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Topic: How many REAL pedal steel stylists have there been? |
Ken Byng
From:
Southampton, England
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Posted 18 Feb 2007 12:02 pm |
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I'm talking about players who have distinctive and unique styles, have done things their own way, recognisable as such irrespective of what number they are playing. Actually - not a huge amount really. My list (in no particular order) is not exhaustive by any means, and apologies for anyone I have missed who merits inclusion.
· Buddy Emmons - maybe the most unique stylist of all, the musician’s musician and perhaps the most complete player of all time
· Lloyd Green - much imitated and instantly identifiable
· Curly Chalker - always did things his way and never followed any trend
· Weldon Myrick - very creative stylings in the 70’s & 80’s
· Maurice Anderson - big, big chords and always musically correct
· Tom Morrell - Swing player par excellence - never ever tempted to emulate the Nashville Sound
· Robert Randolph - love him or hate him, he is unique
· Pete Drake - signature E9 licks and tone always recognisable
· Bobbe Seymour - trademark Atkins/Travis style thumbpicking make him an innovative stylist
· Tom Brumley - touch, tone and taste - took the Bakersfield Sound to a new level
· Sneaky Pete Kleinow - classic country rock player
· John Hughey - quivering, shivering and highly unusual bar vibrato
· Ralph Mooney - started the ‘Bakersfield Sound’
· Doug Jernigan - blisteringly fast single string runs often copied, never excelled
· Hal Rugg - see Weldon Myrick
· Jimmy Day - all feel and soul, trendsetter along with Buddy on E9
· Julian Tharpe - played all over the time signature, but always caught up in the end
· Red Rhodes - not the greatest technician but not afraid to take the instrument in new directions |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 18 Feb 2007 12:32 pm
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| "Stylist", like "ethnic", is often used euphemistically to describe a player whose peculiar limitations make his playing recognizable. I think the steel guitar, by its nature, makes musical expression so difficult that we are all, unfortunately, stylists, including for example Speedy West and Jerry Byrd. (Well, maybe all but Buddy Emmons.) |
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Jamie Lennon
From:
Nashville, TN
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Posted 18 Feb 2007 12:47 pm
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Paul Franklin I think has exceeded many, from old to new and present. He has brought out that modern Steel sound.
Also he had taken the steel to new boundarys via Dire Straits for an example. 
There are so many people who sound just like Paul on many of today country hits, his imitated alot.
He devoloped this modern twang
_________________
Mullen Guitars, Little Walter Amps, Benado Effects, D'Addario Strings
www.georgettejones.net |
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Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
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Posted 18 Feb 2007 1:47 pm
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| I think that Jay Dee Maness should be on that list. Also, Dan Dugmore. |
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Walter Stettner
From:
Vienna, Austria
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Posted 18 Feb 2007 2:07 pm
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Bud Isaacs, Speedy West, Bob White, Pee Wee Whitewing, Bobby Garrett, Buddy Charleton, Jimmy Crawford, Russ Hicks, Dickie Overbey,...
Kind Regards, Walter
_________________
www.lloydgreentribute.com |
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Sonny Priddy
From:
Elizabethtown, Kentucky, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 18 Feb 2007 2:51 pm players
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| Don't Forget Jeff Newman. Stu Basore. SONNY. |
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 18 Feb 2007 8:54 pm
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A concise and well-thought out reply from 'Earnest'. I agree with all of it, including the bit about Emmons.
RR |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 18 Feb 2007 8:57 pm
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| You did not include the venerable Alvino Rey on your list!!! |
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Ray Minich
From:
Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra
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Posted 19 Feb 2007 10:50 am
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| Let us not fail to include Herbie Wallace... |
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Danny Spinks
From:
Hendersonville, TN, USA
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Posted 19 Feb 2007 6:50 pm
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When it comes to stylist, Don Helms has to be
one of the originals.
Oops! Overlooked the PEDAL in the subject line.
Never Mind.
Last edited by Danny Spinks on 20 Feb 2007 8:40 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Ken Newman
From:
maitland, Florida, /desmoines,ia
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Posted 19 Feb 2007 7:08 pm stylists
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recently heard a late 40's eddy arnold song with a pretty strong ting a ling that was very very effective . stylist ? you betchem. limitations? you betchem. sell? you betchem. little roy wiggins? how bout grand difference in his approach. so simple it sold. and probably sold alot of steel guitars of upgraded models.
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stay tuned, kenny |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 19 Feb 2007 7:14 pm
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I think the thread's title is PEDAL Steel. so the admirable Jerry Byrd, Don Helms and some others mentioned don't really qualify.
