hawaiian steel and delta blues link?

John Troutman · From: Washington, DC

Hey everyone

I have a question that is perhaps pretty silly. I was wondering, however, if there is a link between the hawaiian guitar craze of the '20s and the development of the delta blues slide guitar? Did these innovations occur independently of one another, or were folks in Mississippi buying up those hawaiian guitar 78s? I know that a lot of blues enthusiasts argue that slide playing was an "Africanism", a tradition borrowed from West African instruments, but I'm curious as to whether anyone thinks that the Hawaiian acts recording and touring in the teens and '20s had an influence. I would be obliged by any opinions--

Thanks!
John

Bill McCloskey · Posted 29 Oct 2006 4:27 am

I have heard both theories put forth but no definitive answer. One says that the southern blues players were influenced by the Hawaiian craze, others that there was no influence but it was a continuation of their african roots.

basilh · From: United Kingdom

In this section the post:-
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/009527.html
covered it quite well.

Also see this Folder :-
[url=http://www.waikiki-islanders.com/assets/Slack%20Key%20etc%20PDF's/]History of Slack Key and Hawaiian Guitar[/url]

and these files :-

[url=http://www.waikiki-islanders.com/assets/Slack%20Key%20etc%20PDF's/History%20of%20Slack%20Key.pdf]Slack Key Myths etc[/url]

[url=http://www.waikiki-islanders.com/assets/Slack%20Key%20etc%20PDF's/Hawaiian%20Guitar%20origins.pdf]Hawaiian Guitar History[/url]

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Jesse Pearson · From: San Diego , CA

Sears and Robuck had a big hand in making affordable lap steels and guitars with extender nuts available to many people in the south with their aggressive catalog/marketing model. There was a time when many blacks played lap steels because there was so many used ones floating around there. Sears also sold lesson plans as did other companies. I learned this side of it from Sonny Rhodes. The connection between Hawaiian and blues bottle neck is huge in this respect. In fact, I was just working out Johnny Winter's "Iodine in my coffee" "which I already play in Open G bottle neck slide" for my A6 tuned lap steel, works great.

[This message was edited by Jesse Pearson on 29 October 2006 at 09:34 AM.]

John Sullivan · From: Tampa, Florida, USA

Hi,

I am a newbie on the forum - my first post.

The post referring to Sears lap steels struck a cord with me. I grew up close to Savannah, GA. My dad brought me a Sears Silvertone lap steel in the middle fifties. I took lessons and played for several years from the time I was around 12 until I found "Girls, Cars and Sports" when I was around 16 or so. I went though the whole gamut A major, E major (low and high bass) E7 and C#m. We played mostly Hawaiian, Jazz and Country Swing.

I am now retired and have started playing again after only playing off and on through the years.

I have been lurking on the forum for a few weeks and have really enjoyed the lively exchanges. Lots of good info too.

John Troutman · From: Washington, DC

Hey guys:

Thanks so much for these great posts. John, welcome to the forum! Baz, the pdfs are excellent--I really appreciate your forwarding them here. Jesse, I had never before considered the impact of the Sears catalog in that way, and it makes perfect sense--that is a great connection and thanks so much for bringing it to light here.

I wonder, is anyone aware of any biographies or interviews with hawaiian or blues guitar players of the past who discuss this relationship? What about ties between blues slide guitar and the sacred steel. I mean, I know those ties are there, but what books, interviews, or articles are floating around out there that discusses this stuff?

Again, I really appreciate the comments so far--please keep them coming!

Thanks,
John

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