1967 steel effect? - (Weldon Myrick?)

Pete Finney · From: Nashville Tn.

Does anybody know how the player is getting this sound on this old Jan Howard record? (I'm gonna take a guess that it's Weldon). I'm thinking maybe letting the strings ring behind the bar might be part of it (that would probably mean a steel-capo at the 6th fret, the song is in Bb). It would also take a pretty precise touch, and some pretty precise volume pedal work. But maybe I'm way off base...

It's an interesting sound and there wasn't much in the way of electronic effects in those days.

Anybody know, or have any ideas? Or know of any other records from that era with a similar effect?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaW-27Vm9V8

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

I suspect either your suggestion or manual flanging (the manipulation of tape speed by pressing on the flanges of ghr reel that the electronic flanger tried to emulate).
Leaning slightly towards the latter, on the grounds that it doesn't quite ring like behind the bar.
Or possibly capo at 11, so that the bar divides in thirds, and there's an octave between behind and in front (try it yourself at 7 or 19).
Still lean towards tape manipulation.
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Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

It sounds to me like a combination effect. The manual effect is playing (picking) behind the bar while it's on the first harmonic, the same thing that was done on the hit record "Tippy-Toeing". The other part of the effect is simple tremolo on the amp. Very Happy

Jerry Jones · From: Franklin, Tenn.

Tracking at half speed ?
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Jerry Jones

Pete Finney · From: Nashville Tn.

Thanks for the input, guys.

I personally would kind of doubt it was flanging or tape manipulation; I think that kind of thing was unlikely on a steel track on a 1967 Nashville recording. For one thing it would require the steel being on a separate track, which I'm pretty sure would have been a pretty rare exception back then. My guess would be that that was the sound coming out of the amp.

If not Weldon, my second guess would be maybe an early Sonny Garrish session, since I think he and Jan Howard were both working with Bill Anderson at the time?

Would still love to hear any more information or input anybody might have, even if it proves me wrong!

Jerry Jones · From: Franklin, Tenn.

Could it just be an organ? Praguefrank's shows Owen Bradley as producer and also lists organ used on a few other cuts around that time period.

http://countrydiscoghraphy2.blogspot.com/2013/04/jan-howard.html
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Jerry Jones

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

yeah..it doesn't sound very steely. and not a very attractive sound, either. just a placed lick.
i certainly wouldn't waste any time trying to decipher it.

now if you want a challenge, there are lots of interesting effects on weldon's 'pedalman' album you can try to grok.

Pete Finney · From: Nashville Tn.

Speaking of wasted time...

Barry Blackwood · Posted 15 Dec 2013 9:15 am

Sounds like the lick is being played in time to the speed of the tremolo setting resulting in no attack at all.
Chet Atkins did something similar on the tune "Slinky."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3hPyiBMV78

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Jerry Jones · From: Franklin, Tenn.

My thinking too, Bob Confused

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Jerry Jones

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

That would also account for the unnatural timbre, like in some of Les Paul's half-speed recordings.
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Franklin · Posted 15 Dec 2013 5:32 pm

Pete,

That sound is made by putting the bar at the twelfth fret and lifting all of the fingers off the strings.....You want only the bar touching the strings and nothing else......By crossing the right hand over the bar or left hand you pick the notes desired behind the bar postion.......That's how that unique sound is accomplished.

In the case of this recording a capo was used.... The capo gave that sonic trick a much higher pitch......The steel capo was another Buddy Emmons contribution........His uncle or dad I believe made them originally and later on in the mid 60's Sho-Bud manufactured them......Playing behind the bar is pretty much a one trick pony but very cool on the right song.

To duplicate what you're hearing on this track, you would put the capo at the key signatures open position below the twelfth fret for the key of Bb and follow the instruction as to how its done in the first paragraph. The bar is placed one octave above the capo position......Remember the sound only happens when all the bar dampening fingers are lifted.....Basically its just the bar touching the strings, not the fingers holding the bar....And you pick which ever notes you desire behind the bar.....You have to get the bar perfectly straight to get the right overtone intonation.

