"Reality" check on the future of the pedal steel

[Ray Minich]

Ya just gotta want to do it...

[Clyde Mattocks]

I agree with Mark's assessment that you can't guage this by looking at a single type of gig. I had two steel gigs last week and three this week. You sometimes have to bite the bullet and try to "create" gigs by occasionally going where the money isn't so good just to see if there is any possibility of building a following in a certain area. We tried this last saturday with no guarantee and the owner advertised well and we made slightly more than we would have asked at a flat rate. We call these our "expansion" gigs where we speculate. Lots of time, we just get bit. Another thing you have to do if you're looking work for yourself (instead of the band) is hang out where music is played. It's the old "out of sight, out of mind".
All of this said, I realize my part of the country is little more active musically than a lot of places.

[David Mason]

If you're not already listening to alt-country, alt-rock, post-rock, post-metal, and trance music, you're not going to be in the next generation of steel players in the future. I'm not; and I won't be, but I'm fine with that. The Important New Steeler (whoever it is) isn't here on the forum, he's too busy practicing. And the one and only thing you can count on is, he won't sound anything like Buddy Emmons.

[Daniel Morris]

Then again, when you think of how many people play the pedal steel, out of the billions of people here on earth, we're kind of in the same minority as super models.

Oh, I love that one, Chas! I feel so pretty!

Yea, I think older styles will be around a long, long time. But evolution is inevitable and not to be feared. As I've said before, why can't we have steel both ways? Having an affinity for one style certainly doesn't preclude having it for another, and there are those who are willing to listen to the instrument if the player is willing to play the instrument. Still love that quote: Pedal steel guitar is an instrument, NOT a style.

[Robert Harper]

I understand the same is being said about the fiddle, A dying art, by old men. Dont know how true that is though because fiddles and banjo and Mandolins are in abundance in Blue Grass. Having said the last blue grass event I went to there were a lot of people like me old and irrelavent

[David Mason]

There's gonna be music WARS in the nursing homes....

[CrowBear Schmitt]

now that's funny David !
can't wait...