Jerry Garcia-remixed steel on Sugar Magnolia

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 22 Dec 2021 7:10 am

THIS is how this song should have been originally released instead of Jerry's steel being buried... This has been around for years, but this is the first time I have stumbled upon it, and I love it.... For all you fans of Jerry's steel playing that haven't heard it, please enjoy.
Yes, its not all that technically "proficient", but no one could have played it better for this particular song... Gotta love the envelope filter Jerry is using....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_r94kySNss

Marc Jenkins · Post by **Marc Jenkins** » 22 Dec 2021 9:36 am

Pretty neat! Sounds more like a conventional wah-wah pedal to me though

Marc Muller · Post by **Marc Muller** » 22 Dec 2021 10:23 am

Marc Jenkins wrote:Pretty neat! Sounds more like a conventional wah-wah pedal to me though

Indeed, just a good old wah wah pedal. Era of the boys putting stuff through leslies too. Bob part here is doubled. 1 pass with leslie, 2nd without. Def wah and leslie on Candyman on American Beauty.

scott murray · Post by **scott murray** » 22 Dec 2021 12:29 pm

thanks for sharing. a very unique steel sound Jerry got on this song, it was a few years before I actually realized it was pedal steel. same with Candyman, Jerry's steel solo almost sounds like an organ.

I've said it before, Jerry wasn't the most technically proficient player and was the first to admit it, but he used the steel so tastefully and effectively. the restraint and parts he played on songs like Brokedown Palace and High Time was just perfect for those songs.

also check out the original mix of Doin That Rag from a year earlier. Jerry's pal Pete Grant's steel is much more audible than the official version: https://youtu.be/PoIJT365qsA

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 22 Dec 2021 12:51 pm

I never had any problems with the mix on the album. But this is neat to hear.
I've seen a couple of docs with maybe the same footage....not sure....of Bob at a mixing board as a talking head, playing with the multitrack and sort of chuckling at this song, referring to Jerry & his steel as 'a thing Jerry was into at the time' (my paraphrase). Sort of ticked me off....felt dismissive. Could be I missed where Bob was coming from and I'm not being fair.

Marc Jenkins · Post by **Marc Jenkins** » 22 Dec 2021 12:56 pm

Jon Light wrote:I never had any problems with the mix on the album. But this is neat to hear.
I've seen a couple of docs with maybe the same footage....not sure....of Bob at a mixing board as a talking head, playing with the multitrack and sort of chuckling at this song, referring to Jerry & his steel as 'a thing Jerry was into at the time' (my paraphrase). Sort of ticked me off....felt dismissive. Could be I missed where Bob was coming from and I'm not being fair.

I have wondered many a time how Bob felt about Jerry kind of soloing through most of the songs he sang?

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 22 Dec 2021 1:13 pm

Marc Jenkins wrote: I have wondered many a time how Bob felt about Jerry kind of soloing through most of the songs he sang?

Jerry gonna be Jerry. Bob grew into his role and became a distinct creative force but for a lot of years you could call him the weak link and I think he knew it and accepted his place, relative to Jerry.
I don't have strong feelings about this and if anyone wants to vehemently disagree, no problem.

scott murray · Post by **scott murray** » 22 Dec 2021 2:33 pm

I believe Bob described it as Jerry's "flirtation with pedal steel." he also remarked about his own guitar's "questionable intonation" and I think all was said in good fun. actually, I found the clip: https://youtu.be/mlANNjLnaVM

I think the band was actually a little scared when Jerry co-founded the New Riders and started becoming a somewhat in-demand steel player in the early 70s, even though they were all on board for the deep dive into country music.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 22 Dec 2021 2:51 pm

Good job. Yeah. I saw this a few years ago and it pissed me off. I saw it again in a different doc and I was good with it. Saw it again in yet a different doc a couple of months ago and it got under my skin again. I'm a fickle son of a bitch. Although I'm also wondering if there's a different filmed at-the-board session of the same sort of thing where Bob's wording and inflection are different? No matter.
There's some timeless material in the sessions of Workingman's and Beauty.

Jim Fogarty · Post by **Jim Fogarty** » 22 Dec 2021 3:11 pm

Jerry played steel like Clarence White played B-bender emulating steel........one long solo the whole time.

I love it, and appreciate the musicality, but can certainly understand someone trying to sing lead over it being less than thrilled, all the time.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 22 Dec 2021 6:10 pm

And maybe this is why the steel is further back in the mix on the original album. It’s almost too much.

