Really Old Stuff

[Al Braun]

The accordion

Do you suppose the world is full of old accordion players that bring their boxes out of the closet and play? Suppose they sit and grumble about the passing of the polkas and the waltzes? Probably. They just don’t have a Forum, thank you B0b, to voice their MHOs.
The piano accordion was patented in 1829 and was a very popular instrument for over 100 years, both, in bands and as a solo instrument. After WWII, electronics entered the picture, electronic accordions came out that could do everything but sing. The next step was the synthesizer which later transformed into a light, low priced keyboard. POOF! The accordion was history and nobody cared but the accordion players, most of whom had already adapted to the new keyboards.

The pedal steel has a very brief history compared to the accordion and can’t even provide its own accompaniment. Don’t misunderstand, I’ve been here 73 years and loved the steel guitar most of them. The point I’m trying to get across is that people and styles change, drastically. If you think country music hasn’t gone through a constant change, get a record of the Opry in the ‘30s. Screechy fiddles, NO steel, nasal singing, a style that earned the term Hillbilly.

The 40s weren’t much different. In WWII, juke boxes were popular with homesick GIs and you could get clear channel stations halfway across the nation at night. The Queen City station, WCKY, Cincinnati was country music HQ. If you wanted to cut a record east of the big river, you cut it in Cincinnati. WSM carried the Opry on Saturday night and that was that for Nashville. The steel guitar began to be heard on a few records but mostly, I remember Oswald’s Dobro. The steel came on as kind of a novelty instrument and I heard it more on western artist’s releases, like Jimmy Wakely, where it was played with a kind of pineapple flavor.

The western bands introduced more steel on records, Bob Wills, Spade Cooley, Hank Thompson and a host of others. The steel got a whole verse or chorus during those days, believe it? Not just part of a fill shared with fiddle, guitar, piano and horn like today. Nashville responded with ET, who didn’t use that much steel in the beginning, Eddie A who had LITTLE ROY WIGGINS, the man who really made my skin tingle with his ting-a-ling, and a host of other artists. Maybelle Carter introduced a guitar player named CA who was destined to change country music forever. I heard her say on an interview that the Nashville musicians were very jealous and treated him very shabbily. That seems to be a trait that continues today. Chet did survive, however, and IMNSHO contributed greatly to the decline of the steel with 'The Nashville Sound' and 'The Million Dollar Band'

The 50s were probably the halcyon days of the steel but some of the Nashville greats used them very little on their recordings. Jim 'Big Velvet' Reeves and Patsy Cline almost never. Elvis, no way, and Johnny Cash, next to never. We owe Jimmy Dickens, Marty Robbins, Hank Thompson and a host of other greats for keeping the steel alive as long as it has been. Also, folks like DeWitt Scott, Tom Bradshaw and Russ Rask deserve a lot of credit for promoting the steel.

My steel will never be relegated to a closet. It knows its place, set up right in our front room where it draws me like a magnet each time I try to pass by. I thought I would share these thoughts with you, if it went on too long, forgive me, you know us old folks do go on, and on, and on. Thanks, AL

[Donny Hinson]

You're right about one thing, Al. The steel came in as a "novelty instrument", and now it looks like it's headed back that way.

[Dayna Wills]

Hi,
I saw a picture of Uncle Bob's band in 1938. On one side of the stage there were horns and on the other side was an ...accordian! Who knew?

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[c c johnson]

Dayna in the 40s in Calif if you did not have an accordion in the band you were dead meat. Even Roy Acuff could not draw the big crowds until added an accordian and had oswald to play an electric steel which os hated with a purp[le passion See you in san marcos.

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[Jerry Hayes]

I've got a CD of Tex William's and the Western Caravan of which most of the sides were recorded in the 40's. It features Joaquin Murphy on some of the hottest steel you ever heard. On one real fast cut I thought the lead guitar was playing and then a couple of slides appeared in the solo and I realized it was Joaquin. That guy could burn a single string solo. But another thing about this band is it featured Pedro DePaul on accordion and he was one hot player. He plays great fills and a solo here and there. All of the fiddle breaks are usually on two or three fiddles, even the up tempo things. Those guys really had their s--t together! This was one of the greatest bands ever in the history of our music and I just wish they'd got more recognition. They were on a par or even a little above some of the great western swing bands of that era. And this even includes Bob Wills!

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Have a good one! JH U-12<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jerry Hayes on 01 April 2000 at 07:18 AM.]</p></FONT>

[Mike Spaeth]

Jerry, I think you're right. To me the Spade Cooley/Tex Williams sound is far more polished than Bob Wills.

[Janice Brooks]

Pedro did arrangments for both Spade and Tex.
There was a feature on him in last summers issue of Country Journel.
Pedro passed away about a month before Joaquin.

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Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047