New album with dobro backing.

[Bryan Bradfield]

I played dobro on 3 tracks of a Coal Creek Boys vinyl album, to be released this spring on Classic Waxxx Records, of Dallas.

Here is a digital download page where one can play all tunes in entirety:
http://classicwaxxxrecords.bandcamp.com/album/out-west

I played on tracks 2, 5, and 6.

Here is the author's description of the project:
https://thecoalcreekboys.wordpress.com/ ... est-album/

Here is the page for the vinyl version:
http://classicwaxxx.storenvy.com/

Thank you for putting up with my small bit of self-promotion on someone else's album, but I am really pleased with the product and feel very good about my contributions. Since this is not my project, and I'm not marketing it, it did not fit the bill for the new product announcement section, so ...

[Steve Marinak]

Very nice. I listened to the album while at work today. Good songs, good players, good mix. The singer reminds me a little of Mark Knopfler's voice, so do some of the songs. I enjoyed your Dobro playing very much. Tasteful and great tone.

[Bryan Bradfield]

Thanks Steve. I quite like the singer's writing and performance. I played a 1930s Regal Dobro which had been retrofitted with a Quarterman cone and Reed spider in about 1990. The strings were fairly well used Martin nickel, with a substituted plain 0.026" third. The room was described a bit in the author's write-up. It is a small wooden room in the upper portion of a very old church, with large windows overlooking the street. A few rugs were scattered about. I understand there was no processing. The reverb is natural. There were a lot of good microphones scattered around the room, and the engineer simply picked the best sound or sounds from all of those signals.

[Steve Marinak]

Bryan, thanks for describing the guitar setup and the recording. I'm hoping to record with my sons this summer. And I have been listening a bit to acoustic steel guitar. I don't have one, only electric. I like the dobro sound, it's not as "spongebob" as the metal National's. The dobro is a little more mellow. I found some old Jerry Byrd videos on YouTube where he is playing a Dobro I believe...

[Bryan Bradfield]

Hand placement matters quite a bit of course, and I should also mention that I use plastic finger picks as well as a plastic thumb pick. The plastic finger picks give me a softer, less trebly tone than the metal finger picks do.

[Bryan Bradfield]

Steve -
It seems to me that the Jerry Byrd videos were associated with Jerry appearing with Marty Robbins. Interestingly, Jerry is much better known for his electric steel work. I also play a bit of lap steel occasionally, and also a flat-top acoustic with a humbucker pickup retrofitted. Each has a different flavour. I use the same high bass G tuning on all.
As far as the spongebob sounds, I believe that it is wonderful that so many tonal opportunities are available to musicians. Of course we will each have preferences from the huge pile of available sounds.
Good luck with recording with your sons. I predict that you'll have a great time.