Tommy White with Lionel Richie Friday Night

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 15 Apr 2012 5:54 am

I'll disagree with the writer. Lionel has country flavor to his writing and singing. It was a perfect fit!

I also loved watching Nicole & sister smile with pride for their dad !!!!!

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 15 Apr 2012 5:56 am

Chris Ivey, I'm not a fan of his also. So don't feel alone.

bob drawbaugh · Post by **bob drawbaugh** » 15 Apr 2012 6:01 am

I don't know Ritchie and have never met him. I wouldn't dare say I knew what he was thinking. It was just an observation from a TV viewer and may have not been the case at all. Ritchie married a lady from my home town when he was with the Commodores. My Dad did an addition on his inlaws home when I was a kid and they all spoke highly of Ritchie. Ritchie even paid for the addition and the remodel. So I'm sure he is a very nice person and would never be rude to fellow a musician. Well he might be rude to Kenny Rogers and his new look

While I'm not a Ritchie fan and wouldn't buy the album regardless of who the steel payer was. There are millions of people who are fans that would never listen to a traditional country record. By them buying the Ritchie album they will be exposed to the steelguitar maybe for the first time. In that respect it's good for the steelguitar and steelguitar players. Thank you Tommy for being such a great ambassadore for the steelguitar.

Charles Curtis · Post by **Charles Curtis** » 15 Apr 2012 6:17 am

I forgot that this was going to be on. Is there a site anywhere that this can be seen again? Thank you. IMO Lionel Ritchie and Tommy White are two fantastic musicians. This is one that I really regret missing.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 15 Apr 2012 6:50 am

You can watch the whole thing on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VrFOs_Pjb4

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 15 Apr 2012 7:02 am

Thanks for posting that link Mark. I missed it too.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 15 Apr 2012 7:18 am

Wow - thanks for that link, Mark. Now I can give us a shot of TW doing his thing on the show.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 15 Apr 2012 7:58 am

Dang! I missed it. Can anybody make a tape or DVD of the show?

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 15 Apr 2012 11:28 am

Out of curiosity, does anyone have a listing of the other musicians in the band?

Watching it on YouTube right now. Awesome stuff. Always loved Ritchie. Tommy White, what a killer player.

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 15 Apr 2012 12:16 pm

Lionel Ritchie featured on a one hour BBC UK documentary last week about tracing his family tree. He came across as being a warm, genuine and open human being. The documentary was followed by a recording of a live show of him in concert and frankly it was superb.

I can't see any reason why anyone would want to be critical of him or his music. To the credit of those involved in this show, they have included a top exponent of our instrument in his back up band in the form of Tommy White. I know we are all entitled to an opinion, but why must some be so vitriolic?

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 15 Apr 2012 12:59 pm

Here's a link from the other SGF thread on this great show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VrFOs_Pjb4

Great singing, playing and arranging, with a special mention for whoever did the sound. Absolutely first-class. I just love the changes in so many of his songs and hearing Tommy making the most of them is the icing on the cake.

'Well done!' to all concerned - especially TW!

I love hearing steel in this setting and I'm reminded of one of my favourite Vince Gill sides in which he duets with Gladys Knight on the Tamla classic, 'Ain't Nothing Like The real Thing'. Does anyone know who played steel on that? I like steel in a traditional setting but prefer hearing it when the chord-changes are that bit richer.

Mike Archer · Post by **Mike Archer** » 15 Apr 2012 1:09 pm

I just finished watching the show and I thought it was great
Lionel was fantastic and so was Tommy White
every note Tommy played was in the right place
and was so tastefully done
he is an awesome player
all the guest stars were great as well
dead music? NO WAY it was very refreshing music
and guess what.....the songs had melody!!
not just trash songs with loud distorted guitar
and loud snare drum and 3 dam cords......
it was " real music "
Mike

Ronald Cid · Post by **Ronald Cid** » 15 Apr 2012 1:13 pm

If you want to watch the video it is on You Tube at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VrFOs_Pjb4

If you want to save the entire video copy the link and go to this site

http://keepvid.com/

And paste the you tube link into the link box and click on download

You will then be given a choice of downloading in various formats. I always choose MP4 720P. Highest video rate

To play any video the best video player bar none is a free video player called VLC Player available for free at this site. VLC can play any media (No codec missing messages)

http://www.videolan.org/

The Lionel Richie show is a hugh file over 1 gigabytes, but well worth it. This site can download any You Tube video on a Mac or a PC

By the way, I was never a big fan of Lionel Richie, but realizing all the hits he wrote and watching this video, I am among the converted. He is a monster musician, and appears to be a real gentleman. By the way, I agree with all the other persons that posted. Nice to hear the PSG used in that style and always cool to hear and watch Tommy White play.

