Paul Franklin & Mike Smith - United Steels

Mike Ihde · Post by **Mike Ihde** » 17 Nov 2012 11:52 am

Fantastic! Thanks for posting. But do you know why it's only in mono and only one side of the stereo. There are solos going on that can't be heard?

Mike Ihde · Post by **Mike Ihde** » 17 Nov 2012 11:53 am

Fantastic! Thanks for posting. But do you know why it's only in mono and only one side of the stereo. There are solos going on that can't be heard?

Roy Thomson · Post by **Roy Thomson** » 17 Nov 2012 12:56 pm

That is some great playing and it is right for it to
be heard ..especially by the Steel Guitar community!!
Thanks Paul for initiating and Russ for making this available.
May I ask where Mike Smith is now and if he is still playing??
Many Thanks,

RT

Jim Lindsey (Louisiana) · Post by **Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)** » 17 Nov 2012 2:43 pm

Hi, Roy ... if I'm recalling properly, I think Mike is located somewhere in Arizona and has the Mike & T Band (and, boy, are they awesome!). They have a web site called "House Of Steel" located at http://www.houseofsteelband.com/index.html

Check out their Demos/Song List section. There's samples of songs and as always Mike's steel playing is awesome and wonderful.

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 17 Nov 2012 5:19 pm

Mr. Ihde, you're headphones or computer are doing something wrong - the 2nd track has some stereo not-unison harmonizing going on, clear as can be. Wiggle your cord, maybe?

Mike Ihde · Post by **Mike Ihde** » 17 Nov 2012 5:49 pm

Sorry, the button on my power amp was acting up.

Darvin Willhoite · Post by **Darvin Willhoite** » 17 Nov 2012 5:58 pm

Whooo boy, my kind of music. Great stuff.

Jim Means · Post by **Jim Means** » 17 Nov 2012 7:14 pm

Wow, Russ, thank you so much. A special thanks to Paul and Mike. This is great steel work and Ben was one of my very favorite bass players. I love this stuff.

Thanks again,

Jim in Missouri

Clete Ritta · Post by **Clete Ritta** » 18 Nov 2012 5:08 am

Thanks, I really enjoyed them all!

Clete

Cliff Waterman · Post by **Cliff Waterman** » 18 Nov 2012 8:08 pm

This adds a whole new meaning to the phrase..."American Pickers". Thanks Russ, what a find. Hope you are well in Ohio!

dlayne · Post by **dlayne** » 19 Nov 2012 7:01 am

2 of my personal favorite pickers,,WHAT an early Xmas gift,,,,,,,,

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 19 Nov 2012 1:47 pm

Thanks! I remember hearing these when I moved to Nashville (I think Mike played them for me). My recollection is that it was recorded in 1976, but I've been wrong before.

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 19 Nov 2012 2:14 pm

Now that I'm listening to these, I realize that I had a cassette of this album. I think Bobby Black gave it to me....

I also have a recollection of hearing Paul, Mike, Ben and Randy practicing this material at Mike's house in preperation for playing at Scotty's. I recall I was told the crowd hated them.

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 19 Nov 2012 2:27 pm

For those wondering, Paul was playing a Shobud pro2 (one of his Dad's custom jobs) and Mike was playing a wood emmons PP.

Rex Thomas · Post by **Rex Thomas** » 19 Nov 2012 6:40 pm

..Or those were the gtrs. they played at the Nshvl. show. I don't remember the color of Mike's Emmons, some sort of Emmons sunburst, dark to natural maybe. Paul's gtr. was amber/Gretsch orange for lack of better description.

That's hilarious that they didn't go over at Scotty's.

At the Nshvl show they TOOK NO PRISONERS.

Darvin Willhoite · Post by **Darvin Willhoite** » 19 Nov 2012 6:58 pm

Yeah, if they didn't play "A Way to Survive" they didn't go over very well at ISGC.

