Me playing weird pedal steel music....

Johnny Baldwin · Post by **Johnny Baldwin** » 17 Sep 2005 9:01 pm

Bob:

Sounds great. I kinda thought of Pee Wee Charles playing behind Ian Tyson on some of those licks.

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 18 Sep 2005 2:16 am

I got it! and I'm sure glad I did. I think this is actually the first time I've heard you play. Great sound.

Kind of spacey, Americana/folk stuff, Thats not really steel guitar music.

I don't agree. Every phrase you're playing is milked for everything it's got, and so the spacious sound of the steel really comes out. This, to me, is what good steel playing is all about, and you did it really well. Wherever the steel playing echoes the music that's going on, that's real steel. You can be proud.
I should ever play so well.

Larry Weaver · Post by **Larry Weaver** » 18 Sep 2005 5:23 am

Great playing and terrific tone Bob!

I think your phrasing is very tasty and imho, it is a fantastic fit for the tune...fits so well, that I can hardly imagine the tune without your PSG! Dang, I'd love to be able to pull that off half as well as you did!

I agree with some of the other posts in that I don't find it at all wierd. I think the line continues to blur between country and folk, rock, blues, etc., and playing such as yours and many others on this forum imho helps tremendously to promote our great instrument in genres outside the country mainstream.

Thanks for sharing a taste of your work!
-Larry W[This message was edited by Larry Weaver on 18 September 2005 at 06:26 AM.]

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 18 Sep 2005 6:06 am

You guys are a bunch of sweethearts!... I dunno, I guess the reason I see it as weird is this... I would love to be able to create a sound that is marketable,.. by that I mean, a good ,studio friendly,commercially viable approach that interests Nashville or Texas musicians,singers,producers etc.

I hear it all the time on this forum, and I cannot comprehend how its done.. Its just so big and full and gorgeous sounding, and is elusive to me.. yes I can do these "niche" recordings and my peers [like you guys] are always saying they like what I play, but to my ears, its just not "pedal steely" the way I'm used to hearing it... ....
I'm not making any sense am I?...

the comments are really heart warming guys, and I am NOT down on myself..

My style just seems odd to my ears for some reason..bob[This message was edited by Bob Carlucci on 18 September 2005 at 07:08 AM.]

Bill Llewellyn · Post by **Bill Llewellyn** » 18 Sep 2005 6:31 am

Holy smoke, they even let you do two parallel steel tracks! You don't even hear that coming out of Nashville.

Mike Holland · Post by **Mike Holland** » 18 Sep 2005 9:02 am

What about the details of the recording;
the steel, mics, speakers, etc? That is
a really sweet sound and yeah, spacey or
laid back. I like it. Reminds me of Greg
Leisz and his stuff "sells". I think it
is great for you to let it be heard. That
is just another way to find more music to
play. Thanks for sharing.

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 18 Sep 2005 9:39 am

Carter steel S 10 w/5 and 5 ... TrueTone pickup.. in either 8 K or 12 K position[forgot]..Fender Deluxe Reverb amp on one track,board direct on second... EB volume pedal. This was done in a small home studio .. The engineer Rich DiPaulo is an excellent technician and a GREAT musician,, very well known in this area.. I have worked with him quite a bit,.. he has the same sounds in his head as I do when it comes to steel, and whenever I work with him, there WILL be a Fender tube amp present... He helps create a sound he, I,and the artist will be happy with... bob

Celeste Johnson · Post by **Celeste Johnson** » 18 Sep 2005 11:33 am

I don't know enough, yet to comment, but I had to tell you that I really enjoyed listing to your music. I just recently have started learning to play. I have a GFI Ultra, Fender Steel King. Thanks for your "weird" psg music.

Jon Zimmerman · Post by **Jon Zimmerman** » 18 Sep 2005 11:47 am

I was about to ask what you played on/with--previous post answered it...Ithaca must be in a time warp, I hear sounds like Neil Young without a harp, --was it Bill Keith? -no BEN Keith--on the Harvest albumm--used a single neck Emmons/Tube amp--very similar timbres/tone..like it alot. I thought it mighta been the Williams; that Carter sounds Fender to my ear, with the TT in place. Interesting material..at 1st pass, thought it was Christian topics..heard 'born agin..' --BUT NO...it's Nature/Spring equinox thematic...hang in, Bob. JZ

Larry Robbins · Post by **Larry Robbins** » 18 Sep 2005 11:57 am

Bob,
Nice stuff indeed! What scares me is that its an awful lot like the stuff me and a lot my buds play when were just"jamm'in
at one of our basements...Back in the day there would probably have been a "cloud of thick Blue smoke"in the air,he, he, he!Kind of the Folksy,Cosmic Cowboy stuff that I grew up on and hold near and dear to my heart right along with the hard core Country
stuff.Thanks for posting! I would by a CD of this stuff!