It’s cool to better hear what Jerry was doing in this remix, but alluding to what others have posted, my longtime guitar teacher from years ago might have told me “he’s stepping all over the singer.” Maybe it’s my Shure headphones - they’re studio monitoring types. If I listen on my stereo system perhaps the steel won’t stand out quite so much.

Plus it has kind of weird tone or timbre, like he was playing out in the hallway at Wally Heider’s Studio in San Francisco.

Don’t get me wrong - I still enjoyed it, but it might be more from the standpoint of a student of steel guitar rather than that of a casual listener.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 22 Dec 2021 6:16 pm

Jim Fogarty wrote:Jerry played steel like Clarence White played B-bender emulating steel........one long solo the whole time.

I love it, and appreciate the musicality, but can certainly understand someone trying to sing lead over it being less than thrilled, all the time.

I think it’s Ralph Mooney inspired, just like Buddy Cage’s playing was.

David Dorwart · Post by **David Dorwart** » 22 Dec 2021 7:02 pm

Thanks for post and YouTube link. Jerry Garcia is the reason I play pedal steel

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 22 Dec 2021 8:04 pm

Mike Neer wrote:
Jim Fogarty wrote:Jerry played steel like Clarence White played B-bender emulating steel........one long solo the whole time.

I love it, and appreciate the musicality, but can certainly understand someone trying to sing lead over it being less than thrilled, all the time.
I think it’s Ralph Mooney inspired, just like Buddy Cage’s playing was.

Never really heard Moon in Buddy Cage's style myself..
He was actually more of a protege of Buddy Charlton ..

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 22 Dec 2021 8:39 pm

Bob Carlucci wrote: Never really heard Moon in Buddy Cage's style myself..
He was actually more of a protege of Buddy Charlton ..

I remember reading an interview with Cage where he named Mooney and Charlton, but it was Mooney who he said inspired him as a kid and that he still hadn't gotten over it. In fact, I think he said he was either the greatest or most unique player who ever played. I'll have to look for it.

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 23 Dec 2021 5:21 am

Mike Neer wrote:
Bob Carlucci wrote: Never really heard Moon in Buddy Cage's style myself..
He was actually more of a protege of Buddy Charlton ..
I remember reading an interview with Cage where he named Mooney and Charlton, but it was Mooney who he said inspired him as a kid and that he still hadn't gotten over it. In fact, I think he said he was either the greatest or most unique player who ever played. I'll have to look for it.

Could be. Or like what happens to a lot of us, maybe one or the other was big influence early on, and the other was discovered later, and became a more dominant interest... bob

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 23 Dec 2021 5:30 am

On the subject of Jerry, I recently read a memoir by Sam Cutler who describes crashing at the Garcia house for a while and how he rarely ever saw Jerry because he was off in his room practicing steel for hours a day, every day.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 23 Dec 2021 5:44 am

Jon Light wrote:On the subject of Jerry, I recently read a memoir by Sam Cutler who describes crashing at the Garcia house for a while and how he rarely ever saw Jerry because he was off in his room practicing steel for hours a day, every day.

Whether it was steel or standard guitar, I recall an interview where Garcia was asked what he did when the Dead weren’t touring and his answer was something like he usually played guitar about six hours a day.

I think the interviewer was amazed by this and asked Jerry why, and he answered along the line of “that’s what I do - I’m a musician!”

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 23 Dec 2021 6:06 am

As far as who inspired Garcia on pedal steel the one member we have who could provide the best answer would be Pete Grant. As I recall Jerry and Pete decided they should take up pedal steel after hearing Tom Brumley with Buck Owens. I think they were driving somewhere in Jerry’s white Corvair. This was before he had any money and graduated to a Volvo and later a BMW.

(One of my older brothers while living in San Francisco after high school was given a ride by Garcia in the Corvair while hitchhiking - this was prior to Jerry becoming a big deal and Deadheads wanting to constantly “touch his robe”).

And this came up here awhile back - the original forerunner of the Day on the Green concerts in Oakland by Bill Graham was in May, 1973 at Kezar Stadium near Haight/Ashbury. The Dead were the headliner, New Riders opened, and in the middle was Waylon Jennings & the Waylors. Still in my Top 10 concerts of all time. Pete tells the story how he and Jerry were intently watching Mooney from the wings during Waylon’s set I guess trying to glean anything they could. But this was three years after American Beauty was recorded.