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 20 Nov 2012 8:51 am

Rex Thomas wrote:..Or those were the gtrs. they played at the Nshvl. show. I don't remember the color of Mike's Emmons, some sort of Emmons sunburst, dark to natural maybe. Paul's gtr. was amber/Gretsch orange for lack of better description.

Mike's guitar was a brown sunburst PP. I'm pretty sure that those were the guitars used on the session, since Mike had been playing that guitar for at least a couple of years, and Paul played a ShoBud through the late 70s, when he went to an Emmons, then the Franklins he's been playing ever since.

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 20 Nov 2012 8:49 pm

Awesome...my two favorite players! I used to have a cassette of this years ago that is who knows where...

Buck Grantham R.I.P. · Post by **Buck Grantham R.I.P.** » 21 Nov 2012 8:39 am

Right on off the cliff and sailing free!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it . Thanks for putting it on here. Thanks Russ.. Buck Grantham

Russ Wever · Post by **Russ Wever** » 22 Dec 2012 8:46 am

I sent the tracks to Mike (Smith)
and here're some of his comments
regarding 'United Steels' . . .

"I had forgotten much of that stuff but it sorta seemed familier at the same time...kinda like it was an old dream or a past life : )

The name "United Steel" came from Pete and so we all just went with it (he even wanted to use the United Steel logo...from the steel company itself...might've proved to be an issue but we'll never know). He loved having young musicians, songwriters and singers around...Linda Hargrove was working with Pete at the time (and I think Bobby Black and Paul swapped off playing steel for her on the road) along with a handful of other notables. Even though we never got this project past the demo stage you have, Pete had arranged for a record deal with Capitol Records in Los Angeles (unheard of budget for those days) but it brought mixed reactions from the band. Paul was wanting to concentrate on BeBop and, of course, the studio player pursuit (we all know how the latter turned out). I was just a free agent at first but Pete then arranged for me to work with Charlie Rich (Pete played steel on all those records). Anyhow, whether it was the timing or just the fear of venturing out into a larger market, we did not go for the record deal. Even if we had, none of us were thinking it'd be more than an occassional gig at best.

I need to do some research on those tunes as we wrote most of them ourselves. I do not remember signing any publishing deal with Pete's company but we all recognized Pete as the owner of the masters. Might be something Paul and/or myself might record for fun someday. The one song "Ahtram" was a tune I wrote with Rick Harper (former guitarist for Kenny Rogers)...it was named after my first wife...Martha spelled backwards. It was a backwards and awkward relationship so the name made sense : )

OK, back to the real world and get my act together for a gig tonight!"

Fred Amendola · Post by **Fred Amendola** » 22 Dec 2012 11:13 am

Thanks to Paul, Mike, and Russ for posting.
I remember Paul and Mike playing some of this stuff at "The Wheel" in late '75 during the DJ Convention.
Those were some great times. Steel up and down Broadway.

Does anyone know the names of the tracks by any chance ?

thx
Fred

Frank Estes · Post by **Frank Estes** » 30 Jul 2013 4:50 pm

Very Steely Dan - I like it!

Wally Moyers · Post by **Wally Moyers** » 1 Aug 2013 7:39 pm

This is cool stuff Russ! Thanks for posting!

Anne Giroux · Post by **Anne Giroux** » 4 Aug 2013 4:55 pm

WOW! Justlove this stuff & thanks so much for posting...it's really appreciated. Super great work Paul & Mike.

Brian Ostrom · Post by **Brian Ostrom** » 5 Aug 2013 3:54 pm

Holy mother of God!! .. Pls make this available to the rest of the music world via a CD.. Small steps for steel. Giant steps for Jazz /funk/ pop Listeners....
Let the world know what a dynamic and versatile instrument steel can be at the hands of masters!!!!
Thank you Russ

The Steel Guitar Forum

Paul Franklin & Mike Smith - United Steels

This is Great

Wow!

Paul & Mike

Dan: CORRECT

Re: Dan: CORRECT

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