| Author |
Topic: Sneaky Pete left us 5 yrs ago today |
Dave Harmonson
From:
Seattle, Wa
|
|
|
|
chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
|
Posted 6 Jan 2012 9:52 am |
|
| greg harris on guitar! |
|
|
|
Joe Goldmark
From:
San Francisco, CA 94131
|
Posted 7 Jan 2012 9:17 pm
|
|
Dave, when I saw your post I was hoping that would be the tune you were posting. It's amazing. His right hand is way more animated than the Nashville guys, but he still gets the job done, no problem. I was fortunate to interview Sneaky and meet and see him play a few times. He was quite the innovator and humble as can be.
What I find interesting is that 99% of all steelers follow the sonic path set by Nashville. Sneaky blazed his own path and had as much success as any great player, yet nobody followed in his footsteps. Partly this is because it's not easy to get that out of phase sound, but I don't think many are trying. With all the new sound modification devices, I think it could be done.
Joe |
|
|
|
Dave Harmonson
From:
Seattle, Wa
|
Posted 8 Jan 2012 3:25 am
|
|
Joe, you're spot on with your comments. I went backwards in discovering him myself. Missed the boat when the Burritos put out their first records. The first tune I remember hearing and noticing it was Sneaky was I Fall To Pieces by Linda Ronstadt. After hearing that I went back and caught up on the Burritos and other things he did.
I know I never tried to get his sound because I couldn't figure how to. The more conventional stuff came easier for me so being basicly lazy that's how I play.
I got to meet him a couple of times as well, opening shows and yes he was a real gentleman.
Here's I Fall To Pieces (it'll bring tears to a glass eye)
http://youtu.be/LRm4Z2Glkxo
_________________
www.facebook.com/countrydaveharmonson |
|
|
|
Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
|
Posted 8 Jan 2012 9:30 am
|
|
Yes, too bad he's not around to create more music and art for us to enjoy. He left quite a legacy though. Unmistakeable style and tone. Everything from bluegrass to Zappa and in between.
I have to say listening to the early stuff with Ronstadt, the Burritos et al back in the day was one of my biggest inspirations for taking up steel guitar. As has been stated, I don't play anything like him I guess, or squeeze out the tones he gets, but I took from his stylings the freedom to create on my own.
He should go down in the annals of music as being one of the great pioneers, innovators, stylists and influential artists of modern time.
Thanks Dave
Last edited by Jerry Overstreet on 8 Jan 2012 9:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
|
Posted 8 Jan 2012 9:31 am
|
|
joe..in my opinion, the 99 percenters chose the more traditional sound because it sounds better.
in the gram parsons days i hunted for the 'real' steel sound and found it in emmons and jd maness.
i even liked al perkins better than sneaky.
however, you've got to give credit to any successful artistry. |
|
|
|
Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
|
Posted 8 Jan 2012 9:44 am
|
|
On this track by Marshall Crenshaw, the first thing I thought was, that it sounds like Sneaky Pete playing, but it's Steve Fishell.
(Maybe I posted this before):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPqGt2ZIJRU
Five years is still fresh 
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
|
|
|
Steve Hinson
From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
|
Posted 8 Jan 2012 10:01 am
|
|
| SP was one of those guys that I heard early on in my steel listening experiences...never just absolutely loved every single note he played,but there were certain records that could never have been as great without him,to me..."Heart Like a Wheel"comes to mind...can't imagine anybody else on that"Willin'" solo!Dave mentioned"I Fall to Pieces"...Pete was great on that album,as was Buddy Emmons...I like to hear'em both! |
|
|
|
Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
|
Posted 8 Jan 2012 10:34 am
|
|
I never understood why people always try to compare one thing to something else in the music realm. Why aren't Pete's accomplishments strong enough to stand on their own?
