Is the MUSIC of TODAY 'STEELABLE"????

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 14 Feb 2005 2:45 pm

Larry, that's the one! Very nice! Is that playced through the Standel amp?

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www.tyack.com

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 14 Feb 2005 3:59 pm

Thanks, Dan

Nah, no Standel

Fessy to Hilton to Boss GT-6, straight to board
(may have used a black box b4 the vol pedal -- don't remember)

No mics / no amps on any of the steel parts on my latest CD. Does have a great room sound, though. That's mostly from the drums, upright bass (some trax), and acoustic guitar.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 14 February 2005 at 04:02 PM.]

Frank Parish · Post by **Frank Parish** » 14 Feb 2005 4:33 pm

Very nice Larry!

Paddy Long · Post by **Paddy Long** » 14 Feb 2005 5:05 pm

If you want to work on a regular basis as a musician then you need to adapt to whatever is the current "style" -- and don't restrict yourself to just old country stuff. If you just play at home then you can play all the old stuff you like, but if you have aspirations to make a living as a musician and steel guitar player then you better have a broader outlook to the possibilities of this wonderful instrument. Try other musical genres and you will grow as a musician !! Keep your head in the sand and you will go the way of the piano accordian player !

Jerry Warner · Post by **Jerry Warner** » 16 Feb 2005 7:59 pm

how about this song- he stopped loving her today or a good ole jimmy day playable song like A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME or this one- SHE THINKS I STILL CARE just a thought and the crap out today thats why i never turn on the radio its a bunch of b/s as far as today's radio play go's.

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 17 Feb 2005 4:02 am

Nice playing Larry.

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 17 Feb 2005 5:44 am

Thanks for the nice comments, guys
JUST A PLUG FOR THE FORUM CATALOG
(roll commercial music . . .)
My new CD, 'I've Got Friends in COLD Places' is available on the Forum Catalog
Help b0b -- and the Forum -- out by filling your CD shelves with stuff from the Catalog. There are some great recordings there.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Howard Tate · Post by **Howard Tate** » 17 Feb 2005 7:50 am

That's beautiful, Larry, very inspiring. Thank's for sharing it.

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Howard, 'Les Paul Recording, Zum S12U, Vegas 400, Boss ME-5, Boss DM-3
http://www.Charmedmusic.com

Steve Stallings · Post by **Steve Stallings** » 17 Feb 2005 7:59 am

Ah yes... the club of grumpy old men returns

There is a ton of really good new country music out there. Here are a few things I'm really enjoying:

Jeff Bates... His new CD is full of great material. I really like his new single "Long Slow Kisses".

Kevin Fowler... Great country music from Texas. I keep waiting to do a job with these guys but we just keep missing each other. This Saturday they are at Silver Wings in Brenham but we are at the Austin County Pavilion for the Go Texan dance.

Blake Shelton has a new/old single out... it is the Twitty tune "Goodbye Time"

Big and Rich... don't laugh. Their CD is actually pretty darn good. Check out the song "Kick My *ss". If that isn't hard core country, I don't know what is.

Gretchen Wilson... nuff said!

Alan Jackson's new CD...

Daryl Worley's New CD with "Awful Beautiful Life" KILLER STEEL WORK!

Joe Nichols... Great stuff.

Many of the songs on these folks CD's have beautiful melodys which could easily be adapted for steel.

I doubt many here listen to "Los Lonely Boys", but their current single would be gorgeous on steel.

The mind is like a pond. As long as fresh water flows in, it is a repository of new growth and life. When the replenishing stream is shut down, stagnation begins. Music is far to precious to be confined to a narrow genre. Diversity is the fruit of life.

Studies consistently show that it is very healthy to undergo new experiences. As we age, the years appear to go by faster and faster. Scientific theory speculates that this is related to memory. When we are younger, we have not experienced as much and memories are more intense providing a sense of time elongating. The older we get, the more memories we accumulate, with fewer new experiences. These newer memories are not as vivid, making time feel "sped up".

