The Steel Guitar Forum

Caught Bob at the Ryman last night, great show! Elvis Costello popped in for a set.

On the stage, in front of Bobs keyboard, there was what appeared to be a short scale Fender stringmaster double eight. What is up with that?
Does the dude pick?

Last night there was a few sheets laying on it, no one touched it.

That is his infamous 'music stand'.

That should have been Don Harron

"That is his infamous 'music stand'."

Jimbeaux,

I think I would have gone with a Hamilton, but what the hell, when you have Zimmies money.......

Kinda grainy (it was dark), but I took this of ol' Bob about 3 years ago at a concert he did with Willie Nelson in Ft Lauderdale FL.
He doesn't play it, it's "unplugged" . .




These pics are clearer, I didn't take these . .

edit

He doesn't play it, it's "unplugged" . .

are you saying Dylan has a steel onstage , and even occasionally gets behind it and sings and its not even plugged in? its a prop??!!

Sort of, it's not so much a prop as a music stand. In that photo up above, where it looks sort of like he's playing it, he's playing a keyboard.

Mighty expensive music stand!

are you saying Dylan has a steel onstage , and even occasionally gets behind it and sings and its not even plugged in? its a prop??!!

No, that's not insulting. Who said it was insulting? Why would you think it would be insulting? I didn't say it was insulting...
.

I'd imagine he just likes having it close by as a bit of inspiration, and if/when he suddenly feels like cranking it up, someone will come rushing out to plug it in, fine tune the strings, and off he'll go on it, giving another historic moment for us all to talk about.

Anybody ever see an idle amp nearby?

edit

No, that's not insulting. Who said it was insulting? Why would you think it would be insulting? I didn't say it was insulting...

huh? I can tell thats maybe a joke but it went over my head I'm afraid.hehe..I dont wanna insult dylan or his fans or anyone for that matter but I do think thats a bit...lame. Other than Al's suggestion that maybe its for sale (hehe), theres gotta be areason its up there? Maybe he changes the set list often enough that it occasionally gets used? Otherwise its as cheesy a prop as spinal taps stonehendge.

Ben, I meant insulting to steel players everywhere, to use their beloved instrument as a freakin' music stand. But, I didn't say it was insulting, did I? Why would I say that?

oh ok gotcha Jim

I aint insulted by it, but then I aint much of a steel player. I do find it odd tho..its not like dylan needs it for roots credibility or to give a sincere americana vibe or anything. Im just gonna keep tellin myself it gets used even if only once or twice a year.

Trouble is, I'm not sure I'd want Bob to play it. He would be a hack and it would be embarrassing. I remember watching him on tv--it may have been that MSG all-star anniverary or birthday or something extravaganza---and he had a crackerjack band but he insisted on playing lead guitar. Who, onstage or off, would be stupid enough to tell him "Bobby, Bobby, Bobby---I love ya, man, but why don't you let one of your world class sidemen do the picking"....So unfortunately instead of hearing some top-notch guitar playing we heard Dylan scratch on a strat (I think I recall). Hey, his playing was always good enough for his music (as a strummer) but not as a lead guitarist!
So imagine what amateur glisses he would spew from his Stringmaster.
And let me emphasize---I can't name a more important artist in my lifetime so there's no lack of respect.
And none of this helps explain why he has had that S'Master on stage for several years now, even when Larry Campbell or Bucky Baxter or Don Herron were his steel players, with their own axes.

I never dreamed Bob wouod play it himself i figured one of his sidemen on rare occasion would.

I googled a bit and found a recent review where they mention the steel getting played as recently as this august. Full link:
http://my.execpc.com/~billp61/082607r.html

the relevant passage:

No one who attended the meet-up before the show wanted to hear Times They
Are A-Changing, but that's what came next and it was surprisingly good,
with some OK guitar from Bob (though he hit a few wrong frets after the
solo) and a fairly committed sing. Donnie chimed in with some steel guitar
at the end which added a nice touch.

*disclaimer..i realize this is not conclusive evidence as some folks think the steel guitar is a guitar with those shiny "steel" strings on it, or one of those shiny metal bodied "steel" guiatrs (dobro). Nor does it mean even if a steel was played it was the stringmaster but still.....

from wikipedia a list of Bobs Band as of July, 2007.
Bob Dylan - vocals, guitar, keyboard, harmonica
Stu Kimball - guitar
Donnie Herron - pedal steel guitar, lap steel guitar, electric mandolin, banjo, fiddle
Denny Freeman - guitar, slide guitar
Tony Garnier - bass guitar, standup bass
George Receli - drums

so perhaps a fellow named Donnie Herron occasionally plays that musicstand onstage?

Donnie has his own steel(s) on stage which he plays every night. The last Dylan show I saw (with Merle Haggard, in Memphis) Donnie had both a pedal and a non-pedal steel on stage and was by far the most featured instrumentalist.

I hate that I missed the Nashville shows this week; besides Elvis Costello playing an impromptu opening set Jack White of the "White Stripes" showed up to play too.

I personally think Dylan has the Stringmaster up there because he loves steel, and thinks it looks cool. I for one don't feel insulted at all...

I saw Dylan at the ACL fest last Sunday night.
He had a steel player but I couldn't hear one note he played.
Must have had him out of the mix.
I did see his bar go flying out of his hands.
He reached back behind him and got another one.
Good thing Dylan was on the left side of him cause if he'd been on the right side the bar might have dinged Dylan in the head.

"I personally think Dylan has the Stringmaster up there because he loves steel, and thinks it looks cool. I for one don't feel insulted at all..."

Pete,

My sentiments exactly! It did look cool as hell sittin there!

OK, but wouldn't ya think that, at this stage of his life and career, he wouldn't be doing stuff 'just because it looks cool'? Especially Dylan, who built his reputation on substance rather than appearance (personal, tonsorial, coiffure, or vocal!) I mean, he's never been about appearance...

He's built a reputation for being enigmatic. I'd count this as another example.

During a show musicians change instruments, and they don't always put the unused ones away. The steel was probably left out from a previous number. Maybe at the time the photo was taken the steel guitarist was playing mandolin or something else.

There have been numerous threads about this fabled D-8. Dylan simply wants it there for vibe. He throws lyric sheets on there from time to time, and thinks it looks cool. He might try to play it every so often, 'cause he probably thinks he can. That seems to be about it, really.

Al Collinsworth wrote:Maybe, it's for sale?

That's great.

I caught Dylan Saturday night here in Duluth, GA. I really enjoyed it. Donnie Herron was the steeler. I think there were three steels on stage, the music stand steel, a pedal steel and a non pedal steel. I had good seats but just couldn’t tell what they were. That was the first concert I had been to in a while that didn’t have a big screen.

david