Nice pic of Jerry Garcia on Steel

Peer Desmense · Post by **Peer Desmense** » 4 Aug 2011 7:32 am

Thanks for this video, Glenn. Love this work.
Strange things happen over here (Netherlands).
There used to be times that people knew straight away what pedalsteel was, you just needed to say: Ya'll know TYC by CSNY and everybody would say: sure.(Or mention FBB and Sneaky Pete and people would say; wow yeah there's music for you)
Than it wasn't hard to explain pedalsteel.
Nowadays this doesn't work anymore: people respond with their shoulders high when you mention TYC - let alone CSNY. FBB means nothing anymore,
Last year I was on vacation in the USA when I met a family just walkin in a parking lot and the father wore a FBB t-shirt. I was so thrilled that I wanted to go over to the man and express my feelings. My wife kept me from doing so and I still wish I had followed my reflexes...
Jerry had (without knowing so)(and along with sneaky) an enormous influence over here.

Steve Hitsman · Post by **Steve Hitsman** » 4 Aug 2011 7:38 am

I would've talked to the guy, too, Peer.

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 4 Aug 2011 9:04 am

I would have mugged him, and stole the shirt!

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 4 Aug 2011 11:46 am

Barry Blackwood wrote:Question. If TYC had not been the huge hit that it was, and had gone down in flaming obscurity, would any of us have even noticed or regarded in any way, the steel guitar accompaniment?

Maybe it was just a great song with a very catchy steel riff recorded by a group of very talented and popular inviduals, therefore it became a hit. The guitar hook on The Beatles "Daytripper" is fairly simple, not the most virtuosic riff from the 60's, but as soon as I mention the song I'm sure the vast majority of those reading this post can hear it in their head.

Not always, but the cream does have a tendency for the most part to rise to the top, so particularly back in that era when the corporate record industry wasn't as corporate, "Teach Your Children" couldn't help but become a hit.

I'm reading a book on Phil Spector. Weird as he is and likely spending the rest of his life behind bars, there's no doubt that when it came to producing records the guy possessed a certain level of genius, His first hit was with his own group The Teddy Bears and the song "To Know Him Is To Love HIm." According to the book there were about 500 copies pressed of the single, and in a handful of cities around the country people heard it on their local radio station and the phone started ringing off the hook at these stations with people asking where they could buy the record. Before long in 1958 it displaced the Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley" as the Number 1 song in the country. 500 copies pressed isn't a very confident debut on the part of a record company. But look what happened.

Also mentioned in the book is how the great Howard Roberts had to "dumb down" his guitar playing on many of the subsequent Spector sessions, he was joking that for awhile every song had a chord progression of C-F-G.

What if they had gotten the Big E to play steel on TYC? It no doubt would have been technically superior, but would the song have been any more successful? We'll never know.

Just like Daytripper, I can hear in my head Garcia playing TYC right now. It seems to have become part of my DNA.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 4 Aug 2011 5:42 pm

duplicate.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 4 Aug 2011 5:46 pm

I think this song would have been a hit with or without steel. Whoever gets to play on a song of this caliber is merely along for the ride, but in the end, they are incidental, IMO..

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 4 Aug 2011 6:34 pm

Garcia was never along for the ride. He was Jerry Garcia. He made that song shine. You might as well say that Sneaky Pete was along for the ride. They were artists, not just technical musicians. Huge difference.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 4 Aug 2011 7:47 pm

Credit should also be given to David Crosby, who instatly recogniced the nature of this tune as a country song, after hearing it the first time. Maybe that's why there's even steel on it.

Peer Desmense · Post by **Peer Desmense** » 4 Aug 2011 10:56 pm

Well Barry, i found a version of TYC by the Hollies (Got it a while back when Limewire still worked) and Graham Nash's voice is obviouisly there (can't miss that one) so it must date from the period that Graham was still a Hollie.
Perfect song...Jerry's part is played by a good leadguitar.
But this isn't the one that got famous. Why?
CSNY were huge back then, Deja vu was a musthave.
The Hollies were good AND I MEAN GOOD!!! Great harmonies and they scored many hits (Even after Grahams contribution)
But I think CSNY weren't beatable in popularity.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 5 Aug 2011 4:29 am

This cut is from a reunion in '84. Graham Nash rejoined them for a tour, and for a single called "Stop in the name of love", which was a minor hit in the charts.
The steel solo is emulated by their lead guitar player Tony Hicks.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 5 Aug 2011 5:59 am

OK, myself included, we're all just speculating here, right …?

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 5 Aug 2011 8:17 am

also about howard roberts in the vintage guitar article...phil spector shot off his pistol during a session and howard became the only person to walk away from a spector session for good.
maybe a good producer, but a freaking lunatic...we're much safer with him behind bars forever...what a creep. too late for the chick he killed!

Joerg Hennig · Post by **Joerg Hennig** » 5 Aug 2011 11:58 am

Back to the topic... When it comes to Jerry Garcia and steel, why do most people always only talk about TYC? Jerry recorded a lot more on steel, and far more interesting songs than that one IMO. Check out the first New Riders' album which has him on all tracks and especially Workingman's Dead (Dire Wolf, High Time) and American Beauty (Sugar Magnolia, Candyman). Timeless classics. Jerry may not have been a technically great steel player (never claimed he was) but he sure had a unique voice and, most important, some fresh ideas. He came up with some stuff that nobody else has done before, he invented a style that was easily recognizable. You just know right away it's Jerry on steel. (How many newcomers to the instrument can say that these days?) Now that's what musicianship is all about.

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 5 Aug 2011 1:37 pm

Joerg Hennig wrote:Back to the topic... When it comes to Jerry Garcia and steel, why do most people always only talk about TYC? Jerry recorded a lot more on steel, and far more interesting songs than that one IMO. Check out the first New Riders' album which has him on all tracks and especially Workingman's Dead (Dire Wolf, High Time) and American Beauty (Sugar Magnolia, Candyman). Timeless classics. Jerry may not have been a technically great steel player (never claimed he was) but he sure had a unique voice and, most important, some fresh ideas. He came up with some stuff that nobody else has done before, he invented a style that was easily recognizable. You just know right away it's Jerry on steel. (How many newcomers to the instrument can say that these days?) Now that's what musicianship is all about.

Great Post!

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 5 Aug 2011 1:42 pm

I have always enjoyed how he used steel on "The Wheel" from the first Garcia solo album.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 5 Aug 2011 2:02 pm

i was going to mention that one...he got a cool phased tone on several things he's done.
jerry did have his own unique creative sound on everything. even on banjo. and a sensitive singer. lots of feeling in everything and utilized the new found acid sensibility in tone and phrasing.
he was a real pioneer, whether he chose to be or not.

Mike Winter · Post by **Mike Winter** » 5 Aug 2011 2:51 pm

Wow! A Jerry post that hasn't gone south! I'm impressed. For an admitted non-player he did fine. Why? He was "musical." Like others said, he did much more than TYC. The note before the solo says it all...and it was the first take. He wanted more, but they about said that was it. The rest is history.

Thanks for not bashing Jerry. He was a treasure to some of us, and is sorely missed.

Fred Glave · Post by **Fred Glave** » 17 Aug 2011 8:24 am

JG didn't start playing steel until he was an established guitarist with the G.D. That, and the fact that he was missing half of his index finger on his picking hand makes it more interesting. No he wasn't a technical beast on the steel, but very tasteful and had a good feel for what works. He took his steel lessons at Scotty's in St. Louis I believe.