Jerry Garcia and Toy Coldwell

[Barry Yasika]

I love those two guys. So many songs between the two of them that started not only me but countless other steel players who didn't even know what a steel guitar was in the day. Some of their licks are among the post popular licks out there. You hear them and immediately know exactly what song they're playing. I think that's awesome!! Both great players.

[Jerry Overstreet]

Yes, well count me in as one of those who were influenced by the music and steel guitar in the era played by these 2 and some others.

While I don't think either of them would rate themselves among the technicians of the steel guitar, their work certainly was inspiration for a lot of us country rockers, even rockers to get on the pedal steel. Many of us wouldn't even identify ourselves with a particular style of music interest as long as it was good music.

I think it was the sound that drew us to it, not particularly the expertise, but that it was up front in the music and struck a chord, so to speak, with us. Those of us who weren't particularly interested in traditional country music, might have even dismissed it were it not for this fringe music.

Even today, NPR radio stations will play what they call roots music which has a lot of pedal steel. These may not be the best known players and some just doing basic stuff.

This music with minimalist pedal steel execution still turns a lot of heads and opens a lot of ears. Most listeners don't really understand all the technical stuff, runs, licks etc. they just know they like the sound in the context of the music they like to listen to.

I think sometimes we experienced and musically educated are a little snobbish toward these minimalist players and sometimes forget what it's like to just hear the steel guitar in a song. It's just really about what moves us and gives us listening pleasure. Sometimes forget what drew us to the instrument in the first place.

I'd put Buddy Cage in the mix too as I listened to a lot of his stuff just about the time I was getting into pedal steel.

[Dave Hopping]

I see something of a parallel between Jerry and Toy, and proto six-string rockers like Bob Bogle and (my hero!) George Tomsco. They weren't technically adept players, but they sounded good enough to catch youthful ears, and simple enough that new players could get close to the licks. After that, the learning process took off on its own.

[Donny Hinson]

Simplicity, it's the "other side of the coin". Simplicity and technical wizardry, the yin and Yang of music, and steelplaying! While the fancy stuff pushes the boundaries, and challenges the intermediate player, the simple stuff is what beckons to the beginner. Some of my most favorite steel rides in songs are the simplest ones. Here’s a few songs in which the simple backup and rides really inspired me when I was starting out. And you can probably hear a similarity between these, and the stuff Jerry and Toy played:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpcA8j3Scjw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8etSlkrjXvE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTfXj5JdB7Q

[Joachim Kettner]

To make it clear, I gave up on playing steel a few years ago, wasn't very good at E9, but in no way could I play C6. Then somebody gave me a Jeff Newman video on which he explained the basics of this tuning.
So later I was able to play this MTB song in which Toy uses the back neck:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn0a4bzyDqk

[Dennis A Brown]

Little Pete from the Dillards' Wheatstraw Suite LP features Rodney Dillard on steel playing some basic fills and even a brief solo towards the end. Back in the day I was a bluegrass picker and hadn't heard much pedal steel so this track really caught my ear at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fvdpDc11Wg