will here me on Steel and all instruments except drums, in the "Psycho Trucker" scene from that movie. We will be heard coming from McConaughey's semi-truck radio. Ck. out a clip here. I'm playing at about 3:46. BTW, the track was recorded in 1973. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gunMgyK04CU

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 17 May 2009 3:42 pm

Frank:

Thanks for posting that link to a classic performance.

Do you have any idea at all how Jack Kittel first became aware of "Psycho"? I think I read that he was doing it on stage during the time frame in which you guys recorded it.

As far as I know, the only prior recording of that song was by Eddie Noack and I find it somewhat strange that a band in Michigan would have heard Noack's version. Leon Payne apparently never recorded it. Did the Noack version actually get airplay locally in Michigan? I know I never heard the song until a fateful day in 1974 when I heard Jack's version while traveling through Wyoming.

As a side note, I still see confusion on the Internet about what inspired Payne to write the song. Some say Hitchcock's film "Psycho"; others say the Charles Whitman killings at the University of Texas in Austin in 1966. I think I read that Leon's daughter has said that Payne was inspired to write the song after seeing a Hitchcock film that featured a severed head bouncing down a staircase. Was that Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte?

Did you have anything to do with this CD?

http://bbs.breezecn.com/read.php?tid=253980

I've never heard it and wasn't aware Jack did anything else other than the flip side of Psycho (A Place For Girls Like You).

frank rogers · Post by **frank rogers** » 20 May 2009 8:45 am

Yes, I am aware of it. It is a complilation of the "soundalike" tracks I did for Belt records in '73. BTW, I had been playing Steel less than 2 years at that time. Some of the tracks are a bit crude, some pretty decent. I have seen it for sale on Ebay. We used several different vocalists but the one you saw is strictly a compilation of the the Kittel tracks. As usual on the "Belt" projects, I played all instuments except drums on all tracks.

Buddy Huff · Post by **Buddy Huff** » 31 May 2009 8:33 pm

Sometimes a Great Notion (1971) with Paul Newman and
Henry Fonda. Henry Mancini did the arrangements There is some good playing in one the scenes near the end of the show and Charlie Pride sings "All His Children" at the Begining and end.
This film was also the first that Paul Newman directed.

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 1 Jun 2009 12:02 am

What Bama Charlie said. Jody.

Stephen Gregory · Post by **Stephen Gregory** » 23 Sep 2010 5:59 pm

This was a fun thread, any updates?

Bill Cunningham · Post by **Bill Cunningham** » 23 Sep 2010 7:09 pm

I am not a big movie fan but I believe it was "Places In The Heart" starring Sally Fields that featured a lot of Leon McAuliffe and The Cimmaron Boys (who ever they were by then) in the soudtrack and on the screen. It is set on a 1930's Waxahachee, TX cotton farm and the music was absolutely perfect for the script as I remember.

Again, I may have the wrong movie; I just checked my "facts" on Wikipedia

David Griffin · Post by **David Griffin** » 23 Sep 2010 10:40 pm

"Tender Mercies" starring Robert Duvall had a lot of steel in it. Great movie,BTW.

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 24 Sep 2010 1:14 pm

Crazy Heart, starring Jeff Bridges.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 24 Sep 2010 1:43 pm

'pure country'

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 24 Sep 2010 2:17 pm

Con Air, Hope Floats, Daddy & Them