who was Johnathan Edwards steel player

Paul Smith · Post by **Paul Smith** » 8 May 2006 11:38 am

Hello everyone,

I heard some great steel on some old Johnathan Edwards tracks that I recently came across.
Can anyone tell me who the steeler was...

thanks,

smitty

David Wren · Post by **David Wren** » 8 May 2006 12:01 pm

Bill Keith? I know there's a Bill and a Ben...somone else with a better memory might help out... think Ben Keith is the Neil young player.

Anyway, I have "Have a good time for me" ... great session men all on that ablum, George Grantham - Poco's drummer and David Bromberg on Dobro.... nice album for sure, and GREAT steel work.

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Dave Wren
'96 Carter S12-E9/B6,7X7; Twin Session 500s; Hilton Pedal; Black Box www.ameechapman.com

[This message was edited by David Wren on 08 May 2006 at 01:05 PM.][This message was edited by David Wren on 08 May 2006 at 01:07 PM.][This message was edited by David Wren on 08 May 2006 at 01:29 PM.]

scott murray · Post by **scott murray** » 8 May 2006 12:40 pm

It is Bill Keith on most of Edwards' stuff. Primarily a banjo player (melodic "Keith-style")and former Bluegrass Boy to Bill Monroe, but what a great steel player too.

The 'Sweet Moments' album he did with Jim Rooney, Richard Greene, and Eric Weisberg (as the Blue Velvet Band) is one of my favorites. They got it cheap on eBay!

I called the number for Keith banjo tuners, and Bill answered the phone himself!

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 8 May 2006 12:40 pm

never mind...

I saw JE a few times early on. he never had a Steel with him though..[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 08 May 2006 at 01:43 PM.]

David Wren · Post by **David Wren** » 8 May 2006 3:07 pm

What I really like about these older recordings with PSG.... everyone thought it so so cool, they didn't bury it in the mix!

I like my JE album so much, I put it on just to get me in a good mood

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Dave Wren
'96 Carter S12-E9/B6,7X7; Twin Session 500s; Hilton Pedal; Black Box
www.ameechapman.com

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 8 May 2006 4:10 pm

I opened for Jonathen Edwards in 1971 at an anti-war rally in Thompkins Square park in Greenwich Village, N.Y. He typically played with just a bass player. Stewert. Anyhow, he blew us away with his performance. I bought his album immediately. I remember us smoking weed with him right before he went on. The headliner was the San Fransisco guy who did "Whoopee Were All Gonna Die". I forgot his name.

Larry Robbins · Post by **Larry Robbins** » 8 May 2006 5:01 pm

COUNTRY JOE?

Al Terhune · Post by **Al Terhune** » 8 May 2006 6:57 pm

Okay, Kevin Hatton, if you smoked weed with Jonathan Edwards (let alone opened for him), you are now one tops fellow in my book (not that you'd care -- and I think I know you well enough that you wouldn't care!). I always thought of myself as the biggest JE fan, at least of his first two or three albums -- his voice changed, you know, in a way that it was much more appealing to me early on.

So Kevin -- I respect you even if you think keyless guitars are ugly and sound inferior (plus, you're older than I thought you were, which means you deserve to stir the pot when you want. There's gotta be some privileges to being older, eh?).

Al

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 8 May 2006 7:15 pm

Al, its interesting to me how people think I'm young. I'm 53, and believe me, I was there. I opened for a few of the 60's/70's acts. I was a long haired drummer at that time. Jazz trained from eight years old by a Broadway show drummer. I was full of vineger back then. The Burrittos with Al Perkins, Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels, Sly And The family Stone, and others that I can't remember. I play steel today literally because of seeing Al Perkins from ten feet away on stage right. I DO have strong opinions sometimes, but hopefully I'm not personally offensive to anyone. I respect everyone's opinions. I'm not always right.[This message was edited by Kevin Hatton on 08 May 2006 at 08:17 PM.][This message was edited by Kevin Hatton on 08 May 2006 at 08:21 PM.]

Larry Clark · Post by **Larry Clark** » 8 May 2006 7:17 pm

Didn't Jonathan Edwards host a boating show on cable recently?

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 8 May 2006 7:20 pm

Larry, thats right. It was Country Joe MacDonald. Smoked weed with him too.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 8 May 2006 8:38 pm

Paul, what were the tunes? I have a '77 LP that features Hank DeVito on steel....with an all star lineup of others including: Brian Ahern, Mike Auldridge, Rodney Crowell, Emmylou, Glen Hardin, Herb Pedersen, Emory Gordy and Albert Lee. Hmmmmm.....come to think of it, that sure sounds a lot like Emmy's Hot Band don't it?

Anyhow, the LP is titled Sailboat. [This message was edited by Jerry Overstreet on 08 May 2006 at 09:50 PM.]

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 8 May 2006 9:26 pm

Jerry,
I think Edwards did two albums with Brian Ahern with the lineup you mentioned, the other one being "Rockin`Chair"
Jonathan also recorded at least one album with the Seldom Scene featuring Mike Auldridge on dobro and on a few songs pedal steel

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Olli Haavisto,
Finland

Paul Smith · Post by **Paul Smith** » 9 May 2006 4:36 am

Hello...

The JE CD I received was from a friend who is a member of a download site. The first half of the CD is from a JE live concert... not to sure what date or where.. but I will try and find out. The second half of the CD is studio stuff

thanks for all the generous replies... I love that style of psg... I wonder if Bill Keith still plays any steel. Maybe I will look him up and ask myself

take care,

smitty

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 9 May 2006 8:21 am

I was full of vineger back then.

not like nowadays...

Tommie Ward · Post by **Tommie Ward** » 9 May 2006 9:25 am

Hank Devito i think James Burton on tele
some good stuff for sure JE sang backup
on emmylou early stuff so im thinkin hot band

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 9 May 2006 10:26 am

Hank DeVito and James Burton on Tele - definitely! I remember that album, and I sure wish I still had it!

Is it on a CD?

RR

David Wren · Post by **David Wren** » 9 May 2006 12:33 pm

The CD I have, "Have a Good Time For Me", may have been his first, I got it in 1972 from a friend that worked at a record store and knew I'd love the PSG. A year or two later he had a pop hit, called "Sunshine" (or something like that). The "good time for me" album seems to be still available on CD.

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Dave Wren
'96 Carter S12-E9/B6,7X7; Twin Session 500s; Hilton Pedal; Black Box
www.ameechapman.com

Will Hart · Post by **Will Hart** » 9 May 2006 12:51 pm

JE now lives on St Croix in the USVI. I've jammed with him a few times. He's still a great player. No one has mentioned the fact that Bill Keith tabbed many of the songs in the Pedal Steel Guitar book with Winnie Winston. Terrific phrasing. He really got me started back in the 70's.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 9 May 2006 1:08 pm

Does anybody have an e-mail address for Bill Keith?

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 9 May 2006 2:02 pm

Is 'Rockin' Chair' the track where James Burton does those amazing harmonic string-bends over the nutt of his Tele?

RR

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 10 May 2006 8:24 am

I always loved the way Bill played steel--he had a different approach and great tone. I used to play a few college dates with JE, The Lily Brothers (with Jim Rooney) and our band, the John Lincoln Wright band. It was always great to hear Bill warming up backstage on the banjo--jumping from Bach to Charlie Parker and beyond. Lots of jamming and cross-pollination between the bands and players on those shows. I played on a bunch of demos for Johnathan at the old Northern Studios in Maynard and had a great time.

Love that Blue Velvet Band record, too...

J Hollenberg · Post by **J Hollenberg** » 10 May 2006 8:42 am

On the cd ""The Natural Thing " it is Paul Franklin.

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Bob Knetzger · Post by **Bob Knetzger** » 10 May 2006 9:06 am

I went to banjo workshop about ten years ago here in Seattle and Bill Keith was one of the instructors. He was really great: funny, passionate and very articulate about how he evolved his melodic style. Not only did he do many of the arrangements and tabs for the Winne W Steel Guitar book, I'm told he also did the tabs for the Earl Scruggs banjo book, another canonical text! His talk features a lot of music theory and was quite meaty--not the usual 'here's-how-I-play -this-lick" kind of thing.

I asked him about his steel playing. He was very forthcoming, telling stories about playing with J. Edwards and Ian Tyson. Ultimatley, he felt he needed to dedicate his focus on just one instrument, and he chose the banjo.

I always found his banjo playing to be like his steel playing: rock-solid on funamentals, a presentation that paid homage to the sound of the instrument and the history of playing styles of the instrument that came before,...but taking it much further in a unique way. Very dense musically, with a lot of carefully chosen harmony and voicings. His steel playing isn't as hot or "lick oriented" or as attention grabbing as his banjo style, but there's a lot a cool ideas, and always in service to the material.

He also invented and manufactures the Keith/Scruggs peg, that tricky set of banjo tuners that have built in stops for on-the-fly tuning changes, a very pedal steel kind of thing.

One more steel thing: if you can find it, look for "Marcel Dadi in Nashville," a great double instrumental album, featuring "double" soloists, among them Bill Keith and Bobby Thompson on twin harmony melodic banjos (!),.. and Buddy E and Curly Chalker "dueling it out."[This message was edited by Bob Knetzger on 10 May 2006 at 10:17 AM.][This message was edited by Bob Knetzger on 10 May 2006 at 10:18 AM.]

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 10 May 2006 11:36 am

I have the LP with some of the following tunes.......

Have a Good Time for Me
Hey Brothers and Sisters
Honky Tonk Stardust Cowboy
Sunshine
Sugar Babe
When the Roll is Called Up Yonder
and about 6 more.......

The album features Bill Keith on both pedal steel and banjo......JH in Va.

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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!