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Topic: The 4th of July and pedal steel guitar. |
C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 4 Jul 2004 1:50 pm |
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Or should I say "The 4th of July and the ABSENCE of pedal steel."
Folks, I am madder than a billygoat sprayed with pepper spray. Before I vent my spleen, let me say I love Jerry Douglas. I applaud and admire his awesome talents on the Dobro.
But dagnab it. the regular steel guitar is JUST as good if not better and is JUST as much a part of America as the banjo. In fact the Hawaiian steel guitar and the banjo are the only two musical instrments that can be claimed by America.
So why is it that we have a massive national 4th of July celebration on the lawn of the capital and Washington Monument and have Earl Scruggs (playing banjo of course) and a Dobro?
Pray tell, just what is wrong with a pedal steel guitar in the hands of say a Doug Jernigan or Wally Murphy? Or soo many others. It galls me and disgusts me that the ONLY thing they will even begin to allow in the evolution of the Hawaiian guitar is the "Dobro".
I could NOT continue to watch it for what I feel to be truth. And I will say it again,
"IF, the ONLY way the steel guitar can be brought to the masses is thru the Dobro or radical departure players like RR, then let it not become a part of the masses."
When I think of the beautiful music that emerges from our beloved ISGC, as well as other shows, it irks me to the quick, to have to settle for a danged ole dobro. NO matter how perfectly it is played by a great Like Jerry Douglas.
Bah Humbug! 
carl |
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William Peters
From:
Effort, Pennsylvania, USA
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 4 Jul 2004 2:56 pm
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The Bang-o is an African instrument.
Mr. Douglas in on because some suit in an office on Wall Street made the decision to have him on. Same reason Liz Taylor MC'd the big show on the 4th a few years ago. The people who mastermind what you see on TV are so out of touch with anything grass roots level that I am amazed that Scruggs and Douglas are on and not some backwards hat rap gangster.
Happy 4th Carl. Think I will run over to First Babtist Snellville and see the fireworks if it does not rain. |
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 4 Jul 2004 3:16 pm
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Then I stand corrected folks, IF, that is the case. I was taught over 60 yrs ago that the banjo was invented in America, and heard it many times since. I apolgize for my error if true.
Ya live and loin
carl |
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David L. Donald
From:
Koh Samui Island, Thailand
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Posted 4 Jul 2004 3:50 pm
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Carl the 5 string banjo played as we know it for country is american.
But it is built off the african instruments basis, actually Arabian would be more to the point, though that is still in africa.
The 2,3 and 4 string banjo is used a great deal today in popular "oriental" music read Arabian, Morocain, Egyptian, Algerian. There are several banjo players in the Egyptian National Orchestra.
There is a French/Algerian hybrid sort of dance music with modern lyrics ,
sung in deference to the old styles, but with a dance beat,
with banjos and fiddles. Very unique.
I have stolen several licks for my mandolin playing.
Bluegrass being a mellow kind of thing, even while being very fast sometimes, has made huge inroads the last few years into many segments of society,
it has a higher general level of recognition than what was classic Nashville country, for many of you.
So more people with no clue about Hank Snow, do know Jerry Douglas.
Many who only knew Dolly from 9 to 5, now know her for Little Sparrow and the follow ups..
And Jerry D. has his mits all over bluegrass.
Maybe Bush didn't use a PSG on the lawn, but maybe Kerry will during the campaign,
somewhere down south trying to make some friends.
At least he IS a picker himself. Gotta count for sumthung!
It is hard to imagine the PSG becoming a litmus test for political correctness.
But it WOULD work for Carl...
Maybe not change his vote, but at least make him happy!
Happy 4th all.<
[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 04 July 2004 at 05:01 PM.] |
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Bill Ford
From:
Graniteville SC Aiken
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 4 Jul 2004 4:57 pm
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Tony,
I listened to it just after you posted it in the other thread.
Thanks friend,
carl |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 5 Jul 2004 3:21 am
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Hey Carl..we faired ok...at least they had a Dobro in DC !
Last night in Downtown Charlotte..after Kool and the Gang played a 1 1/2 hour show the Fire Works went off over the Downtown area. Last year Charlotte was rated #4 in National Fireworks displays, this year they were aiming at #1 !
During the Fireworks display which lazted pretty close to 25 minutes, an estimated 100,000 were viewing from where we were in the Downtown area. The local AM radio station produced an incredible American tribute with dialog from former Presidents Kennedy,Bush Sr. Reagon and GW. Behind the dialogs were the songs of America..all of them, including the Country artists with the Steel blasting away ! No it wasn't live but it was there.
The Steel was not absent in Charlotte.At least not during the produced segment of the show which was the primary event..recorded or not.
Oh..and Kool and the Gang were unbelievably COOL !
t
by the way Carl..your continued insight and wisdom regarding our Instrument is no less than a full blown College Education.Always appreciated and enjoyed.
And Bill..ole' buddy, you're much braver than I...thanks..[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 05 July 2004 at 09:43 AM.] |
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John Daugherty
From:
Rolla, Missouri, USA
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Posted 5 Jul 2004 4:10 am
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Carl, thanks for submitting this topic. I want to add some info that I didn't see in the previous replys.
