The Steel Guitar Forum

Rick Alexander wrote:It has enormous potential to bring joy into your life and the lives of those around you.

You are so right, Rick...playing brings great joy to people.....and I bring that great joy to people when I stop......

Rick do you know what tuning Mr. Clave uses. I loved his playing on your country songs and thats a right pretty fiddle player also with great playing too!

I believe he uses C6....Rick can confirm that.....unless I'm wrong.....

Howard is right.
Carco uses C6 with F and low C on the bottom and D on the top, like this:
hi2lo - D E C A G E C A F C
The D is a whole step lower than the high E.

Incidentally, he made that guitar himself.
When he was on the road with Asleep At The Wheel he needed a guitar to practice in his bunk that wouldn't stick out into the aisle and present a hazard to anyone walking by.
So, necessity being the mother of invention - he constructed a shorter keyless guitar for the purpose.
The one you see in the videos is actually the second one he made.

Yep, Renae' Truex is a fabulous fiddler.
She and Carco are married, and as they like to say - he steels the show and she steals the show.
They are such a pleasure to work with, along with Scott Icenogle on upright bass.
I can't remember when I've enjoyed playing as much as I do with them.
Carco is also an excellent guitar player, so it works out well whether I'm playing steel or guitar.
Here we are performing in the main ballroom:


I may have been the only Steel Player who didn't use a drummer on the main stage!

Here are some more videos from the Non Pedal Session:

ROLY POLY - Rick Alexander

HEY GOOD LOOKING - Carco Clave

IF YOU AIN'T LOVIN' YOU AIN'T LIVIN' - Scott Icenogle

CINCINNATI - Herb Remington

OKIE BOOGIE - Ike Jonson

COWBOY'S SWEETHEART - Shirley Alberts

WALTZ - Scotty

HOW D'YA DO - Margie Mays

The long-awaited "In The Dark" videos featuring Ivan Reddington and Gerald Ross are now available.
These are the ones we took using battery power for the video recorder and a small flashlight for stage lighting - when Ivan and Gerald played for an hour to 50 people sitting in the dark.
It looks like a black cat eating licorice in a coal bin, but you can hear them just fine.
Ivan was playing an 8 string Benoit Resonator and Gerald was playing my Taylor Acoustic.

HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY THAT I LOVE YOU in the dark - Gerald & Ivan

There are several others there, not too hard to spot - just look for the black rectangles.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ric ... iew=videos

And here's a couple featuring Ivan with the lights on.
Sorry I don't know all the song titles, but I bet I will before this is over:

IVAN REDDINGTON #2

IVAN REDDINGTON #4

SHE CALLED ME BABY BABY ALL NIGHT LONG - Scott Icenogle

TRUCK DRIVIN' MAN - Rick Alexander

BTW - the man behind the video camera is Jeff Strouse.
He's the guy who did all that strategic zooming to the talented hands of the players - so everyone could see their techniques.

edited

Rick, thanks for posting all the vids!
Hope to be able to attend next year. Missed seeing you all,

best,
chris

You're welcome Chris.
We missed you there too buddy.
We're planning to do it again next year, so hopefully we'll see you then!

Any possibility of a DVD, Rick, or would that be crossing too many copyright laws ?

We had a copyright problem with our NCAL 10th Anniversary jam session, but got round that by only selling to members, at cost, and insisting that the purchasers only use the DVD for private listening.

Sorry I couldn't make it this year. Let's hope by next year I shall be in a better position to attend. It looks like I missed a great event. Keep up the good work. I can see it's a labor of love for you.

and now Because of Kevin Brown it has become an official International Event

It's true - thanks to Kev, we can truthfully say that people come to the Non Pedal Session from around the world!
Kevin is an excellent player and we all enjoyed his performances.

Alan, I hope you can make it next year!
You have a whole year to work it out . .

Just had the chance to go though this thread and looks like a good time was had by all....hope to make it next year. Liked Herb Remington's poignant words about the steel guitar..

Kay

So many great Musicians, so much good Music, this thread will be Bookmarked permanently till next year.

