Pedal Steel Without Pedals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Brian Henry]

How is this possible???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUpeQytOCLE

[John Gould]

Adrian is amazing what he does with those banjo tuners on a guitar. I've seen him a couple of times and he always does some crazy stuff with those tuners.

[Micky Byrne]

Adrian is another great British Player. In the mid 70's I went to a crowded pub in West London (Brentford) where bands used to play every sunday... It was jam packed and I could not see the band for a while, and thought what a great steel player they had...later I discovered Adrian and just a telecaster...no b-bender, no Scruggs pegs or anything like that....just pure talent. He was the main man in U.K. for the imports of Ovation guitars. He used to use Stramp amps..I think they were German. He "doctored" his telecaster ...took off the "top" cut/away.

Micky Byrne United Kingdom

www.micky-byrne.co.uk

[Barry Gaskell]

Hi Mickey
No doubt about it, Adrian was and is a guitar innovator.
I worked with him in a band in the late sixties in Liverpool, where he was then living, when he played a Gretsch anniversary, and used banjo pegs and banjo strings on the top two. He moved to London in the eary seventies and worked the circuit there in the evening and in a guitar shop by day. He did sessions and worked with quite a few bands. One of which was called 'Orpheus Boot' which was a rather avante guard outfit. He also worked with the 'D'oyle Carte'(spelling) ballet company playing acoustic guitar on their performances which he said was one of the most challenging things he'd ever done.
He was playing steel licks then, twenty years before Jerry Donahue popularised it. I suspect that Jerry was influenced by Adrian. He worked in the seventies for a firm (whose name escapes me, maybe Rose Morris),which was the sole UK agent for Ovation and did guitar shows and seminars for them.
He then worked between England the U.S.and did teaching videos and he also wrote a few books on guitar and customising. He is living there permanently now.
I did some recording with him in London for the BBC at the Aeolian Hall, New Bond Street, in about 1970 and had the dubious honour of naming two of his instrumentals that we did at that time, 'Gorsey Hop' and 'Knotty Cross Breakdown'.
Like all things, age takes it's toll and he's been having minor problems with his joints/wrists lately, though you woudn't know it to hear him.
A prodigious British talent. Always worth going to see him play. He surprise you all the time.
Mickey, I think those Stramp amps were British. While we were in London once, we bought a Stramp P.A. amp and cabs in a red vinyl from a shop on Uxbridge Road, I think it was Maurice Plaquet's, and were told it was made in London to rival Orange and Marshall amps (We couldn't afford the others). It was all valve and we used it for years in a band called 'The Stringdusters'.
Halcyon days my friend.
Barry

[Micky Byrne]

Hey Barry...thanks for the early info on Adrian. Yes it was Rose Morris he worked for, I used to go to the music trade shows because I managed a guitar shop in East London. In the 70's he was a little overweight, long hair (didn't we all) and used to wear an Afgan coat. I did actually ask him to join my band, but he never had transport, and lived in Enfield Middlesex, and I was in East London, so it was too far to pick him up, and drop him off after gigs. If memory serves me right, he played for a while with the "Kingpins" Irish Comedy Country band ... I know after that it was a spell with Jon Derek and "Country Fever" after the departure of the "now" late great Roger Dean, who replaced Albert Lee. Sorry to hear about Adrian's health problems, these things seem to creep up on us. With regards to Maurice Plaquet...I had a folk trio in 1966, and on one broadcast at the Playhouse theatre in Charing cross road, we had him on drums and Brian Brockelhurst on Double Bass...They were resident c/o the BBC..where have the years gone? take care mate,
Micky.

Micky Byrne United Kingdom

www.micky-byrne.co.uk

[Barry Gaskell]

Hi Mickey
You were right. Stramp Amps were made in Germany, by a Peter Streuben and were an all valve amp. They were usually in a red vinyl and were made to rival Marshall and Orange. They are a very well respected amp and are quite collectable now.
Cheers
Barry

[Rick Campbell]

Kind of a Buck Trent style. Good, Impressive.

[Charles Davidson]

Been a fan for years,used to see him on TV a bit years ago,before TV went to hell. DYK?BC.