Al Moss
From:
Kent,OH,USA
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Posted 23 Nov 2010 11:07 am |
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Mike Daly, musician extraordinaire, recorded an album of Holiday inspired steel guitar instrumentals about a year ago. It's called "Peace on Earth". I've had a copy of this album in my I-Pod all year long and have returned to it spring, summer, and fall for repeated enjoyable listens. Now that Thanksgiving is but days away I have returned once more for a good listen and once again come away happy to have done so. I write this post to encourage those of you who have an ear for this kind of music to get a copy and have a good listen for yourselves.
Mike's main instrument is the pedal steel guitar, but, the way in which he uses it expands the lexicon of its' typical presentation. In other words, you'll hear single note and chord soloing, (as expected), and lots of unexpected variations as well. The steel is sometimes multi-tracked to create harmonies, rhythm tracks, background textures, atmospheric swells and more. --always in the service of the song. Tonal variations of the steel abound from clean Emmons and ShoBud to fat overdriven and crisply twanging . The supporting cast of players on the album are a real nice fit from tune to tune also, framing the songs anywhere from a string quartet to a jazzy swingin' trio. There's even some of Mike's dobro work too.
Mike's got the CD for sale here in the Forum catalog and you can find out more about the disc by contacting him at
mikedsteelman@yahoo.com
Here's a list of the tunes and my take on describing what's what:
1. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.
--take no prisoners multi tracking and modern jazz trio backing
2. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (Peace on Earth)
--classical guitar treatment and a string quartet
3. The Advent Song & What Child is This
--- some flute-like steel tones and clean trad steel sounds
4. Joy to the World
--- mostly solo Dobro arrangement
5. Good King Wenceslas
--dobro treatment via a "world beat" backing track
6. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
-- up tempo and swingin'
7. Andy's Christmas
--solo acoustic guitar arrangement of a familiar TV melody... with a twist |
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