I believe the first hit with this sound was heard on the Hardin trios "Tippy Toeing". Pete Drake used this keyboard type sound throughout the entire song....

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Here's a link to "Tippy Toeing"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNTh1NNW2oI

It doesn't sound like exactly the same effect to me. You can hear the picks on "Tippy Toeing", but not on the Jan Howard tune. Maybe there's something additional going on.
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Colin Goss · From: St.Brelade, Island of Jersey, Channel Islands, UK

Isn't this what Jeff Newman did on Friends?

Fred Amendola · From: Lancaster, Pa.

Hey Paul,
Thanks for taking the time to set this one straight !
It's appreciated.
Fred

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

sounds like a lot of trouble to get this sound from steel when a keyboard could get a better sound with no trouble.

Rex Thomas · From: Thompson's Station, TN

This is the stuff that got me into playing steel.

I do know for a fact that this is Weldon on "Jason's Farm". Check out 2:06:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wE70lHkjJs

Weldon was a featured artist on the Sho-Bud show that aired on WSM after the Midnight Jamboree, memory serving me right. Jack Boles hosted. Reason I know this to be true is the group I was with at the time (Wright Bros. Overland Stage Co.) submitted their 2nd album "Cornfield Cowboys" to Jack. Jack really liked the group & featured us one Sat. night/Sun. morn. Of course this made me an immediate fan of the show, & I'd tune in when I could, hence how I know for sure this is Weldon.

At that Sho-Bud hosted show where Mike & Paul burned a hole in the stage with their United Steels tunes:
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=236392&highlight=united+steels
I managed to catch Weldon & ask him about "Jason's Farm". Honestly, I didn't get whether he was fast on the vol. ped.,if he was using an effect like maybe an envelope follower, or the 1/2 speed trick which I've done & makes sense to me too, but he did say he did used a capo as Paul correctly describes. He insisted on adding that I should check out the "flute" sounds that Hal Rugg gets with a phase shifter. That's as far as that went.

No synths/sampling back then, just wonderful out of the box thinking, IMHO.

Pete Finney · From: Nashville Tn.

I understand the "behind the bar" thing with a capo, and that's clearly part of the sound as I suggested in my original post. But I agree with b0b that it sounds like something else going on with the attack as well. Maybe a perfectly timed tremolo like a few have suggested? Or the tape sped up (seems less likely to me). Or something else maybe?

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

I hear a doubled clavinet on the left channel with the steel on the right. The fuzz tic tac is doing something too.

I think the sound of the steel could maybe be done with just the right muting and pedal movement along with the behind the bar trick. I don't hear any effect artifacts except for maybe timed tremolo.

Did they record with click tracks in Nashville then ? Recording the tremolo timed perfectly to 8th notes through an entire track with everybody cutting live would take some serious chops.
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Bob

Franklin · Posted 18 Dec 2013 6:41 am

Bob,
As for the pick noise....Some players use the volume pedal to minimize it...Weldon is a master with the volume pedal touch thing....On Pete's example he was not working the volume pedal because he was going for a completely sustained part.

Pete,
The farther up the neck a capo is placed it speeds up the overtone vibrations which is the tremolo effect you hear. Bb is pretty far up the neck.....I wish I could find my old capo....Anyway the farther I placed it up the neck the more it sounded like a keyboard. Maybe this thread will inspire someone to make a few?

Paul

Pete Finney · From: Nashville Tn.

Thanks Paul, appreciate all the insights. Would you also say that it was probably Weldon on this track? That was just an educated guess on my part...

I fooled with the capo thing a bit years ago, after seeing Jeff Newman demonstrate it in the mid-70s. Don't remember what I used though.

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

Don Don who plays with Dale Watson gets a very cool piano sound with a weird bar he uses. Very similar to the track in question.
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Bob

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