The Steel Guitar Forum

I just got a message from a fellow steeler that Sneaky Pete passed away. Is this true? If so that is tragic news and I send my regards to his family.He will be missed.

man I hope not. Him and Neil Flanz are the main reasons I started playing the pedal steel. I even named my car Sneaky Pete. If so, it's a sad day.

Very sad news if true.

Pete passed away today.

Brett

Tragic - my prayers to both him and his family.

John

Too bad!!

Man that is so sad..

I've heard of him, but not familiar to me. How old was he?

If I may, I'd like to redirect you to MJ's original thread on Pete's passing. http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=100493

He had a distinctive style that was clearly recognizable. I wonder if he knew just how really innovative he was. I considered Pete a musician first and a steel guitarist second.

An uncanny knack for playing what fit the song. RIP Pete Kleinow.

I reckon Pete was around 70. There's lots of great steel players but very few with such a completely original style and compelling sound. Aw you can hear Byrd, Mooney and a few other references in his playing but the way he integrated it together with his own ideas and made it sound so modern was indeed unique. His Travis picking was very advanced and the way he could make a steel sound like a standard fretted guitar just with blocking technique is something I've never heard anyone else do. Pete's own records and his comping/solos as a sideman on rock,pop and country records should be required listening in anyone's course of study on the instrument. He really was in a class by himself. People talk about the "West Coast Style" and mention Mooney,Brumley,Leo LeBlanc,Bobby Black and a few others but historically as Sneaky's life and times recedes into the past, I think he will get a big share of that legacy as well. I can't think of a more "West Coast" steel player than Pete Kleinow. I will miss that fine gentleman.
I can't believe he's gone.

<B>A True Legend! RIP Pete.
JR

anything still available that he played on? I'm not sure if I ever heard his playing, or not? Was there a Red Rhodes on the west coast? Seems like the guy I'm trying to think of played an Eb tuning & maybe recorded Top of the World w/a brother/sister act,
wow fellas it's starting to catch up with me! 78 next month......
it must be time for the memory to go......everything else left quite awhile ago!

Doug - Start with The Flying Burrito Brothers; it's the easiest stuff to find. "The Gilded Palace of Sin" was their first album and has classic examples of Pete's playing. Later ones like "Live in Amsterdam" and "Live in Tokyo" show how far he'd taken his county-rock stylings into a strong, aggressive, totally distinct territory. His B6, 8-string copedent was really an early universal system...and amazingly, he stuck with his trusty (heavily modified) Fender 400 and huge tone bar for decades.

If you find his recording resume on one of several websites, you'll find stuff with Stevie Wonder, Frank Zappa, Linda Ronstadt, Randy Newman, The Rolling Stones, John Lennon; simply hundreds of rock and pop artists - he may be the most-heard steel guitar player ever (not most-recorded - but his work, especially on sessions, had far wider distribution than most country recordings).

BAD NEWS!!!!!

You can peruse his ciriculum vitae here:

http://sneakypetekleinow.com/

Pete certainly was one of the reasons PSG got into my head.
Much more than Nashville.

RIP Sneaky Pete, you left a mark on the musical world.

Just think how many people he inspired to take up steel guitar. This man is an American original and classic.

I am so saddened at our loss of Pete...yet I am so thankful for the rich catalog of recordings on which he played which survive him.

He was the first steel guitarist I saw live, sneaking into the Whiskey a Go Go on The Sunset Strip at age 17 to see the Flying Burrito Brothers. 2 friends and I loaded into my 1964 TR4 and drove up from Orange County not even knowing what to expect. A year later I purchased my first steel guitar, a Fender 400, from Blackie Taylor.

That night changed my life forever.

I am going to go put Jackson Brownes "Take it Easy" on the record player and listen to one of the best steel guitar solos ever recorded.

Thank you, Thank you for everything, Pete.

