The Steel Guitar Forum

I recommend albums "Straight from the heart","Rockin in the country" or "Thats why I sing this way" all by Daryle Singletary.Mike Johnson at his finest.Any of the Desert Rose recordings with the great Jay Dee Maness on steel.Both of these guys are masters of the E9th TuningI especially like Mike's ride on Daryle's "Real Estate Hands".

Herb Steiner wrote:
The very immaculate Tommy Detamore is both the producer and the steel guitarist on that exceptionally fine album.

Doug Sahm was a master musician of many styles (including non-pedal steel), and it was a pleasure to be onstage with him. He's been gone 14 years and his music is still being played all over Texas.

Hear hear to that! Cowboy Peyton Place was the first song I heard off that record and I had to have it. The WHOLE album is greatness! They used to play it on 92.1 in Fort Worth before they threw in their lot with the Carrie Underwear crowd.

Wanna hear some real classic licks? Get the Bear Family Ray Price The Honky Tonk Years (1950-1966) Box Set with Don Helms, Jimmy Day and Buddy Emmons, all at their prime.

You'll then have every possible lick played on the console grand of Don Helms and on the PSG played by Jimmy Day and Buddy Emmons as they developped the pedal system as used today. It's like listening to a library of licks. As there are 10 CD's, you're in for a treat. After that, get some Lloyd Green, if possible his last album Revisited. With this material, you'll have almost every possible lick in the world of PSG played by the greatest.

Just my opinion thoug.

ayp

A Trip in the Country....Roger Miller

Amber Digby and the Midnight Flyers are also a hotbed of E9 steely action. Look up the work of Dick Overbey. He's played with a lot of folks and is fantastic. I can't think of a better sound for what I like to hear on a country tune.

of course all the above are known , respected and considered excellent.. I have my 2 cents to add...

be careful just learning licks....

if you are looking to hear how Steel works in a band setting with Guitars etc..and want to emulate that...along with some of the best pickin' you will ever hear...

Daryle Singletary and Alan Jackson records come to mind, great tunes, a wealth of Steel guitar playing and how it fits with the big picture, songs played on bandstands everywhere... every band...

learn songs and phrases...repeat..songs and phrases.. Merle, Buck, George Jones, Loretta, Conway..etc... it's a goldmine and rocket ship to being called for gigs ! We do not have to be great players but rather great players of songs...!

......and you might to survey the recordings of pre-pedal steel players, who were the "manual transmission" originators of today's pedal players.

It could be that drivers (players) are better because of learning to shift gears before driving with automatic transmissions (pedals), but, I'm not sure that is true.

However, it couldn't hurt to learn some history about the evolution of the steel guitar.

I didnt see Jimmy Days Steel and Strings mentioned yet. I am sorry if I missed that somewhere.

Also, the "Masters" CD with Jimmy Day and Bobbe Seymour.

Steve Hitsman wrote:Search "Bakersfield Bound" in tablature and you'll get a list.

Backing tracks to this project would really make it a treasure. Are there any?