Steel Player Reality Check...

[Tom Quinn]

There are days I just want to pack in the steel thing. The thought of relearning playing on stage with all the clams that are waiting there for me is daunting.

And then I hear something like this.

There are a bunch of you who hate C&W and that's fine. Forty five years ago, it was an acquired taste for this old R&B player.

This was probably done on an old Sho-Bud with -- what? -- three or four levers? Probably that Pete something-or-other guy I guess. This is what pedal steel is still all about for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zk1gki3Gs4

[Dustin Rigsby]

Pete Drake ?

[Tommy Auldridge]

Tom: If that's not Pete Drake, it's someone doing a real good job of steeling every idea and exact same sound, that Pete is known for. Tommy......

[Rick Campbell]

There are days I just want to pack in the steel thing. The thought of relearning playing on stage with all the clams that are waiting there for me is daunting.

And then I hear something like this.

There are a bunch of you who hate C&W and that's fine. Forty five years ago, it was an acquired taste for this old R&B player.

This was probably done on an old Sho-Bud with -- what? -- three or four levers? Probably that Pete something-or-other guy I guess. This is what pedal steel is still all about for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zk1gki3Gs4

Yes, I hear where you're coming from. I believe those sounds are what made country music and why it was popular enough to be on network TV in the 60's and 70's. We only got three channels, but you could find some country music sometime during the week. Now I get 200 channels and I'm lucky if I can catch a rerun.

RC

[Joachim Kettner]

I grew up with the hitparades of the sixties. From that I went through the lesser known artists. My musical tastes were never really weird (no offense meant) but I became kind of an expert for rare stuff. But I never really understood, to this day, how someone who dislikes Country wants to learn pedal steel.

[Barry Blackwood]

With Comcast we get God-knows-how-many channels, yet they replaced RFD TV with Al Jazeera...

Comcast Dropped Popular Rural TV Network for Al Jazeera America

BY: Daniel Wiser
May 8, 2014 4:11 pm

Comcast dropped a popular rural television network last year right before launching the unproven Al Jazeera America network, one of several concerns raised by witnesses on Thursday about the company’s proposed merger with Time Warner Cable (TWC) and its potential market power.

Patrick Gottsch, founder and chairman of the Rural Media Group, said Comcast dropped the group’s independent channel RFD-TV in August 2013 from all of its cable systems in Colorado and New Mexico, just two days before launching Al Jazeera America. Gottsch testified before the House Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial, and Antitrust Law to discuss some of the potential effects of the $45 billion merger.

While RFD-TV maintained high ratings in both the Colorado and New Mexico markets, Al Jazeera America slashed its staff and expenses last month after averaging just 15,000 total viewers. Comcast owned a small stake in Current TV, the channel formerly owned by Al Gore and others, before it was sold to Qatar’s government last year for $500 million and turned into Al Jazeera America.

Gottsch said in his testimony that a combined Comcast-TWC would control 23 of the top 25 television markets in the nation, making it a crucial gatekeeper for independent networks like RFD-TV that need to attract major advertisers. He also noted that Comcast has an affiliation with the Retirement Living TV (RLTV) network, which targets some of the same demographics as RFD-TV.

“Isn’t there room for one independent channel devoted to rural interests, which make up 27 million homes in this country?” he said at the hearing. “Just one channel devoted to rural America is all we’re asking for.”

Gottsch’s testimony echoed broader concerns about the impact of the merger on independent networks and small advertisers. The merger would unite the nation’s two largest cable television and Internet service providers to form a combined subscriber base of almost 30 million.

Critics say the companies’ increased market share would lower competition and raise prices for consumers.

Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen said the company’s decision to drop RFD-TV was “nothing punitive” and based on higher local market demand for high definition channels. Western markets also have more “bandwidth constraints,” he said.

Comcast continues to carry RFD-TV for customers in states such as Kentucky and Tennessee.

“We are primarily an urban-clustered cable company,” Cohen said. “Even in Western states most of our consumers are in the urban area. It is our goal of providing our customers content they want to see.”

He added that it would be illegal for Comcast to discriminate against new channels in favor of affiliated networks.

[Mike Neer]

Al Jazeera America is shutting down in April.

I didn't like Country music at all until I picked up a few old LPs in the 90s. In the 2000s, thanks to this forum and my desire to learn steel, I dove deep. I really enjoy the music, but have no desire to play it seriously (which is probably best for everyone).

[Henry Matthews]

Very soulful playing on that George and Tammy song but doesn't sound like Pete to me but I'm always wrong.

[John Wall]

https://youtu.be/-eYBcSWtJ28

Two country legends... 1982

[Tom Quinn]

Of course it's Pete Drake...

[Henry Matthews]

Yeh, I'm sure it is but just didn't sound like him to me. Who is on steel at Wimbelton with George and Tammy? Looks like Russ Hicks a little but wasn't his had style when they showed hands.

[Graham]

Most likely Sonny Curtis with George & Tammy. He was with George when him and Tammy married, then was with both of them on tour.

[chris ivey]

my brain said pete drake immediately.