The Steel Guitar Forum

Chris, Ok Maybe if the studio musicians did the show or as you feel better musicians it would have made a difference..I'm sure Gokey is putting his road band together..That means that somebody gets a job..I'd rather give this young man kuddos for his taking on the task and recieving a payday..Most of the comments started out to point out the mere fact the Steel recieved some exposure on a major stage. The song was decent, a refreshing break from the boring contestants so far.. I'm sure it was mostly only some from the Steel community judging the young player and what he was adding to the song...There are many who would have gladly done that show if they had the chance..We all know the Nashburg producers like to add a Pedal steel or Fiddle to get that Country recognition..If this was the case ,it won't be the last..But hooray for someone getting some exposure and now we all know his name..

it wouldn't have made much difference. a good song by a good singer might have. this was so memorable i can't remember 'anything' about it two days later!
......except that he presented a somewhat unattractive image to me.

Atleast, you remember you didn't like it !
MANY did and I'm sure Danny's fans will buy his CD with Mike Johnson on it !
Good for steel guitar......

Chris,I have to agree the song is not what I'd call a big hit as of yet anyway.. Nothing that I will add to my collection anyway..I don't think I would have posted over the song or Danny Gokey.

I suppose in the seventies I might have found something attractive and interesting in it,
that's when this kind of music was in vogue,
but now these kind of melodies and chord changes seem so worn out to me, that I just don't like it anymore.

Joachim , despite the melodies and chord changes being worn out, would you like it if it was still "in vogue?"

Gaylon Mathews wrote:That was Dan Hochhalter on steel. He's Gretchen Wilson's fiddle player. He has owned that Sho-Bud since he was a kid but never really learned to play it. Brandon Fraley, who used to tour with us on the Gretchen show (keyboard/piano) now works for Gokey. When this American Idol thing came up, Brandon asked Dan to cover the steel part. Dan is a smoking hot fiddler but a beginner on steel so I think it was great that he had the courage to go on live TV with 30 seconds to set up and tune and pull off a few A/B pedal pushes. Ya gotta start somewhere...

Since Gaylon filled us in on Dan's background, I wonder why Brandon Fraley didn't have Dan play the fiddle on that tune?

Or for that matter, we have members here that work out of Los Angeles that could have played the steel part. Shoot, I would have had Dan on fiddle and get one of the local steel guys to fill in, but they might not have been young enough and had "the look."

Sure it was pretty rudimentary steel playing, but it was okay with me.

The record has steel, not fiddle.

Hey guys and Gals...at least it WAS pedal steel! How many of us would have traded places with the lucky steel player?? I sure would! I do wonder just how many out there who put him down would have done that much of a better job given the circumstances?? except for the "PROS" that responded, of course! ...but, here I go agin... complain all you want but, he got more exposure for himself and for pedal steel than many of us ever will!!

I think Chris Ivey is an imposter... He is really Simon Cowell

Who is this Danny Gokey guy?

I don't see any sense in knocking a working sideman musician because his stage performance is simplistic, especially in a song where nothing more is required.

is there talent on that show ? i never watch it from what i seen in the past years i got kind of turned off by it truthfully. i have seen better talent then they seem to pick for the show just my opinion dont quote me .

I very rarely ever watch AI, but did watch that show....and despite preconceived notions, I felt that Gokey did a good job with that song. Turned out a very professional performance.

I would have loved to have been there mashin the pedals!

I think there are a number of folks on the show that have pitch issues...though nobody as bad as Taylor Swift. My only real problem with the show is that it focuses 100% on vocal performance....I come away much more impressed with a performer that can play an instrument and sing rather than sing only. And I'm not talking about the Potsie Weber hamfisted bar chords on guitar, either!

I'd rather hear A&B or B&C ALL DAY on a clean ShoBud than the distorted C**p you hear on a lot of stuff...
that is if you hear ANY steel at all

I like the part where he told the Randy Travis story... Something like...
"Well Dorky, have you ever seen a cow? ... Then Dorky says.. "Well Mr. Travis, I had one of the things you turn upside down and it sounded just like a cow, and I saw a cow in a book once"

Dorky continues...

