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Topic: Guitar Rag/Steel Guitar Rag Controversy |
Guy Cundell
From:
More idle ramblings from South Australia
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Posted 29 Aug 2022 12:31 am |
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Most members here would be aware of the controversy over the origins of Steel Guitar Rag. Here is a link to an article of mine, recently published in Nashville, that contains a close examination of the subject. I am most grateful to b0b for hosting it here on the forum.
https://b0b.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Steel-Guitar-Blag.pdf |
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Michael Lester
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 29 Aug 2022 7:14 am Steel Guitar Rag
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| Excellent analysis Guy. A great read. |
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Bill Sinclair
From:
Waynesboro, PA, USA
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Posted 29 Aug 2022 7:28 am
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| Yup, a good read. Thanks for posting. |
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John Sluszny
From:
Brussels, Belgium
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Allan Revich
From:
Victoria, BC
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Posted 29 Aug 2022 9:41 am
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Great article. I was unaware of this story. We need to remember that we are looking at this from our contemporary value system. “Innocent” reuse of African-American songs was pretty ubiquitous right into the 1960s (Led Zeppelin). I suspect that many white musicians simply saw music by black musicians as “open source”. Adding a further twist, is the fact that black musicians themselves liberally reused the work of other black musicians. So it’s very plausible that the credit for the “original” version of Guitar Rag is also being misattributed.
I prefer a more forgiving view of Leon.
_________________
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6 String | G6 – e G D G B D
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https://papadafoe.com/lap-steel-tuning-database |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 29 Aug 2022 10:02 am
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Thank you for posting this, Guy. Great job. This is a story that needs to be told.
I'm reminded of our threads here on the forum several years ago where this was discussed. There are so many aspects to this, legal, social, racial, etc. I do agree with Guy that Leon's recorded version did much more to popularize the steel guitar than Sylvester Weaver's recording did. So we should be thankful for that... but what irks me, is Leon and his heirs hold the copyright to the tune and have benefited financially from a song written by another musician.
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Paul Strojan
From:
California, USA
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Posted 29 Aug 2022 8:17 pm
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| Doug Beaumier wrote: |
Thank you for posting this, Guy. Great job. This is a story that needs to be told.
I'm reminded of our threads here on the forum several years ago where this was discussed. There are so many aspects to this, legal, social, racial, etc. I do agree with Guy that Leon's recorded version did much more to popularize the steel guitar than Sylvester Weaver's recording did. So we should be thankful for that... but what irks me, is Leon and his heirs hold the copyright to the tune and have benefited financially from a song written by another musician. |
This may be pedantic but as I understand it, if you or I were to play Steel Guitar Rag at a small venue, the licensing fees wouldn't even get to Leon's estate. Instead they would go to the songwriters who receive airplay. From what I have read, I could play entirely public domain music and still the venue would need to pay music rights.
I am deeply uncomfortable with the idea of copywriting tunes as there is nothing new under the sun. |
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Tim Toberer
From:
Nebraska, USA
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Posted 30 Aug 2022 5:08 am
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| Thanks for sharing that Guy. The thing that stands out to me is the title. I could see subconsciously reproducing the melody as a possibility, but the name is an indication that he knew exactly where it came from. It may have seemed a harmless little fib to Leon considering he didn't know this would become the song that would define an instrument. Stealing in music is unavoidable. When money is involved, it just ruins everything! We will never be able to right all the wrongs done in the past, but bringing them out into the daylight is the first step to healing. Great article. |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Brian Henry
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Clyde Mattocks
From:
Kinston, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 31 Aug 2022 9:24 pm
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Another possible scenario. Leon obviously had been playing Guitar Rag and Bob Wills may have asked him if he had an instrumental he could record with the band. At that time Leon was just a hired hand and Bob handled the business. Bob may have assumed it was Leon's own tune OR wanted to give him the writer's credit anyway. Leon may not have had any say at that point, tho he did reap the benefits as time went on.
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LeGrande II, Nash. 112, Fender Twin Tone Master, Session 400, Harlow Dobro, R.Q.Jones Dobro |
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James Weigel
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 1 Sep 2022 2:28 am
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Thanks for the article. It’s very refreshing to read something well-researched and well-written these days. When I was first learning guitar I remember reading interviews with some old school blues players who said that the older guys were very guarded about what they played and how they played it, presumably out of fear that other people would rip off their sound. This article certainly gives them justification!
As an aside, I always thought Freddie King’s opening motif in ‘Hideaway’ was very reminiscent of ‘Steel Guitar Rag.’ |
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Lloyd Graves
From:
New York, USA
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Posted 1 Sep 2022 12:51 pm
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One thing I learned from your article is that S Weaver might have played lap-style. I thought I'd heard elsewhere that he played Spanish style, bottleneck blues. And thinking that he played bottleneck the, I surmised that Leon might have retitled the tune (To Steel Guitar Rag) for that reason - because Thebes he'd get the royalties himself. Or, considering his age, that he'd been pressured to do so by the producers or Bob Wills.
The Carver Boys retitled Wang Wang Blues as Wang Wang Harmonica Blues because they played it on the harmonica. There other examples of other musicians retitling songs to get royalties that I've read about. There were times that musicians would re-record their own songs under different titles because they were pressured by the labels to do so so they could avoid paying royalties. The sale that comes to mind is Roy Acuff's shameless theft of the Dixon Brothers song, Wreck on the Highway.
On a more positive note n when O! Brother came out, the producers didn't realize that Po Lazarus' artist was still alive. When they did realize, they paid him his royalties without being asked for them. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/03/us/an-ex-convict-a-hit-album-an-ending-fit-for-hollywood.html |
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