Steel Guitars and " POLKA" music.

Ed Naylor · Post by **Ed Naylor** » 13 Aug 2002 6:50 am

Of the thousands of post I have read I don't remember qanything about "Polka" music and Steels.Are there any "Polka" Steelers out there and what are some songs that would fit the Steel. What about "Clarinet Polka" with some 'Speed Pickin".This could open up a whole new audience for Steel. Of course some Accordian players may not be supportive to the idea. Suggestions????????? Ed Naylor Steel Guitar Works

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 13 Aug 2002 7:08 am

In one of the bands I play with we play Under The Double Eagle and Jesse's Polka. I used to do The Beer Barrel Polka and The Pennsylvania Polka.

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 13 Aug 2002 7:14 am

"I don't want her, You can have her, She's too fat for me" usually gets a good audience responce, and lays nicely on the steel.

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 13 Aug 2002 7:57 am

When I played in Clevland, Ohio before WW11. I played a casual with a Polka King.

Whenever he played a polka, (and he(played about three every set) I went out for a smoke.

Well, he said what are you doing? I said , "I dont play polkas". He said from now on, play something. So I played slides and harmonics on my lap steel.

After that night, as Cleveland was a great polka town, Frankie Yankovic had a big club there.

I learned to solo on "Beer Barrel Polka", "Julida Polka", "Pennsylvania polka", 'Too fat Polka", and "Helen Polka", Oh, and "Under the Double Eagle polka".

Actually they were fun to play and the audience liked them and danced and shook the place up........al

[This message was edited by Al Marcus on 13 August 2002 at 08:59 AM.]

Doug Seymour · Post by **Doug Seymour** » 13 Aug 2002 8:23 am

When I played with a band 1n Ashtabula OH in 1949, Ernie Benedict had the Range Riders band in Cleveland on one of the stations there (?) Ernie played accordion, but either
he did or maybe it was Frankie Yankovic that brought their band to a theatre in Ashtabula
for a stage show. They had a lap steel player
I didn't care for.....he didn't play at all like Jerry Byrd ! Seems like he just used a staight major tuning of some sort. Not cool enough for me. No, Al it wasn't you, I'm sure! I guess I have to admit to playing steel last year a few gigs as an extra lead man with a polka band, but the bass player played tenor banjo (oops!) on the polkas & handed me his bass....so I didn't do any slippin' & slidin' on the polkas![This message was edited by Doug Seymour on 13 August 2002 at 09:26 AM.]

Jeff Evans · Post by **Jeff Evans** » 13 Aug 2002 9:07 am

Is Weird Al Yankovic the spawn of Frankie?

Just wonderin',

Jeff

Smiley Roberts · Post by **Smiley Roberts** » 13 Aug 2002 9:55 am

I played on a polka album back in the early '60's called,"Wine & Dine The Polka" w/ Whitey Bernard & his orch. (a/k/a/ Frank Sumowski). To this day,I STILL hate polkas.

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Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 13 Aug 2002 10:00 am

This could open up a whole new audience for Steel.

Like polka music really sells these days, right?

Seriously, Pee Wee King often featured the steel guitar. I play polkas on demand (mostly Double Eagle and Beer Barrel), but it's not my favorite kind of music. And even though it's in my neck of the woods, I've never been invited to play at the Cotati Accordian Festival.

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic) Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 13 Aug 2002 10:38 am

A band I used to play with did a lot of old time and I had a good arrangement worked up on Clarinet Polka. However, as time went on, I purchased a Fender Precision Bass and began to thump on that with this group. You can have a lot of fun with this type of music if all you have to do is keep time with a bass. I still have the bass. I'm glad I kept it as it's now worth approx. $5,000.
Uff-Da![This message was edited by Erv Niehaus on 13 August 2002 at 11:42 AM.]

Ray Montee · Post by **Ray Montee** » 13 Aug 2002 10:49 am

Pennsylvania Polka......Beer Barrel....and Al Dexter's old "Guitar Polka"...

Pete Burak, I didn't think you were old enough to remember Arthur Godfrey's "Too Fat Polka". Once again, I'm amazed by you, young man.

Billy Johnson · Post by **Billy Johnson** » 13 Aug 2002 11:25 am

b0b,I didn't know that Pee Wee King was considerd to be a Polka band.
I knew the name of his band was the Golden West Cowboys. He was polish too.
No offense to Smiley!!

Post by **Joey Ace** » 13 Aug 2002 12:37 pm

"Is Weird Al Yankovic the spawn of Frankie?

No, according to Al.

Butch Foster · Post by **Butch Foster** » 13 Aug 2002 1:23 pm

Was Roy Wiggins one of the first electric steel players to work with PeeWee King? When King went to the Opry, was Roy in the band?

