Who's gonna fill their shoes

Pat Comeau · From: New Brunswick, Canada

Just out of curiosity...how is the future's looking concerning Pedal steel guitar players, cause i've been reading this forum and it seems that 75% of players are over 65 years old and more...please correct me if i'm wrong Confused

, i'm 44 and i don't tour on the road anymore except summertime for about 5 weeks doin' festivals and concerts,i played on the road for almost 20 years ,so will there be enough younger Steel player to fill their shoes, cause i see alot of them ol'pickers leaving this world lately Sad

,
i know here in Canada i don't see to many young people picking up the steel and at 44 i'm probably the youngest in my hometown and more.

ps= maybe the builders company could answer this question of what's the age percantage of people buying new Steel.
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Jim Walker · From: Headland, AL

There are some great up and coming players out there. I myself at 39 yrs of age would jump on the chance to go on tour with a signed artist. I've been paying dues for a very long time. I'm way far from the best steeler out there but I deserve a shot. I gave up a chance at a normal life with a wife and kids to play music nearly 25 years ago. Now I'm almost 40 with not a damn thing to show for what I've done except a broken heart and empty pockets. Well, I do have some killer music gear. Smile

I see the future of steel players as wide open as the economy allows. Seems the poor are getting poorer and the rich keep getting richer. There are so many bands out there touring right now with out a steel man simply cause they can't afford it. That's pretty sad.

JW
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Bill Ford · From: Graniteville SC Aiken

The biggest problem I see is , steel guitar has been replaced with keyboards because, well steel just don't sound right with some of the "stuff" we do, and keyboards sounds better with everything.(yea,right). Also everything pertaining to road bands are decided mainly by the powers in charge, like Jim said, there are plenty of great up and coming steel players out there that would jump at the chance to go with a national act. Boils down to the people that control the checkbook,agents,promoters,etc that have the "I know what's best" attitude. At 71, and counting, I remember when 99% of every "country" record ( "record", for those of you that remember those little round black thingies )started with steel, or fiddle.Also, you would know who the singer was by hearing the intro.
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Pete Finney · From: Nashville Tn.

You might find this recent thread interesting:

"Do not worry, new players are everywhere"

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=140449

Eric Philippsen · From: Central Florida USA

Jim points out that there are so many bands touring without a steel player due to the cost of an extra band member. I know it depends on how large a tour is but, for those where the venues are large, I sometimes wonder how many tickets would have to be sold to cover that cost. Not many, especially given what's charged for tickets today. Yes, everyone from the promoter to the artist to the parking lot attendant has to get their cut but I wonder if the lack of a steel player on a big tour might be due to other reasons than simply cost. It could be that having pedal steel is nice but not "necessary," just like having a horn section or backup singers would be desirable, too. There is a pecking order of desirability. What do others think? Is looking at it from the perspective of "how many tickets have to be sold" unrealistic?

Kevin Hatton · From: Buffalo, N.Y.

I think that there are more people taking up pedal steel now than there ever. Many retirees are taking it up.

David LeBlanc · From: New Brunswick, Canada

Hey Pat,what part of N.-B. do you live. I`m from NOTRE-DAME N.-B., just outside of Moncton. I`m just a beginer,39 years old.Do you play around Moncton. I`d love to see a live band with steel around. Very Happy

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

Brad Paisley is touring with a steel player. His steel player's name is Randle Currie. Randle plays a paisley colored MSA Milennium D-10.

Brett

Pat Comeau · From: New Brunswick, Canada

Bob Simons · From: Kansas City, Mo, USA

Perhaps if the steel guitar community supported and encouraged people who play music that is less than 50 years old there might be something to attract young players. Once again I attended St. Louis Convention (for the gear and the technique- not particularly for the music.) Once again I heard nothing whatever that I couldn't have heard in the middle of the last century and being played by the same people I would have heard then as well!

Don't get me wrong, I admire their skills and I'm occasionally moved by their music, but the entire convention didn't even give a nod and wink to anything but tedious white-boy roadhouse country music with a few stale jazz standards and a Hawaiian tune or two thrown in.

This geriatric society for the preservation of Johnny Bush songs needs to loosen up...
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J D Sauser · From: Wellington, Florida

Who's going to fill their shoes?
Nobody!
Neither did those who have become known as successful to us, filled their predecessor's shoes. All have contributed in their own way, taking the instrument to other places and levels. So maybe, the question could be "who is going to take our instrument to the next level just like people like Jerry Byrd, Alvino Rey, Speedy West, Buddy Emmons or Paul Franklin did (not a list claiming to be complete)?"

I think that the change in "country" music and it's turning the back to instruments like the steel guitar may indeed be what will later go down into steel guitar history as a major helping factor to have propelled the instrument into other fields, thus braking new grounds.

Will it take artists like Robert Randolph to take it there?

... J-D.

Don Brown, Sr. · From: New Jersey

Bill, (Ford) you nailed it right on. The (Supposedly Country) they do today (for the most part) even on the Opry, back when County WAS COUNTRY MUSIC, most of the folks performing there today, wouldn't have been able to buy their way in at ANY price, regardless. That's a fact.

Hell, the once great country singers can't even buy air time anymore. It's a damn shame, but it's again a fact. And, it's not because people wouldn't listen to it, it's simply the same as everything else, bureaucracy.

But I feel there are plenty of up and coming Pedal Steel Players, and even moreso, since this Great Site of B0B's came along to make it tons and tons easier for the new ones to learn much from, that otherwise they wouldn't have (possibly) gotten the chance to learn off of folks.

I would hope that the new players would spend many hours of time, learning the REAL aspect of what it takes to Really back up a singer, other than to just play turnarounds, take rides, and/or simply play instrumentals. Because believe it or not, backing a singer is, within itself, truly a work of ART. As in, having to become an Artist at it..

It's like the song goes: "Time Changes Everything." So, how about: "Lets Turn Back The Years!" Winking

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Unless we get out of the "generic steel" sound mindset, nobody's gonna want us. One player today sounds pretty much like another, and that's not a good thing. Almost everyone's trying to emulate the same two or three players, and there's no originality in the sound or stylings anymore.

Years ago, we had Emmons, Brumley, Chalker, Drake, Charleton, Myrick, Mooney, West, Garcia, Green, Kleinow, and a host of others...all with their own sound and style. Today, things are much more homogeneous, with 99% of the players falling in line with the Emmons, Green, or Franklin way of doing things. Sameness and mundaneness are easily programmed into a computer, or offered as "loops".

IMHO, style, originality, and imagination are what will put us "in demand", and that will bring new players into the fold! Having great equipment, adding pedals, and then working every pedal into every song, just isn't enough. Ho hum. If we can't get a little excitement going, a few "out of the box" offerings, then we'll become fossils. Much as some wouldn't like to admit it, Robert Randolph has done more for steel than anyone else in the past 20 years.

We decide our collective destiny. We have to get out of the mindset that the sound comes from the equipment, or we're doomed.

Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

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