The Steel Guitar Forum

With my permission,Brian Dunsmore, Program Director of The CKUA Radio Network in Alberta, Canada, has posted a documentary I edited about pioneering steel guitarist, Ralph Kolsiana.

I got to know Ralph circa 1990 when he was in his early 80s and I was in my early 30s. I had a business trip to LA and called him up for a lesson. Despite our age difference, we became friends. In the early 90s, an amateur camerman shot interviews and performances of Ralph on VHS. The whole thing was done very differently than I would do a professional shoot. Ralph asked me to take the footage and do what I could with it.

I created the documentary with no budget, and frankly, fairly rudementary editing. I assigned the copyright to Ralph and made him a bunch of dubs. He never really did anything with the program and I always considered it right on the edge of being releasable. After Ralph's death, I re-edited and repackaged the program for DVD for a small run of about 50 copies. I felt that Ralph's story was so fascinating and historically important that the content transcended the technical quality and that he deserved to be remembered. The program is currently out of print. I have the master but haven't done another DVD run and will likely not do so though I do intend to get one copy to the Library of Congress. In any case, Ralph deserves to be remembered for his contributions to American music and his pioneering work on the electric lap steel. He was a fascinating person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jHr03TBklg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8lB2650 ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGg_bHqc ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR0FPGwM ... re=related

Thanks for sharing this documentary with us, Andy.

Megadittos, Brad. Around the time Andy is talking about I saw Ralph perform at an HSGA get together on the northern edges of Los Angeles somewhere. Even at that age he performed well enough to make a big impression on me. To this day I remember he played, "Little Coquette." Andy and I may have met at that time. But it was Loooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg ago.

I remember when Ralph did that gig - he was excited about it - but I wasn't there. Ralph was an interesting combo of devoted father, man of many talents, in general a pretty wild old guy with increasingly bizarre interests as he neared the end of his life. He thought LSD was no big deal to take if you had "a good head on your shoulders.", believed in UFOs, the lost islands of Atlantis and Mu, and when he began to go blind, told me about a fountain deep in central Mexico whose waters could cure him. In the documentary, you get a glimpse of how he sounded in his prime. Even late in the game, Ralph still could really swing!

Thanx for that info, Andy.
I wonder if he 'dropped' after he became blind. I've always been curious what effect/s a blind person would experience under the influence.

I enjoyed that Andy.
Thanks for putting it on.
He seems like such a nice man.

Aloha,
Don

Thanks Andy. That was quite historical as well as entertaining.

Bump for new members who haven't seen this. To know where we're going on the instrument, it helps to know where we've been.

I want to thank you Andy for your introduction to Ralph.
He was indeed an Amazing human being who had lived an interesting life in interesting times.
I was very fortunate to have made his acquaintance.
Lee

You're welcome, Lee. Cindy Cashdollar is another player who got to know Ralph a bit and has fond memories of him. He was truly an early and important electric player who just didn't get the same recording or radio opportunities as some others but who was equally good.

BTW, Lee, I still remember how you and I met at a Big Sandy gig at the Rathkeller in Kenmore Square, Boston. You guys swung your butts off that night!

I enjoyed this DVD. I should pull it out again and give it another viewing. I remember being struck by his gentle nature.

Guess it's my ignorance...I cannot recall Ralph being totally blind as he was still handwriting letters and sending pictures to me until about a year or so prior to his passing.

My initial 'encounter' with Ralph was via some old 78 rpm RCA Victor 'Bluebird' recordings which I first heard being played in juke boxes back around 1946. Over the years it seems nothing more was recorded, or if it was, it was never available in this neck of the woods. Then one day, a new HSGA Membership list arrived and had his name on it...Could this be him or perhaps a son ?
So I wrote to him and a new friendship began. His was a fascinating story which Andy has related on this site previously. Quite an amazing guy right to the end of his life.

Very interesting! thanks for posting that, Andy.

I wrote Ralph a letter after reading a magazine story about him in the early 1990s. To my surprise, he called me up. When I was in LA later that year I paid him a visit. The first thing he said when he greeted me at the door was, "Can you comp on a guitar? Everybody I used to play with is dead." We played all afternoon and into the evening -- I blew off a dinner date -- until finally I had to quit because my fingers were bleeding. That was one of the most pleasant days of my life. Ralph was a sweet man. And he sure had some wild stories.

Love it!! I would love to hear that old recording of Night and Day that is playing behind one of the interveiws. Swingin!!!

Okay, Billy, here ya go ....

Ralph's Hawaiian group was gigging at the Chase Hotel in Santa Monica in 1955 opposite a jazz group that had bass great Monty Budwig in the band. Ralph's bandmates gave him a push to sit in with them and here's the result ...

https://home.comcast.net/~aevolk/music/Night&Day.mp3

Thanks Andy, That is some great stuff.

Thanks for that, Andy.

I didn't catch it the first time around, but it's a very cool documentary.

--Jamie