Frank Parish · Post by **Frank Parish** » 13 Aug 2002 2:08 pm

Say what you want about the Polka bands but those guys have fun and so does the crowd. Check out a guy named Eddie Coffee in Toronto if he's still there. I seen him when I was playing there. I think he's from Newfoundland and plays that kind of stuff. It was all very fast waltzes and fast 2/4 stuff: a bunch of polka stuff too. These tunes had a million verses and the crowd danced themselves to death. The place was absolutely packed and the crowd had as much fun as I've seen.

Ray Montee · Post by **Ray Montee** » 13 Aug 2002 2:16 pm

It certainly takes more skill to be a good polka dancer. Todays' crowd of wanderers and belt polishers could never hope to cut it in a real polka crowd. That IS DANCING!

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 13 Aug 2002 4:38 pm

GOD! I must have played a hundred different polkas at one time or another, everything from "Beer Barrel", to "Double Eagle", to "Who Stole The Keishka?", to "Wildwood Flower", to "Silver Bells", "Pennsylvania Polka", the "Too Fat Polka", to "Tavern In The Town", to "Lover's Polka", to the "Rocking-Horse Polka", the "Hop-Scotch Polka", and...that all-time favorite..."In Heaven There Is No Beer!". I don't think that any form of dance music is a repetitious as Polka music. If you've heard one, you've heard them all.

That said, yes...when we play, we still have to do at least one Polka string (4 or 5 of them run together) to satisfy all the people who like to sweat a lot.

Steve Spitz · Post by **Steve Spitz** » 13 Aug 2002 5:01 pm

Dancers like Polkas. We`re a dance band. It`s nice for a change-up. We allways play Bucks Polka, and our crowd digs it.

Dr. Hugh Jeffreys · Post by **Dr. Hugh Jeffreys** » 13 Aug 2002 5:12 pm

I saw a name that rang a bell. Pee Wee King. Does anyone know the whereabouts of his steel player: Roys Ayers (of Columbus, Ms.) Thanks, HJ

Steve Stallings · Post by **Steve Stallings** » 13 Aug 2002 5:12 pm

Well... here in the heart of Czech Texas, we always play at least a couple of polkas and a waltz or two. My favorite is "ay ay som" which means "All By Myself". I'm not too sure of the spelling. Dancers seem to love this stuff and that's why we are playing.... for the dancers

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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas

Randy Pettit · Post by **Randy Pettit** » 13 Aug 2002 6:24 pm

Hey Steve, I thought Bremond was a Polish town.

When I was playing in bands around the Bryan/College Station area, we typically referred to just about any fast 2/4 rhythm song as a "polka" - so that the dancers could "polka". If we didn't play any or enough danceable polkas, believe me, we'd hear about it! We played waltzes, polkas, 4/4 two-steps, and everything else, I guess. But it's a big part of the dancehall Kultur in the Czech and German communities of Central Texas. I'll bet Herb Steiner could weigh in (no pun, really!) on the subject.

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 13 Aug 2002 9:35 pm

Any of you guys play with this band ?

Steve Stallings · Post by **Steve Stallings** » 14 Aug 2002 4:10 am

Hey Randy....
Yep.... Bremond is probably 95% Polish Americans and their descendents. Plenty of sausage and beer drinking here. When I first moved here, I remember being shocked when I went to the Church (Catholic) homecoming dance and saw that they had built in beer keg taps in the church hall. I used to spend quite a bit of time trying to convince my local patients that drinking a six pack to a case of beer a day is bad for you. Forget that... it is a cultural thing that is deeply ingrained here.

They do love their polkas here. even the young folks seem to enjoy it. They have an annual event called "Polski Zien" )"Polish Days" that we have played for several times.
This year, they opted to hire a Polka band.

I guess when I said Czech, I was thinking more of our core playing area around Brenham/Bellville. There are still several of the old wood round dance halls built by the early Czech settlers.

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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas

Fred Murphy · Post by **Fred Murphy** » 14 Aug 2002 5:43 am

I think Buck Owen's (Razz Ma Tazz) polka is one of the better ones. I don't mind playing it and the crowds always like it.

Doug Seymour · Post by **Doug Seymour** » 14 Aug 2002 8:32 am

Any of you ever hear a sad polka? There aren't any tear jerker polkas are there....or did I miss them?

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 14 Aug 2002 10:11 am

Pee Wee King's band wasn't technically a polka band, but as I recall they did play some polkas. I think Bob Wills did, too.

I really don't think that steel guitar can break into the polka market, though. The majority of people who buy polka records and listen to polka radio just won't accept it.

Besides, polka musicians are notoriously prejudiced against steel players, even in Wisconsin. Most polka bands tell at least one derogatory steel player joke on stage (usually just before "Who Stole the Kishka" or "Too Fat Polka"). Any steel player who wants to break into the "big leagues" of professional polka bands would have to endure endless ridicule from his bandmates. I suppose that if you really love polka, you could put up with that. But believe me, it's easier to make it as a modern jazz steel guitarist than to break into the tight-knit polka community.

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic) Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)