In the past, The live music at political rallys held outdoors, was chosen so the musicians could be mobile and set up anywhere. This made non-electric instruments the most common selection. They could perform on floats in parades as one example.
I suppose (depending on the popularity of the candidate) being mobile had other advantages... hahaha ... such as outrunning thrown tomatoes, some of them in cans..OUCH.
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John Sluszny
From:
Brussels, Belgium
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Posted 5 Jul 2004 7:37 am
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Thank you Bill F.A very beautiful and original version.What guitar are you playing?
Sounds great.Some more please!!! |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 5 Jul 2004 9:22 pm
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| "IF, the ONLY way the steel guitar can be brought to the masses is thru... radical departure players like RR, then let it not become a part of the masses. |
I'm sorry Carl, but I must take issue with this. RR is helping us all. Already we have 2 members of this forum who discovered the steel through RR, bought instruments and are now learning to play.
I see a growing amount of interest in the pedal steel guitar in different kinds of music. To date, in the world of classical music, 2 different composers have written pedal steel guitar concertos. (One of which was recorded by our fellow forumite Doug "Ernest Bovine" Livingston.)
RR is one player who is exploring new avenues for our instrument. David Phillips is another, as are forumites Chas Smith, Susan Alcorn, and myself. The steel is too wonderful to be confined to just one style of playing.
Where would the piano be today if everybody insisted that it only be used for classical music and shunned players like Count Basie and Duke Ellington?
(edited for spelling)[This message was edited by Mike Perlowin on 06 July 2004 at 01:18 AM.] |
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Tom Keller
From:
Greeneville, TN, USA
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Posted 5 Jul 2004 9:23 pm
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I am sure 99% of the reason they used Jerry Douglas with Earl Scruggs is this; Earl never used pedal steel in his acoustic work with Lester Flatt nor with his sons in the Earl Scruggs Revue. Hey, If you can't have the worlds foremost pedal steel player, the worlds foremost dobro player aint bad.
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Eric Gearhart
From:
Bellingham, Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 6 Jul 2004 4:07 am
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| I believe that there is a pedal steel player on Earl Scruggs Revue's " Live at Austin City Limits" album, but for the most part, they had Josh. |
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 6 Jul 2004 6:53 am
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Thanks for all who have responded and shared their opinions.
I will attempt to comment on several. And then state my heartfelt and hearthurt views.
The statement I made about RR stands. Here is why. I am NOT interested in furthering the steel if the "ONLY" way it can make it into "tomorrow" is to play like he does. Please note the word "only". The piano is STILL used in classical music, NOT in deference to it; as it expanded.
If the steel guitar made it in many other forms of music, I say "wonderful". There IS room for the steel guitar in most if not all kinds of music.
My problem is it appears that the "only" way it can make it; is to kill what brung it to the show; wash it clean of any semblance of that; even change its name to "slide guitar" or whatever the next multi earringed punk coins it due to ignorance.
Based on that assumption I stand on "me" statement 
Embellising upon this assumption I tie it back again to the the 4th of July show on TV. Note please. It was NOT an Earl Scruggs show. It was NOT a bluegrass show. It was an American (I repeat "american") independence celebration show.
Earl Scruggs was sitting down, as were most of the others in that "made up" band. Jerry of course stood up for part of it. But all the others were sitting down. A natural position a pedal steel guitarists uses.
My problem with it was and IS (if one has observerd the subtleties of late) simply this. "Dobro" looks like a regular guitar. IMO, it sounds like !@@$##$%$. Sorry but in comparison to what most of us love and play; that frequent this forum and what revolutionized the steel guitar, the Dobro cannot begin to compete with the incredibly unique beauty of the PSG.
Yet the producers (and I assume the public in the minds of thoses producers) give us a "token" steel guitar. Very similar to what the blacks used to say about TV shows who had that token ------!
I am insulted by it. I make no bones about it. And I ask all who read this:
1. What is wrong with the pedal steel guitar in the hands of a Buddy Emmons or Paul Franklin or Mike Johnshon or Maurice Anderson, etc, etc, etc, etc in ANY form of music?
2. Is it ugly? Do they appear to be players from another universe? Or what?
3. Is its sound soooo horrible and distasteful that they "have" to use a clinky-clanky "fun-git" sound if one "must" play a steel guitar?
4. Why not a beautiful Emmons PSG, or Mullen, Zum, Millenium, etc, etc, on that stage along with the banjo or the bagpipe or regular guitar or bass or drums instead of that primitive metalic attempt to amplify something before electronic amplifiers were invented?
5. Why not introduce the world to a musician that can pick without a miss EVERY single note an Earl Scruggs can pick. And of course that question applies to Jerry also. Again I have nothing against Jerry and his unprecedented talent on the Dobro.
6. But they were supposed to be playing music. And that music was Irish music. The origin of country music in our beloved nation.
7. Why not use THE only instrument in the world that has ever typified "country" music in the minds of sooo many producers, DJ's and the country lover as a whole. And of course that instrument is the pedal steel guitar in the hands of any one of the greats.
