The Steel Guitar Forum

I am really suprised that no one has mentioed the great WOUT STEENHUIS over here a great player ??

(Edited by Brad Bechtel to correct the spelling of Mr. Steenhuis' last name.)

He gets mentioned on here from time to time, but he didn't have much of a presence in the USA from what I can tell. I certainly didn't hear of him when I was starting out.

I remember Wout on Australian radio back in the 60s. probably playing Tiger Shark. He was one of a small number of younger steel guitarists like Robbie Porter who were trying to remain relevant in popular music. That meant competing with the Rock and Roll plectrum guitar sound and usually using way too much reverb and cheesy drummers. It really was the end of the steel guitar era. The same thing happened in Hawaii at the time. Dark days for the steel guitar.

P.S. We can't blame the guy for trying to make a buck.

You gotta dig into his earlier catalog otherwise his LPs became too full of shmaltzy accompaniment and overproduction, basically unlistenable.

Wout's early recordings are great. His son Paul is a superb bass player and guitarist who lives here on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. I've had the pleasure to do a couple of shows with him.