Be happy...live life. Experience new ideas.

"I went Skydiving
I went Rocky Mountain Climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu
Manchu"

Live like you were Dying... (T. McGraw)

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God Bless,
Steve Stallings

[This message was edited by Steve Stallings on 17 February 2005 at 08:43 AM.]

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 17 Feb 2005 8:06 am

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>
"I went Skydiving
I went Rocky Mountain Climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu
Manchu"

Live like you were Dieing... (T. McGraw)
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Steve, you're absolutely right - and I'm going to start working on that very tune today.
I've got a head start, 'cause I already know both the notes in it.

-John

Steve Stallings · Post by **Steve Stallings** » 17 Feb 2005 8:45 am

Oops... I meant this:

"Live Like Your Not Dietin'" Parody by Robert Vacher

He said I was up around three-forty with a lot of food before me
and a moment came that knocked me in the eye
I spent most of the next day eatin' at a buffet
talking 'bout the toppins I could have on my sweet pie
I asked him when it sank in if he might really hafta get thin
How's it hit 'cha when you get that kind of news, man what'cha do?

I went bike ridin'
I went aerobic exercizin'
I went one last time for seconds at the BullMoose Bar-B-Que
I could breath deeper and I could shop cheaper and I faced the truth that I'd been denying
and he said some day I hope you get the chance to eat like you ain't dietin'

He said I was finally the healthnut that most the time I wasn't
And I became a friend to Jared the Subway man
And my sudden indigestion, from my midnight indiscretion
had me up three time that night just feelin' bad

Well I finally read a Cook Book and I took a good long hard look
at what I'd do if I could see my feet again?

I went bike ridin'
I went arobic exercizin'
I quit goin' back for seconds at the BullMoose Bar-B-Que
I could breath deeper, and I could bend deeper and I could put on my own shoes AND do the tyin'
and he said some day I hope you get the chance to eat like you ain't dietin'
Like tofu was a food and you got eternity to think about what you'd do with it
What could you do with it
What should you do with it
What would YOU do with it?

Biiiiiiiiiike ridin'
I went arobic exercizin'
I dreamed about goin' back for seconds at the BullMoose Bar-B-Que
And I breathed deeper and I used artifical sweetner as I watched a donut while it was fryin'
and I said some day I hope I get the chance to eat like I ain't dietin'
eat like I ain't dietin'
eat like I ain't dietin'
eat like I ain't dietin'
eat like I ain't dietin'

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God Bless,
Steve Stallings

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 17 Feb 2005 10:37 am

Who ever said ANYTHING about COUNTRY?
(certainly not the original post)
The quote was ". . . the changing music world".

Why do we immediately leap to the conclusion that anything played on pedal steel has to be country?

That limitation bodes of certain death for the instrument 'as we know it'. Hopefully there are enough who believe that the pedal steel guitar is first and foremost A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Flame on, dudes, while Randolph and Leisz and many others take it into all areas of music. I, for one, can't eat country fried steak for every meal.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Mark Lind-Hanson · Post by **Mark Lind-Hanson** » 17 Feb 2005 11:03 am

The changing musical WORLD- yes...

I agree the limitations are generally in the musician not the music (or rather, the instrument)and times do change and so do styles...
You can't eat country fried steak at every meal- how about, once in a while, just roast chicken or lamb or catfish? It is a wonderful instrument for the Blues, for example (lets hear a few more kind words from Forum members on that topic!?)
Music is music, and fitting your own apporoach to it with the steel is what is
in question, when people complain that things are evolving past their own personal tastes, generally.
That being said, a lot of what is passing for music these days does not fit our generalWebster's definition of "rythmn plus melody plus harmony" any longer, and for the worse. People ARE getting kudos for being "turntablists"(for ex.) who never picked up an Instrument in their lives, and
some folks in the rap field wouldn'tt know how to express a melody if you banged their head against the wall with one (actually, I have a neighbor who tries to do just that with his beatbox- completely minus any melodic ideas, (harmony they will leave gladly to us "geniuses")- and -what you put in, you get out.
If this is the direction the music of the future will take, I feel sorry for music, but actually, cream rises. A large percentage of the population will ALWAYS respect those who go to the trouble to really LEARN to PLAY something... even when it seems they are trending towards an opposition of that... and the people who "make it in music" without any ability to express (melodic ideas) are going to be left just where they started out, in the long run, unless they take the trouble to actually WORK in the medium...
just my .02...

