Dylan on Letterman featured some great pedal steel playing

Mark Hershey · Post by **Mark Hershey** » 20 May 2015 9:30 am

Such a weird performance. Reminded me of something out of a David Lynch film, but I really enjoyed.

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

Who is this pedal steel player? I really enjoyed his playing.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 20 May 2015 9:55 am

It's good that he stuck with a a steel player off and on starting in 1968 with "John Wesley Harding". I think it is Don Herrington playing here.

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 20 May 2015 10:37 am

Joachim Kettner wrote:It's good that he stuck with a a steel player off and on starting in 1968 with "John Wesley Harding". I think it is Don Herrington playing here.

Don Herron. Don was the steel player for BR5-49 in the 90s and into the 2000s.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 20 May 2015 10:42 am

Don Herron

Oops, thanks Brett!

Mark Hershey · Post by **Mark Hershey** » 20 May 2015 12:18 pm

Well who ever that steel player is, his playing is just stunning.

I thought it really lifted the performance a lot.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 20 May 2015 1:15 pm

it was all kind of strange. i thought dylan was a little rude by not acknowledging dave.
the tune was strange.

Mark Hershey · Post by **Mark Hershey** » 20 May 2015 1:18 pm

chris ivey wrote:it was all kind of strange. i thought dylan was a little rude by not acknowledging dave.
the tune was strange.

He shook his hand and said thank you, but I know what you mean. I think that was really just Dylan being Dylan. He's an awkward and bizarre individual.

Steven Meyrich · Post by **Steven Meyrich** » 20 May 2015 1:19 pm

couple of threads on here about Don Herron's work on the whole Dylan album- terrific.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 20 May 2015 3:04 pm

I couldn't figure out what was with that big, distracting Telefunken-style mic which was never used, but always in the wayâ€¦

$:\$

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 20 May 2015 4:15 pm

chris ivey wrote:it was all kind of strange. i thought dylan was a little rude by not acknowledging dave.
the tune was strange.

I was glad to see him do that tune, although I'd have guessed he might have done one of his biggest hits as a sendoff to Dave. But Bob has always made it a point to do the unexpected--to the point of it being an affectation.

He might have done that song as it's on his latest CD, but I'd prefer to think he did it as it was published the same year he was born.

Since the lyrics were largely unintelligible, I'd imagine most listeners figured it's a song Bob wrote, not realizing it's a standard.

I don't think he ever attended the Sinatra school of diction---over 30 years ago I saw Dylan sing a song on TV and didn't recognize it. The next day, I read a review saying the song was "Masters Of War". You coulda fooled me.

Curt Trisko · Post by **Curt Trisko** » 20 May 2015 5:22 pm

I like how the pedal steel fills the role of the string section in the original. "Hillbilly string section". I don't even think it's a cheaper substitute.

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 20 May 2015 9:03 pm

The steel was nice, but I had to turn on closed captioning to understand any of the words Bob was singing!

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 21 May 2015 2:39 am

Barry Blackwood:

I couldn't figure out what was with that big, distracting Telefunken-style mic which was never used, but always in the wayâ€¦

Bob likes old stuff

Niels Andrews · Post by **Niels Andrews** » 21 May 2015 6:20 am

I thought it was a great song choice, what more appropriate lyric than the "night we called it a day"? The use of steel made the song, very well done, it illustrates the genius of Dylan and his crew.

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 21 May 2015 8:01 am

The mic seems to have been akin to the old Fender non-pedal steel Dylan apparently has had onstage in recent years without anyone playing it.

Steven Meyrich · Post by **Steven Meyrich** » 21 May 2015 8:58 am

The Fender steel held the set list as I recall...and the mic is probably what Sinatra used...?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 21 May 2015 11:58 am

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 21 May 2015 1:40 pm

Mark Hershey wrote:Such a weird performance. Reminded me of something out of a David Lynch film, but I really enjoyed.

That comment is right on the money.

I enjoyed it myself. And this latest "Sinatraesque" effort - Bob seems to have cleaned out some of the gravel that has been so prevalent in his voice in the past decade or so.

The guy really is something else - now in his 70s, over 50 years since he first came on the scene, and he still regularly inspires conversation and commentary. That's a rare bird in the fickle world of the music industry.

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 21 May 2015 2:42 pm

Such a weird performance. Reminded me of something out of a David Lynch film, but I really enjoyed.

I am so tired of hearing the same thing over and over and over again, that this is refreshing.

Mark Hershey · Post by **Mark Hershey** » 21 May 2015 3:26 pm

Don't know if this is worthy of a new thread, but I'll post it here because I do believe this should be noted on the forum for the big time psg nerds.

I worked for CBS for a while (incredible company to work for) and I was over in Black Rock where we got the live feeds of the shows as they were taping. My buddy knows I bought a pedal steel called me up to check this performance out at the media center which had taped that afternoon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK17JcsxjJs

At the 3:20 mark you'll see Dave gush over the pedal steel playing and he asks the steeler if it's hard to play and he responds 'like flying a helicopter'.

Fast forward to this year...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YADQ6Mh ... e=youtu.be

at the 4:20 mark Letterman goes over to the psg player and remarks that's like flying a helicopter. Pretty cool how that guys remarks a while back worked its way into Dave's memory of psg playing.

Billy McCombs · Post by **Billy McCombs** » 21 May 2015 3:26 pm

That GFI sounds great and has wonderful tone.

Jeff Mead · Post by **Jeff Mead** » 21 May 2015 3:33 pm

Mark Hershey wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykp0Vq77IBw

At the 3:20 mark you'll see Dave gush over the pedal steel playing and he asks the steeler if it's hard to play and he responds 'like flying a helicopter'.

I don't see a steel in this clip.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 21 May 2015 3:45 pm

That (unidirectional) mike right next to the singer is there so the audio engineer in the control room can hear exactly what the singer is hearing.

Thus, he can mix for the singer as well as the audience, without saying "How's that sound, Bob?".

Mark Hershey · Post by **Mark Hershey** » 21 May 2015 3:45 pm

Jeff Mead wrote:
Mark Hershey wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykp0Vq77IBw

At the 3:20 mark you'll see Dave gush over the pedal steel playing and he asks the steeler if it's hard to play and he responds 'like flying a helicopter'.
I don't see a steel in this clip.

Apologies, I have corrected my post and have the link right here as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK17JcsxjJs

Don Chance · Post by **Don Chance** » 21 May 2015 6:36 pm

I've mentioned it before, but Don Herron has been one of my best friends for almost 33 years, and he just keeps getting better and better as a musician.

He was just a 21-year-old fiddle, mandolin and beginning lead guitar player new to Texas from his West Virginia home when we first started working together, and then one day he sat down at my ShoBud 12 string and asked if it was hard to learn. I explained how the pedals and levers worked to change the chords, and that's all it took.

You don't teach someone that gifted, you just show them what you do and they take it from there.

He's only about 4 years younger than me, but I couldn't be prouder of his success - both with BR549 and Bob Dylan - if he was my son.

This is when we were in the houseband at a large North Texas nichtclub.

Chris Scruggs, Don and me at a Western Swing festival a few years ago.

Don with Dylan on the Letterman show Tuesday night.

The Steel Guitar Forum

Dylan on Letterman featured some great pedal steel playing

Dylan on Letterman featured some great pedal steel playing

Re: Dylan on Letterman featured some great pedal steel playi