Chris, I have both the albums you mentioned. Trouble is...one's 46 years old and the other's 38 years old. Recalling the more significant songs with pedal steel...Someday Soon was 48 years ago, Nice To Be With You was 46 years ago, Tiny Dancer was 45 years ago, Right Down The Line was 38 years ago, Blue Bayou was 39 years ago, Garden Party was 44 years ago, Kind Woman was 45 years ago, and...well, you get the picture.
So, maybe you can give me something significant, something more current, say in the past 20 years? Some pop or rock "chart records" with significant pedal steel that came out in the last two decades? Surely, with all the hundreds and hundreds of songs that time period encompasses, it oughta be an easy task...
no can do. i haven't listened much in the last 20 years.
wow! kind woman was 45 years ago?? geez.
seems like only yesterday.
no donny, my point is that 'real' musicians have taken the steel to many diverse places.
it's certainly capable.
i think young steel players will surprise you.
the pedal steel is still a very young instrument
and far from going away.
Chris is right, pedal steel is new, possibly the newest mainstream instrument--newer than Theremin!
It's potential hasn't been tapped, use as a string section, horn section, it comes from the moving harmonies of mountain singing (maybe).
One only has to look to find people who use it differently.
Don't feel bad Chris...because I don't think anybody can! I don't think pedal steel is going away, but I do think it's been very consciously "pushed into the background" by the big McMusic producers and recording companies, and probably also by today's hoard of "stars" who are afraid to give their band a chance at some fame of their own.
I, too, was 20 year old when I started learning the Pedal Steel guitar. I was infatuated by the sounds I heard from the radio and records I heard this instrument on......A Fender 400 is what I started on. I spent about 4 months in a motel room (I played the club there) in Bolton, CT. learning to play....I took every record I could to learn from players like Lloyd Green, Jimmy Day, Buddy Emmons and many others, incorporating their styles into mine...After those four months, I put that guitar on the stage of the club and very nervously played....Lucky Look gave me my first job as a steel guitarist....thank you sir. I'm very thankful to all the band leaders and entertainers, who have given me the opportunity to play for them. What a learning experience it has been, and I started at 20 years of age....I'm now nearly 66 and have been playing for almost 46 wonderful years.....I'm still very passionate about this instrument.
HAL...Excel D-10 w/ 8 & 5. SteelSeat.com w/back,SteelSeat.com Pedal Board on Legs with Quilter Tone Block 200 amp, Boss GE 7, Boss DD 3, Boss RV 6, Boss RT-20 Hilton Expression Pedal, Evans Cabinet with 4 ohm Eminence 15" speaker. BJS birthstone bar, Powder coated Tone bar by Michael Hillman. Dunlop Coated finger picks and Zookies L30 thumb picks.
I had to jump in on this one. I've recently become FB Friends with a young man from the Champaign, Illinois area. His name is Tobin Hess, and I believe he's in the neighborhood of 14 years old. This guy is all business and KNOWS what he's doing! He does go back and pay great reverence to some of the great steel music of the past. His touch, technique, intonation and sound are right on! He's a Mullen guy and has posted a couple vids of his copedents both E9 and C6. This young fellow has a VERY bright future in this business!! I also think he's going to be on the Southern Illinois Steel Show. I myself started at approx. 10 yrs. old on pedal steel and seeing such a talented person on his way up gives me a ton of joy!! Look him up if you can! (As I look at all the comments,
I see Tobin already spoke up on a previous page of this post...He's the real deal
