The Steel Guitar Forum

I noticed that Pete Drake used a Leslie speaker for one song on Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline album. Was that the first recorded use of pedal steel through a Leslie?

The song is "Tell Me That It Isn't True". Nice track.

i don't have the chronology right, but did'nt Rusty Young use a Leslie w: Poco round' the same time ?
on the " you better think twice " album

I still hear people belittling Pete Drake to this day for his lack of so called 'technical ability'. (For that read speed).

He had this uncanny knack of playing precisely what was required on a track. That's why he was the #1 choice for many producers who were wary of overplayers and ego merchants. Billy Sherill made no bones about it in an article that I read once. He said "Pete Drake is not the best steel player out there, but he plays exactly what I want him to play". That says it all really, and Lloyd has stated in the past that Pete was the template that he used when he first came to Nashville. Incidentally, McCartney rated Lloyd's musical ability very highly, as a mutual aquaintance related to me once when I was doing a session in London.

Pete plays on a Charley Rich number called We Love Each Other So, where throughout he just hits a string and slides up one fret to hit the next string. Very simple, basic and steeped in plate reverb, but it is perfect.

It is apparent that Paul too owes Pete a great deal for helping him in his early days as a session player.

I listened to George Harrisons "All Things Must Pass" album again last night, specifically listening for the steel parts. They are sometimes buried in Phil Spector's mix, and in some cases it's a bit hard to tell if I'm hearing Pete's steel or George's slide, but either way, there's some very tasty playing.

I noticed that Pete Drake used a Leslie speaker for one song on Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline album. Was that the first recorded use of pedal steel through a Leslie?

Pete was playing through a Leslie at least as early as 1966, on sessions for Elvis's "How Great Thou Art" album:

Curly Chalker played through a Leslie on "Big Hits on Big Steel" (produced by Pete Drake of course), also in 1966.

Thanks Chris and Lloyd for the information about the Ringo album!
As far as I know it was only released in Germany, a friend of mine had it, and I listened to it one time.
Here's a track featuring Lloyd:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF2sLzLGqpk [/quote]

Joachim Kettner wrote:Thanks Chris and Lloyd for the information about the Ringo album!
As far as I know it was only released in Germany, a friend of mine had it, and I listened to it one time.
Here's a track featuring Lloyd:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF2sLzLGqpk

Thanks for the link, Joachim!

I am a Motown fanatic as well as being a Paul Franklin fanatic, so this information was a very welcome surprise. Thanks, Paul steve t

Getting back to the Beatles, can you imagine what would have happened if they had used a steel on Yesterday instead of the strings? The entire history of our instrument would have been changed.

This exactly I love this Forum..Bill

I remember when Pete retired around 1980 due to his battle with emphasema...That health decision permanently eliminated the first call work he enjoyed with many rock and country legends....Nobody loved the music business anymore and neither was anyone more successful with a steel guitar. It was sad to see my dear friends heartbreak over sitting on the sidelines.

Pete was a unique and innovative steel guitarist. While everyone was following the E9th sounds in Country, Pete entered the studio scene playing the C6th so commercially that everyone wanted his new sound. I'm talking about the C6th style he played on Carl and Pearl Butler's "Don't Let Me Crossover" and his instrumental "for Pete's Sake". IMO, His playing was the commercial counterpart to the Jazzy directions Buddy and Curly were taking the C6th.

When I contemplated getting a E9th single neck with a pad for the studio gigs I mentioned it to Pete....He said, " Kid, those rockers love that low string and all the C6th rhythm stuff that can be done with it." (Check Out The Clip Below). With that statement he stopped me in my tracks.

In my earliest teens Pete invited me onstage to play with his road show which was the first top notch band I played with. What a sound with really great musicians. I met Johnny Gimble, DJ Fontana, Jeff Newman, and Dale Sellars that day. He saved my financial neck by hiring my exwife as the receptionist for Window Music and he gave me my first Nashville master sessions when I was starving trying not to take a road gig....I'll never forget his spot on advice and his generous session offers. He gave me my first studio experience with the original "A" team and tips on how to get through each type of gig....The great thing is this, my story here is only one out of the many musicians he helped.

I believe if his health had not taken him early, he would be as busy today, as he was back then....... I see Pete's musicianship becoming more viable as Nashville becomes more rock focused. The sounds he made in rock settings with the instrument is revered by todays artists.

IMO Pete's playing on the sessions with Dylan, Harrison, and Ringo adapted the steel in a unique and timeless way. Remember in the early 60's, no matter what setting, most of the world had never heard the steel not sounding country. When it was used on a rock date it was typically a country style over a more funky or rocking track. "Teach Your Children" is a good example of that approach.

...Because Pete delivered a new direction on his session dates with Harrison, Dylan, and Ringo, Pete's style is now considered a legitimate rock style for steel guitar......Listen to Pete's solo on "My Sweet Lord" or his jam work on Ringo's instrumental jam on the "Beaucoup the Blues" LP....Even his sound on "Lay Lady Lay" has the emotional and percussive content of a B3 organ.....Although Pete was sometimes cruelly critiqued by many steel players for not playing like the rest, over time Pete's musicianship has proven to be pure genius. Its one thing to play great innovative country licks on a rock recording. But it takes a very creative level of genius to innovate an acceptable rock sound for the instrument where none existed before.