Steve Stallings · Post by **Steve Stallings** » 17 Feb 2005 12:00 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Who ever said ANYTHING about COUNTRY?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You can play something besides country on this?

Actually, I did mention Los Lonely Boys. I would have mentioned how much I'm enjoying "Bowling For Soup", revisiting my old "The Mothers Freak Out" record, or trying to work out "Satches Boogie" on steel, but it seemed pointless in the context.

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God Bless,
Steve Stallings

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 17 Feb 2005 12:14 pm

revisiting my old "The Mothers Freak Out" record

Oh YEAH???

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

P Gleespen · Post by **P Gleespen** » 17 Feb 2005 12:24 pm

Akkk! Larry you may be my new hero! "Let's Make the Water Turn Black" on steel!?!?!

Whoda thunkit? That was really great.

Jerry Clardy · Post by **Jerry Clardy** » 17 Feb 2005 5:31 pm

Hey Larry!
<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_17_209.gif' alt='You Are The Man' border=0></a>

Jeff Lampert · Post by **Jeff Lampert** » 17 Feb 2005 8:45 pm

Is the MUSIC of TODAY 'STEELABLE"????

Try to imagine how ridiculous it would sound if such a question were posed about guitar, or keyboards, or horns, or strings, etc. OF COURSE you can play steel in today's music. As well as blues, R&B, classic and modern rock, pop, funk, disco, traditional and modern jazz, classical, show music, advant garde, and anything else you care to throw in there. The point is that, the big majority of players only want to play country music. If they didn't, they would never have taken up the steel in the first place. And so you have the Catch-22. Steel players want to play country, yet to expand the visibility and profile of steel into other areas, you need fans and players of other types of music. But players of other types of music won't play steel. This is a cycle that is extremely difficult to break.

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Jeff's Jazz
[This message was edited by Jeff Lampert on 17 February 2005 at 08:46 PM.]

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 18 Feb 2005 12:45 am

Let's leave the "disco steel" alone for at least a few more years, please? The mind reels....

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 18 Feb 2005 6:07 am

Larry, I was going to ask, did you play that version of 'Don't Know Why'? Then I found the listing of your cd, including Pterodactyl Ptales. I only hope 'Wait Til the Water Turns Black' is on it; I can't wait to get it.

I'd say the problem with kids today (boy, am I getting old) is they weren't raised on melody. Melody writing is not easy, but it's the heart of music. A lot of younger listeners don't know they're getting ripped off on low production values; they haven't heard enough tunes produced in two- and four-track studios, don't know what is good.
My keyboard can produce rhythm tracks all on it's own, but it can't write a lick of music.
It's a shame.

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 18 Feb 2005 6:38 am

Sorry, Charlie
The Zappa tune is from the cutting room floor.

I also had started 'She's Not There' by the Zombies -- it's in the same pile. I wasn't happy with the bass sound and didn't have time to redo it.

Both will probably make the next one.

Hope that doesn't keep you from buying it, however.

As for the 'kids', with 'kids' like Norah Jones (who is Ravi Shankar's 'kid') around, I don't worry about the future of musical integrity. There are many others, both in the country vein (mostly alternative rather than mainstream) and in pop, jazz, and rock who I think have great talent and potential. Listen to Counting Crows and Bare Naked Ladies. Among MANY others. Some good stuff even makes it to the mass media. Most of it you have to seek out -- but IT'S THERE IF YOUR MIND IS OPEN.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 18 February 2005 at 06:42 AM.]

