Dobro in country music

[Cody Coombs]

Hi all,

I just got my Dobro ‘Lectrified and am loving playing it in my band along with playing the pedal steel.

I was curious if anyone could suggest some good country songs that have Dobro; whether it’s heavy dobro or simple dobro parts. I love hearing it in music not specific to bluegrass. The playing style is different and fun to learn, especially imitating some sticato pedal steel runs.

Right now I can think of a few off of the top of my
Head -

What Was I Thinking - Dierks Bentley
Country Boy - Alan Jackson
Running Behind - Tracy Lawrence
Tulsa Time
Good Directions - Billy Currington
Why why why - Billy Currington
Honky Tonk Life - Gethen Jenkins (Jam in the van album)
This Ole Prison - Gethen Jenkins (Jam in the van album)

Please recommend some other good Dobro country!

Thanks,
Cody

[Lloyd Graves]

Leon Redbone covered some great country tunes, and several have dobro in them, played by some great musicians. I can't think of which songs have dobro off the top of my head though.

Most every Roy Acuff tune features the playing of Brother Oswald.

And going back a bit farther, the Dixon Brothers (I love The Intoxicated Rat), Darby and Tarlson, and Nelstones Hawaiians all feature lots of dobro. (A lot of this stuff has the lead played on the high string and seems pretty simple.)

And Mike Seeger played dobro on a few New Lost City Ramblers songs, including Sales Tax on the Women.

I'll add more as I think of them.


EDIT: Bill Dilloff (RIP) played dobro with his wife in the band Moonshine Holler. Do l definitely worth checking him out, but you need to sit through his fiddling, banjo playing and harmonica stuff. All well worth it!

[Brooks Montgomery]

I’d recommend Merle Haggard, “The bluegrass sessions”, with Rob Ickes playing dobro.
Although it’s called “The bluegrass sessions”, all the songs are classic country. I guess Merle called it bluegrass sessions because they all sat in a circle, playing acoustically, including Marty Stuart and others. The best country dobro you’ll ever hear IMO.
https://www.discogs.com/release/3443837 ... s-Sessions

Also, check the stuff that Rob Ickes does with Trey Hensley.

https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/albu ... in-a-song/

[Jack Hanson]

Lloyd Green backing Don Williams is well-worth a listen.

[Rich Arnold]

https://youtu.be/dUU2HW8F8UE?si=Al_50QBV6j68nJ0v

[Bill Groner]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC8MmInTYFQ

Rich I thought of Steve's Life's Highway too. Great Dobro part in it.........I had to settle on this one since you took my idea.

One more good one.

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

[rodger_mcbride]

From Waylons first RCA studio album, 1966.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Ky3S43_ ... 0gYWdhaW4g
It's country!
Rodger

[Chris Scruggs]

Shot Jackson’s work with Johnnie and Jack, Lloyd Green’s work with Don Williams, Norm Hamlett’s work with Merle Haggard, Bashful Brother Oswald’s work with Roy Acuff.

[Tony Oresteen]

Eric Clapton - Running on Faith.

[David Weisenthal]

Shot Jackson with Jeff Newman on pedal steel... "Mother's favorite Tunes" is hard to find, but superb. There's one on Ebay now...

[Tom Keller]

Norm Hamlet, on the early Merle Haggard material, his take on California Blues is well worth a listen.

[Michael Stephens]

Check out John Hiatt's latest, with Jerry Douglas and his band doing all the backup.

[Tom Jordan]

Don't forget to check out Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley, especially, Before the Sun Goes Down and The Country Blues albums. Amazing playing by both and Trey is a great singer.

Tom

[Cody Coombs]

These are all great suggestions on my dive into the dobro side of steel country. I’ve come across Aaron Lewis and he has quite a few songs with dobro in it. Another fun song is “Wheels On the House - Ray Scott”

[Guy Cundell]

Here are a couple of country tracks that I have played on lately that use the dobro as a prominent voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LQeTI1kmoI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYePMif3v9U

[Michael B Scott]

What Chris said!
And here are some others that i really like…most were recorded with dobro, some aren’t *, but either way are fair game and ones i like to play…the fiddle /steel parts often translate well on many…Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers songs are a deep well to drink from…
Ps. A lap steel is calling your name ; )