Ken, let's not forget the pioneers
Listed in the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame :-
ALVINO REY
BIG BAND PIONEER. SOUND EFFECTS AND TUNING INNOVATOR, AND
FATHER OF THE PEDAL STEEL GUITAR
BORN: JULY 1, 1908 OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
DIED: February 24, 2004
INDUCTED: 1978
FREDDIE TAVARES
EXTENSIVE BACKGROUND IN HAWAIIAN MUSIC: MOVIE SOUND TRACKS; RECORDINGS; RADIO; TV. A CONSUMMATE MUSICIAN. ADVANCED THE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY OF PEDAL STEEL GUITAR DURING HIS TENURE WITH THE FENDER CO. - 1953-1980.
BORN: FEBRUARY 18, 1913 PAIA, MAUI, HAWAII
DIED: JULY 24, 1990
INDUCTED: 1995
And Freddie's Brother Ernest,
And not forgetting Jules Ah See the pioneer of 'pedal steel Hawaiian style', heard on so much of the Hawaii Calls shows and records, he was an integral part of the "Signature Sound " of the Islands.
Just my slant on it.
Basil Henriques
_________________
Steelies do it without fretting
CLICK THIS to view my tone bars and buy——> |
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Ken Byng
From:
Southampton, England
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Posted 20 Feb 2007 4:05 am
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Basil
You are dead right with the names you have forwarded.
How too could I leave off Herb Remington and Speedy West, both very distinctive stylists. Some of the names put forward are really superb players, but have not been radically different from the mainstream. |
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Jerry Stout
From:
Checotah,Oklahoma
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Posted 20 Feb 2007 4:15 am
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Although he is not a psg player Bobby Koefer has to be included as a stylist because of his unique playing methods.
_________________
Legrande D10,lacquered D10 Zum,D10Pedalmaster non pedal,D8 Gibson console,NV112,NV1000 |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 20 Feb 2007 7:57 am
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| Dave Easley. I've never heard anybody else play remotely like him, and I really doubt that someone like Buddy Emmons or Paul Franklin even can. Besides the Coltrane-influenced tone clusters, he's simply been listening to further-reaching varieties of jazz like Ornette Coleman and Thelonius Monk and it has integrally affected his melodic sensibility and concepts. B.J. Cole, Susan Alcorn, David Phillips and Greg Liesz also come to mind, though I suspect their styles at least can be duplicated. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 20 Feb 2007 8:41 am Stylists?
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| That's a really hard question, since styles are so "hybridized" now, and overlap so much. But IMHO, well over 95% of the pedal steelers I hear either copy directly, or are extremely influenced, by Emmons, Green, or Mooney. |
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Terry Wood
From:
Lebanon, MO
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Posted 20 Feb 2007 9:20 am
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Here's my list but there are others:
Jerry Byrd - He was playing with great tone and expression and it all put together long before many others.
Speedy West - was really an originally and came up with all kinds of wild crazy sounds and done it without alot of gadgets. He could play the pretty stuff too.
Bob White - a real innovator and stylist that came up with all sorts of things to play on the Hank Thompson tunes.
Curly Chalker - on C6th the man.
Ralph Mooney -the West Coast Sound.
Jimmy Day, Buddy Emmons, Lloyd Green, Pete Drake most of the Nashville Sounds as we know it.
Julian Tharpe - my hero and friend. Nobody has ever played like him, nor will they. He was a real stylist and great musician.
As mentioned there were others but these stand out in my mind.
May GOD bless!
Terry Wood |
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Terry Wood
From:
Lebanon, MO
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Posted 20 Feb 2007 1:19 pm
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I also forgot to mention these players who definetly had their own styles:
Bobby Garrett- The King of Thumb style steel.
My friends Zane Beck and Reece Anderson- like Julian THarpe they done their own thing on steel and made awesome changes with the steel.
Sneaky Pete and Bobby Black - to more giants of the west coast scene and elsewhere.
What I find difficult for me now is to realize how many great steel players we have lost in the past say few years. I realize some have been gone for more than recent years, but what is say 20 years as compared to eternity?
Check this list out of those who influenced and touched all our lives, and see if you don't agree:
Zane Beck, Billy Bowman, Jerry Byrd, Jimmy Crawford, Curly Chalker, Jimmy Day, Pete Drake, Bobby Garrett, Tom Morrell, Jeff Newman, Sneaky Pete, Red Rhodes, Hal Rugg, Julian Tharpe, Bud Tutmarc, Speedy West, Bob White and probably others I'm forgetting now off the top of my head.
Each sure played some pretty awesome sounds on the steel guitar.
May GOD bless,
Terry Wood |
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Charles Curtis
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Posted 20 Feb 2007 3:03 pm
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| I believe the ones that I can pick out are Julian, Jay Dee and Curly and most probably Lloyd Green. |
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Charles Curtis
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Posted 20 Feb 2007 3:06 pm
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| Let me also add Bobbe to this list; Lord knows I've listen to and enjoy his CDs. |
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Al Vescovo
From:
Van Nuys, CA, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 20 Feb 2007 4:08 pm
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Seem's like you guys forgot Roy Smeck "Wizard of the Strings" .
Also a real innovator : Dr. Hugh Jefferys |
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