Translation: The hidden steel player...

Tom Quinn · Posted 30 May 2009 7:03 am

For those of you who speak English:

It seems that the pedal steel player is often invisible on television and recorded concerts of C&W.

Even on the best -- the Marty Stuart Show -- the steel player is waaaay off in the distance. This seems curious as it is the pedal steel guitar that defines C&W.

Pedal steel is a much more difficult instrument to master than the others onstage with the possible exception of the fiddle. It definitely brings the most "country" sound to the band. But more often than not, when the steel player is soloing the camera is on the singer or some other musician, or the audience.

Go figure...

This translation brought to you for free by yours truly,

Professor Tom... -L-
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John McGlothlin · Posted 30 May 2009 7:42 am

I agree 100% Tom...for so many years now the main focus has been on the singer and never on any of the musicians playing the lead instruments and if the lead instrument ever is the focus, its always anything but the steel guitarist. People do not understand how much study is required in order to play any musical instrument especially the pedal steel guitar. People this day and time don't want to be creative with anything and they want to avoid any work whatsoever in performing a song...they think they just have to learn a few lyrics and thats all there is to it but in my honest opinion they could never be further from the truth. Singers are very talented people and they should be fair and allow the musicians to be part of the show because how do they know that the audiance is not interested in hearing the instrumentation being performed as well as the singers.

Joe Smith · From: Charlotte, NC, USA

I think part of the reason is that we are sitting behind the guitar and not up moving and dancing around. Back in the old days when we stood up to play the non pedal steels we were more up front and were in the spot light more. The producers want action, not someone just sitting behind an instrument. That's why the fiddle players and guitar players and yes the banjo players get more of the spotlight.

Charles Curtis · Posted 30 May 2009 10:57 am

I don't think that most folks are familiar with the psg. For a long time, I have been wearing a cap that I purchased from Billy Coopers Music in Orange, Va., that has a psg on the front etc. and I have had one woman comment on it. She told me that she is a huge fan of the psg. Other times, people tell me that they are not familiar with it. IMO, the psg has a long way to go.

John Hopkin · Posted 30 May 2009 1:05 pm

...too true...too true...a recent (for me) manifestation of this phenomenon was a DVD i watched of a san antonio band playing at world-famous gruene hall...i'm not saying the band isn't good on its own, but they DO have a TSGA hall-of-famer playing with them...if the DVD lasted 45 minutes, less than 1 minute was of the steel and the few shots in which he was included looked like they were shot from outer space...i bought the DVD because i knew the steeler and was incredibly disappointed that he was not shown more...the steel sound IS the country sound--moreso than that of any other instrument except possibly twin fiddles...unless the steeler fronts the band, he/she usually gets short shrift in any presentation...
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Joe Smith · From: Charlotte, NC, USA

You think we don't get noticed. How about those poor Bassoon players. When was the last time you saw a concert and the camera zoomed in on the Bassoon player?

Charles Davidson · From: Phenix City Alabama, USA

The [STARS ? ] today want the spotlight on theirselves.Remember when the greats like ET would say heres Billy Byrd or heres Bud Charlton,You would see Ray Price step aside and say heres the great Buddy Emmons.Hank Thompson would feature Pee Wee Whitewing and Bob White,Have seen the goo when Tommy would be playing a solo,the camera would be on a kid in the crowd picking his nose,wonder if Rodney Dangerfield was a steeler,steelers get NO respect.
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chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

i could have been a successful money making singer. but i decided to get in touch with my real earth mother-in touch-with-the-cosmos self.....and play steel. selflessly offering the emotional enhancement for the singer....making something out of that 'lost in the shallow wading pool of existence' front person, who without me would have been non-existant!

Joe Smith · From: Charlotte, NC, USA

Tom Quinn · Posted 30 May 2009 5:29 pm

Herr ivey speaks the truth...
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Paul King · From: Gainesville, Texas, USA

I have actually played gigs where people had never seen a pedal steel guitar. They were interested to see how it works. I like what one gentleman said, "If you say steel guitar, some people think you got it illegal". In todays country music they do mix the steel low many times and put it out of the camera range. I do not listen to todays country music, but when I stumble across a show on television I see what everyone is complaining about.

