The Steel Guitar Forum

I would suggest adding a show like this to an existing successful event... like a NAMMM show with this Steel show happening in the same building at the same time.
Or, maybe some multi-stage 3-day Festival with 50-100,000 folks in attendance.
Have a Steel-Stage at an event like that, maybe.

Fantastic idea...Somewhere on the CA coast, or where the most up to date younger music bands are to be found... Joel Martin comes to mind. Exposure to a lot of styles and instrument types.

Joe Wright for sure as a demo man. SG and PSG integrated into computer control.

Get the Dukes of Hazard (JD, and Earnest B = classic) chaps involved.

Alternative genre's, styles, tunings, etc. demonstrated and explained.

Video it for U TUBE etc.

I wrote a comment on a Gary Carter thread about a year ago “Taking Steel Guitar into the Future”.
Like it or not, music always has and always will be in a constant state of change.

Something will have to change regarding the steel guitar if it is to survive.
Different approach, different tuning, different style, something, otherwise it will end up like the accordion.

Not many young players are learning the instrument because it is still associated with the music of days gone by and is still played that way. I am one of them.

Electric guitar has never gone through this dilemma and most likely never will because you have all the different styles and genres that keep it interesting and fresh:

Modern Jazz, Bebop, Rock Fusion, Country Chicken Pickin, Rock and Roll, Heavy Metal, Pop, etc… etc…
And then there all the fantastic acoustic players like Tommy Emmanuel, Andy Mckee, etc.. etc…

In the old days when I was young all my piers were always overwhelmed with excitement just to get a chance to play music with each other. Anywhere! A club, a living room, anywhere!
Mention the word “Jam Session” and everyone’s ears perked up!

Then something changed back in the mid 80s and is obvious to me that it is still that way to this very day. Today most players concern is making more money this year than they did last year.
Getting that coveted road Job. Getting that coveted recording account.

So what’s wrong with that? Nothing.

But the Steel Guitar has suffered as a result. With all the attention on making a living instead of the evolvement of the instrument it has become stagnant.

It appears to me that in today’s “modern country music” the Steel Guitar is used more as a sound effect than a lead instrument.

Until another great innovator or innovators come along and care nothing about the money it will not change.

My humble Opinion. I have been wrong before.

I can't make it to the steel shows but I do think it's a great idea. Pedal steel is a very flexible and expressive instrument and in the right hands it covers many genres of music. A musician friend of mine has little time for the sound of "traditional" steel guitar but when I sent him a clip of Robert Randolph he was bowled over. Another time we were playing together and I decided to hook up a distortion pedal hoping to get sort of a Leroy Parnell slide sound going and he was totally impressed with that. It's fun to hear pedal steel in a variety of contexts. I think a lot of people would turn out for something like that.

If the event is within driving distance of L.A,, I might be able to get my chamber music trio to play. We broke up in 2010, but are planning to reunite next year for a couple of concerts.

Both women have family commitments that preclude them from Traveling. Carole, the violist, is taking are of her 99 year old mother, and Michell, the cellist has 2 young children. But if we hold the show in Oceanside, as I suggested earlier, they might be able to come.

A "slide show"? Really? Sounds lame to me. What, are you gonna be showing? A bunch of old family pics?

I think you guys are missing the point of Mike's original idea here, which is a good one, but I don't know how successful it will be. It'll probably be the same old faces and players that show up already. I'm 32 and I'm really not interested in seeing a bunch of older dudes trying to play AC/DC, Metallica, or Deep Purple riffs on pedal steel. Especially while the crowd is being refreshed with soda's and hot dogs. Come on Where's the beer and liquor? Let's go smoke a couple joints out back. Hell, most of you older guys are probably all pilled up anyway !

I think the main problem of attendance at steel shows with younger guys, myself included, is they don't want to hang out with a bunch of old dudes that are playing covers of "Deep Water", "Crazy Arms", "The Girl in the Glass", or the same worn out shuffles. It gets old real quick.