Sneaky Pete never aspired to be a Buddy Emmons. In an old SG mag interview, he even sorta deferred to the Big E stating he [Sneaky] had nowhere near the technical ability where chordal structure, jazz voicings, etc. were concerned. His staple was to play commercial things that fit whatever music he was called up for. Cover guitar parts, etc. and use his complement of electronics to add something new and different as circumstances dictated.
He was the best at what he did. Just like there will never be another Buddy Emmons, there will never be another Sneaky Pete. RIP. |
|
|
|
Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
|
Posted 8 Jan 2012 10:53 am
|
|
John Cale with Sneaky Pete:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7iLFuapeY8
Jerry I wonder if he also played the guitar part.
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
|
|
|
Fish
|
Posted 8 Jan 2012 5:14 pm
|
|
"Too Shy To Say" by Stevie Wonder (with Sneaky Pete):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_j-MxKALFU&feature=related
Chris, I respectfully submit that Sneaky's sound was so singular and unique that it defies comparison with anyone else, just as Van Gogh's painting style stands alone within Impressionist circles. I think you would credit him for being "different" from the other 99%: he used a different tuning, different instrument (Fender) and pickups, and most importantly, created an altogether different playing style. This required a lot of cajones and sets Sneaky apart stylistically from all other steelers.
I'm guilty of channeling Sneaky on the Marshall Crenshaw track. I played a Fender 400 through a 1965 Twin; the rotating "special effect," which I didn't particularly care for at the time but have grown used to, was added during the mix.
Obviously I don't come close to Sneaky's wonderful sound; I should be horse-whipped for even trying.  |
|
|
|
Larry Tracy
From:
Nevada City, CA, USA
|
Posted 8 Jan 2012 5:42 pm
|
|
| Man, Steve, that was a great song. Hadn't heard that one before. It was like a best of Sneaky Pete in one song. |
|
|
|
chas smith R.I.P.
From:
Encino, CA, USA
|
Posted 8 Jan 2012 8:51 pm
|
|
| On a different tack...he worked in film business, as did I, and at the end of one of the days when I was working on a commercial, at a studio in Hollywood, the foreman from the next studio over had somehow found out that I played the steel guitar and came over to say that Pete had been working on the other side of the wall all day. Damn, if I had known I could have walked around the wall and thanked him for everything. |
|
|
|
Jonathan Shacklock
From:
London, UK
|
|
|
|
ebb
From:
nj
|
Posted 9 Jan 2012 7:39 am
|
|
no one makes my ears perk up these days like fish
ever since his fender jumped off "just call me lonesome" with radney foster i dont think anyone is more in tune
and thanks for the crenshaw link
seeing sneaky pete play live changed my life |
|
|
|
Dave Harmonson
From:
Seattle, Wa
|
Posted 9 Jan 2012 8:14 am
|
|
Jonathan, thanks for the link. A beautiful song and a great example of Sneaky Pete's sound. So do I hear Jerry Donahue on guitar or is that all Sneaky?
The first time I heard Pete live was in '75 with Burritos following their Flying Again album. Joel Scott Hill on guitar, Gib Guilbeau rhythm guitar and fiddle, Skip Battin on bass and Gene Parsons on drums. One thing that really impressed me was how Sneaky and the whole band would play big sounding fills between vocal lines, but be completely out of the way during the vocal. He had a great sense of when to play.
BTW I'll be over your way Jan. 29 with Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers at Green Note @ Underbelly London.
_________________
www.facebook.com/countrydaveharmonson |
|
|
|
Jonathan Shacklock
From:
London, UK
|
Posted 9 Jan 2012 9:52 am
|
|
Dave, it's all Richard Thompson on guitar but Pete does all the lead stuff throughout including more than two minutes of soloing and overdubbed duetting with himself. I imagine most people wouldn't even recognise that fuzztone sound as a pedal steel, at times it's very synth like. BTW the whole "Sandy" album is great. 
