The Steel Guitar Forum

I have found some really good videos on youtube by searching "steel guitar jam", but they all seem to be at or near Portland, Oregon.

Do all those people live in Portland, or do they travel really far to come to this thing? If they are local, that would be the most in one place that I have ever seen.

Also, are those real songs they play, or is it all some kind of improv? I would love to hear what the original songs sound like if that's what they are.

We have The Portland Steel Jam with a live backup band in Portland a few times a year. Larry Behm has been the leader for decades.
You could search Events and Announcements for old posts. Larry posts the song list and Key and often a YouTube link, a month or so ahead so everyone can be prepared to play those songs.
He usually picks popular Classic Country songs. He kicks off the song then everyone takes a solo. So each song might have 30 Steel solos!
Someone usually posts pics and videos.
Funn Stuff!
There are about 40 gigging Steel Players in the Pacific Northwest that try to attend the Portland Steel Jam.
I think there are about 20 gigging Steel Players that live in Portland. I know some guys come from Spokane, Seattle, and Olympia WA. Some come from Bend, or Eugene, Oregon and a couple from Oregon Coast towns and Southern Oregon. Sometime we get someone from Cali to come up.

20 steel players in 1 town...wow. I assume country music is a big deal in Portland? I would have never guessed since I'm not from there and never been.

Based on forum participation and the enormous size of the Portland Steel Jams, I have a theory that there are more steel players per capita here than anywhere else in the world, except for maybe Austin or Nashville. Maybe even more than those places.

As to why this is Steeltown, USA, I can't say. It's freaky how many players there are. I'm contantly meeting people out in the world and later learn they also play steel.

Of course they do. Doesn't everybody??

The other cities in the Northwest (or the West Coast in general) seem to have far, far fewer players but I'm just basing that on my personal steel-buddy network and the number of posts I see on this forum.

The downside to living in Steeltown is there aren't enough gigs for everybody. The upside is that if somebody wants to sell an amp or PSG or something, they'll sometimes just sent out a blast email to the local gang and one of the 40 or 50 players in the area will buy it, or know somebody who will who wasn't on the email thread. No shipping. Also, if anybody needs help fixing a steel or needs lessons there are lots of options.

Portland Steel Jam is my all time favorite. Based on the round robin, steel players get a one time shot to play through a song, and then move on to the person next to you. Great three piece band too. No vocals, just pure plain steel guitar!

Somewhere on this forum there needs to be a map with a dot for every steel player.

There are 19,944 members here alone. Dont know how many in the states, but Im sure that would be a bunch of dots. Id like to see a map like that too.

This reminds me of Ray Montee. He was such a nice guy, and a really great player too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_DK79Kakeg

Ray used to attend quite regularly and he had a D10 Emmons. He would often bring a Lap Steel in later years.
He was considered one of the best.
There are alot of stories!
One time Ray complained about Larry choosing "A-11" as a jam song... (I think he forgot that he knew it).
Larry calmly said... It's a two chord song, Ray.
And off we went.
Ya had to be there.

You couldn't pay me enough to live in Portland...riots & lousy weather,overcast,cold rainy YUK.
Gotta have warm, sunny weather.

Years ago when I was living in Anchorage Alaska,I flew down to Seattle Dan Tyack picked me up and we drove to the Portland jam,Larry Behm had brought an amp for me to play out of,I'd never seen anything like it...must've been 50 steel players,I had the time of my life ,Made lots of new friends got to play a bunch,Met Ray "Skipper"Montee who turned out to be a nice guy,Dave Graff,Larry Behm,Doug Jones,Bryan Daste,Lynn Stafford and his wonderful wife Cathy.Afterwards a few of us ventured into Portland where we are Thai food at the "Pok Pok",And the late Ben Jones who dropped me off at the Seattle airport,Had the time of my life,Pete Burak was there!!

Rich Upright wrote:You couldn't pay me enough to live in Portland...riots & lousy weather,overcast,cold rainy YUK.
Gotta have warm, sunny weather.

