What kind of music won't sound nice on steel?

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

First, thank you John for mentioning my CD.

The problem as I see it is not that the steel won't fit in any kind of music, but that our E9 country licks won't fit in. If/when we play other kinds of music, we have to play things that fit with whatever style we are playing.

I like to play rock and blues on the steel. And when I do, I play things based around the old Mississippi delta bottleneck style epitomised by Robert Johnson and Fred McDowell. My Emmons licks won't cut it in that context.

Whenever I sit in with a rock or blues band, frequently somebody will tell me "I didn't think you could do that on a steel." Well of course you can. The problem is most people don't.

BTW, Mike Johnstome played me some tracks he recorded playing steel with an R&B group, and is sounded great.

Another of our forumites, Doug "Earnest Bovine" Livingston, plays periodically with a local jazz band. He was hired to play keyboards, but he sometimes brings his steel. He also sounds great in that context, and, like me when I play rock, is frequently told the same thing I am.

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

I can't imagine steel in Dixieland jazz or most brass band music. Also, when you add steel to bluegrass, it's not really bluegrass anymore, IMHO.

Some kinds of music are defined by the instruments used as well as by musical structure. When you add steel, it becomes a different kind of music.

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Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (E9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic)
Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)

John Kavanagh · From: Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada * R.I.P.

with all due respect, I agree with Mike - it's the way the instrument
is played as much as it is instrument. Sometimes it's a real revelation to hear someone play an instrument against its character, or discover a new character
in it. You never know until you hear somebody do it.

I'm thinking about the great reggae mandolin/dobro sound on the
Strength In Numbers album. I could also, for instance, imagine a steel playing
percussive chords like a banjo, or lyrical single-note clarinet style
lines, and working in a Dixie-style group. On the other hand, b0b is
right in suggesting that to some people it wouldn't be "real" Dixie
any more. It would be a change, all right.

Who would have predicted when serious jazz cats like Chick Corea
and Branford Marsalis would be so happy and sound so good playing
on a banjo album (Bela Fleck's "Acoustic Planet")?

Never say "never".

[This message was edited by John Kavanagh on 04 August 2001 at 12:58 PM.]

Joe Casey · From: Weeki Wachee .Springs FL (population.9)

Ok there are types of Music that won't accept a Steel but to say a Steel won't sound good in any of them is only going to be said by those that can't play that particular style.I would hate to challange Buddy Emmons,Paul Franklin,and many more of the greats and their abilities to play any style of Music. The Instrument is not unlimited ,Just the players are who cannot play,won't broaden their horizens with the particular styles and types of music they are challenged to do.No Instrument has bounderies,Just the people who play and accept the status Quo and live with the stereotyped scenario set by the majority.

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CJC

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

If I had to guess what music was hardest to play on steel, I would say Flamenco...without a doubt. The sustain and positional rigidity inherent in our instrument doesn't lend itself well to the moves and rhythms that are found in Flamenco. For that reason, I would say that the steel "doesn't fit well" in Flamenco.

Rap and Hip-Hop are so very basic, musically, that the steel would have an easy time there. However, I don't think these will be enduring musical styles, since they lack the variety that most people are accustomed to hearing. This lack of variety is precisely what doomed Disco music. Also, these types of music are so strongly vocally centered, so as to make musicians kind of unnecessary anyway, as I see it. Are there any famous Rap, or Hip Hop musicians? (Not including, of course, the guy scratching the records.)

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Pat Burns · From: Branchville, N.J. USA

..but Jim, you look so good in pink!...

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Shhhh, Pat! I told you not to mention that!

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

It would be so hard to put steel in rap music. The steel always sounds pretty in country music. Brett Day, Emmons S-10

RickRichtmyer · From: Beautiful Adamstown, MD

ajm · From: Los Angeles

"Rap and Hip-Hop are so very basic, musically, that the steel would have an easy time there. However, I don't think these will be enduring musical styles, since they lack the variety that most people are accustomed to hearing. ..... Also, these types of music are so strongly vocally centered, so as to make musicians kind of unnecessary anyway, as I see it."

Not to start an argument with ya, but I think you're wrong. I remember saying to myself back in about 1985 or so, "Self, I'll sure be glad when this rap thing dies out. It's just a fad, and pretty soon it'll be gone." I guess I missed that one by a mile.

On another sad note, when I was in high school back in the mid '70's, after every home football and basketball game our school would have a dance with a local live band playing. I'm not aware of anyplace doing that these days. My point is, to be a kid and see a live band and actually stand up close and watch musicians play a real instrument was an experience that changed most of us forever. The kids today don't have that, and they've really missed out on something special, IMHO. They've replaced us a lot of places with a DJ. I really believe that the rap/hip-hop thing is a cultural deal, not necessarily musical, and therefore ain't going to go away.

"This lack of variety is precisely what doomed Disco music."

IMHO disco, punk/new wave and the urban cowboy thing were all just a part of that cyclical thing that seems to repeat itself every 10-20 years. The same thing has happened with the hard rock/metal stuff, the new traditionalist country, and blues. It all seems to go in cycles. The only one that never came back around again was the '50's music popular in the early '70's. (I never cared much for Sha-Na-Na anyway.)

I actually liked some (not all) of the disco stuff even as it was happening. It's the punk and new wave stuff that was going on at the same time that I never understood. To me, at least the disco records had some level of musicianship on them and it sounded like the guys were at least trying to play, whereas the punk stuff seemed to emphasize not being accomplished on your instrument. Kind of goes against the main reason that I practice in the first place.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Patience ajm, Rap and Hip-Hop have already passed their zenith, and are on their way down in a lot of areas. 15 years is about it for most major styles, and Rap is coming up close to that now. H-H isn't far behind. Anyway, with the almost logarithmic increase in Hispanic population that's taking place now, everything will change very shortly. (Hint-"Salsa" was just the beginning!)

Gary Lee Gimble · From: Fredericksburg, VA.

Donny, I thought salsa is served with triangular shaped chips.I like mine real hot too!

Gary Lee

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