The crowds of people our band gets around here are probably a 50/50 mix of country boys and metal head types. Tattoo's and black T-shirts. They all love what we do. Some know what instrument I'm playing, some don't. A few will come up and ask and seem really interested in it. Telling me how cool it is. How neat it sounds. They wanna get my number so they can get up with me and learn more about it. You think they want to go hang out with a crowd of middle aged guys and retirees and sip on sodas and enjoy some music. Don't get your hopes up on that one. I've tried to get the guys in the band to go to some steel shows with me. It ain't gonna happen. They love the steel, but it ain't happenin'! They know what they're in for if they go. More likely than not, a snooze fest!

You're fighting an uphill battle. I came to psg because of my love for older Country music. I think the vast majority of the younger guys on here would be in the same boat. Sacred Steel types not included.

I don't know what to tell y'all. But from some of these posts on this thread, it's the same old worn out ideas. I don't see it working. JMO

A Chamber Music trio? That'll get the young guys out in full force

Todd, are you suggesting that my trio (assuming it's available) not be permitted to play at such a show?

This is another reason why we should encourage people to dig deeper into the C6th tuning as well .... there is a whole new world in that tuning :-} !!!! it's not just an armrest...

Nah, Mike. Y'all would probably be the hit of the show. After Mickey's version of "Smoke on the Water"

a great idea indeed
since the psg is a musical instrument, in the right hands, minds & soul, all kinds of Musik & sounds can be played
the "Ol" stuff can be good but we are in dire need of new stuff
get the Campbell brothers to come on by & play for 1
then get some foreigners to come on by too

Bring it down here..!!
Steel Guitar mecca
Lots of people would show up to play and protest.

It's good to see the interest here. I would say it's safe to say there is indeed some audience for steel guitars to be used beyond the scope of what might be considered typical. I also have to believe that the Big E and others surely encountered resistance from some of the purist of their day. Here's one that I know...

My mentor Zane Beck told this story many times. He was playing in a band and wanted to use pedals on his steel but the bandleader wanted traditional steel guitar. He actually told Zane that he did not want pedals on the guitar. Still ZB didn't want to do without the changes he had been getting with his pedals. Thus, he came up with a device underneath the guitar that he could play with his leg. Thus the knee lever was born.

Here is what I have been saying for years now. The pedal steel guitar is a young instrument that yet has a good ways to go. The great thing is how much potential it still has to grow and evolve. I would hate to try and improve on the acoustic piano or come up with an alternative tuning for standard Electric Guitar. That's why it is so fun to be involved in such an adventure as the "Steel Guitar". We are still writing the history on this apparatus! Let's enjoy it in every way possible.

I think Sid brought up a very cogent point...the "business" has changed, and that caused big changes in the music and groups. Going back to the "golden age of steel", there was a great identity and "connection" between players and the popular singers you heard on the radio. You knew Brumley would be playing for Owens, you knew Charleton would be with Tubb, you knew Emmons would be with Price, you knew Basore would be with Kitty, you knew Myrick would be with Connie, and so on and so on. Players each had their own sound and style, and it was a major part of the artists sound. I remember these times well because I started pedal steel in this era. These were all "youngish" guys in their 20's and 30's, and they helped drive the genre into popularity.

Today, there's a big void. Playing is squished, filtered, edited, homogenized and generally watered-down. Other than RR, there are no "youngish" guys that other young people (potential players) can relate to. No player in his 20's or 30's is heard on the radio, or seen (in a meaningful way) with the current popular groups. The current state of affairs? Well, no big steel intros, no memorable rides in the last decade or so, no famous "band albums" featuring pedal steel, no "unique sounds with a dozen or so different players", and the standardization of the instrument is more vague than ever, causing it to be overly complex and expensive. Add to this a large contingent of players concentrating more on equipment than music...and this leaves potential players scratching their heads and thinking "Maybe these are the reasons almost no one wants to play these damn things?"

I'd really like the "New Gen" steel show idea to work, but I don't see us having a lot on our side, right now.

