I did!!.. Many Many years ago when I lived in NJ.. I and several other steel players auditioned at a large local club for a good band. What the band did was this/// Several hours before thier gig that night,they had steelers come in about every 30-45 minutes or so,play live on stage with the full band and recorded each steel player with the band.
When I got there, a guy I knew well was loading his P/P into his car. He had just finished up his audition. This guy was the best in the area and I knew it. I couldn't touch him. I did not go say hello as I felt funny.. we WERE competing for the same job after all.
At the time I was playing an old 6 and 3 Bud.. Pre Pro Series.. I think it was about a 1965..When I got it it had 6 pedals, NO knees.. I added 3 of them. It had a factory coil tap pickup and sounded as good as anything I EVER heard. I was playing a Fender amp I think.. May have been a Session 400.
Anyway to make a short story long, I got the call a day or two later.. I had beat out the guy with FAR superior talent,as well as all the other hopefulls. This man is well known on this forum and you guys would be shocked to hear who it was!! The band had FREAKED OUT over the sound of that old Bud and the Cage/Young/Klienow/Brumley/Perkins/ licks I put on top of thier hi energy Texas style,kick ass country band..I was pretty much alone in using the west coast style in my area at that time.They compared all the recordings of all the steel players with the band,and liked my tone better than all the other guys.
I got the gig not at all because of talent,but because of tone. I really do think it was the magic inside that beautiful OLD Bud. It CERTAINLY wasn't my playing....
By the way,, that excellent steel guitarist did not miss much. I think about two weeks later,the band broke up!!! bob[This message was edited by Bob Carlucci on 28 January 2005 at 12:14 PM.]
