The Steel Guitar Forum

I keep reading about the declining popularity of the steel guitar, and from where I sit, nothing could be further from the truth. Went up to the Emmons factory a short time ago, and know they have a backlog of orders for months to come. Then sources on the forum and otherwise tell me of the great numbers of Carters that are being sold. Zum customers have a eight month wait, and we have just covered three manufacturers. Steel guitars are temperamental, but they don't disappear; at a recent club meeting many of the steels were 10-15-20 years old. So, it looks to me that the number of steelers is growing, not declining...The financial consideration of playing steel certainly leans toward the non-teenager playing one because he can not afford one (unless dad springs for it!)..The steel we hear on record may not be what we like (music has changed) but it is still on there. I still like the older stuff (being a senior citizen), but in the old days, not every record had strong steel (except in our mind we remember the ones that did!!).

And the Peavey Nashville 1000 sales have exceeded our expectations since we have been shipping them. Thanks guys and gals!

Mike Brown
Peavey Electronics Corporation

Bowie, you make a good point. And the survey shows that 30% of the pedal steels owned by the forum members who answered were made after 1990. So, there is surely a lot of new instruments being sold and that's great news.

I sure hope that you are right, that this is a sign of vitality for steel guitar as an instrument. I wonder, though, if that could also be a result of existing players buying second and third instruments? After all, 68% said they have more than one instrument.

I have talked to a lot of guys who have bought new guitars because they want lighter weight and better mechanics, but the still hold on to their old "boat anchors".

When I bought my first (lap) steel in 1973 when I was 21, it was NOT because I wanted to play country. I felt that most country songs had rather corny lyrics. And "Blue Hawaii" or "Mansion On The Hill" would have put me to sleep. That was "old people´s music".

I wanted to play "Sister Golden Hair" and "Lay, Lady, Lay" - songs by the Byrds, Eagles, Poco, Flying Burrito Bros., Doobie Bros., Steely Dan, America, and Bob Dylan (who BTW still has a PSG on his current world tour). These groups were among the top ROCK acts of that time (and some still are). They incorporated a PSG as a lead instrument on an equal footing with lead guitar (and not just as a "noise in the background" as on Robbie Williams´new CD). And with that little added country flavor they created the new genre of Country Rock. As for present "top acts with steel", only the Dire Straits with Paul Franklin come to mind.

What I want to say is this: where is the innovation, where are the young TOP groups that are NOT country, but have steel playing that would make a 20-year-old WANT to take up steel?

Let´s wait and see what "rap goes country" will bring. Some fresh blood is desperately needed IMHO. Who knows - it may make you want to dance around a burning oil drum ...

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Remington D 10 8/8, Session 400 LTD

IMHO, the steel needs a big display outside of countrymusic. In Holland, where I live, countrymusic is still considered as music for retarted people, and old folks that need rythm to do their silly walks (linedancing) on. Don't get me wrong, I love good countrymusic. But the steelguitar still has that Stetson on, and somebody needs to take it of. I applaude Robbie Williams for using steelguitar on his album, but the steel doesn't get enough exposure.
we don'tknow what future will bring, and we will never be able to force it. JJ

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STEELDAYS 2002 March 29 & 30
my web-site
my bands CODand TSC

Johan, your band the secret combination is doing exactly what you describe. You are part of the solution, not part of the problem! The music is modern and intelligent, and the steel is prominent throughout.

Thanks a lot for the nice words Bob, but even this band is still to much connected with countrymusic.
I think what BJ Cole and Luke Vipert from Great Brittain are doing with their trip-hop project is good, but not good enough for the big crowd of record-buying public, teens between 12 and 20 years old.There one should get a lot of exposure.
JJ

Perhaps this will be a job for the sacred steelers who seem to be emerging from their hallowed halls and into the public eye...
They are a young bunch.....

Here's a telling story. A guy i work with said he didnt know what a pedal steel sounded like, and asked if I could loan him some CD's. I grabbed some solo steel cds,
Jernigan, wallace, Green, and I had a promo 3 tune cd from Robert Randolphs upcoming release 'the Word'. Well, this fellow listened to all 4 cd's with his 15 y/o son... the verdict:
Dad was not impressed w either Jernigan or Green, said Wallace was OK, but 'really liked
Robert Randolph', said he would buy it when it came out.
The kid hated everything but thought Robert's stuff was 'very cool' and copied it to play to his friends.

Ahh.. to be young again.

The key is, How many of the steels being ordered are for new players? and how many are for established pickers that are either upgrading to a new guitar or buying an additional guitar?

