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Topic: New material added to performances? |
Darrell Criswell
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2019 10:26 am |
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| I see some bands and some steel artists who are always working up new material. Whenever I see them play I can expect something new and interesting along with the stuff they have played for a long time. However, most artists and bands just seem to play the same thing all the time. The worst aspect of this is at some steel shows a person plays on two days and plays exactly the same songs in the same order both days. Is it just too difficult to come up with new material, or do they think the audiences just like the same stuff again and again? |
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Greg Lambert
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2019 6:10 pm Re: New material added to performances?
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| Darrell Criswell wrote: |
| I see some bands and some steel artists who are always working up new material. Whenever I see them play I can expect something new and interesting along with the stuff they have played for a long time. However, most artists and bands just seem to play the same thing all the time. The worst aspect of this is at some steel shows a person plays on two days and plays exactly the same songs in the same order both days. Is it just too difficult to come up with new material, or do they think the audiences just like the same stuff again and again? |
You see a lot of that at steel conventions. Same old songs by most with a few artist playing something different. However the audience still seems to like it. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 30 Jun 2019 8:37 am
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I recently watched a steel jam video on YouTube. Had to be 25 players there - all playing a very similar version of the same song. I was stunned by the lack of variety and imagination. It was pretty much like they all learned from the same teacher, and they all wanted to sound the same.
And we wonder why there aren't many young people at steel shows? |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2019 9:20 am
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| Amen. After a couple of trips to Scotty's show in St Louis I felt diminishing returns. I said to my self if I ever play at one of these shows I must try to do stuff I've never heard before. |
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 30 Jun 2019 2:09 pm
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I went to two ISGCs in total. There were a few stunning moments (Paul Franklin comes to mind - he played some unusual pieces) but I found so much of it tediously repetitive and I'd had enough.
I did notice that, when a player did push the envelope a bit, some audience members pointedly stood up and left.
Words almost fail me.
_________________
Roger Rettig - Emmons D10s, Quilter TT-12, B-bender Teles and old Martins.
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Darrell Criswell
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2019 3:33 pm
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| Joe Wright seemed to kill everybody playing "A Way to Survive" but I haven't heard him playing any new material in a long time. |
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Curt Trisko
From:
St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
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Posted 2 Jul 2019 5:59 am Re: New material added to performances?
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| Darrell Criswell wrote: |
| I see some bands and some steel artists who are always working up new material. Whenever I see them play I can expect something new and interesting along with the stuff they have played for a long time. However, most artists and bands just seem to play the same thing all the time. The worst aspect of this is at some steel shows a person plays on two days and plays exactly the same songs in the same order both days. Is it just too difficult to come up with new material, or do they think the audiences just like the same stuff again and again? |
Maybe it's just that the bands have limited practice time and so it makes more sense just to keep refining the same setlist and only a throw in a new one every now and then? There's a group I jam with that is like that. It's not ideal, but it's better to have a group of songs that you can play well instead of a constantly revolving setlist that sounds very amateurish and bungled.
For steel guitar songs, I'm developing my own solo steel guitar set right now... and let me tell you that when you make steel guitar the only instrument, it takes a lot of time and work to develop parts that can fill in the space and do it with a level of detail and taste that makes it worth doing to begin with. Really gives you an appreciation for the players that can do it quickly. |
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scott murray
From:
Asheville, NC
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Posted 6 Jul 2019 11:58 am
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it's puzzling. so many great songs and instrumentals out there and you get guys playing the same country standards as the fellow who was on right before them. these are pros too, seems like they'd be able to pick another 3-chord song no problem
the house bands aren't to blame, most of them can handle any chart or changes you throw them and I imagine they would welcome some variation from the same handful of tunes
it's nice to see some recent shows popping up that try to expand the traditional concept of a steel guitar convention and do some unconventional things
_________________
1965 Emmons S-10, 3x5 • Emmons LLIII D-10, 10x12 • JCH D-10, 10x12 • Beard MA-8 • Oahu Tonemaster |
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Ollin Landers
From:
Willow Springs, NC
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Posted 7 Jul 2019 5:46 am
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| Darrell Criswell wrote: |
| Joe Wright seemed to kill everybody playing "A Way to Survive". |
Funny you should mention Joe Wright. I was at one of the Southern Steel Guitar Shows when it was in Saluda SC. Joe was on stage and was talking about how we all start as musicians. We all pick up an instrument in adolescence as a way to meet girls. Joe said you can't pick up girls playing "A Way to Survive" and launched into "Rambling Man" by the Allman Bros.
Bill Ferguson was doubling on bass as he often does. He had no clue and no chart but the guitar player (name escapes me) called out the changes. Bill stumbled once or twice but he never fell down. And Joe absolutely killed it.
Half the audience loved it and the other half mumbled something about long hair.
_________________
Zum SD-12 Black, Zum SD-12 Burly Elm Several B-Bender Tele's and a lot of other gear I can't play.
I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol and wild women. The other half I wasted. W.C. Fields |
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Steve Spitz
From:
New Orleans, LA, USA
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Posted 7 Jul 2019 7:55 am
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I think the backing bands at major shows are top notch. If you showed up with your own “book†and could pass out charts to the sidemen, they could handle anything you had on paper.
Yes, there were times when the crowd wanted only traditional stuff, but , times are changing. Age is changing the crowd a bit more each year. Some of the oldest folks are “aging out†a bit.
Seems like the time is ripe for anything new. |
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Brett Day
From:
Pickens, SC
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Posted 12 Jul 2019 9:56 am
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| Ollin Landers wrote: |
| Darrell Criswell wrote: |
| Joe Wright seemed to kill everybody playing "A Way to Survive". |
Funny you should mention Joe Wright. I was at one of the Southern Steel Guitar Shows when it was in Saluda SC. Joe was on stage and was talking about how we all start as musicians. We all pick up an instrument in adolescence as a way to meet girls. Joe said you can't pick up girls playing "A Way to Survive" and launched into "Rambling Man" by the Allman Bros.
Bill Ferguson was doubling on bass as he often does. He had no clue and no chart but the guitar player (name escapes me) called out the changes. Bill stumbled once or twice but he never fell down. And Joe absolutely killed it.
Half the audience loved it and the other half mumbled something about long hair. |
There were two guitarists, Woody Ledford and Johnny Thomas |
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Stuart Legg
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Posted 14 Jul 2019 9:18 pm
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| Wow unless the lead singer is a very close relation, Jazzing it up should come with a warning label stamped on your rear. |
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