No Pedal Steel Allowed at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.

Barry Yasika · Post by **Barry Yasika** » 31 May 2023 1:29 am

I just read a Facebook post by Gene Watson that alleged "Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge" will no longer allow pedal steels on their stage. Their reasoning was the amount of room a steel guitar takes up along with the fact that's it's just really not used in the newer styles of country anymore. Weird to me but I guess times are changing. Check it out......

https://www.facebook.com/genewatsonmusic

Roger Crawford · Post by **Roger Crawford** » 31 May 2023 2:49 am

The “newer styles” of country aren’t country. This could bite them in the butt.

Scott Denniston · Post by **Scott Denniston** » 31 May 2023 3:43 am

Isn't that "Mom's" where Buddy Emmons and everyone used to hang out?

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 31 May 2023 5:05 am

This is the second time this is making the rounds on Facebook. It was first posted last year.

I have not seen any confirmation that its true, just a repeat of the same with Smiley Roberts picture.

Brandon Swanson · Post by **Brandon Swanson** » 9 Jun 2023 7:10 am

I was in Nashville a couple months ago and it really seems like Nashville isn't as much about the music now, it's just riding on what Nashville used to be. Or at least that's the way it seemed to me. I don't think the bars really care if there's a pedal steel on stage at all. They know it's nashville and as long as there's music on stage people will still come in and buy a $10 Coors Light to hear cover songs anyway.
I'm not trying to be negative or rude to anyone who lives in Nashville, I think the city is great. I just think it's more focused on making money vs. having class acts at tootsies and all the other bars on Broadway.

Dennis Montgomery · Post by **Dennis Montgomery** » 9 Jun 2023 8:56 am

I'm not a country guy, though up here in rural WA I hear a fair amount of modern country radio in stores and restaurants and am constantly disappointed to not hear a pedal steel. But any venue banning a specific instrument (especially one which almost defined the style of music the club is historically known for) from it's stage seems pretty ridiculous

Is this for real or just someone making a point about the lack of pedal steel in modern country?

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 9 Jun 2023 6:47 pm

I’m calling a bs on this one

Ryan Wells · Post by **Ryan Wells** » 9 Jun 2023 7:08 pm

People have been saying for 20 years that "rock is dead". I just rebut with, "it's not dead, it just packed up and moved to Nashville".

A musician friend of mine was riding with me to (ironically) the music store the other day. He's not really into country. I put a modern country playlist on and after a few minutes he said, "that's a rock song!" I said, "yup, it sounds like Aerosmith with a country singer". There's often just enough ambient pedal steel present to put the "country" fingerprint on it. That, or some rhythmic banjo tucked in the mix.

That's "modern" country country obviously, but just like with any genre, there are going to be the purists.

As an aside, I was watching a live stream on YouTube this week of Guthrie Trapp playing at a local bar in Nashville. It was very Caribbean-sounding, with a touch of The Police influence? Anyway, I really liked it, but it seems more like "country fusion".

Tangential to the above, I keep hearing about how companies like Sweetwater and other operations have sold more guitars in the past two years than they have in a decade. A lot of up and coming players. A lot of pedal steel interest growing out there too. I have a prediction that the popular music pendulum will swing back in the next 10 years. I think people will want to start hearing people play instruments again on the radio. I think there will be a "rock/country/fusion" revival and it will explode out of Nashville (aka Nash-Angeles). I further believe AI will also explode and permeate many areas of mainstream life. The morphing Nashville music scene will be counterculture to that.

Like that Willie Brown line in the movie Crossroads: "You gotta take the music past where you found it."

Gil James · Post by **Gil James** » 9 Jun 2023 8:00 pm

Ironically, alot of good new country music in the last couple of years has come from rock bands,who know what it is.
Here's one example.

https://youtu.be/oy-YUosF7Aw

Ryan Wells · Post by **Ryan Wells** » 10 Jun 2023 4:20 am

Gil James wrote:Ironically, most of good new country music in the last couple of years has come from rock bands,who know what it is.
Here's one example.

https://youtu.be/oy-YUosF7Aw

A swung 6/8 feel with pedal steel guitar higher in the mix throughout the whole song? I say kudos. I personally really liked this.

