The Steel Guitar Forum

OK! Here's a recording project, cd, album, record, or whatever the heck they call 'em these days...that not many people have heard but, I told Paul one time that I thought it was some of the most tasteful steel playing that I had ever heard him or anybody else play. Back when you filled the holes and not everybody played at once...(there's a Clay Walker story there but I won't get into it right now!)

It's by a guy named Wesley Dennis. I think they only gave him one shot at making it, and sadly he didn't achieve the status that us "country music" fans would have liked to have seen. If you can find the cd, listen to the song called "Don't Make Me Feel at Home" and listen to Paul's playing and I think you'll agree with what I've said. Brent Mason plays lead guitar on the project and he plays just as tasteful. WELL worth buying if you can find it.

Cody, if you're just now getting into pedal steel and you're just now getting familiar with Paul Franklin....then man you've got years of steel guitar enjoyment still ahead of you. I've got every album that Paul has ever made along with some live stuff too and it's ALL GREAT!!!.....But there was also a guy named Buddy Emmons that you might also want to check out!!! I think we would all agree here on the Forum that he's "pretty darn good"!! John Hughey, Doug Jernigan, Lloyd Green, Tommy White, Hal Rugg, Jimmy Day, etc., etc, etc....the list of GREAT players goes on and on. Grab every cd...or vinly album that you can find of any of these guys and you won't be sorry. I know a lot of them have instructional material on their web sites if you'll go to the "links" section at the top of the page you can find just about anybody's website that has one along with a list of products that they offer. From how to tune to just getting started playing the steel guitar.

Good luck and happy listening and learning!

Tim Sergent
T

Tim Sergents "pretty darn good " too !

tp

Tim, Joel Key told me about the Wesley Dennis project and I finally found it and you're right, I believe they turned Paul and Brent loose and they tore it up. Wesley should have made it!

Tony

I found Trisha Yearwood's "The Sweetest Gift" Christmas CD with Paul. Check it out!

Cody,on every album or song Paul play is great.
Look for the albums from Darryl Worley "Hard Rain Don't Last" and "I Miss My Friend", I think this is exactly what you want. Another good stuff is from Mark Wills and John Michael Montgomery, Aaron Tippin, Joe Diffie.


Tim,
do you have a list from your albums on which Paul plays??
I have about 760 albums with Paul, but the early albums in the mid-70's and 80's are not listed.

Ed

Wow...Thanks for all the info guys. I realize that there are several guys out there that I could/should be listening to. I just happened upon some bits on you tube from Paul playing with Dire Straights from the "On The Night" dvd and thought it was some amazingly progressive playing. I must confess that most of my listening time for steel has mainly come from country radio. I've just been trying to get down the basics for the last 6-12 months. I really didn't practice PSG much before that, but I did play a lot of dobro and straight steel in many bands. I feel that I'm finally at a place with my PS playing that listening to some of the greats will help me more than frustrate me. I don't have a lot of money(you know, the poor musician thing) to spend. Even on albums. So I appreciate you guys helping me narrow down the selection of recordings that have plenty of tasty PSG on them. I'm open to any other ideas that yall have. I'm not even sure what to get with Buddy Emmons on it. Someone on the forum turned me on to John Hughey the other day. So even though this thread is kind of going in an another direction..I'd love any suggestions of what to watch(I love live music dvds) or listen to. Lemme Have It! The more suggestions the more I have to chose from. I'm already making a list, so gimme more to add to it if you like. Thanks, Cody Russell

Just to add to the "where credit is due" posted earlier, Paul's playing on Rodney Crowell's "Above and Beyond" emulates Ralph Mooney's style--not a copy, but emulation as the sincerest form of flattery--and very well, I might add! It's deceptively hard to do that.

I`m amazed nobody`s mentioned Paul`s "Looking Back" CD, available from his web site. If you want bang for the buck, it`s two CDs for $20, with plenty of cuts worth that much each.
Any Buddy albums are worth having, but Live 77 is one of the reasons I play pedal steel.

Cody,
There are literally hundreds of steel players from around the world that you should listen to..... with that being said..... the 3 methods that you can use to find the ones you like to listen to, 1. www.steelradio.com, 2.http://users.interlinks.net/rebel/steel/steel.html, 3. Youtube, I've watched your video there....and Myspace, oops thats 4...... and hang around here and listen to people rave about their favs....Geez thats 5... anyway happy pickin......

Don't forget about the Notting Hillbillies (a Mark Knopfler group)... there are some YouTubes of live, and recorded performances. Lots of Paul.

I Think I Love You Too Much
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcuZy-mU ... re=related

Your Own Sweet Way-live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iezG7jR7 ... re=related

Your Own Sweet Way-recording
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhactMuKnG0

Roll etc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkT12FGK ... re=related

Although some years old, Paul's performance on the New Nashvile Cat's CD with Mark O'conner is one of my favorites.

Ed, I meant his solo projects! I don't have enough money to buy all the albums he's played on.

Thanks Tony Prior for the compliment.

Look for a Shelby Lynn cut called "Tell Me I'm Crazy" off her album "Temptation." This song features a great turnaround by Paul Franklin along with an equally great part from the late & great fiddler Randy Howard. Great players with some serious tone.

The Notting Hillbillies album is one of my favorites. Never occurred to me to look for them on YouTube. Thanks for the heads up, Dean.

Typical how the camera focuses in on Knopfler's guitar while Paul solos on the "Your Own Sweet Way" live clip.
Ah, the steel player's life...

Paul Franklin is one of those people that came down the pike with talent thats hard to discribe. He plays it all. He plays the right thing on every piece of material thats thrown at him. I have seen a few others in my life that have that ability but the number is few. With everything thats happened to him, in his career, he still remains the guy I met many years ago from Detroit. Paul thanks for musicial moments and the years of friendship we have shared. Loveya pal, Bobby

I have an old vinyl album of Paul's titled "Just Pickin'" It must be at least 25 years old. Nice stuff, both E9 and C6. I don't know if it's available anymore.

It's a long time ago, but I still like Paul's turnaround on "It's So Nice to Be With You" by Gallery.

Over the years I've heard a lot of Mooney licks out of Paul, not to mention Above and Beyond on Crowell's album.

Of the Alan Jackson songs, I really like the work on "Gone Country."

Ken

Has anyone ever heard Paul with "M-M-Mel live" from the Phoenix auditorium. This was the first time I heard Paul play on record and I was stunned at what I heard. I had two albums and gave one to Bryan Pauls son to give to Paul since Paul didn't have one. I received a nice thank you from Paul. The songs are Remember Me, What did I promis her Last night,Send me down to Tucson,Good woman Blues, I got the Hoss, Heard over Mind,Who's Julie I believe in you, Ruby don't take your love to town and Detroit city. Another good album is Big Balls In Cow Town with Mel Tillis and the Syatesiders. Enjoy,
Bill Bailey

Don't forget to go to the well.

-John

Who is this Paul Franklin Guy ?

I'm not too sure, but he must be someone famous. I hear they named a city in Tennesee after him.

I just got faked out: could have sworn it was Paul all over the place on Sunny Sweeney's "If I Could" but come to find out it was Tommy Detamore. Great playing! And I was convinced it was the Big E on LeAnn Rimes' "Blue" until I found out it was Milo Deering.

Something I've been pondering for a while:

On youtube there are several videos of Paul playing with Dire Straits (and I think another of him with Mark Knopfler in another setting). I forget the name of the song, but Mark intros the solo with " the best steel player in the world..." or something along those lines.

In each video, Paul plays an almost note-for-note, identical solo. One of them is played with a slightly different "bounce" to it, but the licks are 99% the same.

The question is - is this a good thing, or a bad one?

I can understand playing a "hook" the same on evey rendition of a song, but not an entire solo. Don't get me wrong, it's a stunning solo and Paul's a tremendous player - but why play the same solo, night after night? I don't think audiences are expecting steel solos to be the same all the time, and I wonder why he does it.

When I go to a concert, I like to hear the musicians branch out from the recorded material rather than "play it like the record".

I just wonder what other opinion are - do you like hearing the same thing played every time, or do you prefer a player to be more creative.

It makes me recall Clarence White with the Byrds back in the 70's who rarely played any song exactly the same, and was always "stretching the envelope" instead of staying on "safe ground".

Comments?

Jim you can find Paul's comments on that very solo here. It's from their classic song "Walk of Life." You will remember that the recording didn't have steel on it.

Watch how two identical parts in these two solos are played differently:

From :08 to :11 here

And from :09 to :12 here