A Hidden Gem...

Casey Saulpaugh · Post by **Casey Saulpaugh** » 20 Nov 2021 11:47 am

Hey everyone, want to share an article I wrote...

"A Hidden Gem: Pedal Steel on Today's Music Scene"
https://playpedalsteel.com/a-hidden-gem ... sic-scene/

Hope you enjoy it!

-Casey

Jon Snyder · Post by **Jon Snyder** » 20 Nov 2021 12:27 pm

Great article.

Charley Paul · Post by **Charley Paul** » 20 Nov 2021 1:25 pm

Great read, and it echoes my own journey to the pedal steel guitarâ€¦..and now that I have been playing for 3 years, Iâ€™m finally starting to feel able to be expressive on it, and I could never imagine being without a psg!

Clyde Mattocks · Post by **Clyde Mattocks** » 20 Nov 2021 1:40 pm

He makes the good point that most everyone has heard the steel whether they realize it or not. It reflects my own experience as a kid, enamored by that sound and not realizing what it was until I saw one being played. I had thought it was a regular guitar. I have had the experience many times in my professional career where someone would come up to and say they had never heard this instrument. Surely they had without realizing it.

Tommy Mc · Post by **Tommy Mc** » 21 Nov 2021 8:18 am

The first time I heard of steel guitar was when Paul Anka sang "Just Give Me A Steel Guitar and a Glass of Wine". I was just a kid, and had no idea what a steel guitar was, but the question always stuck with me. Not surprising that I was confused, since Paul Anka didn't use a steel guitar in the recording....rather, it had a "Never On Sunday" Greek feel to it.

Rich Peterson · Post by **Rich Peterson** » 21 Nov 2021 9:58 am

Playing in a VFW in 1983 that had a railing around the stage at the same height as the PSG, obscuring it. When we took a break, an elderly woman came up and peered over the railing, "Is that a synthesizer?" Explained that it was a pedal steel guitar. She went back to her table to report, "IT'S A PEDAL STEEL GUITAR!"

Actually, when I first heard The Flying Burrito Brothers, I wasn't certain if I was hearing steel or regular guitar, since Kleinow didn't use a volume pedal and avoided cliche licks. PSG is sort of a "stealth" instrument.

Michael Sawyer · Post by **Michael Sawyer** » 21 Nov 2021 11:19 am

The first one ever i saw played live - in person- Clyde Mattocks was settin behind it ,in Louisburg NC.1982 best i can recall.

Casey Saulpaugh · Post by **Casey Saulpaugh** » 7 Dec 2021 8:21 am

I think it's interesting how Hawaiian music was pretty much a worldwide phenomenon in the early 1900s...since steel guitar was so prominent and in the forefront of that music, it's amazing how many people it was reaching directly!

And it still reaches so many people in music, whether they realize it or not...sometimes I think of it as a puppeteer working behind the scenes for a lot of songs and music.