I doubt that "new" steel players are laying out 3 grand or more for their first steel. So that leaves most of the new steels being ordered, being purchased by existing steel players.

The Carter starter, is the exception, for a new guitar, but then it's aimed at the new player.

OK, I'm going to jump in here with some personal opinions about this and these are some things I've felt for a long time.

I'm not hip to all the surveys that may be out there, but from experience, it seems that a lot, maybe most players tend to pattern their play list and style after some of the arguably "great players". Nothing at all wrong with that, but...(BIG BUT here), most seem to get hung up there.
For example, the tunes players will play...although I think some instrumentals are still wonderful and great and all credit is due to the incredible players who came up with them, most of us are still playing those instrumentals. (I won't name tunes cause I'm certainly not slamming the songs or the players themselves). But, I think many of us are setting our limits based on the players who played those songs and we never go past that.
When I used to go the steel shows (and especially the St. Louis Convention), I'd hear all these great players and a lot of the same instrumentals over and over and over again. I was sitting in the coffee shop one year and overheard some convention goers debating on how a dozen different players played a certain song. All those players were being judged against the original recording and how fast this player played it or how much better the tone was, how much prettier, etc.... That's fine, but when enough players decide to blaze their own path, whether they write their own stuff or not, we'll see more comments like the one about Robert Randolph above.
So you don't like blues or jazz or whatever, fine....do what you like, but think about doing something a bit different, something outside of what has already been done, be explorers of music and the instrument and see where it takes you. This is what I believe the great players have always done.
My roots were what I would call very traditional and I listened to Buddy E. and Buddy C. and many others, but I've also learned to like things outside of that tradition. Look at what Paul has done...he learned what everyone else did (and can still do it great)and then went where his ears led him. The result has been pretty fantastic.
Having said all of this...if you still feel that playing the (truly) great instrumentals of decades ago is your way to go without venturing elsewhere, then great. I'll cheer you on from the sidelines and probably raise my opinions and comparisons with the gang in the coffee shop. By the way, if I get a request for Steel Guitar Rag....I play it.

"rap goes country"? country rap? why not?
and for short,we can call it "crap".

I would rather hear a guy come up with something I never heard before playing steel on a rap tune than sit through another version of "Way to Survive".

Bob

I'm with you Bob. All this worship business of certian players is getting alittle old. I'll probably stir up a hornets nesh making that statement.

Jerry

I am currently recording a pedal steel instrumental CD. I am deliberately avoiding the seemingly obligitory tunes (way to survive, cold cold heart etc), because there are plenty of other songs that sound great on an E9 neck.

I think someone already posted this but.....

Definitions:

RAP: Someone talking who should be singing.

OPERA: Someone singing who should be talking.

I don't mind a rehash of the pedal steel "standards" such as SGR or A way to survive. There are many arrangements of these songs and a different arrangement makes the song new again. That plus I can pick up new licks to use in the song...

Miguel makes a valid point...sometimes we do get stuck in a certain genre, and then fail to expand. But, this is done for a reason. Now we all know "Steel Guitar Jazz" was a landmark album, but it was a hard sell. Country folks that liked the steel guitar didn't want it...not enough "Country Sound" for them. It didn't overwhelm the Jazz world, either (though we thought it should have). I was kind of hoping the Jazz afficianados would scream for more...but they didn't.

You see, when it comes down to basics, it's really hard to sell something out of its usual area of appeal. Oh, it happens...but just not very often. For instance, back in the '80s, Slim Whitman released a couple of new recordings of his old songs, and we saw them advertised on UHF-TV at 2:00 in the morning. A lot of people laughed (Slim wasn't really that "popular" when he was popular!) at him singing "Rose Marie" again. But when his sales went over 12 million, a lot of them stopped laughing!

One things for sure. You can see bands all day play and some claim to play (often a matter of opinion) country music but I've notice that, a band with a good steel guitar player will stop people in their tracks every time. How many times have you had someone come up and just stare as you play and then walk away without going to the other instruments? Kind of makes you feel all good inside.

That's true Dave. It's a good thing that chicken wire was between us and them.

Jerry

The Pedal Steel Guitar is definitely not declining in popularity. It is going greater than ever and will continue in the future.

It is a great instrument and played by a lot of great players. There is going to be a big breakthrough a few years down the road. It is starting right now.

One big thing is beautiful E9 melding with jazz, swing , and rock, and E6 all on one neck. Buddy Emmons has been working on that very same thing. Ahead of his time as usual.....al