SS

From the Sneeky Pete websit, artists he has recorded with

JOAN BAEZ
SKIP BATTIN
THE BEE GEES
BARBIE BENTON
LYNN BLESSING
BOOKER T. JONES
BOOKER T.
and the M.G.s
DENNY BROOKS
DEBBIE BOONE
PAT BOONE
JOHN BRADDON
BONNIE BRAMLETT
DELANEY BRAMLETT
BREWER and SHIPPLEY
JACKSON BROWNE
THE BYRDS
BRIAN CADD
CHEROKEE
GENE CLARK
JOE COCKER
LEONARD COHEN
COLD STEEL
RITA COOLIDGE
CROWBAR
SPENCER DAVIS
SANDY DENNY
DILLARD and CLARKE
DOUG DILLARD
MICHAEL DINNER
THE DILLARDS
DION and the
BELMONTS
ROGER DOLLARHIDE
ELLIOT DOZIER
THE EAGLES
MARC ELLINGTON
DON EVERLY
MIMI FARINA and TON JANS
RICHARD FARINA and MIMI
FINNIGAN and WOOD
FLEETWOOD MAC
FLO and EDDIE
THE FLYING
BURRITO BROTHERS
GALE FORCE
LOWELL GEORGE
BOB GIBSON
JON GIBSON
JANE GETZ
(MOTHER HEN)
GLENDA GRIFFITH
GOLDEN PALOMINOS
GRAPES OF WRATH
THE HAGERS
HENRY GROSS
LARRY GROCE
CHICO HAMILTON
THE HARLOTS
LEE HAZELWOOD
HEDGE & DONNA
DON HENLY
BARBARA HILL
& CHRIS E.
BOB
"CATFISH" HODGE
HOWDY MOON
ROSIE GAINES
GERMAINE JACKSON
BILLY JOEL
OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN
CASEY KELLY
TOM JONES
KALAPANA
JOHN KALE
BARBARA KEITH
AL KOOPER
THE KNACK
GLADYS KNIGHT
JOHNNY LEE
JOHN LENNON
THE LEMON HEADS
LORI LIEBERMAN
GORDON LIGHTFOOT
MARK LINDSAY
LITTLE FEAT
LITTLE RICHARD
TRINI LOPEZ
LTD
MANDY MARTIN
DAVE MASON
BARRY McGUIRE
MEDICINE
BILL MEDLEY
TERRY MELCHER
STEVE MILLER
MILLINGTON
JONI MITCHELL
DANIEL MOORE
MARTIN MULL
GRAHAM NASH
RANDY NEWMAN
HARRY NILSSON
KENNY NOLAN
DANNY O'KEEFE
DAVID OLNEY
YOKO ONO
ROBERT PALMER
WAYNE PARKER
PAUL PARRISH
GRAM PARSONS
PEACHES & HERB
SHAWN PHILLIPS
PHIL'S HARMONIC ORCHESTRA
RAY & GINO
THE RAVE UPS
HELEN REDDY
JIM RINGER
ED REEVES
MINNIE RIPERTON
KENNY ROGERS
THE ROLLING STONES
LINDA RONSTADT
LEON RUSSELL
DOUG SAHM
NEIL SEDAKA
SEEMON & MARIJKE
CARLY SIMON
SILVERADO
BOBBY SOLO
JOEL SONNIER
JIMMY SPHEERIS
SLY and the
FAMILY STONE
DAVID SOUL
POTTER-ST. CLOUD
RINGO STARR
JAMES LEE STANLEY
SUITE STEEL
MIKE STEWART
RON STONE
JOHN MICHAEL TALBOT
BERNIE TAUPIN
TRIBUTE TO GRAM PARSONS
THE VENTURES
BOBBY VINTON
JIMMY WEB
MENTOR WILLIAMS
PAUL WILLIAMS
BOBBY WOMACK
STEVIE WONDER
FRANK ZAPPA

Yes that is truly and surely a bummer.
My heart goes out to his family.
A total influence on my own approach to steel.
And a gentleman.

Doug, you should be able to find a copy of the "Legend and the Legacy" CD- it's Sneaky at his best. Astounding playing, great arrangements, wonderful tone, and jaw-dropping display of 8 string virtuosity. He was one of a kind, for sure.

Pete brought the pedal steel to me. For that I will be forever
in his debt. My prayers for his family. He was one of a kind.

One thing that might make folks smile - his first studio gig was with The Ventures! Listen to "Blue Star"...it's mainly a steel song!

That just gave a small hint about the direction he was headed in. You look at that "resume" and it's almost scary.

I was just talking to Dan Dugmore. He bought his first MSA steel from Sneaky in 1969 at the Whiskey A Go Go. He related to me what a huge influence and inspiration Sneaky was to him. Dan never guessed at that time how big his steel carreer would become, and it all started with Sneaky's inspiration. Sneaky spawned a whole generation of steel players.

I am sorry to hear about Pete Kleinow. I remember when I lived in Calif during the 60's he was really getting into it, but good. He was very innovative...al.