The Steel Guitar Forum

From time to time, the subject comes up and fears are expressed as to how steel guitar is dying. Some feel 'tis; others feel there's adequate 'new blood' showing on the horizon from the youngest youngins.
SOME FEEL our multitude of steel guitar shows that dot the country side is adequate to keep the ball rolling. In other areas, steel guitar associations are dying for lack of financial support.
Music stores used to play a vital role in the promotion of both artists and lines of specific musical instruments and types, as well.
There used to be, in those good olde days of yester-year, a wide variety of attractions that made the local public, the hummers and whistlers, etc., feel like they belonged to 'our kind o'music'.
If tomorrow, YOU were handed $100,000 and told to go promote the steel guitar.....WHAT would YOU do?
How would YOU go about it, if this was a perfect world? How would YOU get several million folks to view and examine 'our world'? What would be YOUR 'hook'?
This could be interesting, could it not?

$100,000 would buy me a lot of steel guitars

There hasn't been a steel guitar show around here since LT's.

I'm plenty busy. To say the instrument is dead is pretty dramatic.

It's not the steel guitar that's dead. It's the music that made it famous that has given up the ghost.

Look at a lot of todays so called "country" bands. They have fiddle and steel while they're hot, and when they start to cool off, these are the first two things to go.

The days of people like Emmons, Hughey, Brumley, being almost as popular as the entertainers they play for are gone.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to agree with my music is dead. Nashville has lost all it's glory. We can talk about how great some of the new acts are but I don't see it. Country music started as the everyday life of people and how we lived and alot of us still do. The war songs of ET,etc., were about the real things. I was reading a WW11 letter that was written by a soldier coming home. He told his wife in the letter how he saw a rainbow at midnight. He stated how beautiful it was. He describes how it happened. In our younger days we have seen about everything I guess but all of it is life and we write about it, sing about, and Gosh does the Steel pull the heart strings to the point we feel it. The Steel lives on but the voice behind the greats are leaving fast. The new acts don't feel it and it shows. Playing, singing, teardrops and laughter comes from the heart and it will show.

nuff said

The songs written by Hank Sr.,Cindy Walker,Floyd Tillman,etc,The Cheating songs,heartbreak songs,true love songs,Funny songs,Songs about,mother,dad,God,animal songs[Old Shep],about the old homeplace,they did'nt write PC crap,the songs were about REAL things that happen to REAL people.and the main thing these songs were melodic,you could could sing,whistle,or hum the melody,it's hard to whistle the tune to things like Bo-donk-a donk or Batter,Batter,or the majority of the songs out there today. DYKBC.

They had some cowboy singer on The Tonight Show last night......

Whatever it was he sang, was not at all emotional, inspirational or memorable and after the first time he sang the chorus to his song, repeating the same line over and over and over again.........I was ready to flip the channel. Well, he then sang that chorus at least twice more and the same line was repeated again and again.

These current country song writers seem to have missed the boat by a wide margin. It's like they feel the current audiences are too dumb to get the drift of what they're trying to convey without having it repeated to them a couple of dozen times in each verse.

Boy,listening to sad,sad songs sure made one feel happy,fun wow.The more I read some of these post,the more I'm liking the new country music.I don't think the greats of the past sang better than many of todays artist. Kid Rock sounds better than Web Pearce ever did. But what do I know I'm only 69 years old. One of the keys of entertainment is making people have fun,to forget about what is going on in this old world today.If it's just the lack of a steel guitar on a song, and you are a steel player- Play it. You can add alot to a song ,you can keep the steel alive. Joe
www.willowcreekband.com

If I "were handed $100,000 and told to go promote the steel guitar," I think I'd figure that the folks in Tahiti needed to learn more about steel guitars!

I would open my own club and would insist on a steel player in EVERY BAND, and WOULD NOT HIRE ANY BANDS THAT DONT HAVE A STEEL PLAYER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joe: I'm very sorry if my post was not in agreement with the way you feel. I to enjoy happy songs. My point is what country is about. I'm not as young as you and surely can't play a Steel like yourself, but I too am in my 60s. Country music is about life and the way it really is and not the way we want it to be. Kid Rock,nor even Garth Brooks wouldn't hold a candle to Webb and I am surprised to hear you say that. If Garth Brooks is country, I'm from New York and I can assure you I'm not. Today's music is upscale Rock and whatever, but not country. What do I know? I'm a dumb Texan, who loves to hear Mr. Anderson and Junior Knight play their hearts out. We down here also know how to dress neatly to go into public and play. Thats wrong also or is it?

I don't know Ray, I remember when I started out in the early 80's there were only about 6 to 8 pedal steel manufacturers, now there are 3 times that or so worldwide with a waiting list up to three years for one of them.

MSA has come and gone and come back. Sho~Bud has gone under and come back as the Jackson. Carter, unheard of not long ago is probably the highest volume builder going, and have added another whole line, the Magnum. Jeff Surratt was working for a builder once and now is making guitars of his own and doing well with them from what I hear. Then there is Rains, Rittenberry, Derby, GFI, Williams, Zum, Desert Rose,etc.. B0b has put together a list of manufacturers, pedal, non-pedal, and reso, I think there are over forty of them in all.

There were no lap steels left in production that I recall when I started out playing except for the "Cat Can" and only 3 or 4 resonators. I know of at least a dozen outfits cranking out lap steels now and about as many resos.

