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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Just as long as the guitar plays

Just as long as the guitar plays

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A commenter just sent me a snippet of his new album and even though the song is about office work, it has some great steel guitar.

What’s your favorite use of steel guitar in a song or your favorite song with steel guitar in it? Or talk about whatever…open thread.

I’d like to be a bit more recherché and put up a YouTube of this band from Athens, The Star Room Boys, that I used to love when I lived there. But I can’t find anything, so I’ll put up this predictable favorite.

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132Comments

  22. 22.

    gbear

    This is a pretty minor favorite, but I love the song ‘Smoke’ by Joe Henry from the Trampoline album, and the pedal steel guitar lick is one of the things that make it a perfect song.

    It helps that I know the pedal steel player, although it doesn’t help to know that he stole away the girlfriend of one of his best friends (one of my house-mates. He was devastated).

  24. 24.

    Steeplejack

    Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, “San Antonio Rose.” Steel guitar solo front and center at 0:30.

    Note: I’m so old that I can remember when I lived in Texas as a kid that geezers back then would routinely refer to “San Antone.” Good times.

  28. 28.

    The Dangerman

    @srv:

    Steel Guitar as God intended it.

    Cool link; the clip says “trailer”, which implies movie, but a quick googling (a frugal google?) didn’t find it. Can help please?

    Also, since we have some good music folks around these parts, I’m looking for an Eminem (at least I think it was Eminem) song that was roughly about the Kennedy’s (or maybe about that Camelot period in general; I’m still on limited caffeine intake so far, so bear with me). All help appreciated.

  29. 29.

    "Fair and Balanced" Dave

    If by “steel guitar” you mean actual steel guitar (e.g., pedal steel, lap steel), I’ve always liked the steel guitar parts David Gilmour plays in the intro to “Breathe” on “Dark Side of the Moon”. For slide guitar, Duane Allman’s work on “Statesboro Blues” on the “Live at the Fillmore” album is my all-time favorite.

  35. 35.

    Professor Purple

    There’s lots to choose from but “Rainy Day Woman” by Waylon Jennings with Ralph Mooney on the steel is about as good as it gets. Especially the intro lick.

  39. 39.

    gbear

    @cleek: @the Conster: As mentioned above, slide guitar is not the same as steel guitar. You have to sit to play a steel guitar, and you use your feet and knees to control the tunings. I played in a band with a steel player and watching him play was fascinating. I had no idea how he could coordinate all that stuff (and I’m a drummer).
    Think Sneeky Pete in the Flying Burrito Brothers or Rusty Young in Poco.

  40. 40.

    Steeplejack

    @raven:

    Gotta agree with you, “steel guitar” means “pedal steel guitar,” and slide, Dobro, etc., are other things.

  42. 42.

    Honus

    @Steeplejack: I’m with you on that old school country stuff. Almost all of it had great steel guitar. George Jones’ He Stopped Loving Her Today, and Merle Haggard’s Sing me Back Home has great solo. But I really like Pete Kleinow’s work with the Burritos, especially on Break My Mind.

  47. 47.

    the Conster

    @gbear:

    She’s playing a National steel guitar with a bottleneck, standing up I assume. Pedal steel is a different instrument.

  53. 53.

    Honus

    @raven: No argument here, form a boy that grew up listening to WWVA in the 60s, and thought every song had steel guitar.

    The Big Country was a great 50,000 watt C&W monster in those days. Every trucker in the east listened, and the station turned its signal toward Canada at night.

  55. 55.

    raven

    @Honus: Paw Paw. Ray and I have an uncanny resemblance and I shot the shit with him outside of a show in the 70’s and he thought he was talking in a mirror! He is a good bit bigger than I am.

  66. 66.

    divF

    “Four Wheel Drive” written by Buddy Emmons. The best performances I’ve seen are one at the Keystone Berkeley in the 1970’s by Lucky Oceans when he was with Asleep at the Wheel , and this one by Herby Wallace.

  69. 69.

    Steeplejack

    @SatanicPanic:

    That’s what many of them are made of, but in musical parlance—perhaps old-school parlance—when someone called for steel guitar they typically meant pedal steel guitar. If they were referring to the other they said Dobro or lap-steel. And it has to do with the unique sound of the instrument, not just the construction materials.

