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Posted: 18 Jul 2011 11:44 am
by Larry Bell
In the spirit of the season
a little Zappa
http://www.larrybell.org/mp3/Mother.mp3
Tube of Wonderful, a tune by Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum)
http://www.larrybell.org/mp3/Chasin%27Amy.mp3
and a couple of samples from a couple of tunes I wrote years ago
http://www.larrybell.org/mp3/FunkTup.mp3
http://www.larrybell.org/mp3/Snoids.mp3
There are also samples off my CD from 2004 "I've Got Friends in COLD Places" of tunes originally performed/written by the Beatles, Beach Boys, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, etc. ad nauseum. They are on
this page (click)
For what it's worth.
There are even a couple of country tunes.
Posted: 18 Jul 2011 2:31 pm
by Jerry Overstreet
Let's not forget about our brethren of the Sacred Steel persuasion. Followers of the Jewell and Keith Dominion faith et. al, have been entertaining congregations for decades as I understand it. They don't make a fuss about it by tooting their own horn here too much, but it's great music.
Folks like Aubrey Ghent, Calvin Cook, Chuck Campbell and many, many others. Bishop Ronnie Hall has some videos on the forum as well. Good stuff.
Check out some of these videos from Sacred Strings. Click on live performances button for some inspirational videos. If these don't get you moving....well, you just ain't got no soul.
http://www.sacredstrings.com/BestofSacredSteel.html
Posted: 18 Jul 2011 6:02 pm
by Dan Tyack
Wow, I haven't thought about that album in a while. One of the most fun albums I've ever done. Here's a better example:
Dan with Earth
Posted: 18 Jul 2011 7:01 pm
by Justin Jacobson
Dan Tyack wrote:
Wow, I haven't thought about that album in a while. One of the most fun albums I've ever done. Here's a better example:
Dan with Earth
It's one of the albums that has defined how I play Steel guitar. I absolutely love it. I saw them play about a month back and was blown away, wish they would have had a steel on stage though.
Posted: 18 Jul 2011 7:54 pm
by Dan Tyack
I also love the album. I don't think that Dylan took me seriously when I told him that I would love to play that music live.
I love *really* slow music, I'm not sure why. I can tell you it's not drug induced.
Posted: 18 Jul 2011 10:19 pm
by Elton Smith
I think this video should be on the forum.Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRht4yYT ... re=related
Posted: 19 Jul 2011 4:03 am
by Jerry Overstreet
Nice one Elton. Another one from the Vanduras. The Brandins have some great music.
Nice steel guitar visuals too.
Posted: 19 Jul 2011 4:26 pm
by Norman Evans
I really like this style. I think the player is a Forum member, but I don't know who it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQN9YWGQ ... E&index=23
Posted: 19 Jul 2011 6:39 pm
by Jerry Overstreet
After hearing all this great playing and nice sounds from these guys, I think I'm going to sell out and go back to playing the radio. I've wasted 30+ yrs. of my life on the damned thing and can't seem to string 2 phrases together.
Posted: 19 Jul 2011 8:31 pm
by Dan Tyack
You can't beat the Campbell Brothers in terms of creativity on the steel guitar. Plus, they *ROCK*.
Jump for Joy
Sign of the Judgement
Don't Let the Devil Ride
Posted: 19 Jul 2011 8:48 pm
by Dan Tyack
How about Richard Comeaux doing swamp pop:
Lil Band o Gold
The cajun steel scene is over the top.
Posted: 19 Jul 2011 10:33 pm
by Dave Grafe
Posted: 20 Jul 2011 12:19 pm
by Elton Smith
This guy can play very well.The sound is just so full.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kooB2PMh ... re=related
Posted: 21 Jul 2011 4:29 pm
by Gary Cosden
Posted: 21 Jul 2011 4:40 pm
by Dan Tyack
Posted: 22 Jul 2011 6:53 am
by Justin Jacobson
Posted: 22 Jul 2011 10:51 am
by Elton Smith
Steel guitar is dead,my ass!This is some of the best steel guitar I have ever heard.If you had not posted it on this thread I wold not even known that was a steel guitar.Thanks and keep um coming.There are a lot of lurkers that just listen and never post and I think they like what yall are posting.Dan ,thanks for that post.Amazing player.And all this time I thought a steel could only play country.Yee Haw!