I'll send a PM about the Green Note, I've played there a couple of times, great venue! |
|
|
|
Steve Hinson
From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
|
Posted 9 Jan 2012 10:09 am
|
|
| Jonathan,thanks...I needed that!Never heard it...what a great singer,too! |
|
|
|
chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
|
Posted 9 Jan 2012 10:10 am
|
|
| mr. fishell, i give sneaky credit for his uniqueness and success. it's only natural to compare him to others when seeking out the music that pleases me, and the discussion involves him. |
|
|
|
Fish
|
Posted 9 Jan 2012 10:31 am
|
|
I hear you Chris. We all have our favorites who inspire us.
Sneaky Pete was one of those players who always challenged the status quo while finding new ways to support great singer-songwriters in the studio....something that is VERY hard to do in the "heat of the battle" when the red light is on. He painted his canvas brilliantly and never failed to inspire me.
Here's are two perfect solos in one great track for you Chris....but hey,
I'm sure you already know 'em:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMA3lIeqV8M |
|
|
|
Dave Harmonson
From:
Seattle, Wa
|
Posted 9 Jan 2012 11:09 am
|
|
Jon, I knew in was Sneaky Pete on the fuzz and dubbed parts. Some fills in the background with double bends had me thinking Jerry Donahue. Should've know it was Richard Thompson.
Fish, that's one of my favorite Sneaky Pete tracks as well. I was looking for Little Feat's Six Feet Of Snow, but all the youtubes are more recent live cuts.
In the late 70's the band I was with was opening for FBB in Spokane WA and our lead singer went in thinking he wouldn't be impressed with Sneaky Pete as he was more into Buddy, Lloyd and other great Nashville steelers. He was sold on him after hearing him.
_________________
www.facebook.com/countrydaveharmonson |
|
|
|
Russ Tkac
|
Posted 9 Jan 2012 1:29 pm
|
|
I've been a big fan since the early 70's but it took me 35 years to see Sneaky live and to get a Fender 400. I played the Take it Easy solo on my Sho~Bud Professional back in the 70's.
Here is Sneaky at Blissfest in Michigan about a year and a half before he passed. He wasn't the dynamic player that he had been but I didn't care ... I was with Sneaky Pete just talking.
A few months before this I got a call at my home. My wife says, Sneaky Pete's on the phone and I thought she was pulling my leg but I had sent a check to Sneaky for a CD and he called because he didn't know what the check was for - the signs of Alzheimer's already setting in I believe but we had a nice talk and his daughter Anita got the CD out to me.
I did a version of Sneaky's song "Sister" on my Fender 400. I'm no Sneaky and did this just to learn the song but is was a real challenge ... especially the solo!
http://soundcloud.com/tonecaster/russ-tkac-sister
If you would like to try your own version here is the backing track I did at the corrected speed.
http://soundcloud.com/tonecaster/sister-backing-track
Take it Easy solo with my 400 through a Pro Reverb with a band I played with.
http://soundcloud.com/tonecaster/take-it-easy-solo-2005
Last edited by Russ Tkac on 9 Jan 2012 3:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
ebb
From:
nj
|
Posted 9 Jan 2012 2:14 pm
|
|
b6 9+2
 |
|
|
|
Bas Kapitein
From:
Holland
|
Posted 10 Jan 2012 3:13 pm
|
|
Fish, you also did some very convincing imitations of Sneaky Pete on some tracks by Buddy Miller.
You are the exception that proofs the rule (the rule as stated by Joe G)
I still treasure a great Sunday morning meeting when he was playing in Amsterdam in the early 70’s with the Burrito’s. I still have the scrap of paper he used to draw all the mechanical inprovements he thought of for the steel, yet he played a Fender 400!. And yes; humble and kind, what a great guy.
Who else can say that he recorded a duet with Emmons and was not blown to pieces by the big E.
“Yesterday” on the Suite Steel album is the track I revere to and Buddy and Sneaky both proved that their different styles could complement each other. |
|
|
|
ebb
From:
nj
|
|
|
|