James.

Liked Herb Remington's poignant words about the steel guitar..

Yeah, I thought that merited posting.
I hope you do come next year Kay - I'm sure you'll love it.

So many great Musicians, so much good Music, this thread will be Bookmarked permanently till next year.

It really was James.
2 days and nights of amazing players - some scheduled, and some really nice surprises.

edited

This is a note for ya'll to know that he went above and beyond the call of duty in the NON Pedal Room . He and Jeff worked tirelessly the whole weekend to provide a warm friendly venue for a boat load of folks <including> to enjoy !
The gentleman who's first name was "Junior" who played with Ernest Tubb was also one of my favorite along with the above mentioned folks .

Rick as George said "KUDOS"

Later

Tuck

P.S. I just got on a computer as mine has a Virus & is at the 'Puter Doctor.

Hey Tuck, thanks for the kind words my friend.
We were glad to have you with us there, and we appreciate all your able assistance and support.

You're referring to Junior Pruneda, who was Ernest Tubb's Bass Player for many years.
He sang some and he played Bass with us for Herb Remington's hour long Saturday set.
He did a wonderful job - he was one of the "surprises" I was referring to.
Here is a video of Junior singing "Lonesome 77203" with Carco, Renae', Me, Scott and Ike Jonson backing him up:
LONESOME 77203
and here's one the songs he played bass in Herb's set:
BORN TO LOSE.

Rick, I just got my YouTube update notice on your new video's. Just wanted to say THANKS!! from all of us that weren't able to be there.

Wow! Nice video quality Rick!

Rick,

Thank you for posting all these great videos. You guy's all sound spectacular. You should all be commended for keeping this music available in a live setting for the world to enjoy.
Walter Lyons by the way, is a blast to listen to. If anyone has any info to share about Walter and his musical background I'm all ears. His tone and chops are top notch in my book.

Thanks again,

Dave

Rick, sorry I had to miss the show this year, but I will be there next; It looks like ya'll had too much fun; Thanks for all you do

chuck

Thank you Mark, I'm glad you're enjoying these videos.

Thanks Dave! Walter is a bona fide Texas Playboy and a guitar virtuoso if ever there was one.
He's a true gentleman and a pleasure to work with.
He was with us at last year's TSGA Non Pedal Session to help us back Herb up as well.
There are seven or eight videos of that set on my YouTube channel.

Charles, I'm happy that you're planning to attend next year's Non Pedal Session.
Just for the record, it will be at the Sheraton Grand DFW - March 11, 12 & 13, 2010.

Here is a great video from this year's Non Pedal Session.
It's Herb Remington performing the Bob Wills classic "FADED LOVE" with Junior Pruneda on vocal and bass, Renae' Truex on Fiddle, Carco Clave, Gerald Ross and Rick Alexander on guitars.
This video is courtesy of Georgeboards
FADED LOVE - Herb Remington

This little gem by Margie Mays is well worth checking out.
Margie's CDs were selling like hotcakes, it seemed like everytime I turned around somebody wanted to buy one.
It's not hard to understand why.
ECHOES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC - Margie Mays

Rick! All I can say is WOW!
Man am I sorry I missed this. I would have just nested in that room.

Well I will be there next year.

Good job Rick
danny

Looks like a great time was had again in Dallas. I wish I could have been there but, I had to stay home this year. Truly a Labor of Love to put on that Non pedal session. So much work and time for the sake of the Non Pedal steel. Hats of to Rick and the all who helped out.
Theres not enough time in a day to check out all the Youtube vid's but there certainly is some great music there.
Todd

edited

Danny Hammers wrote:Rick! All I can say is WOW!
Man am I sorry I missed this. I would have just nested in that room. Well I will be there next year.
Good job Rick ...danny

I echo that. Rick did a great job, and I'm hoping I can make it next year.

Hey, you should all check out Danny's squirrel page. It's great...

http://w4mop.com/morepicssquirrelie.htm

Thanks for posting that on the internet, Danny.