"Then Randy Travis waved his guitar over my head and said... "I hearby declare you are a country singer, so you might as well go forth and be like all the other gutless wonders they're playin' on country radio nowadays"

And so it was... The birth of another modern country performer.

BTW, That steel guitar was the only thing that sounded country.
I bet he laughed all the way to the bank... I would. I say good for him.

Who ever called Taylor Swift an artist of any kind is goofy

Barry Blackwood wrote:

I suppose in the seventies I might have found something attractive and interesting in it,
that's when this kind of music was in vogue,
but now these kind of melodies and chord changes seem so worn out to me, that I just don't like it anymore.

Joachim , despite the melodies and chord changes being worn out, would you like it if it was still "in vogue?"

Barry, I remember a time in the seventies, when some artists like the Byrds were trying to be commercial and weren't very creative in their output (McGuinn, Clak and Hillman is an example). I liked it because it was well played Rock- Music. But today it is thirty years ago, and I don't feel those optimtic sentiments anymore.

Danny Bates, you crack me up. I remember the story sounding like it was intended to tug on the heart strings a little more than that. However, your version may make a very good country music animated feature film. I don't think the guys who wrote "Crazy Heart" were as creative in their story as you!

Bobby,

I merely took the liberties of adding a little "Artistic Embellishment"

Re: Crazy Heart

Drunk Boy meets Geeky Girl. Boy loses Girl. Boy quits drinking and all lustous encounters. Boy gives girl check for her child. End of story.

Creative? It's happened in most of our lives... (only we paid child support)

Also leave out the part that says... Boy quits drinking and all lustous encounters

Jeff Bridges is a great actor... but his character can't tell a good looking woman from a dog... the boy needs glasses... and a little less booze.

Every pro steel player was a beginner at one time.Give the guy a break.

Gokey's song is #3 on iTunes right now. Just sayin'.

Danny Hockholter is from White Bear lake, MN and years ago I taught him his first basics on the Sho-Bud Maverick that his mother, Liz got him. I think he was about 12 or 13 at the time if my memory serves me right. He was an good fiddle player even then and he picked up licks on the steel quickly, but when he graduated, he moved to Nashville to work as a Fiddle player. I talked to him briefly just before I moved to Nashville a few years ago.

Bravo Danny.

Albert

To the music industry, if it has pedal steel on it, it's country. That's sad because there are some really nice albums featuring pedal steel that are definitely NOT country music. I noticed that when itunes on my computer matched up Bobby Seymour's new "Rhythmatic" album it listed it as "country". It isn't. And another thing that bugs me is that Hawaiian music is listed as "world" genre. What the h? Hawaiian music is as much American as New Orleans Jazz, Mississippi Blues, Motown, or Broadway. Sorry for getting off topic but that's the way my brain works - or doesn't.

It would be nice to hear more positives about seeing and hearing steel guitar on TV. Not so much negative about it not being country music. I'm just saying.......

I actually intended for my original post to sound a little more positive than I guess it did. I was trying to say that I think it's great that they had the steel on stage, even though the electric guitar was more up front in the sound, and it was off stage. It's great that they think presence of a steel, is good for his image. I also think it's good that they didn't put a cowboy hat on this guy.
I guess all my opinions about the CDs I buy and the kind of music I like, and what I consider real country music, all belong in another thread.

I will say this though. I didn't hate him. There are things on CMT, every single time my remote stops there, that are way more offensive to my taste than this guy. Just maybe having someone like Randy Travis tutor guys like Gokey is what we need to turn the future of modern country music around. He's brand new. Lets give him the benefit of doubt, and see what he's doing in ten years, when the cool pretty boy thing is out of reach for him. At least he likes the steel. If he reads this forum, we could put such a bad taste in his mouth, that he leaves the steel out from now on. Is that really what we want?
I think young guys with steels, steels on TV, steels in movie soundtracks, Carter starters in guitar center, distorted rock and roll steel, old rock legends who play steel badly on youtube, steel with too much chorus, funky rambling experimental loop jams, and all those things out of range of the taste for most of us to listen too,, All of these are exposure to guys we would not reach in our little world. Maybe someone who is exposed to these things will be the Buddy E. of the next generation, and keep the steel alive long after we leave. Would we really want to keep that from happening just because we don't care for the music they play on it?