Kevin Fix · Post by **Kevin Fix** » 11 Jun 2023 2:05 pm

Sad to hear. "No Pedal Steels Allowed". I am very active with a upbeat country group. We play Country only. I put Steel in songs that don't have Steel in them. I can make it fit very well, even at 175 beats per minute. Will be 70 next month and nothing holding me back... GOOD LORD WILLING!!!!

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 14 Jun 2023 4:58 pm

Kevin... I'll be 70 in August. The key is creativity and imagination. Been arguing with this stringed thing since 1963.

Tom Keller · Post by **Tom Keller** » 15 Jun 2023 10:38 am

When someone who actually has or does play on Broad Street replies I'll believe it.

Andy Gibson · Post by **Andy Gibson** » 15 Jun 2023 11:38 am

There are no country bands playing at tootsie’s. I play down there 3 or more shifts a week. Never hear country coming out of that place. It’s all classic rock and metal led zep ac/dc journey Metallica etc. Im pretty sure there will be hip hop bands in there soon. You’re not going to see or hear a pedal steel in that joint and this is old news for locals around here. No one goes in there except college kids, tourists that have no clue and bachelorette party’s. Stay away from tootsies if you like country and the history of it. Just look at it this way……It burned down a long time ago and they never rebuilt it.

Joseph Napolitano · Post by **Joseph Napolitano** » 15 Jun 2023 5:30 pm

Ryan Wells wrote:
Gil James wrote:Ironically, most of good new country music in the last couple of years has come from rock bands,who know what it is.
Here's one example.

https://youtu.be/oy-YUosF7Aw
A swung 6/8 feel with pedal steel guitar higher in the mix throughout the whole song? I say kudos. I personally really liked this.

That's Cowboy Eddie Long on steel ,right ? Great player with Jamey.

Jeffrey Shu · Post by **Jeffrey Shu** » 19 Jun 2023 4:01 am

As depressing as the Tootsie's rumor may be, is it possible we're Mark Twaining here - reports of pedal steel death are greatly exaggerated? Locally at least, I feel like I'm seeing more and more. My own outfits, The Bo-Stevens and Tupelo Crush, but also John Howie's awesome band out of Chapel Hill (the Rosewood Bluff with Nathan Golub), Turquoise Trader from the same area (Nick Langston), Grand Ol' Uproar also from the Triad (Wake Clinard). Durrell Randolph with the Marvelous Funkshun. Randall Hudson (Marvin's son from Marlen's origins) plays with The Firecrackers from Greensboro. Gordan Hartin with Charles Latham in the Triangle. Rick Nathy is a phenomenal player and local steel legend. And if you've not heard DaShawn Hickman out of Mt. Airy, you're cheating yourself.

This is just a snapshot of my area - and more players than I could have found a few years ago. Some play traditional, others not. But all are making something beautiful. Maybe it's Nashville's problem, and the rest of the "country" diaspora is doing quite well?

Frank Freniere · Post by **Frank Freniere** » 19 Jun 2023 4:37 am

Joseph Napolitano wrote:
Ryan Wells wrote:
Gil James wrote:Ironically, most of good new country music in the last couple of years has come from rock bands,who know what it is.
Here's one example.

https://youtu.be/oy-YUosF7Aw
A swung 6/8 feel with pedal steel guitar higher in the mix throughout the whole song? I say kudos. I personally really liked this.
That's Cowboy Eddie Long on steel ,right ? Great player with Jamey.

And it looks like Ditch Kurtz - also a steel player - on 6-string.

Tom Quinn · Post by **Tom Quinn** » 20 Jun 2023 4:09 pm

Gil James wrote:Ironically, alot of good new country music in the last couple of years has come from rock bands,who know what it is.
Here's one example.

https://youtu.be/oy-YUosF7Aw

Blackberry Smoke can play anything. They are Alabama's finest...

C. Eric Banister · Post by **C. Eric Banister** » 21 Jun 2023 4:08 am

Frank Freniere wrote:
And it looks like Ditch Kurtz - also a steel player - on 6-string.

That's Paul Jackson, Blackberry Smoke's regular guitar player

Jim Williams · Post by **Jim Williams** » 22 Jun 2023 7:33 am

Gil James wrote:Ironically, alot of good new country music in the last couple of years has come from rock bands,who know what it is.
Here's one example.

https://youtu.be/oy-YUosF7Aw

Very good, Jamey Johnson is one of the few "real" country artists left in recent country music.