The Steel Guitar Forum

This past December I bought the first five Poco albums on Cd. What's been most interesting to me is not only how great Rusty's steel playing still sounds but how great of a dobro player he was. On the Deliverin' album he played most of his great steel parts with a full size dobro in his lap going back and forth in the songs in a seamless way. After 40 years his playing is still amazing. I see why I was so taken by it back then.

Russ

The guy is really a genius when it comes to mixing all those instruments and parts. There was a time when he had tht Melobar going as well. He called it "The Bear."

Even in many of his latest endeavors with Poco and before that briefly with Bill Lloyd and John Cowan as The Sky Kings, he played some very good steel guitar.

If you can find it, see if you can locate a copy of the tune "Till the Money's All Gone" from the unreleased RCA album of the Sky Kings (or Four Wheel Drive as Pat Simmons of the Doobie Brothers was in on the deal as well). That is some of the best steel playing you are going to find.

Deliverin is why I bought the pedal steel after playing guitar for 44 years. Since that album came out I always wanted one.
What strikes me most today about the album is their pictures, they look like a bunch of kids (they were) and they played such kick butt music. After 45 years on guitar, and I am no slouch, I couldn't do any better.

Rusty always amazed me (certainly on his live albums) and he produced a very unique sound with his steel.
Unfortunately the pictures in the deliverin'album are not clear enough to be able to tell what gear he used.
Did he get his organ sound just by using a Lesley Box?
Did he really switch from guitar to dobro to steel to banjo in a matter of seconds?
Amazing man, this Rusty Young.

Peer

Listen to cut 8 on the Deliverin CD - a medley from the first album. It is so cool the way he goes from Dobro to pedal steel. Also, Hurry Up on the second album has some of the best Organ/steel playing. Not just pedal steel through a Leslie but played so it sounds like an organ. Great stuff.

i agree with everything good about rusty!

i asked once before and got conflicting responses...does anyone know what primary tuning rusty used on the dobro?

Saw Rusty at a POCO concert, a couple years ago in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He was playing his steel with flip-flops on. I wish he'd get on the show circuit. Never got a chance to talk to him, or get his autograph! I've been trying to get my friend, Rick Troyer, to try to book him on one of his Hummingbird Studios, steel guitar celebrations. Here's hoping!!
-Jake Jacoby-

That would be fun, Jake!

After seeing Poco in the early '70s, I was in Scottys within a couple of weeks wanting to learn to play pedal steel. I didn't grow up listening to country music, so Poco and Rusty were one of the first introductions I had to pedal steel. Rusty was quite the showman as I remember. Seems like he was playing steel out of the chair as much as he was sitting down. It was some of the coolest music I'd ever heard. The other thing that blows me away on those early records are the vocals. MAN!, those guys are singers!! That record "POCO" has incredible harmonys on it.

TTT for Rusty. But he's already there in my book!

chris ivey wrote: i asked once before and got conflicting responses...does anyone know what primary tuning rusty used on the dobro?

FWIW - In his book, The Pedal Steel Handbook" Rusty first teaches a number of Poco songs (Hoedown, Pickin' Up The Pieces, Rocky Mountain Breakdown, Makin' Love) on Dobro, using an E7 tuning from high (pitch) to Low - E, B, G#, E, D, E.

Love Poco!

Phil

Rusty was a great influence on me to start pedal steel. All that California country hit a nerve for
me.

Thanks guys, I've always wondered if that organ sound was the steel. Now 30 years later.......

The question was what was Rusty's dobro tuning- if memory serves, I asked him several years ago and I believe the answer is an open G tuning. The first Poco record was almost all detuned a half step.