------------------
Sho~Buds,Fender Steelkings,Twins,Strats and Tele's, Tut Taylor
reso's

Mike Phillips · Post by **Mike Phillips** » 18 Sep 2005 2:38 pm

bob -

you brought it for real on this one. really glad to hear it. i went to school in ithaca and hung around awhile after. i love it there, and this track put me there. you played beautifully.

we're always talking about driving up to ithaca for a weekend; when i come up for a visit i'll have to look you up. book yourself a gig at the nines! i'll buy the pizza! it'll be a blast!

mike

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 19 Sep 2005 12:08 pm

Good stuff, Bob! Not all that different, but not your standard country fare, either. I hear influences of B.J. Cole, Greg Leisz, and maybe some Buddy Cage and Red Rhodes, as well.

Thanks!

Brad Burch · Post by **Brad Burch** » 19 Sep 2005 12:28 pm

Fantastic playing. Man I really like that song.......listened to it a couple of times. It really grows on ya. Kind of a "Nick Drake" Pink Moon style flavor to it.

Good job....

jim milewski · Post by **jim milewski** » 19 Sep 2005 3:48 pm

nice tone Bob, kinda Emmons sounding to me, you will have the best of both worlds with the "wood" sound you're after, want to hear the Williams next, very nice and tasty playing

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 19 Sep 2005 4:13 pm

Nice job Bob.

The guitar player did a very nice job also.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 19 Sep 2005 5:28 pm

Bob, as I told you last night, your playing sounds real good on this. You play things that fit right in here, it's cool stuff, and it sounds plenty 'pedal-steely' to me. This song woulda suffered without you, IMO. Sorry, man - you're not gonna convince anyone here you're a hack.

I do understand where you're coming from on wanting to do some more "authentic" country style stuff. I'm in precisely the same boat as you - roots/Americana is about the only kind of steel-oriented gigs anybody but major country acts can book around here. Now I love that style, but I sorta get annoyed when people gimme the old 'yee-haw' like this is actual country music, just because there's a steel guitar on it. I wanna be able to call a country shuffle like "Heartaches by the Number" or "Brand New Heartache" and have it swing, and it doesn't. The bass lines don't usually have that walkin' strut, most of the drummers don't have that snap - I don't know why, but it's true.

If the Ithaca scene is like State College or a myriad of other college towns these days, your wife is right - these bands do have a sameness to them. Mostly medium-tempo, sorta mellow & sorta hard, sorta folky & sorta rockin', sorta sad & sorta happy, sorta major & sorta minor, middle-of-the-road tunes. Steel fits great, and I love it, but at a certain point I'm asking, "Why don't we turn on the afterburners and kick this up several notches for a while?", or "Why don't we get down in the gutter and get a little more intensely burning slow for a while?".

... there WILL be a Fender tube amp present.

But, of course.

Colm Chomicky · Post by **Colm Chomicky** » 19 Sep 2005 6:42 pm

Bob,
Great playing. I must be weird cause it does not sound weird to me. Your steelwork does justice to this song and really carries it through.

(P.S. wierd to me is Yoko Ono singing, now that's wierd)

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 19 Sep 2005 7:43 pm

Dave.. man, I'd do ANYTHING to play
Heartaches by the Number!.. Man, I'd do anything just to find a gig that can use a pedal steel around here.. I know I'm not a hack Dave, but like you told me, I tend to compare my playing to the worlds great players,and when I don't match that level, I tend to berate myself just a tad.. Hey life is good.. I got nice comments from my peers.. guys I respect... what more could a musician ask for??.. Thanks ALL for the nice feedback.. I didn't like this song all that much and my playing was blah in my mind, but it did start to grow on me after a while..bob

Keith Cordell · Post by **Keith Cordell** » 20 Sep 2005 3:04 am

I would second both the Nick Drake and Greg Leisz references. this is the kind of stuff that, were I to go over to PSG, I would be going for. Not tinny like 90% of the PSG tracks I here these days, the tubes and the lower output pickup probably account for a lot of that. I thought it was a vintage guitar, surprised to hear that it was a Carter. Let me know when the CD is available, I am down for one.