*Jambalaya
Four Strong Winds - Bobby Bare
Silver Wings - Cliff Waldron (Mike Auldridge)
The Year Clayton Delaney Died - Tom T. Hall
Watermelon Wine - Junior Barber - Steffi’s Waltz
You Ask Me To - Waylon Jennings - Honky Tonk Heroes
I’ll Go Stepping Too & Wayfaring Stranger - Emmy Lou Harris - Roses in the Snow
Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain - Brother Oswald - Best of / Dobro Dreamland
Honky Tonkin’ - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle be Unbroken
Baton Rouge - Guy Clark - Boats to Build
Miss the Mississippi and You - Jimmy Heffernan - The Old Road to Home
Legend in My Time - Leon Russell - Hank Wilson Vol III
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight - Flatt & Scruggs
Move It On Over - Ricky Skaggs Led Kaapana (Jerry Douglas) - Waltz of the Wind
*I Wish I Could Have Been There & I’ve Got It Made - John Anderson
*Here In the Real World - Alan Jackson
*Yard Sale - Sammy Kershaw
* He Stopped Loving Her Today

[Howard Parker]

Most of these tunes mentioned are decades old. For the newer stuff, CMA awarded Jerry Douglas has 1,500+ credits to his name. Arguably he and Rob Ickes are the current "go to" dobro guys in Nashville.

h

[Matt Perpick]

I really like James Burton's dobro playing on Merle Haggard's stuff. Check out "Same Train, Different Time", the tribute album to Jimmie Rodgers. It's not flashy, but everything is super in tune, funky and just feels great.

[Andy Volk]

Here's a country compilation with more of an old time sound. My all time favorite Dobro record is Dobro by Mike Aldridge.

[Mark Eaton]

One of my favorite Nashville based singer/songwriters is Jon Randall, who first came to prominence in the '90s as a member of Emmylou's Nash Ramblers band. Check out the brilliant playing by Rob Ickes on this number, In the Country:

https://youtu.be/uNNAfPCeg8Q?si=oEeVb2ncr31WU5qm

Speaking of Jon Randall, he co-wrote with "Whispering Bill" Anderson Whiskey Lullaby, a big hit a number of years ago for Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss. Jerry Douglas is perfect - as usual - on the dobro:

https://youtu.be/IZbN_nmxAGk?si=rNMs2fXM9IsABbEY

Back to Rob Ickes, he was absolutely brilliant on a great album that flew under the radar around 19 years ago, The Nashvile Acoustic Sessions. The Mavericks Raul Malo handled the lead vocals. Incredible take on The Flying Burrito Brothers classic Hot Burrito #1. IMO some the finest playing of Rob's career. A year after it came out Rob put on a workshop at his sister's home in the Bay Area, and I complimented him big time on this performance. Always a low key guy, he shook it off like it was no big deal. His break in the middle, and the longish outro are some of the greatest dobro playing I have ever heard. I'm sure that I have listened to this over a hundred times:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWWrb64 ... UU&index=9

[Brett Day]

"Life's Highway" is one of my favorite songs featuring the dobro! Right after I started playing dobro, I was playing a jam session in Pickens, South Carolina, and it was my first Monday night jam session with the dobro. On the first half of the session, I was playing steel, and during the break, where the musicians would talk to the people listening, I pulled my dobro out, and I somehow remembered the dobro parts to "Life's Highway" and taught myself how to play the intro to the song, as well as the outro too, and a few days later, I was talking to Allyn Love, who is Steve Wariner's steel guitarist and dobro player and told him I learned how to play the dobro parts on "Life's Highway", and he said the reason he bought a dobro was because of the dobro parts in the song, and recently, I've been singing and playing the song at Thursday night jam sessions on my Gold Tone Paul Beard Signature Series Deluxe dobro guitar. I've got a friend who plays the Thursday night jam sessions with me, and he does a great version of "The Lowlands", which was recorded by IIIrd Tyme Out and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and every time he sings it, I add dobro parts and solos-it's another song I taught myself to play

[Andy Volk]

I second Mark's recommendation for The Nashville Acoustic Sessions. It's a brilliant record from all the musicians involved.

Not really country but Skip Hop and Wobble (Douglas, Barenberg, Myer) and The Three Bells (Douglas, Ickes, Aldridge) are absolutely essential Dobro records.

[Guy Cundell]

I think that Tenille Arts' 'I Hate This' is currently my favourite dobro in a contemporary country tune

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