The Steel Guitar Forum

Mark... I was at the Kezar show too. When the New Riders were on. Mooney was leaning on the fence to the left of the stage watching Cage for a little while. I went up and talked to him for a couple of minutes. That was a magical show.

Three points that I always find interesting about JG and PSG


- He must have gotten good really fast. Does anyone know exactly when he picked it up? Teach Your Children was recorded 10/24/69. Only a couple years under his belt and he's recording some iconic steel work. Pretty impressive.

- Edited (see below): The studio version of "Pride of Cucamonga" features some of my favorite PSG playing on a GD song.

- I read an interview where JG stated that the reason he stopped playing PSG was that it was really messing with his standard guitar playing. He said that he would play the first half of the night on PSG with New Riders and then by the second half of the night he said his hands felt like concrete blocks and he couldn't play standard guitar like he wanted so he stopped playing PSG.

Jerry messed around on a Fender pedal steel starting in '66 or '67, but it apparently wasn't until he saw Sneaky Pete with the Flying Burrito Bros in April of '69 (they opened for the Dead) that he decided to get serious about playing steel. more info here: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2017/0 ... d.html?m=1

it's actually John McFee on Pride of Cucamonga. I think Jerry's steel playing was mostly behind him in 1974, though I'm not sure whose decision or suggestion it was to use John. I really love his playing on that one.

Jerry was quoted as saying he needed another lifetime in which to master playing steel. he knew damn well he wasn't on the level of a Buddy Cage, Emmons, or Charleton, and I think the fact that he was sometimes voted "best steel player" in magazines and such, embarrassed him more than anything.

Thanks for clarifying Scott! I was never really sure if that was Jerry on Pride of Cucamonga. I really love the playing on that song and have always really loved that song in general.

Dave Zirbel wrote:

It was stated in a Facebook post that he played it on a Fender 400

He actually did own a Fender 1000 but didn't like it and gave it to Banana of the Youngbloods who actually recorded with it. I've seen it in a some documentary footage of the Haight Street house...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC5KQsrPZmA


Teach was the ZB no doubt..

That leaves the question if it was the other way round. The Youngbloods recorded in N.Y.C. in 67 and 68. They recorded Reason To Believe and Sugar Babe with Banana playing steel on it. They recorded Elephant Mountain one year later in California, where the two might have met.

That is a great idea, keeping the LSD eye-dropper between the necks

Dave Zirbel wrote:He actually did own a Fender 1000 but didn't like it and gave it to Banana of the Youngbloods who actually recorded with it. I've seen it in a some documentary footage of the Haight Street house...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC5KQsrPZmA

Trivia point of order: I believe the house was actually at 710 Ashbury Street.

Yep . And 710 Ashbury is the name of a friend’s Dead cover/tribute band in Helena, Montana.

Pete Burak wrote:That is a great idea, keeping the LSD eye-dropper between the necks

Is that why he played a D-10? Are there any pictures or recordings of Jerry honking on the back neck, presumably C6?

there's an interview with Jerry from the early 70s when he was still actively playing steel and he mentions the C6 neck and how he basically had no interest in it. but he also said something about the intervals being closer than on E9 which isn't true. had he stuck with the instrument I think he would've dug it and found a way to use it. I recently saw video of Buddy Cage playing C6 with NRPS which surprised me

With Dylan from 1987 playing If Tomorroow Wasn't Such Long Time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayOGcnn01OQ
It starts at 11:45

OOOh, that playing by Garcia at that 1987 Dylan show is absolutely awful and difficult to listen to. Starts out way out of tune. Clearly out of practice, on heroine, likely both. Not something he would want to have recorded for posterity.

John Brabant wrote:OOOh, that playing by Garcia at that 1987 Dylan show is absolutely awful and difficult to listen to. Starts out way out of tune. Clearly out of practice, on heroine, likely both. Not something he would want to have recorded for posterity.

That was just about 6 months after recovering from a diabetic coma that nearly killed him, so yeah a lil shakey but still playing Pedal Steel onstage with Bob Dylan at a stadium show.
Here is a better recording of Jerry playing Pedal Steel.
https://youtu.be/7MtzCXA07jU

I agree with you, John. At first I was reluctant to post this, because it wasn't up to his standard. Like The Wheel here cleary shows.

to be honest, a lot of Jerry's live steel work isn't up to the standard he achieved in the studio. and it was kind of the opposite with his guitar playing

Somewhere I have a copy of a recording of Jerry playing with NRPS live and his steel playing is pretty darn good. As Pete said, clearly Jerry was going thru some kind of struggle.

he was just way out of practice... he hadn't played steel seriously for about 15 years. Jerry was actually in relatively good shape in '87. his coma was a year behind him, he was cleaner than he'd been in ages, and the tour with Dylan revitalized the whole band. they rehearsed something like 75 songs for it

I recently purchased the live "Dawn of the NRPS" release from the Owsley Foundation, recorded 69-70 and Jerry's playing is far from stellar. likewise he could never quite pull off songs like Dire Wolf and Looks Like Rain onstage with the Dead like he did in the studio

Someone compiled a playlist of Jerry’s recorded steel work on Spotify both live and studio - some good some so so. Jerry is my main musical muse. His influence on my personal and musical life is indelible. Hear for yourselves https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3l5DJ ... l_branch=1

Hey, he was just inducted into the "California Hall of Fame" by our governor

"The honorees included Grateful Dead singer Jerry Garcia, LGBTQ rights activists Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, sculpture artist Ruth Asawa, labor organizer Larry Itliong, and Mexican-American rock and roll musician Ritchie Valens of “La Bamba” fame."

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2021/10 ... uth-asawa/

Jerry was a musician, an artist, and various instruments were used to create that art... Think of the iconic songs he sang- and played guitar on- and played steel on, and played banjo on as well.
[Old and in the Way]
Iconic, classic stuff still being listened to today on 3 stringed instruments and his voice.
He has NO apologies to make to anyone regarding his steel work... Guy recorded steel with some of the most talented, famous recording artists of the era, that could have hired ANY of the top session steel players, but hired Jerry instead.. Wonder why???.. Here's another example of his ear, taste and time on steel with a guy you might have heard of-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q561cqwTgY

Jerry was supremely talented and tasteful. it's remarkable the way he could put the steel front and center on songs like Dire Wolf, Teach, and Sugar Magnolia, and then use it so sparingly but effectively on others like High Time, Brokedown Palace, or Candyman.

he's the main reason I play pedal steel and I know that applies to a number of us here on the forum and throughout the world.

Joachim Kettner wrote:With Dylan from 1987 playing If Tomorroow Wasn't Such Long Time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayOGcnn01OQ
It starts at 11:45

Well, his playing here matches Dylan's singing perfectly. Just as out of tune and painful to listen to!

Per Berner wrote:

Joachim Kettner wrote:With Dylan from 1987 playing If Tomorroow Wasn't Such Long Time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayOGcnn01OQ
It starts at 11:45

Well, his playing here matches Dylan's singing perfectly. Just as out of tune and painful to listen to!

Yeah pretty much...
I will admit that although I have always had high regard for Jerry's session work which is very well done and always sounds wonderful, SO much of his live playing that I have heard over the years is hard to listen to. At least it seems that way to my ears... bob

On "Sugar Babe" by the Youngbloods, it doesn't sound like a Fender 1000. It's more like an Electraharp or one of those late 50s pedal steels. Also a slightly different E9 tuning. Unbelievably great sound that Banana gets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXJi3qh-Cvs

Joe

One of my favorite Garcia on Steel moments- Laughing on the David Crosby album If I Could Only Remember My Name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLMxH2hivGo