Yeah, it'll never get off the ground if people keep citing reasons why it won't work. Best thing, plan it, do it, see what happens. If it's a bust, can't say you didn't try. What's the absolute worst that can happen? I can tell from the response that there are a bunch of folks willing to showcase their works and/or attend.

I'd love to come and participate. If it's on the west coast, don't know if I can swing it, but I have family out there. Would if I could and support you 100% if I can't.

Donny - all good points. Seriously, you are absolutely correct about the recording history there. With just a few exceptions (which I'm sure someone will likely point them out soon ) this is all basically true. The glory days were in the 1960s, 70s and some of the 80s. I'm sure you could find proof of this at the Nashville Musician's Union by just looking at session history since say 1965.

Double Post...

Count me in. Sounds awesome. Check out what I do with an
E-bow on youTube. Just go on YouTube and type in my name.
Blessings, Albert Svenddal

I know a number of players who use the pedal steel guitar in "non-typical" ways, but then things out here on the upper left edge are not necessarily typical of the rest of the planet....

Although I still feel like the new kid I'm fast becoming one of the older guys in the 'hood, and for all that I truly love to play traditional western music it is not the only genre in which the intrument can shine. In nearly forty years I have played classical music both new and old, folk music, all sorts of jazz, rock and blues, and a whole lot of great music that lies in between the labels. Although we finally did write some traditional-type songs (two years into the project ) what we are doing with Ron Rogers and the Wailing Wind is for the most part specifically NOT traditional, but instead modern music drawn from identifiably traditional American roots, and the opportunity to use the instrument in new ways is a serious motivator to find new ways to do so and build the necessary chops to pull it off.

Beloved popular music forms and instrumentation have come and gone over the decades (remember accordians?), and hopefully enough great examples survive the years of change to give the listeners of a future time a glimpse of what once was. If fortune is really shining, some of these future listeners will be players with the enthusiasm and ability to bring this music back to life, but it doesn't always happen that way....

At this writing, the only purely "traditional" writers and performers I know of must content themselves with languishing in fringe markets or working the European and Australasian circuits continually to make a living, now that the commercial entertainment cabal has precluded anything that "old" sounding cluttering up their playlists and confusing their advertisers' target demographics. But there are no victims here, today's sensation is by definition destined to be yesterday's old news; the world keeps turning, always has, always will....

We're old guys now but there are more young steel pickers in the NW than I know of, and most all of them are learning and playing traditional AND non-traditional music forms with energy, passion and completely open minds. So, at least in this part of the world, it is clear that American western music and the country & western genre that evolved from it have found a new and growing audience amongst the more intelligent elements of today's younger set, who are sincerely hungry for authentic clues to the world that preceded them. Some of these folks are taking the music and the pedal steel in new directions that are interesting and sometimes very exciting. How could anybody expect less ffrom such an engaging and marvelous instrument?

You could still do country. Taylor Swft, Kenny Chesney, Tim Magraw, Faith Hill, Trick Pony, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Zac Brown Band ect. Thats the country the kids want to hear. All the steel players would have to be young and pretty though.

Johnny Cox wrote: All the steel players would have to be young and pretty though.

Well Dumplin, That surely leaves you and me out!

Mike - we need special guest like this at the show!

I guess someone should tell him that this is not how you play a bass guitar! Point is my friends that the boundaries are not in the instrument. There is a whole generation or two that has been exposed to this kind of bass playing. You should see what they call a "thump off". It's sometimes like 20 kids doing stuff like this trying to outdo one another. My great hope here is that in my lifetime I see tons of newcomers to the steel guitar doing things with it that I can't even dream about or imagine. It can happen! It will happen.

Be inspired:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_EfxyQ7 ... re=related

A very thought provoking thread here.

Jerry Brightman has been doing this for years do a search on his various styles and his G2M Vidio. he has taken the steel to a leval that (IMO) the younger crowd would injoy.

Getting young people to attend is not the only reason for this kind of a show. There are a lot of us not-so-young players who are interested in and playing stuff that is not presented at major shows today.