The Steel Guitar Forum

Al Perkins for sure.

I cast my worthless vote for Ben Keith. On "Tonight's the Night" he played with great taste and restraint. It's nice to see his name come up here on the forum. He is often overlooked.

Another vote for Al Perkins here.
If asked how many steelers were inspired to take up the instrument by hearing him play, I'd also raise my hand.
-John

I just got back from a David Nelson show 10 minutes ago. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Barry Sless. He's great and should not be overlooked. He played with the opening act, Loren Rowan, (Peter's brother) and they had a cello player. It was very musical. Lot's of arrangements and all kinds of different styles of music and Barry new the tunes.

Of coarse when the David Nelson Band came on it was vey "Deadish" but fun. Good to hear songs like Cumberland Blues, Diamond Joe, Dark Hollow, Peggy-O and Rag Mama Rag.

Definitly a "Hippie" steeler.

DZ<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Dave Zirbel on 13 February 2004 at 01:08 AM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Dave Zirbel on 13 February 2004 at 08:01 AM.]</p></FONT>

hey dave, you are right, barry sless should be on this list too. i have taken a lesson from him and he is a super nice guy. i talked with him and asked him who influenced him and he told me just about every name listed above, but the tune that got him to pick up steel was TYC. go figure.

The late Toy Caldwell of The Marshall Tucker Band, even if he was out of tune.

Just like Garcia and steel vs.banjo - while Al Perkins certainly had a nice way of playing PSG, I think the instrument he´s really best at is Dobro. I saw a video of an Emmylou Harris concert in Switzerland from a few years ago and Al did some Dobro playing that was, at the very least, mind-boggling and at the same time, stunningly beautiful. He´s an excellent player. I think, rather than steel guitar, he would belong into the Dobro Hall of Fame, if there´s such a thing.
I don´t think you can put all of the players mentioned here into the same ballpark. There are several who took up steel later on as a secondary instrument when the country rock thing started and in some way or another, even if they managed to do some nice things that fit into the context very well, remained somewhat limited, eventually focussing more on their main instrument - for instance, you didn´t hear much of Garcia on steel after 1971, did you? On the other hand, there´s full blooded steel players like Buddy Cage, who started as a kid with Hawaiian guitar lessons just like all the greats before - it has been his #1 instrument all his life. One more reason why he´s my favorite in this discussion.

Regards, Joe H.

Well put Joe!

JB

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Fulawka D-10 9&5
Fessenden D-10 8&8
"All in all, looking back, I'd have to say the best advice anyone ever gave me was 'Hands Up, Don't Move!"
www.johnbarnold.com/pedalsteel
www.buddycage.net

http://www.nrpsmusic.com/index.html

Wasn't that Al Perkins with Gram and Emy
on OOh Las Vegas? What a great Steel ride in
that song.

Mike,

Regarding Jerry Garcia, I think he was a very unique and interesting guitar player although not super technical. He was the major influence on one of my favorite guitar players - Jerry Lee Davidson (not well know but unbelievably great). I used to think he was a "not very good" steel player. I looked at his playing differently after I was hired to do a Fruit of the Loom TV commercial. The producer wanted me to duplicate his part on Teach Your Children. Probably the hardest session I'd ever done. It worked out fine but I ended up playing without finger picks to approximate a much different technique.

Like with his guitar playing, his playing was unique and the interesting part comes from an unusual approach, musicality, phrasing, technique (or as I found out...lack of technique). I was never and am still not a Dead head, but I saw them in 84 and there was a unique musical magic thing that is not easily described or duplicated. I would not say Jerry should be in the same category as players like Bobby Black and Neil Flanz but his contribution and influence on music fans should not be totally discounted either. I think he influenced more than we think.

Also, if the HOF ever had a wing dedicated to "Hippie Steel Players" I might be tempted to nominate Jerry because he had the hippie part down!