Theresa Galbraith · From: Goodlettsville,Tn. USA

I think it's a conspiracy! Laughing

Robert Harper · From: Alabama, USA

I agree with Charlie, except Charlie ET and those were real stars. These guys with some exceptions are only the flavor of the day or at least this is how the "business" seems to work. So the "stars" have to have the spotlight full time. Now for a disclaimer, I don't listen to what passes for country music today or any other. I bought satelite radio. Although I hate to pay for what has heretofore been free. The other reason is I only listen to radio now on the drive to work and home. One of the morning drive teams has been selling weight loss products for the last thirty years. I mean everyone of the great products. Sha is still as big as a house and not a brick one ei ther.Okay,Okay I will stop now.
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Billy Carr · From: Seminary, Mississippi, USA (deceased)

Thank goodness for steel shows that are all over the USA these days! We can take a little drive and see our heroes first hand.

Bill Bassett · From: Papamoa New Zealand

the pedal steel player IS the front man (Robert Randolph)

I think maybe steel guitar just does not make for compelling video. It was mentioned above that the action figures get the spotlight.

I would like to point out that my first inspiration and intrigue with the instrument came from watching Chubby Howard on Jack Robert's Evergreen Jubilee TV show in Seattle in the mid 1960s. Chubby was by far the best player in the band except maybe when Marty Dahlgren played fiddle.

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John McGlothlin · Posted 31 May 2009 10:35 am

Well, IMHO, it is sad that all of the professional steel guitar players have devoted their lives and talents and they have worked hard to accomplish what they have done and they are being put in the background like they don't exist. They all deserve a million more times the credit that they get.

Bill Hankey · From: Pittsfield, MA, USA

Bill Bassett,

I beg to differ! I saw Doug Beaumier and a player (Scott) who moved to Nashville do a very compelling set as a duet. It was totally entertaining. It happened at The Frankie Show Watertown Ma. in the French Club. A steel CAN be the main attraction for the viewing public. The duo kept pulling hilarious pranks on one another when it was their turn to play. I have a VCR packed away of the show.

David Doggett · Posted 31 May 2009 11:45 am

On TV and videos, neglect of the steeler is mostly due to clueless cameramen and directors who don't know the music. They don't follow the instrument fills and leads well, and are often caught off guard. They might be able to tell the difference between the sound of fiddle, banjo and guitar; but they don't always hear the difference between guitar and steel. The way to make the steel work exciting visually is to show the steeler's hands. But that requires a dedicated camera, and they just don't often plan for that. The cameramen and directors are often not country music fans and just don't know the music well enough to follow it competently with the cameras.

Bill Hankey · From: Pittsfield, MA, USA

David D.,

A wonderful explanation! It fits to a T.

james sluder · From: Tennessee, USA

David you got it down just right ! I think a lot of people on camara don't know a piano from a drum set

I recall back 20 years go the people on camara was a lot better at hitting the instrument that was playing at that moment !!

Just my opinion !!

Ray McCarthy · From: New Hampshire, USA

It's the cold stoicism of most steel players, sitting there not moving a muscle (in the viewer's eyes) except the left hand, staring emotionless at that box thing he's playing, whatever that is, never looking up or, heaven forbid, smiling at the audience. It's no wonder they don't want to showcase us. We gotta loosen up!

Paul King · From: Gainesville, Texas, USA

I guess all cameramen need to take classes on distinguishing all the different instruments. Of course we know that will never happen.

Nic du Toit · From: Milnerton, Cape, South Africa

I normally do not take part in in any of this "can't hear the steel player" debates, as we are just chasing our tails.
But here is another thought:
It would appear that, should all 'Vocal' music be taken off the airwaves (Radio/TV), we will be left with maybe only a bit of Classical music.....and what else? Modern day Hip-Hop, Rap, or Reggae, Country music, you name it, will be gone. From the perspective of the Recording and Broadcasting Companies it is preferable that the producer of a TV/Radio show does not have to know anything about music, but have an eye for the aesthetics/Action of a particular shoot. The musicians in the background (if any) are purely co-incidental...... however different we as musicians may perceive our 'role' in the music business.
That's show-bizz.
Be thankful that Michael Scott still bothers to keep Steelradio going.... Oh Well

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Joe Smith · From: Charlotte, NC, USA

As bad as it is for us steel players, I'm sure glad I didn't spend all those years learning to play the Oboe or Bassoon Crying or Very sad

Don McGregor · From: Memphis, Tennessee

Most camera operators are visually oriented, not musically.
All my life, I've gnashed my teeth each time (which is most always) one of my favorite guitarists begins a solo on the screen, and the camera operator immediately zooms in to hold a tight closeup of his picking hand. It's almost as though the pickups' strong magnetic fields actually suck the camera focus to them. In fact, I think this is true. They can't seem to tear themselves away, no matter what the left hand is doing.
I do wish camera operators would show some closeups of the steel players' hands in action, but I'm sure that, when they do, that camera is going to be sucked right into a tight closeup of the hand with picks, leaving us no clue as to what the bar hand is doing.

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