Robert Randolph Discussion

[Ben Jones]

he could probably care less of what we have to say about him

I'm sure that's not true. He's not a member, but I know for a fact that Robert reads this forum. As I read some of these posts about him, I try to imagine how it would feel if people were saying those things about me.

I challenge everyone to review their posts before they hit the "Submit" button. How would you feel if a stranger said those things about you? Think about it.

I'm safe, I said he's great!

hehe...Robert..um Mr. Randolph sir...if you are reading this...some instructional material written by you would be a dream come true. rock on my friend.
(hey, a guy can dream no?)

[Steve Norman]

There seems to be a lot of outcry on this forum when a player chooses to play outside of traditional country. I think that is a shame. If one person is moved or touched by someone elses art, then they are a good artist. I have said some pretty negative things about "new country", but that is in the labeling. They are taking an established style of music and trying to change it from its roots. RR holds pretty true to a lot of Sacred Steel styles, and is not trying to be something he is not. RR does not call his playing country, does not play country, so criticizing him on country playing standards is asinine. Same with Daniel L et al.

[Tony Prior]

I played a gig in a very large COUNTRY BAR last week.

A gal was calling to me during our break while I was still on stage..


"Hey Keyboard guy "...

It's amazing what an Instrument labled COUNTRY can do for a career!

[Bill Hatcher]

What is so sad about this whole RR thing is that his bus just continues to run the entire route of the pedal steel forum community over and over....and most would rather walk along kicking the same dirt on the side of the road than get on it and maybe see somthing different.

[Charles Davidson]

I believe MOST of the members here appreciate what Robert has done for our instrument,the FEW that don't I'm sure would feel the same about the innovational things Mike P.has done.Myself I love hard core country corn,the stuff Mike,Robert,Jim Cohn,Bobbe,Mooney,I love it ALL when it's done WELL,no matter the style.and all the above do their thing well.DYKBC.

[Danny Bates]

I must be old. My friends know who Buddy Emmons is, but not many of them know who Robert Randolph is.

They usually just say something like "I can't remember his name, but he sure plays the heck out of a steel guitar"

There's an old video of a guy smashing records saying "This Rock & Roll has got to go!!!" I don't want to be that guy.

If I don't like something, I don't watch it. I can usually take about 4 minutes of Robert Randolph.

"Fall mountains, just don't fall on me" - Jimi Hendrix

[Joe Drivdahl]

I wasn't going to get in this discussion at all, but...

For me RR is to steel guitar what folks like Leroy Parnell and Bonnie Raitt are to the six string; whereas, Curley Chalker and Frank Hardcastle were to the steel what Herb Ellis and Barney Kessel were to the six string. Same instruments, different styles... Like them or not, its difficult to compare the two styles because its an Apple vs. Orange thing.

As Hamlet (not Norm, but the other Hamlet) said, "Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

[Duane Reese]

Man alive, how about that Harmos pedal steel prototype?!

I'm surprised the controversy hasn't been about that thing! Hey, I'd give it a try...

I feel sorry for Robert Randolph. He's always a nucleus on a forum, which he's not even part of, for people who obviously don't really care for each other to have it out... Again, and again, and again...

That would suck.

[Mike Perlowin RIP]

I believe MOST of the members here appreciate what Robert has done for our instrument,the FEW that don't I'm sure would feel the same about the innovational things Mike P.has done.

I don't know, Certainly there must be people who don't like my stuff, but nobody has ever said anything to that effect. It has certainly not provoked the kind of reaction RR's stuff has. Either they like it or they ignore it. Nobody has put it down.

To tell the truth, I was disappointed that I wasn't mentioned in the recent "most controversial player" thread.

[Charles Davidson]

Mike, what I meant was a FEW may think that the steel is ONLY for the whining,crying,sounds of the old hard core country music.They won't accept any thing different or innovative such as the things you or Robert does,I played a Curly tape for a guy one time,he said[man that's to damn jazzy for me]DYKBC.

[Mike Perlowin RIP]

Charles I'm sure you're correct about people who only like E9 crying country steel.

