The Steel Guitar Forum

I've recently become curious about earlier uses of this musical phrase that I long associated with Pete Drake, a single note harmonic lazily sliding up an octave; typically the fifth interval of the key of the song and often drenched in reverb. (In each example below it occurs near the beginning of the tune so you won't have to listen long to hear what I'm referring to).

I first heard it at 15 years old on the title song from George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" album from 1970, which I listened to a lot that year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVx_8mj-UyE

Then I heard Slim Whitman’s “Indian Love Call” from 1952 at some point; a huge hit, but before my time. It was obviously the same steel lick, and probably where Drake got it; I learned later (probably on the forum) that the player’s name was Hoot Raines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBuk1HXcz1k

Meanwhile John Hughey made prominent use of it in 1980 as the intro/hook to this pop-country hit. With the pseudo-western vibe of the tune no doubt John was consciously channeling the Slim Whitman record.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOCEEMrRnlk

More recently I found it on a Nashville record Pete did in 1968 for James Hendricks, most well-known for writing hits for Johnny Rivers (and being married to Mama Cass early on).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0hgOItBJvM

So obviously Drake had this in his bag of tricks for years before the famous George Harrison sessions; can anyone steer me to other records where Drake used it, maybe before 1968?

And does anyone know if it was original to Hoot Raines and Slim Whitman, or if there are still earlier uses of it? The music-history geek side of me would love to know… thanks in advance.

Charlie Rich "The Most Beautiful Girl" - was that Pete Drake?

I think I hear it in this a couple of times and on the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70MMFugor4M

b0b wrote:Charlie Rich "The Most Beautiful Girl" - was that Pete Drake?

Good call, bOb! Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's Pete on all the records Billy Sherrill did on Charlie Rich for Epic, though the steel is usually pretty minimal. I'd forgotten about that one.

Norman Evans wrote:I think I hear it in this a couple of times and on the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70MMFugor4M

That's a good example too, thanks Norman. Even though it's a double-stop harmony it's still clearly the same idea and phrasing, and predates the Slim Whitman record by 15 years let alone any Pete Drake tracks. Here it's starting to feel like maybe it's a very typical move in traditional Hawaiian playing? I'm not deep enough into that world to really know.

Love to hear more examples if anybody's got them.

Bobby Whitlock claims to had the idea of putting that lick in. If Iunderstand it corectly Phil Spector flew in Pete to play it (in London). I think he only played on this one and From Behind That Locked Door on the triple album. The meeting of Pete and Ringo also led to the Beaucoups Of Blues album, which was recorded in Nashville.
Bobby Whitlock, here, talks about the recording process at 8:20 and about the lick at 16:60:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnexjqUmE4s

Don't forget about the smash hit by Skeeter Davis. End of the world. I guessing Pete Drake also?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sonLd-32ns4

Ron Hogan wrote:Don't forget about the smash hit by Skeeter Davis. End of the world. I guessing Pete Drake also?

Of course! How did I miss that one... Pete for sure on that record. Thanks Ron!

The harmonic slide up an octave is a very old and very common idiom in the Hawaiian music of the '30s, 40's and '50s. I remember Bernie Kaai doing it in some of his old stuff from the '40s, like "Tropic Trade Winds", and "Song Of Old Hawaii". I'm sure Jerry Byrd, Freddy Tavares, Dick McIntyre, and Sol Hoopii did it as well.

Donny Hinson wrote:The harmonic slide up an octave is a very old and very common idiom in the Hawaiian music of the '30s, 40's and '50s.

Thanks, Donny, the more I think about it and listen the more I realize that. In spite of my lack of deep knowledge of Hawaiian music history, it seems that if you dig just a little it seems so obvious (which makes me feel kind of dumb for overlooking the obvious!). Guess I was blinded by the 1970 hippie setting where I first heard that slide.

I'm still up for more specific examples if anybody thinks of any, especially more Pete Drake or other later pedal-steel examples since that's where we started. Cool how Drake seems to have snuck a little Hawaiian sound into the pop charts (as well as country) multiple times, as did Hoot Raines in 1952 on the Slim Whitman record.