Who is al Petty

Joseph Barcus · From: Volga West Virginia

I was going though my 78's and came across a starday with jack rhodes says al petty playing the steel, songs called als steel guitar wobble. man he sure could play. on the back side of it it has again jack rhodes and freddie franks. thanks Joe

Bob Blair · From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Al Petty used to play regularly at the TSGA Jamboree in Dallas, and is a player of legendary ability. He is a controversial character, and recently ran afoul of the law by engaging in what was found to have been an unlawful pyramid scheme. I understand that he is incarcerated at the present time. He still has a lot of friends on this forum,and some believe that he got a bum rap. Others don't. Al's legal troubles got discussed quite a bit on the Forum two or three years ago, and there was a lot of disagreement. But no one disagrees that he can play!! As I recall he was a teacher to Al Perkins way back when.

Joseph Barcus · From: Volga West Virginia

Bob,
Thanks for your reply, yes no doubt he can play the non pedal guitar. if one can master that first than the pedals are just icing to the cake isnt it. Joe

Skip Edwards · From: LA,CA

Al is also known for playing the "heel & toe" pedal setup. You can see one of his steels on the GFI site, click on custom steels.
I saw him play at Blackie Taylor's once, about 25 yrs ago.... pretty awesome stuff...quite different, due to the heel & toe setup.

John Daugherty · From: Rolla, Missouri, USA

When I knew Al in the L.A. area in the early 1960s, He used a second (small)bar with a ring attached. He slipped the ring over a finger of his left hand. He could reach out with the small bar and raise a string while holding the standard bar on the strings.
He also had "umpteen" pedals which he installed himself.

------------------
www.phelpscountychoppers.com/steelguitar

Bryan Bradfield · From: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

Apparently Al cannot bring a pedal steel into prison. He does however have an acoustic with more than 6 strings, as I recall, and is working on behind-the-bar pulls with the left hand.

And I agree that his early 1950's non-pedal work was stunning. His later work with the guitorchestra was not as impressive to my ears.

Gary Spaeth · From: Wisconsin, USA

he used to tour the club circuit as al perry in the 70's with his wife donna love on drums. my friend randy sinz was his bass player for a while and later glenn whorf the famous session bass player toured with him. i used to see him at the black steer in eau claire, wi and he was good. quite an entertainer too and good singer. he played a fender 1000. rags allen who was injured in the accident that killed waylon's bass player chuck(?) allen was al's keyboard player then.

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

I got to hear Al play during Scotty's set in Dallas two years ago. He got up and played a couple of tunes on Scotty's frypan. He played a version of Harbor Lights that nearly brought me to tears. It was so full of emotion you just feel it. Maybe it was his impending incarceration that evoked the intense passion in his playing, or maybe it was just because he's a tremendous player regardless. I don't no 'nuthin about his dealings, but his playing was beautiful.

Brad Sarno

Steve Spitz · From: New Orleans, LA, USA

Brad: I agree 100%. I really felt that Al played that set like a man who knew he may be playing his last show. I recall he had been found guilty and was only days away from sentencing. He wasn`t scheduled to play, and many folks were suprised when he showed up. It was really kind of Scotty to give up his slot , he showed alot of heart. I think Al`s playing was outstanding, but there was an odd sadness to it.

steve takacs · From: beijing, china via pittsburgh (deceased)

Yeah, Scotty is the type of person who would do that, give up his slot. Does anyone when Al is due to be released from jail? steve t

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Steve,
I don't know if he'll ever get out. They really nailed him.
Erv

Herb Steiner · From: Spicewood TX 78669

Al Petty, whom I've known since 1970 (though I used to listen to him on the radio in LA even in the early 60's) is a genius, without doubt. His is a genius that seems to haunt him, however... somehow he can't comprehend the fact that other "regular" people don't see the things the same way he does. I'm talking musically, and other things as well. He ran a classic Ponzi scheme with a telecommunications plan, yet was bewildered that the Feds didn't see the *obvious* genius of it. I don't think he even realized he was doing something illegal.

He is also an incredibly effective preacher, and is very well versed in Scripture. One Sunday at ISGC I heard him give a sermon on the subject of "Love" that was very moving and enlightening. He said that in the Bible, there are seven Greek words for "love," but all have different meanings depending on how they're used (philos is brotherly love, eros is sexual love, storge' is parental love, agape is God's love for man, etc.). In English, we only have the single word "love," and so he felt that lots of meaning of the Bible is lost in translation from the original Greek and Aramaic languages. Pretty heady stuff.