TC

Chuck.. That was Hank De Vito on Ohh Las Vegas... and it WAS a terrific solo.. I shamelessly stole that one many years ago and the band I was with flipped when they heard it. .. Its actually quite a simple solo,but VERY effective.... bob

well put T.C. what most people don't understand about the dead and garcia was the whole "musical magic" thing that went on at a concert. if you have ever heard a concert on tape, you might think twice about going to a show, but if you ever went to a show without hearing them first, most likely your experience at the show would be enough to bring you back. there are interviews with the band in which they all had the experience of messing up during a song, and by some stroke of "luck" the rest of the band had messed up at the same time. it was a fickle machine they had, but when it was working right, amazing and very beautiful music was made. i never had the experience of seeing the new riders with jerry (i'm too young), but, i have friends who did see him with them and thought at the time that he sounded better than cage. i personally like them both, but my friends don't play instruments, and just enjoy music as listeners. beauty is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. what i like about garcia's playing is the unusualness of his phrases and the non-stereotypical sound of his ideas. he was original and said once in an interview that if he could come back for another lifetime, he would pick to play pedal steel, as it, in his words, can do everything a regular guitar can and more. he had it inside him, but was already too far down one road to go back and start on another.

We used to say "If you remember being a hippie then you werent there.!" Remember Emmons and Steve Stills playing on the blue Judy Collins album. So I guess you could call Emmons a hippie too, Huh?.......

Who are CC&LPA. I'm only 57 and I just recently found out I have been listening to CCR for quite awhile.

Sherman

Yeah, Cage should be the first one in. And he's better than ever. Heard him play with Blue Highways at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ a few weeks back. I've heard he is a bit reserved around fans, but he obviously loves to meet other steelers and talk steel guitars and music. His web site has his copedents and interesting interviews. He's currently waiting on a new double-neck. It's too bad if people at steel shows and the Hall of Fame only see pedal steel as a country instrument. It's their loss, but it also hurts the instrument.

...Sherman, CC&LPA is Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen...

...sounds like you've been "Lost in the Ozone" for the last few decades...

I've always been lost in the ozone. 1964, Junior in High School. Walk into the choir class and the girls are all giddy and the guys are excitedly discussing something. I sit down and ask what all the fuss is about. They said that the Beatles had been on television last night. So I asked "Who are the Beatles?"

Sherman

Incidentally I got a pair of Ringo Boots in 64. They were the Coolest.

Also in 67 or 8 I had my mom make a "Neru Jacket" out of a regular suitcoat. I made my own "fertility beads". Thank God they didn't work as intended..

Seems a famous steel player is pictured somewhere wearing one, and durned if I can remember who it was. Can somebody help?

Yep. Day after Day....



EJL

Bill Keith (with the Zig-Zag man logo on his black Emmons) played mighty fine E9th on the "Muleskinner" album with Clarence White, Grisman etc.

A musical genius who may even qualify for the "hippie" honor

Oh yeah, he helped write the big book of pedal steel with Winnie Winston in the '70's!

Say, shouldn't Winnie be in there too?!?!<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by John McGann on 20 February 2004 at 02:18 PM.]</p></FONT>

Just induct anyone with the name Buddy, they're all great.

Can someone post that picture of Jimmy Page playing the MSA again. I don't know where to find it.

Thanks, Dave Z

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Dave Zirbel-
Sho-Bud Super Pro, 8 x 5, ZB Custom D-10 8 x 5, S-12U Kline, Dobro Cyclops reissue, 1967 Fender Telecaster, Webb 6-14E, Fender Super Reverb
The Mother Truckers

Got a chance to meet Buddy Cage and Rusty Young within the last couple of years.Great guys and awesome pedal steelers.These two guys mainly are the reason I play today.--Jim

.....speaking of Nehru Jackets. From 1968. The entire band wore them with white turtlenecks, but one of our main venues made us stop wearing them because the customers said we looked like priests and it made some of them uncomfortable in a club setting!

www.genejones.com

Okay, if this thread is coming back, I want to mention John David Call again. Few bands of that era -- not even several of those mentioned in this thread -- featured pedal steel as prominently as Pure Prairie League did, on his watch, and he was in there up front all the time with a solid, clean style. Not a steeler's steeler like, say, any Buddy, perhaps, but a credit to the instrument nonetheless -- and, like a lot of the other "nominees" mentioned, a big influence on a lot of people who might not have ever heard pedal steel otherwise.

Great thread.. fun reading.
Speaking of Al Perkins, was he the only steeler on Stephen Still's Manassas(sp) album.. or was there another?

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Rick Summers
-RAWOODS Custom Shop- West Peoria, IL rick@rawoods.com