The Steel Guitar Forum

I know I heard a "pedal" steel on one of his recordings..........could be a palm pedal. Anybody know.

The only pedal steel players I know of who recorded with him were Pete Drake and maybe Bud Isaacs, but there could be others. What song and when recorded?

It's Mullican not Mulligan. The bulk of his catalog was recorded in the 40s and 50s and he didn't record much past the early 60s. He died in Jan 1967. I have most of his recordings and I recall no pedals - in fact very little straight steel. His recording career certainly predated palm pedals. An extremely influential cat and not many really understand that. He was like Big Joe Turner singing with Spade Cooley and playing piano like Fats Waller.The only reason he's not ranked alongside Elvis,Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis is that he was fat,bald and nearly 50 when rock & roll broke out and was deemed unmarketable. But he was better than any of 'em.

Michael:

Do you have that relatively late (mid 50s or later) version of Pipeliner Blues with the great extended steel ride??

It's a live version of the song. I think it has a spoken intro.

I wonder who the steel player is on that?

His earlier sides recorded for King in the 1940s have Slim Idaho on steel, also Acie Peveto played on some of his recordings. Most of his stuff is of course piano-dominated.

Kind Regards, Walter

"I'll Sail My Ship Alone" is the main song that I remember the steel on. My memory is of a steel changing a full chord not just a couple of strings bending.

He recorded "I'll Sail My Ship Alone" 5 or 6 times.


The original version (1949) has some mundane steel that has a few Roy Wiggins type licks in it at times.

He recorded it in 1960 with Pete Drake, and that might be the version you recall.

There is a two CD set of his stuff on Proper Records. A couple of tunes on it were recorded in the 50's with Bobby Koefer on steel, at least according to the credits. The tunes are "Well, Oh, Well" with a hot steel solo that sure sounds like Koefer, and "Mona Lisa". When asked about the session, Koefer said he didn't remember it. I guess Moon didn't make much of an impression.

None of the stuff in that collection has pedal steel, that I can remember.

Pete Blakeslee

Do you have that relatively late (mid 50s or later) version of Pipeliner Blues with the great extended steel ride??

No I don't have that one.

A friend of mine who grew up in Lubbock TX and was a Buddy Holly freak showed me a picture of Buddy Holly circa mid 50s playing drums behind Moon at a nightclub gig - I presume somewhere in Texas. Anybody else seen that one?

I cut 2 or 3 sessions with Moon at King Records in Cincinnati in the early 50's. I don't remember all of them, but I recall doing Mona Lisa, Good Night Irene, Honolulu Rock-A-Roll-a and Seven Nights to Rock.

I remember seeing a double neck console steel with two or maby more palm pedals in about 1948 or 1949. One of the "traveling" groups that came through our small town. I didn't know what the palm pedals did but I saw him use them. I dont remember note bending though.

Here is the version of Pipeliner Blues I referred to.

Pipeliner Blues


It may be Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant accompanying Moon, but I can't figure out when and where. I thought it might be from a Moon appearance on those mid 50s "Gannaway" color clips we have all seen. Moon made numerous appearances on those shows, but they were filmed in Nashville and Speedy and Jimmy weren't on them. So I don't know. Now that I listen to it, I wonder if it is Marian Hall on steel, from Town Hall Party?

Roual Ranes wrote:I remember seeing a double neck console steel with two or maby more palm pedals in about 1948 or 1949. One of the "traveling" groups that came through our small town. I didn't know what the palm pedals did but I saw him use them. I dont remember note bending though.

I don't recall seeing any "palm-pedals" until the '60s. I know that some Hawaiian guitars had "tone changers" (like the Change-O-Matic bridge), to alter fixed tunings on lap and consoles, but they weren't used while you were playing.

Roy: The sessions referred to in the two CD set I mentioned, which credited Koefer, were also cut in Cincinati in the early 50's (again if the credits are correct, and there is certainly no guarantee of that). "Mona Lisa" may very well have incorrectly credited Koefer. You didn't mention recording "Well, Oh, Well" with Mullican. Must have been great working with the guy, though.

Pete Blakeslee

Pete,

Note that I said I cut 2 or 3 sessions with Moon -- I didn't say what instrument I was playing. On some King Record sessions, I played lead guitar. I THINK I played steel on the ones I named, but that was about 55 years ago -- so it quite well may have been Koefer on steel and me on lead. In my experience, those discographies are usually correct. Moon was fun to work with. I just remembered another one I was on -- the lyrics said something about a bull frog.

This one here, Roy:

That's it, Mitch. When it says "Boyd Bennett" it included me on either steel or lead. I cut a couple of sessions each week at King during much of my 8 1/2 year stint with Pee Wee King and also during my 2 1/2 year stint with Boyd.

Roy:

I'd love to see you just run off a list of artists that you can recall recording with at King. King had thousands of recordings and the steel players are often undocumented.

Mitch,

I have tried before to come up (from memory) with a list of artists with whom I recorded at King. To be honest, most of them I had never heard of until I met them at the sessions. The more well known ones were Lloyd (Cowboy) Copas, Moon Mullican, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Boyd Bennett, Pop Eckler, and Redd Stewart. I have wished many times that I had kept a written record of each session. There is a "discography" site on the web that lists artists alphabetically and covers a very broad range of artists. I have considered going through each letter of the alphabet and listing the records to which my name is attributed. It is such a daunting task, I hesitate to even start it. Since my music career is essentially over, it would hardly be worth it to me. My main pleasure now-days is just listening to all of the great steelers who passed me up years ago.

Roy:

Are referring to this site?

http://countrydiscography.blogspot.com/

I just ran your name through the search tool at that site and unfortunately, your name comes up only in association with Pee Wee.

However, if you look up Boyd Bennett specifically, you are mentioned on his recordings.

Which means that the search tool there is not accurate. Still, there is a wealth of info there.

There is also this book:

http://tinyurl.com/yb355xb

I have never seen it, but it is a scholarly work and your name might be all over it?

Mitch,

Thanks for your interest -- but as I see it, a thorough and accurate discography of recordings that included me, together with a couple of bucks, would get me a coffee at the neighborhood Starbucks.('')

I'm too old to care and my fans are too old to remember me, anyway. (Today I am 40 days on the front side of 80.)

Happy Halloween.

Roy
(':lol:')

Here's a version of the Bullfrog tune: <http>
Not sure if the link will show up properly - computer challenged.

Pete Blakeslee

Guess not, sorry. Any way there is version of Moon playing the Bullfrog tune on Youtube.

Pete Blakeslee

Donny,
You are probably right. I think this is what I saw.......don't recall that much about it.

http://www.gbase.com/gear/vega-console-steel-1939