  73. 73.

    Montysano

    When we lived in New Orleans in the 80s, we were huge fans of King Sunny Ade. He made nice use of pedal steel:

    Ja Funmi

    One of my favorite albums of 2013 was the debut album by Muscle Shoals band Belle Adair. It’s really lovely, spacey alt-folk/country:

    The Unwelcome Guest

  74. 74.

    Trollhattan

    Happened to catch Robert Randolph front for the Slide Brothers last year and it was a mind-blowing show. (Quick googling) Hey, it was this show right here.

    http://www.slidebrothers.com/photos/?album=1&gallery=21

    Just phenomenal musicianship. There was a talk beforehand in which I learned the slide guitar filled in for the church organ in congregations too poor to afford one. Another in the infinite list of Things I Didn’t Know.

    I need to catch Keb Mo and Jerry Douglas someday. The latter hopefully with Allison Krause.

  75. 75.

    Ned Ludd

    The “steel” in steel guitar refers to the metal bar that’s used in the left hand, not the composition of the guitar itself. That said, “steel guitar” is generally understood to mean a type of guitar that is played flat either in the player’s lap (lap steel), or with legs (table steel, etc.). “Pedal steel guitar” has foot pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of sets of strings to create different chord voicings, but not all steel guitars have these.

    Regular guitars or resonator guitars (dobros) played with slides or steels are generally not referred to as “steel guitar”.

  80. 80.

    john f

    Hank Williams, the short solo in I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry

    Led Zeppelin That’s the Way

    Kelly Willis Happy With That from her What I Deserve album.

  81. 81.

    burnspbesq

    @srv:

    Anything Robert Randolph

    True. But first and foremost “The March.” And the version from the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival beats the version from Live at the Wetlands.

    The first song I ever heard that had pedal steel in it was the leadoff track fron The Gilded Palace of Sin, “Christine’s Tune.”

    Best use of an effects pedal to make a pedal steel sound like something else: Rusty Young. Never figured out how he was able to make a pedal steel sound like a Hammond B-3.

    Dobro should probably be its own category.

  90. 90.

    Montysano

    I was in Nashville recently and caught the regular Monday night show by the local studio all-star band The Time Jumpers, and was lucky to sit about 8′ away from the legendary Paul Franklin:

    Together Again

    My mind was properly blown.

  93. 93.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    Al Perkins on Gram Parsons’ version of ‘Love Hurts’ from Grievous Angel…

    And if you like truly crazy, there’s always the fabulous Speedy West w/ Jimmy Nichols, from Tennessee Williams’ band in the 50’s…

  94. 94.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    I have to echo others with the Bob Wills recs. IMO the best use of the pedal steel in the past 20 years of rock is Son Volt’s The Wind.

  95. 95.

    BGinCHI

    Damn, really late to this thread but I LOVE that first Star Room Boys record!

    After my time in Athens, alas, so I didn’t get to see them play.

  96. 96.

    burnspbesq

    I have a Buddy Emmons LP from around 1975 on which he played the Pachelbel Canon in D. Pretty amazing stuff.

  99. 99.

    cintibud

    I first got turned on to steel guitar from Neil Young’s “Harvest” album.

    Edit: Oh, and Jr. Brown!

  102. 102.

    Amy

    I haven’t scanned the WHOLE thread to see if this song is mentioned yet, but since AMC is criminally under-recognized, odds are excellent that it hasn’t been. Let me just toss into the ring American Music Club’s gorgeous Firefly from the album California. Can’t find a good mp3 or video, sorry … :-(

  104. 104.

    realbtl

    Rusty Young pre-Poco used to play with a local rock band around Boulder CO in the late 60’s. He absolutely killed playing Hendrix on the pedal steel.

  106. 106.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    Late to this but “Rainbows All Over Your Blues” by Jon Sebastian was the first time I really noticed steel guitar, having grown up in San Francisco and not, you know, Nashville. It seemed like a pretty great example of pedal steel playing but what did I know, but when I asked someone who followed that stuff who “Buddy Emmons” was he said oh boy, let me tell you… turns out to have been by one of the best if not the best ever. Great solo.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfk3wBeeaLY

  108. 108.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Ned Ludd: Thanks, I hadn’t even clicked to play the video before I commented, I assumed we were talking about pedal steel when I read “steel guitar” because yeah, as you say.