Thanks RC

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 15 Apr 2012 1:15 pm

How 'bout Tommy's nice solo in 'Easy'???? (at about 33')

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 15 Apr 2012 1:17 pm

Tommy: Did Lionel have his own MD there? Did you have any reading to do during the rehearsal process?

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 15 Apr 2012 1:47 pm

The best eye-opener steel presentation in quite some time. I can be hardheaded when it comes to country music. The performance by Jennifer Nettles and the finale at the end featuring Kenny Rodgers boosted my confidence levels enormously in their abilities to perform their best in any situation.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 15 Apr 2012 4:45 pm

well evidently it's a good time for lionel to put some product out there, hearing how many of you are huge fans. i found it boring.
viva la differencio....that's what makes the world go 'round.

not meaning to be venomous, vitriolic or nasty....just honest.
i found it to be a step backward but with the added lack of depth of modern overproduction and hype.
just my opinion.
love ya all, really..each to his own.

Bent Romnes · Post by **Bent Romnes** » 15 Apr 2012 5:10 pm

Tommy White, You just brought the steel guitar to a higher world level. Imagine the millions more who have been introduced to our beautiful instrument!
You made a solid statement with every note. The Show Pro cut through with lots of presence and clarity.

Chris, Thanks for your honesty. I figured you didn't mean to come off as nasty or mean so thanks for tempering your thoughts in your last post.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 16 Apr 2012 4:47 am

Here's the band:

"The band consisted of Steve Gibson, Kerry Marx, Brent Mason, Larry Paxton, Stewart Duncan, Eddie Bayers, John Jarvis, Edgar Struble as MD and myself."

(Thanks, Tommy.)

Mike Archer: I agree with you - it's nice to finally hear some real melodies, eh?

kevin ryan · Post by **kevin ryan** » 16 Apr 2012 5:50 am

I was soooo thrilled to see my steel guitar hero get a national audience.. Those songs, and adding the country spin was so much fun. I am not a big fan of the current country music product but they did a nice job with those timeless hits. It was a real treat for me. I believe that if Tommy could get 5 minutes of playing and soloing on a national broadcast, steel guitars would come flying off the shelves...He has so much soul, finesse, taste and tone, young potential players would be knocked out..

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 16 Apr 2012 6:09 am

Great for young players!

John Coffman · Post by **John Coffman** » 16 Apr 2012 6:39 am

IMHO I really enjoyed the show and Tommy's playing. I like how he blended the right phases and short runs in the songs. Anna and I got the cd and it is a nice piece of music to add to your music collection. Thanks to the camera person who got a great shot of the guitar also.

Danny Bates · Post by **Danny Bates** » 16 Apr 2012 6:44 am

Great musicianship, especially Tommy's steel playing. Lionel's voice sounds better than the records.

Tommy proved steel guitar can be played in any genre.

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 16 Apr 2012 7:59 am

I really did think it was quite a positive pro steel guitar showing on such a large national format. Tommy was exquisite, and the perfect guy for the job! I'd be willing to bet that Lionel wanted steel up in the mix! The stuff he played was beautiful and right on the money! Very cool!

For the record, I'm not a huge fan of the direction of pop and country music (or even jazz) these days either. More often than not, my criteria for "liking" something, is if I don't hate it. The big over produced shobiz amateur hour spectacles that are everywhere just don't do much for me. In my mind it's "Singing with the Wanna Be's" and "Dancing with the Has-Beens"

But like Chris says, "vive la différence".

This was different.

I think it's cool that Lionel Ritchie has a new career, and seems to be a nice, talented guy. Like it or not, he's a real professional and has a lot of fans all over the world. I'm thinkin' it's a good thing.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 16 Apr 2012 8:12 am

i will say that tommy's playing is as good as it gets...he's worked to become that way. i think if he were able to perform in front of this large an audience (theater + television) doing what he 'really' can do.....showcasing his c6 chops and creativity as well...
the music world audience would have to sit up and take notice of what an all encompassing instrument the steel is with talent such as his at the controls.

does jason aldean have a face...or is he just a hat?

The Steel Guitar Forum

Tommy White with Lionel Richie Friday Night

it was a great show