Posted: 22 Jul 2011 1:36 pm
by Justin Jacobson
Elton, this by far the best thread I have seen on the forum for me personally. Hopefully there will be many more great examples of steel in other genres.
Here's a few more.
Lucero: I've always been a big fan of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVCUJRfg ... ure=relmfu
Suicide Twins:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vo6nNdriQQ
The Distortions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjfW1p1i ... re=related
Son Volt: Although this is more traditional sounding steel the albums are peppered with more in a more rocked up context. I just love this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNTQ2DuJ ... re=related
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Aside from being a big Nick Cave fan, I really like the steel playing on these.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEC__N3HrHw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM7ICFXv ... re=related
Posted: 22 Jul 2011 5:16 pm
by Daniel Morris
I just posted these in a separate thread (steel on the web), but they seem quite apropos to this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKmo0L1y8tI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTJJoDwlLCs
Indeed, a very fine list of other musics with pedal steel!
Posted: 23 Jul 2011 1:17 pm
by Justin Jacobson
Here's some more
Weakerthans: A band a bit on the punkish side of indie rock, this is one of their more mellow songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxCi6XsvDBU
Bon Iver: I know this album was mentioned in a thread before, but it really is fantastic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3ePlc3G ... re=related
And if you really want something out of the comfort zone of the pedal steel, this is hip hop group from columbus who makes extensive use of the pedal steel. Mostly for pads but still.
http://www.myspace.com/labrats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKKktlo- ... re=related
It may be hard to pick out but there is some steel there, probably some of the more creative steel playing I've heard, not technically but using it to generate the right sounds for the song.
Posted: 23 Jul 2011 1:57 pm
by Daniel Morris
Justin, we gotta talk - you listed a lot of cool stuff I hadn't heard, and I LOVE pedal steel in uncommon places! It's amazing how much lap or pedal steel has been used to great effect in music that does not owe much to country (which I still enjoy).
Thanks for all your links!
Posted: 23 Jul 2011 4:56 pm
by Justin Jacobson
I hope that people have enjoyed at least some of what I've put up. Or at least listened to it and hear different context for this instrument. This is one of the few threads where I feel I have something of substance to contribute, as a new comer to pedal steel (almost 2 years now) and someone who has little interest in playing country music I sometimes feel a little lost on the forum, hearing from all of you and seeing these other great examples really is inspiring for me personally. I hope this thread never stops, there's more great steel out there in other areas than country or jazz (which I am big jazz guy, but still think of steel as a jazz instrument as well as a country instrument)
And here is another favorite band of mine, while it's not pedals steel it is slide related, so I think it fits. It's the wonderful Slide Bass of Mark Sandman and Morphine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWwp2kGMqB4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgvHGT76 ... re=related
Honestly I can't think of a band with a more unique sound than these guys. Try using a slide on any instrument with strings, that's what I get from listening to these guys.
Posted: 23 Jul 2011 5:46 pm
by Bob Hoffnar
I used to do quite a bit of sound design work using the pedalsteel but lately I have been into playing with an unaffected sound and using the natural phrasing abilities of the steel in different contexts.
Here is an example of a first take improvized solo I did with a pop band a few years ago.
http://soundcloud.com/bobhoffnar/03-pop-song-sample
Edited: I just listened to it and I'm all over the track. Anything that isn't an acoustic guitar or string bass is pedalsteel. It was a fun session. We had some extra time and did a quick pass at this tune.
Posted: 23 Jul 2011 6:19 pm
by Daniel Morris
Sweet stuff, Bob!
Posted: 24 Jul 2011 7:07 am
by Mike Daly
This has been such an informative thread. Someone should put out a compilation CD of this material.