My point though was that there are some here who really hate RR's playing with great passion. I remember somebody here saying that he'd rather see the steel guitar die out altogether than to have RR's style become the dominant style of playing. My stuff doesn't elicit that kind of highly emotional response. People who don't like it just kind of shrug it off and say "not my thing" but they don't actively hate it the way they do RR's work.

Getting back to RR, it seems that he's become a better performer in recent years, but not growing as a musician. As exciting and original as he is, as far as I can tell he's playing the same things he was playing 5 years ago. And while I was excited about him then, today, at least as far as I'm concerned, it's gotten old.

I'd like to see him concentrate more on expanding the range of his music and less on his performance. Maybe add some jazz elements to his playing. He certainly has the talent.

[Mark Durante]

Unfortunately the performance is more important to the mainstream audience than the music is. Back in the day it was a big problem for Jimi Hendrix when after a while he wanted to concentrate more on making good music and less on the theatrics but all the crowds wanted was burning guitars etc.etc.
I've seen RR play solo without the band and briefly met him. No attitude, no nonsense, down to earth, very talented guy.

[Tony Glassman]

Still......how can you have a steel player as well known as RR and not invite him to play St. Louis?

FWIW I think they should let Pete Rose into the Baseball HOF too!

[Bill Hatcher]

Still......how can you have a steel player as well known as RR and not invite him to play St. Louis?

FWIW I think they should let Pete Rose into the Baseball HOF too!

Because the folks running the St Louis show are totally not interested in having any thing at that show except "traditional" steel.

[Steve Feldman]

Well - several years ago, they had Joe Goldmark w/ Jim Campilongo on the main stage, closing the Friday night show.

To me, this was FANTASTIC! I mean just great! Here you have a great band, featuring a great steel player and one of the most innovative and well-repected Tele guys on the planet just KILLING!

The room more or less cleared during the first number....

That's how you can (unfortunately) not invite RR to StL...

[b0b]

I remember somebody here saying that he'd rather see the steel guitar die out altogether than to have RR's style become the dominant style of playing. My stuff doesn't elicit that kind of highly emotional response.

I've played your music for country fans and had them beg me to turn it off, Mike. They responded to it in the same way that I respond to b@njo, which is to say, well, you know.

Getting back to RR, it seems that he's become a better performer in recent years, but not growing as a musician. As exciting and original as he is, as far as I can tell he's playing the same things he was playing 5 years ago.

The same can be said of almost every professional entertainer. You find a market niche and play to it. You would have to know him personally to know whether he's "growing as a musician" or not. Successful entertainers stick with what works for their audience.

For example, I played country music semi-professionally for 25 years. During that time, I also produced an album of algorithmic music that taught me a great deal about music composition. I explored diatonic pedal steel tunings. As a musician I grew in leaps in bounds, but you would never know it from my stage act.

I'd like to see him concentrate more on expanding the range of his music and less on his performance. Maybe add some jazz elements to his playing. He certainly has the talent.

Yeah, he could be making a fraction of the money he makes today!

[Mike Perlowin RIP]

I've played your music for country fans and had them beg me to turn it off, Mike.

Oh God. My day, in fact my whole life is ruined. I'm gonna go eat some worms!

Seriously, I expected as much. Steve mentioned the reaction of the audience at the convention to Joe Goldmark and Jim Campolongo. The same thing happened to Paul Franklin and Hal Rugg when they played jazz at the convention, and to my shock and horror, when Alvino Rey, the father of our instrument, first appeared (I think it was 1988) with a 17 piece big band, people in the audience were saying things like "Who is this guy? Why isn't he playing country? I came here to hear country, not this (fecal matter)." And of course we all remember what happened when Buddy Cage played there.

But even though the "if it ain't country it ain't music" contingent may really dislike my recordings, I still see a level of passionate hatred toward RR's music that I've (thankfully) not experienced myself.

Maybe it's because I'm an active participant here and nobody wants to hurt my feelings.

I also don't see that same passionate hatred toward the music of Susan Alcorn, Chas Smith, B.J. Cole, King Sunny Adé, Robert Powell, Ned Selfe, or any of the other steel players who are taking the instrument into new territory. None of us are popular with those who only like country music, but none of us have provoked the kind of hostile reaction RR has received on this forum.

