Letterman/Fessenden/Terry Crisp

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 15 Nov 2014 8:46 am

Caught the end of Letterman last night and of course, the Fessenden on stage caught my eye. It was Terry Crisp playing with Chris Young. Funny thing was he played lap steel on the song, and as soon as they finished, David came straight over to Terry and asked him why he didn't play the Fessey!

Great moment and nice to see some recognition on the big stage for both Terry and Jerry!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCBsLGUL4BM

Dennis Lee · Post by **Dennis Lee** » 15 Nov 2014 9:15 am

Terry Crisp is a phenomenal player, not a fan of Chris Young, no big talent here in my estimation.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 15 Nov 2014 9:30 am

I'm guessing it went something like, "Where's that five bucks you owe me?"

Whatever it was, Chris thought it was pretty funny..

Lee Warren · Post by **Lee Warren** » 15 Nov 2014 9:47 am

Great tone and tasteful playing by Terry, as always!
I think Letterman must like steel ... it was nice to hear it 'up in the mix'.
That's my old band mate Mason Embry on keyboards.
It's good to see him on big shows like this.
He's a great player and has earned it.
Lee

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 15 Nov 2014 9:48 am

i wondered why the steel was set up also. do the bands play more than one tune during the show that aren't filmed?
otherwise it would be dumb.
chris young is pretty much the kind of voice i've come to hate in todays country music.

Lee Warren · Post by **Lee Warren** » 15 Nov 2014 9:56 am

Hi Chris,
I played the Tonight show years back, and they had us prepped for two songs.
We only got to perform one, as a 'chat' guest ran over the expected time and ate up the time for our second song.
Lee

Paul Carestia · Post by **Paul Carestia** » 15 Nov 2014 10:28 am

Anyone know what kind of lap steel Terry was playing? Sounded really great!

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 15 Nov 2014 12:01 pm

I also caught this last night.
Yeah TC really sounded great.
He really displayed a strong command of the Instrument and his rig, with that nice distortion and great playing through various passages (without stepping on the singer), especially (to my ear) his use of Harmonics combined with Bar motion.
I liked the way he moved in and out of Harmonic notes and lower notes, and that he was up in the mix and playing aggressively throughout the entire song.
Nice!

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 15 Nov 2014 12:43 pm

Anyone know what kind of lap steel Terry was playing? Sounded really great!

Looks like a West Coast WC-8.

http://www.westcoaststeelguitar.com/products.html

TerryCrisp with his.

Tommy White · Post by **Tommy White** » 15 Nov 2014 2:41 pm

Terry is one of the best ever. So glad to see him get the recognition he is so deserving of. Chris Young is a great country singer and very nice gentleman. It is also admirable that a young buck like Chris hired a 50+ year old master steel player or that he hired a steel player period. I think Vince Gill was the last artist to do that over 20 years ago when he hired John Hughey. Chris has my vote. Wish there were more like him.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 15 Nov 2014 3:59 pm

Tommy, I'm not privy to the way it usually works so please enlighten me. Does the "star" hire the sidemen directly, or does he express a preference as to who he would like and someone else does the hiring, or does someone else simply hire from who is currently available?

ebb · Post by **ebb** » 15 Nov 2014 4:01 pm

amen tommy

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 15 Nov 2014 6:32 pm

Here is the segment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCBsLGUL4BM

It's fun to watch this again.
When I pause at 16sec, I see the Lap Steel, the name Crisp on his Paka-Seat, and an old Goodrich matchbox(?) on the leg of his steel.
Pause at about 22-24 sec, I can't tell what kind of amp that is but I see he is using a setting called LAP2 and I think the number 42 displayed (any ideas?).
One observation... He hardly ever strikes a string while words are being sung... also, perfect in-tune-ation.

Jerry Fessenden · Post by **Jerry Fessenden** » 15 Nov 2014 8:50 pm

I also watched the show ,,,I think it was taped a day before , possibly the reason to have both instruments.. maybe the phrase "better to be seen than heard" ???
But, I liked Lettermans relaxed remarks ...
I agree with Tommy ,,, the age thing shouldn't be a factor.

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 16 Nov 2014 7:54 am

It's too bad they don't hire "old" singers any more.

Craig Schwartz · Post by **Craig Schwartz** » 16 Nov 2014 9:32 am

Letterman recognizes us and likes us !
not trying to hijack here, but heres a different artist
Watch Dave at the end if you dont like new country.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2OFG9rVCdkE

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 16 Nov 2014 10:29 am

I find on you tube about 7 different versions of
Suzy Bogguss I Want To Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart ...
But the only one that had a blistering solo by T.C
has been taken off!! I I think that is a criminal act.
We could afford to lose the other 7 versions but not that one.....

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 16 Nov 2014 11:32 am

fuzzed out single note lines on a lapsteel don't really impress me. it's just something any steel player can easily do to appease the yonger market.

now, on the other hand, terry's pedal steel playing really impresses me.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 16 Nov 2014 2:23 pm

fuzzed out single note lines on a lapsteel don't really impress me. it's just something any steel player can easily do to appease the younger market.
now, on the other hand, terry's pedal steel playing really impresses me.

Indeed.

Ron Funk · Post by **Ron Funk** » 16 Nov 2014 3:16 pm

Pete B -

I'm also interested in how Terry C has his lap steel 'rigged' into his stage set-up.

Note how cord from pedal steel goes behind him -
Perhaps he's using amps' Effects Loop for steel

Cord from lap steel goes to MatchBox (for distortion)then directly into VP

How to switch rig from one guitar source to the other ?

ideas anyone?

Paddy Long · Post by **Paddy Long** » 16 Nov 2014 3:45 pm

Ron he is probably using an AB box after the VP ...

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 16 Nov 2014 4:01 pm

when i do it i just pull the cord out of the steel and stick it in the lapsteel. everything else stays in line...the effects, volume pedal, etc.

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 16 Nov 2014 7:15 pm

Thanks John for posting that. Funny thing is I was just talking to Jerry a few hours ago at the PSGA show in Norwalk tonight.

I saw Dierks and Steve this summer with Terry playing and thought they were both great.

The best part about it was that it was my 17 year old daughter and her best friends first big show and they loved it. Plus the fact that there were about 15 thousand people there.

It was neat seeing Terry up there playing and I'm glad to see him on Letterman.

As far as Dave liking steel, it's a known fact he does, someone posted the clip recently of Dale Watson on the show and he went up to Don Don like a bee going for pollen.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 16 Nov 2014 7:56 pm

Fessenden are wonderful guitars, I still miss my purple one...

db

Roger Francis · Post by **Roger Francis** » 17 Nov 2014 8:13 am

I agree with Tommy W., i realy like CY, he's more country than most of the new artist today on radio, and he has a great steel player with him, what more could you ask for?