    What’s in that video is usually referred to as “slide” guitar, not steel.

  109. 109.

    Viperbuck

    @Steeplejack, @raven, @cintibud

    You 3 are all referencing the same cat. The great Ben Keith got his start in Nashville playing in Faron Young’s band and spent the early ’60s playing sessions including “I Fall To Pieces” for Patsy Cline and “Detroit City” for Bobby Bare.

    When Neil Young came to town to do the Johnny Cash Show and start recording the “Harvest” album, producer Elliot Mazer called Ben Keith when Neil requested a pedal steel player. A musical and personal friendship was formed and Ben played on many of Neil’s albums until he passed away in July of 2010.

    I’m sure Neil paid him well, but his ship came in big time when he produced Jewel’s debut album which sold more than 10 million copies.

  111. 111.

    Steeplejack

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    Gee, you made me realize I did the same thing. I didn’t listen to the Stones song in the original post but immediately went into a YouTube spiral thinking of great “[pedal] steel guitar” songs.

  112. 112.

    Steeplejack

    @Viperbuck:

    Great information! Thanks.

    My earliest musical memories are of “country” music, so steel guitar has always sounded “normal” to me—not just some exotic instrument brought in for effect.

  116. 116.

    The Illogical Planner

    Can’t believe it got this far w/ no one mentioning the pedal steel in Joni Mitchell’s California. It always takes my breath away.

    TIP

  117. 117.

    kindness

    I have problems with ‘best’. I mean, as with this question there are so many great ones, you can’t really rate one to another especially if it’s a subtly different type of song.

    For instance, the Country and Western peddle steel guitarists are certainly the most prolific but the few rock songs that incorporate it (Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Byrds, Old & In The Way, The New Riders of the Purple Sage, Poco etc) it is also frequently a very important part of the melody/counterpoint. How do you say one is better than another? I don’t.

  120. 120.

    LTT

    @DougJ “and even though the song is about office work”

    What the fuck is wrong with you? Are songs supposed to be about only certain things? Fucking hell.

  121. 121.

    Bishop Bag

    @Fred: Dating myself but the Grateful Dead shows 69 – 71 always had the New Riders of the Purple Sage second billed and Jerry Garcia would play with them and then do the regular Dead show. He was amazing on peddle steel and always looked like he was having a blast playing it. Fun Times!! I really miss Jerry…

  122. 122.

    Billy K.

    @DougJ: Star Room Boys? Now that is a name I haven’t heard in a long time…

    I assume you mean the sorta modern-loungy honky-tonk group. They swung their tour van through my old sleepy town many years ago. Still have their CD somewhere. Great band.

  124. 124.

    LT

    @DougJ: Sorry for the especially grumpy comment, but that sturuck me like “Oh Bob Dylan’s okay – I just wish he could sing” kind of comment that bugs fucking hell out of me. Why is such a huge portion of our culture so fucking stupid about music, about art, about fucking life? It’s depressing.

    I guess I should know you better. Never mind.

  127. 127.

    Ned Ludd

    @gbear: Pedal steel is definitely an intimidating instrument to approach but I find it much easier than drums. With drums, you really need to be able to move each limb to an independent rhythm. That’s not really what’s happening with pedal steel. It’s really about sets of combinations of pedals and levers– a given combination of pedals and levers will produce a particular chord voicing in exactly the same way that you use the fingers of your left hand to fret chord patterns on a regular 6-string guitar. So your limbs aren’t really moving independently like with drumming.

  128. 128.

    DissidentFish

    The live version of Heart of the Night by Poco from the No Nukes cd. Rusty Young, I think, on steel dueling with Phil Kenzie on sax. Two sometimes dubious instruments burning all the doubt away.

  129. 129.

    Dave

    First woman ever inducted into the Texas Steel Guitar Hall of Fame… Cindy Cashdollar. Amazing instrumentalist based in Austin, originally from Woodstock, NY. Plays lap steel, dobro and Weisenbornn with wonderful technique and musicality. Check her out on YouTube, and also check her first album, “Slide Show”… If you like steel guitar, you’ll love her. Her live version of Remington Ride with Red Volkaert is great.

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