Maybe some of the resentment against RR is due to the fact that he's so successful. I hate to think that some of it may be due to the fact that he's black, but that thought cannot be dismissed.

[Mike Perlowin RIP]

Still......how can you have a steel player as well known as RR and not invite him to play St. Louis?

I believe (perhaps mistakenly) that RR was invited to play, and wanted to accept, but his manager killed the deal by insisting that Scotty pay some exorbitant amount of money.

[Bob Simons]

I can hardly believe I'm still ready this collective nonsense.

Pedal Steel is a tool. Thank heavens someone with a little artistic urge chose to play one in this century!

Maybe the reason all the steel players I see in St, Louis every year can't even afford to buy their wives a new front tooth is that no body else really wants to hear yet another version of Johnny What's -his-name singing "Whiskey River" EVEN with Buddy Emmons riffing behind him.

Get a life! Nothing wrong with that music- just time to move on.

As I've commented before, Fessendon is so "proud" of RR that they didn't even mention him in their display at last year's convention and he was playing their instrument.

Actually I really appreciate the experience in St. Louis far beyond the great old music- it's the last place I ever go on earth where I feel like the youngest guy in the room at 62! I think it is time you fellas tolerate if not embrace and encourage something a little broader than you are used to hearing from a pedal steel.

[Jerry Fessenden]

Spell it Fessenden,,,but, anyway, I'm not sure what you mean about "not mentioning"... I mention lots of players, whether they play my guitar or another brand,,several are fine guitars ... I think RR plays mine much of the time, also others when the music (maybe not my kind) calls for that other guitar. My guitar , BTW, seems to wind up with many of the Sacred Steelers...not sure why, but they call for it a lot. Robert has called me several times and would play for 20 minutes before saying a word..in that time he went into many different styles , which I have mentioned before....since I grew up with some of the best mainline jazz players in the world, I recognize various styles of music, not just country..I think RR is amazing , however, I happen to think his management has missed many great spots that he could have been booked into. There must be a reason why he has been on network tv and so many recordings . JF

[Charlie McDonald]

He calls you up and plays...?

What a job....

[Tony Prior]

Although this has nothing to do with the playing or the Music, I would bet most of Mike P's money that MOST of the people that attend RR's shows have no clue he is playing a Pedal Steel Guitar.

I think we are dreaming if the we think the minions know what this Instrument is.

Keyboard
Electric Slide
Electric lap
Slide Pedal
Country Slide Guitar
Hawaiian slide

I recall that when RR was on the Regis show, Regis, even with all of his supposed background information didn't know what it was, he asked Robert, who laughed and said.."It's not a Keyboard " and never actually followed thru with what it was .

Above I mentioned that I was in a big "COUNTRY" venue a week back and a gal yelled up to me.."Hey Keyboard guy"

I don't think we have arrived quite yet...

[Theresa Galbraith]

Like mentioned the Steel Shows are a much older crowd.
Many have walked out, because of being tired, hungry, and the time slot for the artist.

I'd love to see the energy that RR would bring. I don't think it'll ever happen.

[Mike Perlowin RIP]

I would bet most of Mike P's money ...

Tony, You think, I have any?

When I saw RR, a year or two before he became famous, he made an effort to educate the audience, telling them "This is a pedal steel guitar." or something along those lines. He probably doesn't do that anymore, as his audience today would most likely rather see him dance than hear him talk.

[Charley Wilder]

[quote="Tony Prior"]

I recall that when RR was on the Regis show, Regis, even with all of his supposed background information didn't know what it was, he asked Robert, who laughed and said.."It's not a Keyboard " and never actually followed thru with what it was .

That RR was on the show is a step in the right direction. As far as not knowing what a steel is, give the steel more exposure which RR is doing, and anybody who cares will find out what it was. Try explaining what a Dobro is to somebody who has never seen one or maybe heard one. I played one up north in the 60's. Man, I used to dread breaks, I'd have to try to explain what it was to a half dozen or so people!lol