Jerry Clardy · Post by **Jerry Clardy** » 18 Feb 2005 11:04 am

I dunno, Jeff. What got me into pedal steel was seeing the possibilities of the instrument and most definitely not country music since I was into classical guitar and jazz and rock at the time. This is an instrument with pretty nearly unlimited capabilities. It has an extreme range and unlimited voicings. These have already been shown.

What got me to try pedal steel was the early works of Julian Tharpe especially (I'm pretty sure Julian Tharpe could play disco on his steel.), Maurice Anderson (He played all the pop songs with his album collections and they didn't sound country.), Buddy Emmons with the Cannon in D Major and Witch's Brew, etc., Rusty Young with Poco (Organ on the pedal steel.) and none of the really country examples. Another big influence was Paul Franklin who can play fusion and was really fresh and new at that time. Then there was the Curly Chalker Big Hits album which was very controversial at its conception. There are many other live examples of the possibilities of the instrument such as Wally Murphy playing the William Tell Overture. Alvino Rey, the Father of Pedal Steel wasn't in a country band.

I think country music makes good use of the steel guitar and has given it a good venue but it by no means defines its use. Admittedly, there is a strong stereotype which could be taken as a positive or a negative. As some people have pointed out, to increase the popularity of the instrument, new ground will need to be broken. The limitations still remain with the players to open the new arenas to play in. The instrument has pretty near unlimited capabilities. b0b does some good things with his pentatonic tuning that are some examples of a little different style.

As Larry mentioned, Randolph and Leisz are also good examples of what can be done. To me, Randolph supplies hype and showmanship that is effective and showcases the instrument and Leisz supplies great musicianship in a broader venue. Whatever…it makes the instrument more popular. Some of the drive to promote the instrument seems to have worn off over the years.

People like Julian Tharpe and Maurice Anderson and Sneaky Pete et.al., were trying to show what the instrument could do. They, along with the advent of country rock, gave the instrument a big boost. Another of my observations is that Jeff Newman introduced many, many players. Jeff showed how to play in multiple venues in his seminars and at the Jeffran College. These early promoters created a wave for the instrument to gain popularity.

It has been a big wave, but someone will need to generate another one to keep the instrument in the forefront of even country music. The players will need to present the instrument to the audiences in a way that the audiences will understand. They will need to understand that the audience is the customer to be commercial. This, admittedly, is a separation of art and promotion. But the art won’t be accepted until the instrument is. Buddy Emmons has been a good example of a person that does this. Joe Wright is another that comes to mind. Larry’s looking good, too; as well as you, Jeff, with your jazz.

I really couldn't imagine Julian Tharpe asking the question as to whether the music of today is steelable. His question would most likely be, "What key?"

IMO
[This message was edited by Jerry Clardy on 18 February 2005 at 02:04 PM.]

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 18 Feb 2005 2:18 pm

You got that one right, Jerry
I seem to recall Julian doing "Shake Your Booty".

Joe Goldmark is another player who has recorded many songs outside the realm of the usual.

You know, jazz -- mainstream or even bebop is hardly new to the steel guitar. Steel Guitar Jazz with Oleo and The Preacher, etc. was a LONG TIME AGO. Players from Murph on have used jazz as a vehicle for ages. The NEW jazz I hear comes from guys like Dave Easley.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Jeff Lampert · Post by **Jeff Lampert** » 18 Feb 2005 8:36 pm

I dunno, Jeff. What got me into pedal steel was seeing the possibilities of the instrument and most definitely not country music since I was into classical guitar and jazz and rock at the time. This is an instrument with pretty nearly unlimited capabilities. It has an extreme range and unlimited voicings. These have already been shown.

I'm talking about the large majority. There are exceptions such as yourself, but the large majority got into it and play for country music, and it's been very difficult to break that pattern. Like I said, it's a Catch-22.

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Jeff's Jazz

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 18 Feb 2005 11:48 pm

David, When I saw the line about "disco steel" I laughed so hard I just sprayed my mouthfull of coffee all over the monitor.[This message was edited by Ray Minich on 18 February 2005 at 11:49 PM.]