Sonny Treadway - killer

Bill McCloskey · Posted 21 Aug 2005 4:05 pm

I would say of all the Sacred Steelers, Sonny Treadway is my favorite. In fact he is fast becoming one of my favorite Steelers of any sort.

I know Bob Stone has talked about his tuning before but if anyone has any updated info on this I'd love it.

Also where does he play - in Florida still. I'd love to have a chance to hear him play.

Also in Jesus Will Fix it For You, who is playing with him - that low bass line playing is just killer.

Right now Sacred Steel Instrumentals is my most played steel album. If you could wear the groves out of a digital recording, I would have done it by now.

Steinar Gregertsen · From: Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.

Bill McCloskey · Posted 21 Aug 2005 4:20 pm

Well there is a lot of cross-over between a lot of the other ss albums - just showcasing the instrumentals on those CD's so you may already have many of the tracks.

But its great to have them all on one cd. It's a great introduction to the power of SS.

Eric Gearhart · From: Bellingham, Massachusetts, USA

Sonny plays the bass lines himself at the same time. Says he prefers not to have a bass player in the band.

Bob Stone · From: Gainesville, FL, USA

Hi Bill,

Sorry to be a little slow in responding but I've been away on vacation.

Yes, Sonny Treadway is compelling and one of a kind.

There is no bass player on any of Sonny's recordings, just guitar and drums. Sonny uses straight E-major tuning with E on the first string of his 8-string steel, which is essentially a Fender DeLuxe with a home made body. I have never bothered to figure out exactly how he tunes his lower strings but the lowest may be a E an octave below a std guitar's low E., or maybe it's just a low B. You should be able to figure that out from the recordings. He may well tune two strings to the same pitch, as some sacred steelers do.

Sonny plays almost all of those walking bass lines on just the bottom string, walking way up high on the fret board to get the highest notes.

Sonny isn't playing "out" at all. Apparently he changed his mind about playing publicly shortly after the release of his Arhoolie album in 1998. He did 2 or 3 festivals, then decided not to do any more. There are many steelers in the Jewell Dominion who do not wish to perform outside of church. It's part of their belief system.

To the best of my knowledge Del Ray Grace and friends are the main (or only) group of Jewell musicians doing public presentations. They are making some great music. See http://www.sacredstrings.com/

All the best,

Bob

[This message was edited by Bob Stone on 25 August 2005 at 08:06 AM.]

Bill McCloskey · Posted 25 Aug 2005 8:02 am

The compelling thing about is how smoothly and quickly he jumps from the bass lines to the melody lines. It is almost impossible to believe that he gets this sound with just a trio. It truely sounds like to two players playing off of each other.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Yes, he's a tremendous player in that style. Unfortunately, I've only heard the first Sacred Steel CD. I like his tone, too--not too over the top. Maybe I'll pick this one up, too.

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