Do I have a style? =)

Eric Myers · Post by **Eric Myers** » 27 Aug 2003 7:19 am

I just got done recording my second song using the pedal steel - this time I actually played all the way thru the piece - I'm still too scared to pick two notes at once on a recording and waver out of tune a bit and use fingers and no picks and no shoes. Anyway I am no big steel historian or anything and was wondering if my "sound" has a precedence or someone I might want to check out with a similar "style" -and yes I know its the 6 note newbie sound alwready hahaha anyway heres the track it should play even if you are on dialup just by clicking it - just a song I wrote based on the age old story of taking your old lady down to the river................also any tips or observations are appreciated and needed.
http://www.acidplanet.com/components/playfile.asp?PID=301553&T=2249 [This message was edited by Eric Myers on 27 August 2003 at 08:25 AM.]

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 27 Aug 2003 5:31 pm

Sorry Eric! Your file will open on my media player, but it won't play. Maybe someone else will have better luck. Or, you could post it in MP3 format, which is much more widely accepted. (My "Microsoft Media Player" player just won't play some of the newer .asx and .asp files.)

Leonard G. Robertson · Post by **Leonard G. Robertson** » 27 Aug 2003 7:28 pm

Eric,I had no problem hearing your recording on my media player loud & clear. I'm not enough an accomplished musician to be a critic. I'm struggling to learn to play this contraption also. My buddy & I was at your base(Ft. Wood) yesterday, & I wondered how your steel playing is progressing. Sounds like you have a good ear & talent.

Eric Myers · Post by **Eric Myers** » 27 Aug 2003 7:41 pm

leonard thanks for the listen - man I fall more in love with the beauty of this area every day and am now attending night courses at Drury full-time, lotsa fun with the Drill Sergeant wife who works more than 100 hours a week! We'll see each other in late 2004 by my calculations.

Oops I didnt take into account some of you all have probably never updated your Windows Media Player since windows 95 =P the file I posted was in wma9 format, the newest and sounds great even at low streams -but heres a couple other formats then: http://www.acidplanet.com/components/playfile.asp?PID=301553&T=2249 (the windows media 9 version) http://www.homerocker.com/DevilsElbow64.mp3 (streaming mp3 at 64 kbs second) http://www.homerocker.com/devilselbow.zip (zip of higher quality mp3)
The more I listen to myself recorded the more out of tune I sound......maybe I need a tuning filter on my ears
[This message was edited by Eric Myers on 27 August 2003 at 08:43 PM.]

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 28 Aug 2003 9:28 am

Thanks! That's better...the MP3 worked, and fidelity was excellent. (Sorry, I don't have the "latest and greatest" computer or software

)

Your style is simplistic and different, and shows some of the technique used by players such as Sneaky Pete, or maybe Greg Leisz, that don't play traditional country licks. The musical style of the song could be "Alt-Country Rock", and shows more than a little influence of past rock artists like CSN&Y, or maybe Todd Rundgren. If that's the type of stuff you do, and what you like, then by all means, do it!

An up-side to this type of style is that you won't have a lot of competition. (There just aren't many A/C-R steelers out there.) The down-side is that many steelers here won't relate to your stuff, and you'll have to look a little harder to find role models.

It will be interesting to see what you sound like in a couple of years.

Good luck!

Brad Burch · Post by **Brad Burch** » 28 Aug 2003 10:47 am

Pretty cool song. If that's you singing, you sound a lot like Rocky Erickson from the old Austin band the 13th Floor Elevators. One of my favorites!

Try listening to some of Lucinda Williams albums like "Car Wheels On a Gravel Road", there's some sly steel and pedalbro playing on there. Elvis Costello has a couple of albums with steel on them that follow a real simple elegant style.

Eric Myers · Post by **Eric Myers** » 29 Aug 2003 6:01 am

Well its nice to know I am on the right path then since it is Gregs style I really like - as in his performance with Joni Mitchell - and Lucinda Williams is a favorite too. Also I am shooting for the type of thing Bucky Baxter does on Dylans TIME OUT OF MIND as well as his work on Steve Earles first album GUITAR TOWN. i see the steel as a harbinger of mood =) Thanks
Eric