Al Braun
From:
Dunnellon, FL, R.I.P.
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Posted 31 Mar 2000 5:38 am |
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The accordion
Do you suppose the world is full of old accordion players that bring their boxes out of the closet and play? Suppose they sit and grumble about the passing of the polkas and the waltzes? Probably. They just don’t have a Forum, thank you B0b, to voice their MHOs.
The piano accordion was patented in 1829 and was a very popular instrument for over 100 years, both, in bands and as a solo instrument. After WWII, electronics entered the picture, electronic accordions came out that could do everything but sing. The next step was the synthesizer which later transformed into a light, low priced keyboard. POOF! The accordion was history and nobody cared but the accordion players, most of whom had already adapted to the new keyboards.
The pedal steel has a very brief history compared to the accordion and can’t even provide its own accompaniment. Don’t misunderstand, I’ve been here 73 years and loved the steel guitar most of them. The point I’m trying to get across is that people and styles change, drastically. If you think country music hasn’t gone through a constant change, get a record of the Opry in the ‘30s. Screechy fiddles, NO steel, nasal singing, a style that earned the term Hillbilly.
The 40s weren’t much different. In WWII, juke boxes were popular with homesick GIs and you could get clear channel stations halfway across the nation at night. The Queen City station, WCKY, Cincinnati was country music HQ. If you wanted to cut a record east of the big river, you cut it in Cincinnati. WSM carried the Opry on Saturday night and that was that for Nashville. The steel guitar began to be heard on a few records but mostly, I remember Oswald’s Dobro. The steel came on as kind of a novelty instrument and I heard it more on western artist’s releases, like Jimmy Wakely, where it was played with a kind of pineapple flavor.
The western bands introduced more steel on records, Bob Wills, Spade Cooley, Hank Thompson and a host of others. The steel got a whole verse or chorus during those days, believe it? Not just part of a fill shared with fiddle, guitar, piano and horn like today. Nashville responded with ET, who didn’t use that much steel in the beginning, Eddie A who had LITTLE ROY WIGGINS, the man who really made my skin tingle with his ting-a-ling, and a host of other artists. Maybelle Carter introduced a guitar player named CA who was destined to change country music forever. I heard her say on an interview that the Nashville musicians were very jealous and treated him very shabbily. That seems to be a trait that continues today. Chet did survive, however, and IMNSHO contributed greatly to the decline of the steel with 'The Nashville Sound' and 'The Million Dollar Band'
The 50s were probably the halcyon days of the steel but some of the Nashville greats used them very little on their recordings. Jim 'Big Velvet' Reeves and Patsy Cline almost never. Elvis, no way, and Johnny Cash, next to never. We owe Jimmy Dickens, Marty Robbins, Hank Thompson and a host of other greats for keeping the steel alive as long as it has been. Also, folks like DeWitt Scott, Tom Bradshaw and Russ Rask deserve a lot of credit for promoting the steel.
My steel will never be relegated to a closet. It knows its place, set up right in our front room where it draws me like a magnet each time I try to pass by. I thought I would share these thoughts with you, if it went on too long, forgive me, you know us old folks do go on, and on, and on. Thanks, AL
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