Yes historically the perception of bad weather allowed us to enjoy the mountain, river, ocean, etc, with great privacy.
Now we can't keep folks from pouring into this area.
You forgot about the homeless sleeping in tents on sidewalks all around downtown Portland.
Uugh!

Rich Upright wrote:You couldn't pay me enough to live in Portland...riots & lousy weather,overcast,cold rainy YUK.
Gotta have warm, sunny weather.

Rich, as a big fan of Carl Hiaason, I'm pretty sure I could never live in Florida!

Brooks Montgomery wrote:Rich, as a big fan of Carl Hiaason, I'm pretty sure I could never live in Florida!

You nailed it, Brooks! As a huge fan of Tim Dorsey (Coleman is my idol), I am absolutely certain I could never live in Floriduh.

Love the Portland steel jam. Takes me 7-8 hours of driving and the actual playing time is pretty small (there are so many players!). You get to meet players with decades of experience and those who are just getting started. The guys who can barely hang on by their finger picks are cheered and encouraged. There is every make and model of steel and amp and everyone is friendly. Larry has done something pretty amazing! Wish we could have another one right now.

"Rich, as a big fan of Carl Hiaason, I'm pretty sure I could never live in Florida!"

"You nailed it, Brooks! As a huge fan of Tim Dorsey (Coleman is my idol), I am absolutely certain I could never live in Floriduh"

Tell me that from Thanksgiving through March, when It's 10 below & 3 feet of snow by you, and I'm out by the pool!
But you DO have the "Floriduh" part correctLOL!

Rich Upright wrote:"Rich, as a big fan of Carl Hiaason, I'm pretty sure I could never live in Florida!"

"You nailed it, Brooks! As a huge fan of Tim Dorsey (Coleman is my idol), I am absolutely certain I could never live in Floriduh"

Tell me that from Thanksgiving through March, when It's 10 below & 3 feet of snow by you, and I'm out by the pool!
But you DO have the "Floriduh" part correctLOL!

Yeh, but Rich, there will be a dead body at the bottom of the pool. And a gator sneaking up behind your chais lounge chair!

Having lived in Florida my first year as a school teacher, and currently teaching in Portland for the last 5, I gotta say,Oregon's the prettiest place I've ever lived. I miss stone crab season in florida, and I miss breakfast tacos and brisket from my decade in austin, and I grew up in chicago and miss a good pizza.

The weather is a lot more doable then the frigid midwest.

Everywhere I've lived had something going for it, and something that made me pick up stakes, but I think I've been lucky to meet pretty solid people everywhere.

Oh hey, Pete, I scored a 8x5 Excel universal, can I hit you up for some lessons?

I was fortunate to get to know Ray in “our” elderly years. Had many a good visit and “telling lies” between the two of us.

Phil Ajjarapu wrote:Pete, I scored a 8x5 Excel universal, can I hit you up for some lessons?

Of course! I would love to check out your new Excel and share a few tidbits

Phil Ajjarapu wrote:Having lived in Florida my first year as a school teacher, and currently teaching in Portland for the last 5, I gotta say,Oregon's the prettiest place I've ever lived. I miss stone crab season in florida, and I miss breakfast tacos and brisket from my decade in austin, and I grew up in chicago and miss a good pizza.

The weather is a lot more doable then the frigid midwest.

Everywhere I've lived had something going for it, and something that made me pick up stakes, but I think I've been lucky to meet pretty solid people everywhere.

NO NO NO! This is all wrong!
The entire West Coast is dreadfully ugly! The weather sucks, the politics suck, the music is terrible...It’s crowded and the people are unfriendly! There are earthquakes and fires and floods and tornadoes and sharks! Did I mention giant killer bees? All true! It’s horrifying! Stay away at all costs!

And the late Ben Jones who dropped me off at the Seattle airport ...

Whaddaya mean the late Ben Jones? Ya' don't mean this Ben Jones - https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/profile ... ile&u=5344 - do ya'?