Hawaiian okie steel and Rockabilly

Jesse Pearson · From: San Diego , CA

I have been getting into playing a steel solo and also a guitar solo for single Rockabilly songs lately. It's so much fun and sounds pretty wild, why weren't any Rockabilly guitar player's doing this back in the day I wonder? I don't think I have any old Rockabilly albums where this was part of someones act? I'm doing more of a western swing thang on steel, not much slanting, with alot of attitude using E6 and C6 tunings and it's working great. I'm just using my guitar pick and fingers on the steel so's I can switch back and forth fast.

Do any of you older steelers remember any steel players who did Rockabilly and had any popular Rockabilly songs? Thanks Daddy-O

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Find some old Bill Haley and the Comets records. They had a steel player when they started out. You can hear it on "Rock Around the Clock". If I remember right, he played a Fender Stringmaster.
Erv

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

Check out a Billy Jack Wills CD called "Crazy,Man,Crazy" with Vance Terry on steel. This is the missing link between Western Swing and Rockabilly.And then there's Junior Brown.... he's been known to switch back and forth from guitar to steel in mid-lick.

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Adding to Erv's Haley tip, Billy Williamson is the steeler in the early Comets, but more importantly the Saddlemen, who became the Comets. Find the recordings by these guys and you will indeed be rockin, western style. Williamson never got his dues, which is a big shame as this guy tears it up when given the chance. For decades I thot he was almost a joke and hoped to be proven wrong. Slowly but surely his stuff is being heard again, and he is the real McCoy.

Jesse Pearson · From: San Diego , CA

Billy Jack is Bob Will's younger brother. Vance Terry played the pedal steel in Billy's band from 1952 - 1954 from what I could find on the net. What kinda pedal steel was he using or was it non pedal?

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

I agree with the Bill Haley (Billy Williamson on steel) early stuff, for rockabilly style steel. There's a "best of" CD available who's name escapes me, but mostly you want to look for something with the pre-Rock Around the Clock material. Vance Terry is truly a fantastic player, but more in a jazz/western swing style. I like the Billy Jack Wills also, but wouldn't really call it rockabilly, although it might be an evolutionary link.

The best example of rockabilly steel I've found is on the Curtis Gordon collection called "Play the Music Loud". I don't remember the steel player's name but he's quite good and Curtis sings some great rockabilly similar to Carl Perkins.

Adding steel makes rockabilly much more interesting to my ear. Otherwise, the "rock this, rock that" can quickly become one dimensional. Also, check out some Big Sandy for a contemporary example. My two cents.

------------------
Tim Whitlock
'58 Fender 1000, '56 Fender Stringmaster, '65 Twin Reissue

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Vance played a Bigsby when he was with Billy Jack Wills.

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Speaking of; minus a steel player, 'The Original Comets' are touring, releasing CDs and playing even better than they did in the 50s. 80+ year olds rocking like nobody else today. Don't miss them if they come around. But don't mistake them for the current 'Bill Haley and the Comets', whom aren't bad(and sometimes actually have a steeler), but are not as awesome as 'The Original Comets'. Frannie Beecher and the boys, forever!

Rick Dempster · From: Preston, Victoria, Australia

Billy Jack Wills and Bill Haley, distant enough from each other stylistically anyway, have nothing to do with ‘rockabilly’ as such. Terms like ‘Rhythm and Blues’ ‘Country and Western’ ‘Rock’n’Roll’ etc.are misleading handles invented by marketing people for the most part, not musicians, who generally understand that such divisions are meaningless.
However, if we are going to make use of words like ‘rockabilly’ then it’s probably worthwhile understanding each other. Carl Perkins, Elvis (at least while on Sun Records) Charlie Feathers, Johnnie Burnette Rock’n’Roll Trio all played ‘rockabilly’ at least some if not all the time.
It’s down-home cotton-patch blues (as played by such people as Arthur Crudup, Lightnin’ Hopkins and ‘Doctor’ Isiah Ross) sung by white men with a two beat, old-time country/bluegrass feel. If you are going to call Billy Jack and Haley ‘rockabilly’, you might as well call Roy Acuff ‘western swing’. Curtis Gordon certainly has all the hallmarks of the ‘rockabilly’ ilk, with the ‘punk’ vocal delivery, souped up rhythms etc. Haley was clearly influenced by both black R’n’B (and I mean horn bands- like the Trenniers- not down-home blues guitarists from Memphis) and western swing, despite the fact that his earlier bands played straight southeastern country music. Seems to me steel was dropped from lineups when rock’n’roll hit because it wasn’t an inherently percussive instrument, even despite Speedy’s much imitated pyrotechnics. The fad for ‘country boogie’ numbers in the early fifties is where ‘hot’ steel solos had a toehold for a while at least. Dig George Stogners ‘Stockcar Boogie’ sometime (who is that wild steelman?) Like some of Curtis Gordon’s stuff it sort of falls between the cracks and demonstrates the ultimate futility in trying to pigeonhole music stylistically.

Chris Scruggs · From: Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Quote: "calling Bill Haley rockabilly is like calling Roy Acuff western swing."

No, it's more like calling Roy Acuff bluegrass.

Jesse Pearson · From: San Diego , CA

There seems to be alot of Rockabilly type bands using Hawaiian Steel as part of their sound now, as far as I could find on the world wide net. I see that our own "Herb Steiner" is even found on a Wayne Hancock CD. Lloyd Maines on steel is the guy that is mentioned the most with Hancock, the reviews call it(Heavenly Hawaiian steel guitar). Does anybody know if Lloyd is playing Hawaiian non pedal and what tuning he likes to use the most? I also found a few pictures where the lead guitar players were also doing solos on Hawaiian steel while playing lead guitar. Jr.Brown was probably the one most responsible for resurrecting the guitarist/Hawaiian steel player concept. I'm real glad to see this cause it makes for some fun sounding dance music!

*Lloyd Maines has 2 video's out on E9 pedal, so maybe that's what he's using?

[This message was edited by Jesse Pearson on 27 August 2003 at 01:35 PM.]

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