We were quite friendly for a long time, and I regret his current situation. His sentence is really long, and I don't think he'll be getting out in this lifetime.

------------------
Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

Doyle Mitchell · From: Loraine, Texas

Herb, isnt this the guy that invented a machine called the "Steelguitaristra"? It was a machine that could make your steel sound like any instrument and had all kinds of vocal harmonys on it. The only problem was they were so expensive that no one could afford one. I still have a video he sent me years ago and still cant believe the sounds he was pulling out of that thing. I believe this is the same guy,

George Redmon · From: Muskegon & Detroit Michigan.

Pastor Al, sent me a copy of ALL his gospel cassettes years ago..he is best known i think at least for his version of "The devil went down to Georgia"..he did all the parts on the steel guitar...amazing to say the least. When i was doing the old Steel Guitar Gospel Music Fellowship, i sent him a hat..he wore alot. He offered to buy my steel several times..just a few years ago, his last offer was $7000 money draft sent directly to the bank of my choice..now i have an idea where the money would have come from...hummm still genius is genius such a very talented man...

------------------

Whitney Single 12 8FL & 5 KN,keyless, dual changers Extended C6th, Webb Amp, Line6 PodXT, Goodrich Curly Chalker Volume Pedal, Match Bro, BJS Bar, Boyette Glass Bar, Carvin Guitars, & Amplification, and other neat stuff..I was keyless....when keyless wasn't cool....

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

The last time i saw Al playt was in 2002, in Dallas, and again, he played an unadorned lap steel, and tore the house down.

I believe he was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

I know he broke the law, but that's tantamount to a life sentence. That's not right. That kind of punishment should be reserved for murderers and rapists.

I hope he is paroled soon.

Doug Jones · From: Oregon & Florida

Any comments Eric?

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

I had the good fortune of living in the LA area at the same time Al was playing clubs. Blackie Taylor turned me on to Al and introduced me to him. The first time I heard him play live was at a club out on Lincoln Avenue and the band was called "Al Petty and the Countrymen". A bass playing friend of mine(Bobby Ray) and I went to see him one night. We walked in the front door and the bandstand was right on the left as I recall. Al was in the middle of a lovely slow instrumental and was really intent on his steel when my friend (who knew Al) walked over and started pulling on Al's pedal rods with the same downward motion as you'd milk a cow! The most godawful sounds started coming out of his steel! Al stood straight up and yelled "You fool, you fool". Needless to say, we got out of there in a hurry! Later on when Al was at the Breakers Hotel in Long Beach (using the name AL PERRY) a friend of mine (Al Brown) was playing drums for him. We went to see them one evening and I was totally impressed! It was just Al, Al Brown the drummer, and a piano player named Joe Pope who happened to be blind. The piano player also did the bass on one of those old Fender keyboard basses which sat on top of his piano. They put out more sound for a trio than I'd ever heard. Al did a version of "Caravan" that night on pedal steel that topped any other version I'd ever heard on any instrument or big band. He was playing a Fender 1000 then with the heel and toe pedals, 16 or 'em I believe. I was at the same show at Blackie Taylor's that Skip Edwards mentioned. It was a promo for Sierra Steel Guitars and Al was playing a Sierra double 12 which had the heel and toe pedals plus 4 or 5 knee levers. He had an E9/B6 universal on one neck and his own tuning on the inside neck. I remember he was talking about how the intervals were farther apart in the low end for cleaner chord work. He played a version of "12th Street Rag" which knocked me out. Most people can't play that tune with just the melody line but Al played it all the way through in double stops, both melody and harmony. I miss being able to take a night off and go see and hear talents like that right in your back door. Too bad what he got into as I know there was a lot more music in him that needed to be shared. No matter what he did to anyone else, all my memories of him are favorable and I'll always be a fan, in short "The Boy Could Pick!"......JH in Va.

------------------
Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

[This message was edited by Jerry Hayes on 22 August 2005 at 06:20 AM.]

George Redmon · From: Muskegon & Detroit Michigan.

do i dare say..I AGREE WITH YOU MIKE?

------------------

Whitney Single 12 8FL & 5 KN,keyless, dual changers Extended C6th, Webb Amp, Line6 PodXT, Goodrich Curly Chalker Volume Pedal, Match Bro, BJS Bar, Boyette Glass Bar, Carvin Guitars, & Amplification, and other neat stuff..I was keyless....when keyless wasn't cool....

