The Steel Guitar Forum

Last night friend of mine showed me an old album he had. CT Alan sure looked like you on steel Albert...........

Were you from Cloquet originally?

I only recognized Don Bowman & Danny Larsen in the pictures of the several artists on the back cover.

Geo

Hey George, speaking for Albert, that was a stage name that he used for awhile. I have not seen the album, but somewhere on the Forum is a picture of Albert as C T Alan, playing an Erickson Steel Guitar.

Dennis

I recall CT Alan in San Diego around 70-80's. He is still a great player, Albert or CT.

Yes, Albert is a fine steel player.

Dennis, any progress on holding a steel showcase aka steel jam?

Geo

I am blessed to get to play with Albert (CT Alan) on a pretty regular basis and he is a great player and a fine gentleman no matter what name he uses!

Jim in Missouri

is this a private party or can we ask who albert is?

Could it be Uncle Albert???

NOPE! It's Albert Svendahl From Minn-ne-sota Who Plays A Williams S-12U PSG.

Roger

Albert Svenddal

Is He Still A Norwegian?

Finnish

Actually the CT in Albert's stage name came from his nickname which was "cotton top" due to his hair color and texture. I don't know where the Alan came from. He still plays great and will forever be a Norwegian including his jokes. He will be doing steel on my CD project this Fall. A great guy and a wonderful Christian.

Hey George, don't you remember the "Briar Patch" which I think was aired on Saturday nights around 10:30pm back in the late 60's. I also remember going to the Cloquet armory and they'd have a country show every Saturday there for a while. He was playing an Erickson at the time. I'm also sorry to hear about your mom Albert. Hope to see sometime down the road!! Give us some input!! Loren.

Hey Mouser!!!!!!!!!!! I was up "on da rain-g-ch" about that time so I don't remember that. Les Swanson told me some stories about CT back then.

I remember Ron Dominiak (sp?) from Hibbing had an Erickson.

Geo

Yes, here is the story. When I was 13 and just starting to play steel guitar with my mom and dad, they were using the "stage name" of Rick and Bebe Allen, the Allen being my dad's middle name. They did not think that "Al Allen" would work and my nick name at the time was "CottonTop" because of my white blondish hair. I hated that name. But I thought that C.T. was cool. So thus was born C.T. Allen which was a name I used for many years in the MN area for TV shows, North Country Shindig, traveling with Dave Dudley and others. I played Scotty's for several shows using that name.

Years later, I decided to go back to my real name, Albert Svenddal and thus ended C. T. Allen.

I did play an Erickson guitar for years and really liked them.

Hi, Albert,

I went to Scotty's show in 1978 . I was just a kid, and CT Allen was the first person I asked to sign my program. I guess we're both still playing. You in a Christian band, and me in a Catholic Church. There must be something to that "Instrument of 10 strings" thing in the Bible.

Well this is going to be a blast from the past since I only recently rekindled my interest in steely things and came across this post.

CT Allen (aka Albert Svendahl) was my pedal steel guitar teacher wayyyyy back when in San Diego. I was playing a Rus-Ler student model at the time and later graduated to one of Russ' really nice maple S10's (3/4).

CT and I actually played a couple of gigs together (me on electric guitar & vocals) at the notorious Lakeside Hotel (a biker bar) in east San Diego County.

My burned-in memory of that gig was a big drunk biker dude coming up to me, pointing his finger at me and saying "you guys better not suck". Well, with CT on steel, you absolutely would never suck. I mean I could have played ukulele off-key and our mini-band would have sounded good with CT there.

Biker dude later came up and said "good, really good." CT always did absolutely amazing things with the eBow.

Oddly, I never knew his real name until I came across this forum.

So Albert, if you're reading these posts, thanks for the basics.

Tom,
Albert will be playing the Texas Steel Jamboree in Dallas this weekend. I believe he is playing on Saturday. It is my good fortune to get to play with him on a regular basis. He is still one of the best players out there.

Jim in Missouri

Tom, wow!

I sure do remember you and playing that club. Boy that goes back a ways. If you are coming to Dallas stop by the Williams booth and say hello.. Otherwise, drop me a line and let's chat over good times in San Diego.

Albert (C.T. Allen) Svenddal

gospelsteeler@aol.com

Tom, I too played the Lakeside Hotel in San Diego. Greg Dopp was the lead guitar player who is now in Minneapolis and Mark (I think) on harmonica and a great singer, and I don't remember the others. I actually took the job with the band when Albert (CT) left the band. I think I remember the same drunk biker dudes and the chicks that were with them. The time I remember, they had come from a rally and they sat right at the bar attached to the bandstand right in front of us. The one chick handed me a note tellin' me what she wanted to do with me, and when we went on break the dude asked what was on the note and of course I had to tell him she requested a song by Conway Twitty...think that might have saved my life. There are a ton of stories that can be told from that club. It was the type of place that for fun they would pick a number and if you were that number of person coming through the door you got coldcocked...a true blood and guts bar. Glad those days are over.

Good to hear from you Albert. Mike, sorry I don't remember you but then we probably played in parallel bands. I did a lot of fill-in work on steel with a variety of bands but my main gig was fronting a country-western cover club band called Diamond Reo (before there was a Diamond Rio). We spelled it right too. I was mostly a guitar player and lead vocalist.

We should have T-shirts made up.

I SURVIVED
THE LAKESIDE HOTEL.

Sign me up for a T shirt Tom. I spent a few nights there.
Not just the Biker, Red Necks and Indians hung out in there. Always something going on.

People ask me if I've ever played a club with Chicken wire around the stage, and I say no, but there were nights at the Hotel that I wished I had some.
I met Alan (CT) at the Kentucky Stud. I believe he was working with Chuck Howard.

Hey, I am playing Saturday the dallas Show. Will post some photos. I kinda miss those San Diego Days. I remember Big Oak Ranch.

As well as working in a band with Ray Harrison, I also worked with Chuck Howard at the Oasis club and the (I think it was called) The Starlight Lounge in Chula Vista and National City. When I played with Greg Dopp at Lakeside Hotel, the band was called Shenandoah (I call it the original band, the other was imposters)LOL. Anyway, I enjoyed playing with them.

CT: I always enjoyed getting together with you and learning what I could from you. Still have a lot of respect for your picking and knowledge.

I remember Shenandoah -- but I only got to see you guys a couple of times.

I played the Kentucky Stud, Don's, Magnolia Mulvaney's, Van Winkles, Rodeo, Spring Valley Inn, Big Oak, and a bunch of others.

Diamond Reo (our group) was the house band at Blarney Stone II and the Stadium Club. Our one small claim to fame -- Country Dick Montana opened for us at the Spring Valley Inn or whatever it was called. Of course, that was before he "made it".

Small world ain't it?