This is an example of Pete's innovative genius in a rock setting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzC5OU0W8iI

Paul

Got to meet Pete in 1970 in Nashville at the DJ convention. He was so nice to me just a kid who was just starting to play steel.Have a cool picture of me and him then, need to dig it out. Billy

Paul,
Thank you (and everyone) so much for speaking out for Pete, I got "flamed" for the statement I made on how good he sounded when he subbed with ET for Buddy, when Buddy was out with foot problems. True that Pete had a few gimmicks, but it made him $$$. Also thanks to everyone for all the different links...awesome.

Bill

Bill,

I added more to that post above because there is always much more I can say about Pete and his musicianship. We became friends in 66 and our two families remained close throughout his life. I saw Rose Drake at Neil Young's wake for Ben Keith last year. She is still doing great and managing Pete's catalogued music......

Paul

This is off topic and very macabre. I just read it and it's Beatles related, so I'm sharing it. Read the intro, then skip down to the transcription. Fame has its downside.

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/02/jo ... album.html

BTW, Peter Frampton appeared on TV here in Montréal last year because he was invited to play his whole album Frampton Comes Alive with the original members of his band at the Festival International de jazz de Montréal, to my best recollection, and of course someone asked him about his talking guitar. He said he got it from Pete Drake while he was working on George Harrisson's All Things Must Pass album where the two met.

On the same show, Peter Frampton was offered a brand new Godin guitar which he used right away on the air. A very touching scene on today's TV.

ayp

What a wonderful tribute from Paul Franklin. Lloyd too has put it on record many times how he used Pete Drake's whole approach to session playing as the basis that kick started his recording career.

I enjoy Pete Drake's solo album that features Beatles numbers throughout.

I've always been a fan of Pete's...got to meet him and chat a bit in '81...a real thrill for me. What a unique innovator he was.

I heard a good Pete story a few times...something like this...
A group of the big steel names - Buddy, Pete, etc - would get together for a regular card game, and there would be a steel set up so they could show each other their latest hot lick. Buddy and some of the others would play their latest fast hot lick and ask Pete, "Can you do that?" And then Pete would take out a huge wad of money and flip thru the bills and ask them, "Can you do that?"

Or something along those lines... anybody else ever heard that one?

It may have just been an apocryphal story, Skip, but I hope it really happened; I always enjoy hearing it!

Skip
The story is now part of steel guitar folk lore.

So nice to hear Pete Drake fans here. Great stories Paul. To me, he was THE approach to studio playing. Play what the song needs, and no more! Put your signature on it in a subtle way. He didn't need 20 knee levers. What ever he did on a recording was done with taste and respect for the song. The other steel players could always tell that it was Mr. Drake because of his signature approach. And that Sho-Bud tone! If I was a recording Nashville player, I would think like Pete Drake. When I hear "genius in simplicity" I think of him. A producer's dream for steel guitar.

Franklin wrote:Listen to Pete's solo on "My Sweet Lord"

Does Pete play on this song? I never noticed steel on it before. I have to go take another listen now. It's one of my favourite songs. It was number 1 the day I was born.

Chris LeDrew wrote:

Franklin wrote:Listen to Pete's solo on "My Sweet Lord"

Does Pete play on this song? I never noticed steel on it before. I have to go take another listen now. It's one of my favourite songs. It was number 1 the day I was born.

Great - that makes me feel like Methuselah!!

Chris LeDrew wrote:

Franklin wrote:Listen to Pete's solo on "My Sweet Lord"

Does Pete play on this song? I never noticed steel on it before. I have to go take another listen now. It's one of my favourite songs. It was number 1 the day I was born.

The solo was composed by Harrison....... Apparently George was not happy with his performance so he asked Pete and several others to take a shot at his solo composition. Pete's version made the hit single.....He played the solo on an electric dobro which sounds very much like a slide guitar through an overdriven amp. I had the great pleasure of borrowing it for a couple of demos with Linda Hargrove back in the 70's.......I would love to own that bad boy.

Paul

Franklin wrote:

Chris LeDrew wrote:

Franklin wrote:Listen to Pete's solo on "My Sweet Lord"

Does Pete play on this song? I never noticed steel on it before. I have to go take another listen now. It's one of my favourite songs. It was number 1 the day I was born.

The solo was composed by Harrison....... Apparently George was not happy with his performance so he asked Pete and several others to take a shot at his solo composition. Pete's version made the hit single.....He played the solo on an electric dobro which sounds very much like a slide guitar through an overdriven amp. I had the great pleasure of borrowing it for a couple of demos with Linda Hargrove back in the 70's.......I would love to own that bad boy.

Paul

That's an amazing revelation. I (and I suspect many others) assumed it was George playing this as his bottleneck steel playing was pretty good. The intro and solo has to be one of the most recognisable ever - partly due to George's ability to write very tuneful parts, and also because the sound that Pete generated is so big, harmonies included. We mustn't forget that it was twin tracked.