Sorry my beloved friends on this forum. I simply will not buy the "excuses". It is, it has been and continues to be a deliberate and calculated slap in the face on program after program on TV and in in person of every Pedal steel guitarist in the world.
I can just hear the producer of that show, if someone on his staff (during the planning stage) was to have suggested that they use Doug Jernigan and his pedal steel guitar as an intregal part of that Irish music.
He would have needed NO microphone; mothers would have had to cover their offsprings' ears (inside their homes with the doors and windows closed); the walls of buildings would have shook as that producer answered with his rantings and ravings and "expletives" shouted loud and clear!
That is my beef, that is my disgust, that is my story.
"And I am sticking to it"
May Jesus help bring a glorious era where anyone can look at TV or go to a show; and see and hear the PSG in its "RIGHTFUL" place along side all the other instruments; playing E9th as most of us love it; without having to mask it either physically or musically to be accepted in all forms of music.
carl |
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Bobby Lee
From:
Cloverdale, California, USA
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Posted 6 Jul 2004 8:35 am
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I love the way Ron Elliot plays patriotic songs. His arrangements make the music sound like it was written exclusively for pedal steel. Distinctly American! 
------------------
 Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6) |
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Mike Cass
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Posted 6 Jul 2004 9:33 am
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Carl, If you had XFM Radio tuned to Willie's Fort Worth Picnic on July 4th you wouldve had steel coming out of your ears
Norm Hamlet, Herb Steiner, Lynn Owsley and some new guy with Ray Price.... I left there with steel ringing in my ears, and happily so.
The Prez wouldve had a bigger time with us, I assure you
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Al Marcus
From:
Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 6 Jul 2004 7:52 pm
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Carl,
You should move to NYC ! For the official city july 4th concert they hired Calixico and Lyle Lovett. Both groups had steel players. Plus for the music before the live acts they played recordings of my band Hem. The cuts they played had plenty of pedalsteel on them.
I couldn't make the concert because I had a gig playing dobro oddly enough in Brooklyn.
Bob |
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John Steele
From:
Renfrew, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 6 Jul 2004 9:32 pm
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Where was the resonator guitar invented ? I always assumed it was an American thing, but I don't know.
Carl, when I throw parties on the lawn, I always go acoustic, 'cause there's no place to plug in my amp.
But really, people who play acoustic music sometimes draw a definite line in the sand when it comes to electrification. I'm one of those people... my extreme aversion to anything electric was only overcome by the pure beauty of the sound of a steel. Sure, Earl's done the electric thing too, but this sounds more like an event worthy of celebrating traditions rather than musical experimentation.
This week I saw Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at the Ottawa Jazz Festival. (words fail me, except perhaps Wow...) Bela was interviewed in the paper and said he felt the banjo needed to be electrified, have an African American take it up, play some funky blues on it, and take it to the people. The parallels to the Robert Randolph scenario were heavy, and although his name never came up, I can't help but think that Randolph's recent successes were on his mind.
Misc. thoughts in no particular order,
-John
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www.ottawajazz.com |
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Steve Hinson
From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
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Posted 7 Jul 2004 2:02 am
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| Tom,Jim Murphy was a member of the Earl Scruggs Revue for a while...on the pedal steel(and tenor saxophone)... |
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Theresa Galbraith
From:
Goodlettsville,Tn. USA
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Posted 7 Jul 2004 2:27 am
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Robert Randolph and band are shown on a commercial. Can't remember the commercial now, but I remember him. Way to go!
Dobro, Ped-a-bro are very cool sounding instruments. As mentioned, situations call for different instruments. The "Ole Brother" movie boosted the dobro's popularity.
I prefer steel too Carl!
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 7 Jul 2004 2:27 am
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| ...people who play acoustic music sometimes draw a definite line in the sand when it comes to electrification. |
How many bluegrass (or classical) musicians does it take to change a light bulb?
Five. One to change the bulb and four to complain that it's electric.
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John McGann
From:
Boston, Massachusetts, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 7 Jul 2004 5:25 am
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Jerry Douglas also plays steel and is a big Hendrix fan, so he's no bluegrass Luddite.
He won a 20k National Heritage Fellowship this year (along with my friend, the master Irish accordion player Joe Derrane. I will get to play guitar with him during the concert in DC this fall honoring the awardees). We should look into the nomination process, and then fight over which pedal steel player should get one!
Seriously, Carl's point is very true, if they recognize artists and craftsmen of all stripes, there is no reason why the cream of steel guitarists should be overlooked-other than the panel being unaware!
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http://www.johnmcgann.com
Info for musicians, transcribers, technique tips and fun stuff.
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 7 Jul 2004 6:28 am
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John,
A pedal steel player already won the National Heritage Fellowship award this year in the person of Chuck Campbell. At least I think that was the award he won.
Bob
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Susan Alcorn
From:
Baltimore, MD, USA
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Posted 7 Jul 2004 6:45 am
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| As for the banjo, the best movie about music I've ever seen is one about two blind Chinese banjo players. It's called "Life on a String". Highly recommended. |
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