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

Doug. No but I think he tunes straight up.

At least we know where he is at night..

I've been in jail a few times my durn self..

EJL

My uncle got out of Stillwater MN State Prison, after some forty years there, to die of liver failure an hour later on the way to the Mayo Clinic on 11 Sept 2001. He didn't die in jail after all..

One of my favorite songs:

Sweetest gift a mother's smile

-J B Coats- 1942

One day a mother came to the prison To see an erring but precious son.

She told the warden how much she loved him It did not matter what he had done.

She did not bring to him a parol or pardon;

She brought no silver no pomp or style.

It was a halo bright sent down from heaven; The sweetest gift, a mother's smile.

Her boy had drifted far from the fireside; Tho she had pleaded with him each night.

Yet not a word did she ever utter;
And tho her heart ached her smile was bright.

* Refrain: She left a smile son you can remember;

She's gone to heaven from heartache free;

The bars around you could never change her You were her baby and ere will be..

* Refrain

Bless his heart.

EJL

Damir Besic · From: Nashville,TN.

so,I can`t find any links to any of Al`s music.can anyone post a song or two so I can get an idea?I bet he`s good,I`d just like to hear it.Thanks.

Db

------------------

"Promat"
~when tone matters~
http://hometown.aol.com/damirzanne2/PROMAT.html

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

One of the things that got me motivated to go to St Louis, find a pedal steel and learn how to play the thing was a tune called "Al's Steel Guitar Wobble" on some compilation record I had. It turned out Al was at the convention. I met him and got to talk a bit with him. He advised me to check out Ornette Coleman. Al certainly is an amazing man.

------------------
Bob
My Website

Ray Austin · From: Texas, USA

The Al Petty I know lived in L.A. during the eighties. He was cutting whole recording sessions using only a 14 string Sierra with the Photon MIDI steel guitorchestra. Really quite amazing. I have some of the recordings. I even bought one of MIDI units from him, and used it for years in the L.A. area. I still have it in a closet. Since I moved back to Texas nobody wants a MIDI Steel player.

rpetersen · From: Iowa

there were several people in my area that got in trouble with similar kinds of schemes - all very smart people trying to make the "Fast Buck"
I would think that Al was smart enough to know what he was doing

Jody Sanders · From: Magnolia,Texas, R.I.P.

I have known Al since he was 16 yrs. old. Worked live radio, live TV, taped radio, concerts, clubs, and church services with him. He was far ahead of his time as a steel player. His non pedal work on 'Steel Guitar Wabble", "Steel Mill", and Tommy Dorsey Boogie, was incredible,as he was only about 19 years old. Jack Rhodes was a song writer, record producer, and artist manager. He owned the Trail 80 Motor Court on Hwy 80 in Mineola,Tx. Al, myself, Bobby Garrett, Red Hayes,Curtis Kirk, and several others demo-ed the songs. He also took in 'song poems" and we put tunes to them. Al.s steel work at the time was great. Jack finally hit it big with "Satisfied Mind" br Joe Hayes, and "Silver Threads And Golden Needles" by Dick Reynolds and managing Billy Jo Spears, and moved to Nashville. Al moved to Odessa.Tx. and took over a Music Studio and was teaching guitar and steel guitar. I joined him in 1954. Al was a very trusting person to a fault, but over the years , he strayed away from his Christian upbringing and did some very foolish things which I won't get in to. All the while, his steel playing was incredible. Hopefully, he will not die in prison. Jody.

Jason Odd · From: Stawell, Victoria, Australia

Pretty much everything here is spot on:
Al did play on some early Starday stuff including solo sides.
He did the live shows, taught influentual pickers, had the school, played the skull orchard circuit, got a device bought by Fender, moved to SoCal, worked for Fender, recorded under a couple of names (some credited to Al are a player with a similar name, although Al did use another name as Jerry Hayse noted), he did West Coast sessions (Warren Smith, Billy Mize), TV, club gigs and so on. In the 1950s he did a stint with Smokey Roders band, in the 1960s he mostly had his own group.

He had ministry, the guitorchestra, business deals, (in later years he somewhat exaggerated his successes, musical and otherwise), he toured with his own bnd, did Steel shows, cut religous albums, recorded with his wife Donna Love, the list goes on.

He was up for multiple charges, that's why it's such a long sentence.

Forum Index > Steel Players		Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic