Sneaky Pete in May 2007 Guitar Player

Greg Simmons · Post by **Greg Simmons** » 20 Apr 2007 4:43 pm

I believe there was to be an article on Sneaky Pete in the May issue of Guitar Player - anybody see it yet

Michael Strauss · Post by **Michael Strauss** » 21 Apr 2007 8:34 am

From the April issue of Guitar Player Mag (online)

http://www.guitarplayer.com/story.asp?s ... code=17646

Passing Notes
By Kevin Owens | April 2007

“Sneaky” Pete Kleinow, the country-rock innovator who turned on countless rock and psychedelic audiences to the steel guitar as an original member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, died January 6 at a nursing facility in Petaluma, California. He was 72. In addition to his groundbreaking, fuzzed-out steel-guitar work with the Burritos, Kleinow played sessions with rock royalty (the Stones, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, and Fleetwood Mac, to name a few) and recorded music and effects for film and TV (he wrote the theme for the ’60s children’s series Gumby). Look for a proper tribute to this truly remarkable musician in the May 2007 issue.

Greg Simmons · Post by **Greg Simmons** » 21 Apr 2007 9:00 am

Just picked it up - p.40 (1 page w/photo).

Russ Tkac · Post by **Russ Tkac** » 21 Apr 2007 10:44 am

I picked it up as well. Not really what I'd call a fitting tribute.

Russ

Greg Simmons · Post by **Greg Simmons** » 21 Apr 2007 10:58 am

That's for sure Russ

Paul Redmond · Post by **Paul Redmond** » 21 Apr 2007 4:52 pm

That reads more like an insult than a tribute. The guy who wrote that probably attained puberty recently and couldn't possibly have known a damned thing about Pete. Fuzzed-out? Hmmm!! Yeah, I guess so!! Don't you just love experts?? Out of decency, they ought to print either a retraction, an apology, a fitting tribute, or better yet, all three!! They never even mentioned the Pillsbury Dough Boy, a monumental milestone in 'stop-frame' photography.
PRR

Anita Kleinow · Post by **Anita Kleinow** » 24 Apr 2007 10:20 pm

You'd think they would have at least called me, so I could say, "yeah, he was my dad."

Pooh!

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 25 Apr 2007 12:18 am

Since I re-subscribed last year I have found that, alas, the newest Guitar Player magazine cares about:
A: Selling ad space
B: Selling magazines
The notions of "preserving history" or "advancing music" and whatnot escape them - another triumph for the bean-counters no doubt. They have some really talented musicians writing for them; it's almost painful to read someone like Jess Gress or Jude Gold try to pretend enthusiasm for the latest solo-less thrash-metal monstrosity, or write an article on the "Techniques of Johnny Ramone."

Needless to say, I am letting my subscription run out - they are a child's mag, these days. I wonder if "Vintage Guitar" covered Sneaky Pete, they at least write like adults.

Mike Maddux · Post by **Mike Maddux** » 25 Apr 2007 1:02 am

I saw both the "tributes" in Vintage Guitar Magazine and in Guitar Player and I agree they were not fitting.

Sneeky was the reason I picked up steel and I believe he was one of the greatest stylists ever to sit behind a steel. I feel great every time I hear his steel because I know he was doing his own thing and not trying to copy anyone. From what I understand he did not have a lot of steel players to draw off of so he came up with his own thing. There are a lot of people who try to get close to the tone he had and no one comes close because there was magic in his fingers and his mind that no one could understand. He was truly a gifted, creative man.

I wish I had 1/1000000 of his "certain something".

Anyone else take up steel because of Sneeky?

Dave Harmonson · Post by **Dave Harmonson** » 25 Apr 2007 1:33 am

I wouldn't say he was "the" reason I took up pedal stee, but he was definitely one of the major reasons. One of the first songs where I really started to pay attention to steel was Linda Ronstadt doing Rock Me On The Water. Shortly after that someone turned me onto the Burritos and I just loved what he played on Wheels and Sin City. Yep, I don't think anyone else sounds like him.

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 25 Apr 2007 4:34 am

Anyone else take up steel because of Sneeky?

Yep. And I think there are more players using his copedent now than at any time in history.

I've seen neither article, but the blurb quoted above actually seemed pretty complimentary, other than the use of "fuzzed-out", which isn't all that bad IMO.

As far as GP being written for kids and existing to sell advertising - of course it is. There's more profit in that than in catering to small market segments - go into a Guitar Center and see what the market really consists of. Some of us may not like the magazine, but we're not the target group for most of the advertisers.

VG on the other hand is 90% ads - the small number of articles wouldn't be expected to cover all "news" items. It's written for vintage instrument collectors, and steel players aren't a big factor there either.

Unfortunately, there IS no magazine that covers steel players, because as has been discussed in threads about ill-fated past efforts, there's not a big enough or active enough market to make one successful.

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 25 Apr 2007 5:36 am

I just re-read the article in GP (I still subscribe, though I don't find much in it that interests me any more), and it's a pretty nicely written article, disappointing only in its brevity.

Actually, I give grudging credit to GP for having an article at all. That's due, of course, to its being so predominantly geared toward young rock players. I'm not sure Jimmy Day's passing got any mention whatsoever--if so, it would have been of the one or two sentence variety.

Greg Simmons · Post by **Greg Simmons** » 25 Apr 2007 9:51 am

See Bryson Jones' tribute in the latest issue of No Depression magazine

I think he posted it here: http://www.gramparsons.com/bboard/bboar ... 62&topic=0