Not long ago at all Nick Reed and David Spires formed an organization called NTSGA, I was the first member, John Hughey was the second, might have been a half dozen others join shortly afterwards, now look at it, the roster was around 450 members world wide the last time I looked.

I don't know of any other instrument where their players have a forum dedicated to it that has members all over the world. Players range from ten years old to up into their 90's.

Is there even one month in the year now that doesn't have at least one steel show in it?

People used to worry about steel guitar being stereotyped as a Country Music only instrument.

Guess what? Country Music in its original form is as dead as Kelseys nuts and steel guitar is wide open in about every kind of music there is, except rap maybe.

Looks to me like steel guitar is just getting wound up. I think it will be O.K. for a while yet. JMO

I'm 100% with you, Ray.
If I hear the same line over and over more than twice, I move on. Did anyone ever count how many times the same line is sung over and over on some CDs. Some of them are just plain ridiculous. Like as if we didn't hear the line the first or second time. You don't find that on the CW recordings of the 30s, 40s, 50s & 60s. Things are sure going to
h-ll in a hand basket. I quit buying CW (or whatever it's called nowadays) near the end of the 60s.
Ray,-that was a good subject. Gave me a good chance to bitch.
Wally

Charles Davidson wrote:Songs about mother, dad, God, animal songs[Old Shep],about the old homeplace...

Those themes have often been associated with life in rural America. Why do you suppose it's called 'country' music?

If the pedal steel guitar is to survive and thrive in the years to come it must shed its 'country' stereotype. There is a lot more music that can be played on the pedal steel guitar than just country.

Basically what Leslie said.

I have a fair share of session work over here, and the majority of it isn't country at all.

plenty of steel work here, some of it is country. Ray I hope to be in your neck of the woods soon, gonna send you an email when I get some details..

Kid Rock sounds better than Web Pearce ever did.<<

Everybody has an opinion but I disagree with the above. Remember, even people with cardboard ears have the power to buy CD's

The sound of a singer is not the same as how good a singer can sing. Its alot like a steel guitar that has poor tone but played by a super player. Was Webb a good singer--yes(also used one of the best steel players,and good country songs). Kid Rock is not as good a singer as Webb Pearce, but the sound of his voice is more pleasing. Because someone prefers the sound of a different voice that doesn't mean he has cardboard ears. Alvin, Simon and Theodore have a distinct sound of their own--aren't they good singers? Joe

The group size is now four piece. Guitar, keyboard, drums and bass. The guitar has oodles of pedals a "b" bender and does all of the steel sounds he can, so you are not needed. Very few are willing to take a steel and loose that money for themselves. The audiences are buying it so what can you say?

Ray I'm sorry I went off topic. I'm very lucky to be playing steel in a band.
Roual, I'm in a 6 piece band. Each member draws its own followers so it works out for us. We do ask for more money,and each get a little less,but we like the big sound,and usually have a large crowd.Joe
www.willowcreekband.com

A big mistake is looking to Nashville for musical satisfaction.

Joe,
I am in a five piece group and we try to get a little more but will actually play at the drop of a hat. We are in it strictly for the fun of it. We play some of everything and enjoy it. We just happen to have a place we can play two nights a month and if we never go anywhere else, I am fine with that. I do wish we had six but we have not found him as yet.

Is the decline something to do with learning steel guitar can be difficult (but enjoyable) but the kids want instant fame these days and three or four chords on a reasonably cheap guitar will get you out there in front of an audience. There is not a great deal free tuition available on the net unlike most other instruments and finally there tends to be a rigidity of outlook that steel = C & W but there is a lot of good music being played but perhaps not getting the airing it should.

I don't know of any other instrument where their players have a forum dedicated to it that has members all over the world. Players range from ten years old to up into their 90's.

I can't agree. There are a number of ukulele forums and the interest is growing amongst all ages but this mainly because those of us involved have NOT pushed vituosity but 'play for you own enjoyment' (My own club has 14 - 82 year olds). I suspect that there are also many guitar forums that cater for a wide range of ages and interest.

.....but to return to Ray's original question. I would set up a teaching website where tuition was free and I would promote the kind of outlook that our parents had, they learned piano etc. for the sheer enjoyment and acquisition of a skill. There is far too much emphasis on becoming a star in almost all kinds of music these days.

Got to stick up for Kid Rock a [LITTLE] bit,I can't take the rap stuff that he or anyone does,but I saw a show he and Hank Jr. did maybe a year or so ago,he did a BEAUTIFUL song,it did have a B-3 in it I think,but some beautiful steel in it,Don't remember the name of the tune,maybe some of you can tell me what it was,It suprised me to hear him doing something this pretty.anyone know the name of that song ? Also if any of you may have a vidio clip of it,please post it. DYKBC.

I started playing the steel guitar 30 years ago when I was 20. Now I am 50, there will always be someone,I hope that will carry the torch of the steel guitar. A lot of the steel guitar shows are Dallas, St. Louis, and the Smokies. With the current economic situation going on in America at this time some people just don't have the funds(money) to go. I do understand the cost of using the hall and getting venders to come and the scheduling of players to come to the event.I live in Louisiana, and the closest place for me to go to a steel guitar show would be in Dallas. However at this time financially I can not afford to go. Due to expense on my end. I would like to go to go. We don't even have a steel guitar club here. For years I was in a group called The Louisisna Songwriters Association,. A fine organization that promoted songwriting from Louisiana songwriters. As of this time we are in a decline. We haven't had a meeting in the last couple of years. And there are a lot of talented performers in this state.
Tommy Shown