The Steel Guitar Forum

I haven't listened to much Hank Williams lately, but have been asked to play pedal steel as part of the stage band in a musical about the man. Was there actually any pedal steel on any of his recordings, or in his live band, especially towards the end?

Thanks!

Marc
If my memory serves me right Hank died in 1954
there was no pedal recordings that i know of .
you could get the non pedal sound by using your Eb
lever and play a few Helms riffs using the B6th tuning .

Hick

Hank Died Jan. 1st 1953. 29 Years old. No Pedal Steel That I Know Any thing about. SONNY.

The steel player on most of Hank's recordings was Don Helms. Don used a Gibson Grand Console nonpedal steel for the most part.The tuning was E6 ( G#,E,C#, B,G#,E, C#, A) hi to low. All Don really used were the top 6 strings.
There were a few other steel players that Hank used, namley Jerry Byrd, but the pedal steels did not come into prominence until after Hank died.

Thanks everyone! I can't do the gig, but I've let the organizers know they need a lap player.

Marc -- If it's "Hank Williams - Lost Highway" I've done that show twice.

They payin' decent money?

Bill

Bill - it's 'Hank Williams - the show he never gave'. I never go tto the money part as I'm unavailable. I judt got an email from them, they're looking for a lap player now!

Neither Don Helms nor Jerry Byrd used a lap steel on Hank's recordings. They both used non-pedal console steels.

Marc, I saw the original version of that play with Sneezy Waters playing Hank, and George Essery just used his old Fender 800 I think it was. Also, a few years later I saw another version of the show with Sneezy (by then getting seriously long in the tooth to play Hank) in Toronto and Chris Whitely just used a single neck Bud for the gig. I remember thinking that George sounded highly authentic (even if it didn't look right to the tiny handful of us who would have noticed), and probably never touched a pedal. The focus of the play is the Hank character and what was going on with him, so it didn't seem to detract much from it. But the ideal axe for the gig is of course a Console Grand.

...and standing up!!

Didn't Jerry Byrd play his steel on his lap way back in 1950 or so? I thought he played either a Rick B6 or B7 on the Hank dates....Jerry

Here's how Don did it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95aP0OWx4jY

I did the same, but used my Fender Dual 8.

That was a Gibson Console Grande guitar but I'd never seen Don wearing a Cowboy Hat before and any pic I'd seen of Don he was wearing glasses. Also that was NOT Jerry Rivers on Fiddle in that clip.
WC Edgar

Definitely a Gibson console.

Sure sounded like him, but I can't tell 'cause the video is so grainy.

Hell, they were probably playing to the recording anyway.

Yep, the sound WAS him but the faces didn't match the sound. Have a good one!
WC

So are those slants on "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me"? (Not the version that begins with the string section.)

if it's "the show he never gave" then a pedal steel might actually work.

Danny Peters wrote:So are those slants on "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me"? (Not the version that begins with the string section.)

When he was interviewed a few years back, Don Helms stated categorically that he never used slants on Hank's recordings.

That was Don on steel, Billy Byrd on guitar and I read someplace that was Grady Martin on fiddle.
I could well be wrong since I don't know what Grady looks like.

You can watch this starting at around 454 on the counter.
I believe there are six segments to this video.
Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFDzDvckVx4