B.J. Cole Interview in Wall Street Journal

Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

Interesting article and interview with B.J. Cole in today's Wall Street Journal, particularly in light of the RR thread. In the final graf B.J. addresses the reaction of his experimental pedal steel music to the general public. He states the only problem he has is within the pedal steel community itself. The general public, especially kids, love the sounds he gets.

He also stated that he attributes his success in pushing the instrument forward to his lack of interest in country music.

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Oh good. Now we have a third whipping boy...

Ron Kirby · From: Nashville TN

Let it go! Let it go! let it go! let it go! Hmmmm , sounds like the same old song !!

Curt Langston · Posted 18 Apr 2006 6:26 am

Very good post Bill. The last two lines sums it up!

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

OK folks, here it is... Whooda thought it?
b0b, we're a research group right? I call fair use...

B.J. Cole: King of the Pedal-Steel Guitar

By JIM FUSILLI
April 18, 2006; Page D6

B.J. Cole, the British pedal-steel guitar player, has been knocking around the music business for more than 40 years, called in to add a distinctive flair to someone else's recording, soundtrack or commercial jingle and then move on, perhaps to another session that same day. His best-known work is on Elton John's "Tiny Dancer," but he can be heard on hundreds of albums, including those by Beck, Bjork, R.E.M. and Sting. Most recently, he appears on David Gilmour's "On an Island" (Sony).

But it is Mr. Cole's solo career that has his attention now. His latest album, which came out last month, is "Trouble in Paradise" (Silverline), on which the versatile, adventurous musician plays all sorts of pedal-steel sounds to electronic percussion tracks created by the likes of A3, Bent, Groove Armada and Luke Vibert, with whom he recorded 2000's "Stop the Panic" (Cooking Vinyl). On that album, and the new one too, Mr. Cole shows there are few limits to the pedal-steel guitar when it is in his hands.

Fifty-nine-year-old Brian John Cole began his career playing a standard six-string guitar, but in 1962 he heard "Sleepwalk," a world-wide hit for Santo and Johnny. Santo Farina's dreamy pedal-steel guitar won him over.

"It became an irrational passion," Mr. Cole told me via telephone from his North London home. It still is. "The end of the pedal steel's potential hasn't been fully reached because of the stereotypes of where the instrument belongs."

Which is country music. Nashville teems with great pedal-steel players who can add flawless filigree to a country tune. But not many players are exploring its scope as Mr. Cole has. With eight to 12 strings, various pedals and levers, and a slide bar that allows players quick access to several notes at once, the pedal-steel guitar can produce a remarkably wide range of sounds. "Trouble in Paradise" finds Mr. Cole offering many, from his long, horn-like lines over DJ Fluid's perky rhythms on "The Interloper" to his seductive twang on the dreamy "Elle Sait Ou Elle Va" by the French DJ, producer and vocalist Laura B.

Though he's supported innumerable country artists in his career, including Charlie Rich, Dolly Parton, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and k.d. lang, Mr. Cole credits his openness to experimentation to his lack of apprenticeship as a country musician.

"I was never partial to country music, so my priorities weren't limited," he says. "I just wanted to express myself on my instrument."

In the late '60s, Mr. Cole was drawn into Conchise, a short-lived group that included two members who'd played with Mr. Gilmour before he joined Pink Floyd, another who later joined Procol Harum, and a fourth who was a childhood friend of Reg Dwight, who changed his name to Elton John.

"It was a fortuitous band," Mr. Cole says. The relationships with so many prime musicians led him to session work at a time when only one other pedal-steel player, Gordon Huntley, was on the London scene. (Mr. Cole says nowadays the U.K. has "four or five of professional standard.") "Since then, my main form of income has always been as a session player."

Though he's often asked to perform in a country style -- for example, his work is heard on four new tracks added to Shania Twain's "Greatest Hits" (Mercury), released in November -- Mr. Cole's periodic forays into the avant garde made for some decidedly noncountry albums. In 1989, he released "Transparent Music" (Hannibal), which features reinterpreted works of Debussy and Satie. The album, as well as his contribution to "Gone to Earth" (Caroline), David Sylvian's atmospheric blend of experimental rock and soundscapes, led him to performances with minimalist Harold Budd, ambient music's The Orb and French composer and sound sculptor Hector Zazou. He accompanied John Cale in concert.

Then came his work with remix producer Luke Vibert, whom he describes as "a monster musician."

"I wanted to work with DJs," Mr. Cole says. "They could get the beats up and I could jam. I just thought the instrument would suit the music."

The Vibert-Cole collaboration "Stop the Panic" was released during the revival of Lounge music, that cheesy space-age sound of the '50s and '60s that often featured kitschy pedal steels or Hawaiian lap guitar. The disc finds Mr. Cole nodding toward that style as a counterpoint to Mr. Vibert's big beats and brassy multi-instrumentation. He says he loved the experience.

The new album is less aggressive than "Stop the Panic" as Mr. Cole draws from a more varied palette featuring world rhythms, trip hop, '70s-style primitive beats and nothing that sounds like country. To his mind, it's all part of a whole that ignores preconceived notions of what a pedal-steel guitarist ought to be doing.

"My problem," Mr. Cole says, "is within the pedal-steel guitar community. When I play for an audience of kids, I get a genuine enthusiasm for the music and the instrument. They want to know more about what it can do."

Mr. Fusilli, a novelist and critic, covers rock and pop music for the Journal.

[This message was edited by Ray Minich on 18 April 2006 at 08:17 AM.]

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

I've hung out with BJ a couple times in NYC. Super nice guy. In one conversation he told me that every time he looks down at his steel he thinks about Buddy Emmons.

The "Stop the Panic" gigs where amazing. Just a pedal steel and a DJ playing for sold out shows all over the country. In NYC the concert hall was packed. It was wild watching 800+ 20 somethings going bananas to a couple guys just sitting there playing some very out there instrumental music.

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Bob
upcoming gigs
My Website

David Doggett · Posted 18 Apr 2006 10:47 am

I had heard country music steel guitar all my life. But it was B.J. Cole backing Elton John on "Tiny Dancer" that made me have to learn to play pedal steel. That was the first time I understood that it is an instrument that has endless potential far beyond country music. If country music is the cake, everything B.J. Cole has done has been the icing for me.

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Student of the Steel: Zum uni, Fender tube amps, squareneck and roundneck resos, tenor sax, keyboards

John Macy · From: Rockport TX/Denver CO

"Trouble" is a great record. By the way, the new version that is out is a dual sided disk, with regular stereo on one side, and a complete 5.1 SurroundSound mix on the other side. This side will drop right into your DVD player and playback in surround.

I believe this has to be the first SurroundSound steel record.

If anyone has any interest in doing something with BJ, his U.S. mangager is a great friend of mine here in Denver, Mark Bliesener. He can reached at mark@bandguru.com.

Ian Finlay · From: Kenton, UK

Although BJ and have a bunch of mutual friends, I never had the chance to get to know him, which I'd love to do. I remember seeing him with the great Ricky Cool and the Texas Turkeys playing straight up Western Swing. He may play "out there" music, but he sure as heck can cut it playing swing, country, whatever.

That's the difference when one is a master of one's instrument.

And I wish I was too!

Ian

Pete Burak · From: Portland, OR USA

I'm a fan of BJ's playing, but I went to the Vipert-Cole show when they were here in Portland, and it was so loud I had to leave after about 20min.
Unbearably loud even with foam earplugs in.
He has one of the nicest looking Kline S12U's I have seen.

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