Rant: no more singers.

[Fred Treece]

I certainly don't feel uncomfortable with how someone else decides to follow their muse. More power to ya and good luck. I am glad to know someone is out there willing to carry the torch. Inspired even!

It is an interesting topic, though, full of attitude and opinion. There is probably not a single quality musician that ever took to a stage that didn't think at least once that the singer they were backing up was worthy of shlepping his guitar case. We have to butter our bread though. Most people couldn't tell you the name of a single instrumental tune, even if they are whistling it on their way to the drinking fountain. And as Grace Slick once said, we weren't doing this so we could live in someone's attic and pretend to be precious.

[Tony Prior]

Not as uncomfortable as a steel show with singers lining up for open mic.

That I agree with . I play two shows each month where we have 1) a special guest singer who performs perhaps 6 or 7 songs, but we prep for those. No shock waves. 2) Then we have a few in the room who indeed are invited to come up and sing. I never liked that as it appears that if things become a train wreck they look at the band as being amateur and they would be correct. SOOOoooo I recommended a change of format to our band leader for these 2 hour shows. IF we have a singer who wants to perform a song or two, which is not a problem, they need to check in with ME before the show starts and we talk about the song, the key, do we even know the song etc...in this manner we can at least know what we are going to do. The singers are generally pretty good and are experienced so it's not a "first time" in front of a mic. I'm not the music leader but I am generally at the show early so it's easy to run thru the songs early.

But I clearly agree,singers just showing up expecting to sing, especially at Steel shows, would put me in the " I'll never be back" category and certainly I would remove myself from the stage and allow someone else to rise to that occasion. Of course the exception would always be if I knew the singer personally and may have worked with them previously. I guess that goes without saying.

[Dan Behringer]

While every person in the world would claim to be a music fan, less than 00.1% of the worlds population actually know what music is, or what it takes to create music. Fact in point – practically anyone can get up on a stage and sing a song, but very few can get up on a stage and play like a world class musician! It’s that ignorance that has turned music into the circus it’s become.
I don’t think you can blame people, they just don’t know any better. The average person really believes that music is a cute story told along a melody line, and nothing more.
Just imagine the average person watching a show with a band featuring people like Tommy White and Brent Mason. They really believe what those guys are doing is easy! They have no idea that so many musicians would gladly give up body parts to play like that.
It is what it is, and educating the whole world about music would be about as easy as traveling to distant galaxies.

[Fred Treece]

Right on, Dan. Your take on this reminds me of Frank Zappa's story about "Debbie", the 13 year old pop music fan.
https://otg.brainiac.com/fz.htm

[Charlie McDonald]

Now THAT was a good rant. It was OMG:

Debbie's 'taste' determined the size, shape and color of all music broadcast and sold in the United States during the latter part of the twentieth century.

The thing was, Zappa never let that stop him. Zappa would have been good with pedal steel.

[Mike Perlowin]

The average person really believes that music is a cute story told along a melody line, and nothing more.

Somebody once told me that Bob Dylan, who is obviously a great poet, is as great a composer as Mozart.

[Fred Treece]

Now THAT was a good rant. It was OMG:

Debbie's 'taste' determined the size, shape and color of all music broadcast and sold in the United States during the latter part of the twentieth century.

The thing was, Zappa never let that stop him. Zappa would have been good with pedal steel.

And I don't think Debbie has any hope of stopping Mike Perlowin either.
Zappa on PSG, hmmm...maybe if he would have checked in to that 201st motel

[Per Berner]

Somebody once told me that Bob Dylan, who is obviously a great poet, is as great a composer as Mozart.

Not to mention what a terrific harmonica player and singer he is

As much as I love the steel sound, after an hour of nothing but steel my ears need a wash. Preferrably with a bit of Mozart, btw.
Generally, I tend to like instrumentals that were written as such, but most songs need words to work – especially simple country tunes (there are of course exceptions, like Lloyd playing Cold, cold heart or Farewell Party).

Jazzy steel can be jaw-dropping awesome, and as steel players we can appreciate the skills needed. But it is also a bit like a drum solo – not many people really want to hear it. When playing in public, we shouldn't be playing to amuse just ourselves. Back home anything goes!

[b0b]

Originally I envisioned my duo Wine Country Swing to be 90% instrumental. Experience has taught us that the audience only responds to familiar tunes, and most of those have vocals. We often take the approach of the big bands - play the tune instrumentally and put the vocal segment at the end. Now only about 40% of our songs are purely instrumental, and most of those are tunes that people recognize like Sleepwalk, Caravan, Harlem Nocturne, Last Date, etc.

On the positive side, I think I'm a better singer now than I've ever been.

[Fred Treece]

Good points, b0b and Per. Without an audience, we most certainly would be playing to amuse only ourselves. On the other hand, if we are not amusing ourselves, then it is not likely that we are entertaining anyone else either. Playing tunes people know is one thing. Playing them at the top of your game in a guitar/pedal steel duo is quite another.

[Mike Perlowin]

It's a question of where you are playing and who your audience is. I play in restaurants where the I'm expected to be in the background while the patrons are eating, and give concerts at classical music venues, where the audience wants to hear people play their instruments.

[Fred Treece]

True also, Mike. If the restaurant is loud, singing seems okay. Quiet, time for Bach. I've done both on solo acoustic gigs. I played a birthday party one time where I could have farted into a microphone and no one would have noticed. The sound, anyway...

[b0b]

Like you, Mike, we usually play restaurants and wineries where music is not the focus of activity. People are talking, eating and socializing. Still, it's nice to get a bit of applause from the diners. Vocals at the end of a swing tune tend to do the trick.

[Mitch Drumm]

The thing was, Zappa never let that stop him. Zappa would have been good with pedal steel.

Yeah, not much stopped him.

Heckuva Catskinner, but my contacts in the Operating Engineers union say he was only an average scraper hand in his earlier days.

[Charlie McDonald]

Nothing stops Frank! And nothing says 'No Vocalists' like that picture.

Perhaps Mike should re-think his stage attire. No more problems with singers thinking he looks approachable.

But Bernstein--"Ah, Bach." West Side Story wouldn't have been written without 'the book.' It's the original medium, the message.
People know the words over time, and can 'hear' the Jets and the Sharks taunting each other as the chorus reprises 'Tonight'....
Then Bernstein turns it up for a few bars to indicate that tonight may not be another dance....
It's the music that really makes the words for me, and great music can transcend the words.

So if a vocalist shows up, tell him or her 'I already sing that myself.' Keep going like that through their song list. 'I sing that too....'