Charlie Rich "Can't Even Drink It Away"

Peter Freiberger · Post by **Peter Freiberger** » 25 Nov 2010 9:37 am

Found this on YouTube. Great steel, but who played it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JlXGhaI1os

Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 25 Nov 2010 1:36 pm

My first choice would have been Curly Chalker but something in the back of my mind says Pete Drake. Take a listen to his C6th sound on the post about My Bluest Day.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 25 Nov 2010 1:51 pm

It reminds me also of Curly because most other guys would probably have played this one on E9, and it sounds like a Fender, and there are 9ths and 6ths in the chords where Curly would play them and I wouldn't, but the tone is dorkier than what I have heard of Curly.

Russ Wever · Post by **Russ Wever** » 25 Nov 2010 10:02 pm

Great steel, but
who played it?

It is, in fact and undoubtedly,
Chalker playing the Great steel.
~Rw

Bobby Boggs · Post by **Bobby Boggs** » 25 Nov 2010 11:22 pm

I'm with EB on the tone. My guess is a direct to the board set-up?
bb

Peter Freiberger · Post by **Peter Freiberger** » 26 Nov 2010 8:49 am

So then it is Curly. The record was done in 1970, so I assume he was still playing a Fender. It's an excellent, restrained performance, and an interesting tone.

Al Udeen · Post by **Al Udeen** » 26 Nov 2010 10:37 am

Dorkier tone, Never heard it put that way? But I'm afraid that some are now, going to be accused of having Dorky tone?

Peter Freiberger · Post by **Peter Freiberger** » 26 Nov 2010 12:00 pm

I found the "Boss Man" album on Rhapsody. There are a few other cuts with steel. "Nice 'N Easy" is unmistakeably Chalker. Same tone, but some his patented Basie-esque vibrato. And "My Joy" sounds like Chalker on E9. "Golden Slipper Rose", however, sounds a lot like Pete Drake to me.

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 26 Nov 2010 12:10 pm

In 1970 Chalker was still playing Sho-Bud's...The Fender was early 60's....Mid 70's it was MSA.........Paul

Rick Campbell · Post by **Rick Campbell** » 26 Nov 2010 2:05 pm

I'd have liked it a lot better with E9.

Peter Freiberger · Post by **Peter Freiberger** » 26 Nov 2010 2:30 pm

Franklin wrote:In 1970 Chalker was still playing Sho-Bud's...The Fender was early 60's....Mid 70's it was MSA.........Paul

D'oh! Thanks, Paul. "Big Hits" was on a Fender I'm told and was released in '65 and then he went to Sho-Bud. So I was off by about half a decade or so.

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 26 Nov 2010 4:20 pm

Peter Freiberger wrote:
Franklin wrote:In 1970 Chalker was still playing Sho-Bud's...The Fender was early 60's....Mid 70's it was MSA.........Paul
D'oh! Thanks, Paul. "Big Hits" was on a Fender I'm told and was released in '65 and then he went to Sho-Bud. So I was off by about half a decade or so.

Hi Peter,

No problem.......Chalkers notable Nashville based session recordings with Carl Smith, Ray Price, Roy Clark, Stan Hitchcock, Hugh X Lewis, etc. are all Sho-Bud and MSA....Pretty much the only exception was his Columbia instrumental LP "Big Hits on Big Steel" which was recorded around the time he arrived in Nashville on his Fender......He also took up the E9th tuning upon arriving in Nashville with his new Sho-Bud........I feel very fortunate to have seen him and Buddy play at my first visit to the DJ convention in 67.........They were both on fire.......Because of what I witnessed firsthand here in town, I have to laugh inside when forum members say, "the pedal steel is for playing country" or when they say, "none of these players at steel shows are stretching out and playing anything different" as if they can't think outside the box when they need to go there.........All of the legends built their reputations on playing differently and pushing their personal envelope farther outside its known barriers.........Curly was fun to watch...........Paul

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 26 Nov 2010 6:50 pm

What kind of guitar does it sound like on "Can't Even Drink It Away"?

Peter Freiberger · Post by **Peter Freiberger** » 26 Nov 2010 7:21 pm

"Can't Even Drink It Away" is off the same album so it would have to also be a Sho-Bud. I guess the wonky tone would have to be a function of something between the player and the tape machine; strings, bar, pickup, wiring, pedal, amp, mike, board, etc. I kind of dig it, in a perverse sort of way. Weldon Myrick's early '70's tone kind of tended a bit in that direction at times, IMHO, and I'm crazy about his playing of that era.

I wish I could have seen an Emmons/Chalker playoff, but I do recall seeing Paul Franklin and Tommy White playing side by side at an event in Nashville in the mid '90's. There was nothing all that country about that either. It was awe inspiring, and depressing all at the same time.

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 27 Nov 2010 9:31 am

Earnest Bovine wrote:What kind of guitar does it sound like on "Can't Even Drink It Away"?

Its a 1970 session so its a Sho-Bud........Chalker's typical sound had a bass point on all of the strings...Listen to "Big Hits" or "More Ways To Play"......I'm guessing here, but it could be a funky studio amp.......In those days through the early 70's studios supplied amps. Although most players brought their own, in a pinch, or on a day your back was not just right, you could opt for the house amp.....Or the mixing engineer could have done a drastic EQ job on the steel..........Paul

Gary Walker · Post by **Gary Walker** » 5 Dec 2010 8:18 pm

I was in Dallas in July 1969 at Dewey Groom's Long Horn Ballroom at a great steel show. I made the trip from CA just to see Curly in person and was not disappointed. Curly was indeed playing one of his Bud Crossovers, with two ShoBud amps. He even complained about the drop in power to his amps. He switched to single coils in effort to combat his perception of distortion in the power weakness.
As for the '65 "Big Hits On Big Steel" Curly was playing his Fender 2000 according to two interviews. One of those was in Guitar Player March 1973 issue of an interview at the DJ Converntion 1972. He also restated again on the album jacket on His "Counterpoint" that Tom Bradshaw released on the double album with the re-release of "Big Hits." I know Reece can verify Curly's switch to MSA sometime in 72-73. I was in the ShoBud store in April 1973 and saw his return Crossover upstairs with a very badly damaged front apron.
The replays of the Wilburn Brothers show the approximate time of his switching brand.

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Charlie Rich "Can't Even Drink It Away"

Charlie Rich "Can't Even Drink It Away"

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