Why do you play pedal steel?

[Larry Behm]

I was a dobro player in a bluegrass band in SF. They wanted to expand by playing electric country music so pedal steel was the next logical step for me. 54 years later here I am, still giving it a shot. It is in my blood, I am addicted to the sound. You?

[Rich Ertelt]

I heard Together Again on the AM radio in my brother car. I was probably 15 or 16, a die hard blues guitar guy. I heard that sound and said "I want to do that". Then I found out what they cost, this would have been early 70s.
Finally got one in the early 2000s. And yea, I sometimes get to play Together Again.

[Rick Campbell]

I do it for a get rich quick activity. I'm still waiting for the rich part to kick in.

RC

[Ricky Davis]

Picture of me below; I was 15 years old and got my Motorcycle license so I could Ride out to Luckenbach, Tx in 1977 to hear the cool tunes of Joe Ely with this really cool sounding pedal steel player> "Lloyd Maines"; as I loved country music with the steel guitar in it and after hearing Lloyd for many years with Joe; I WANTED TO MAKE THAT SOUND; so I bought my first pedal steel because that is the reason why I play.
Ricky

468443215_10162640687369101_624453432520527432_n.jpg

[Kendell Scott]

For me the appeal is in the inconvenience and the expense, and of course the feeling of superiority I get from hauling all the heavy and expensive gear around.

All joking aside, hitting the 1 to 4 change when everything is rock solid in tune and taking your sweet time pedaling in the A is a sound and feeling you can’t get anywhere else.

[Lee Rider]

After hearing Ben Keith play on Neil Young records, I became enamored with the pedal steel guitar back in the '70's. Got a dobro in 1990 then the first pedal steel in about 2003 or so (old ZB that Brad Sarno now owns).

I suppose you could say my progress has been glacial at best, but it sure is good for brain calisthenics. I sure enjoy it though....

[Bob Carlucci]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZkQrf3-jt0





this album is the reason.. More than any other...I heard it around the age of 20 or so, maybe 19... Had to learn how to make that sound.. Could not do it with my 6 string electrics.... My young bride bought me a clean Maverick for my 22nd bday, and I was on my way, playing in good club bands just a few months later.. 10 hours a day practice every day will get you up and running quickly.

[Bobby Martin]

I was a brokenhearted soldier at Ft Bragg N.C. in '72 after getting the classic "Dear John" letter when an anominous steel player at a club in Southern Pines RIPPED MY HEART OUT on a sad ballad (probably Statue Of A Fool)...I was hooked! After the Army we were fortunate to hear Tommy Hannum with the Rossly Mtn Boys in local D.C./Va clubs so I got a new Sho~Bud Maverick with no idea how to play it. I asked Tommy what to do next and he advised "take lessons from a famous steel guitarist named Buddy Charleton at Oxon Hill Music. The rest is history. Forever greatful to be taught by a true master of the instrument.

[Robert Miller]

Because if I don't, I get antsy, and if it goes on too long, I get dis-invited to Christmas.

In all seriousness, for me, it's like climbing an amazing mountain starting at the bottom. Every plateau is more and more gorgeous, but you feel smaller and smaller as you ascend. The mountain gets taller and taller, but you don't get too discouraged because the view and the feeling is so great. Then you realize you kind of have a responsibility.

Nobody can eat the elephant all by themselves, and the elephant needs eaten, so you find your small niche and try to wrestle it to the ground while your neighbors wrestle theirs, then your share your discoveries with your neighbors and vice versa. About the time you start to relax, you find another niche idea that's yours to wrestle...and on it goes.

Steel guitar is somewhat of a calling, I suppose. It ain't glamorous, but neither am I.

[Robert Simms]

By force and accident. I started out playing bluegrass/banjo and guitar since my early teens. In my mid-20's I started playing and touring with a bluegrass alt./country band and someone recommended steel guitar would sound good on one of our songs. I reluctantly borrowed one from a friend of my Dad's to see if I could figure it out and got super hooked. Luckily the right hand dexterity was already there (although the technique is a little different), so I started devoting more and more time to it. Fast forward to 2015 my wife and I moved to Austin, Texas and I started getting gigs pretty quickly through a fiddle player friend of mine that had already been here a couple years. Ever since I've played with some Texas artists and gotten to travel around the state and in some cases the country playing and having a great time. On the road with Hayden Haddock these days and have gotten to the point where I was able to go part time at my teaching job and now I play music for part of my income, while still having a steady paycheck and benefits. Best of both worlds.

[Brooks Montgomery]

For the chicks and the money. Duh.

[Lee Baucum]

Buddy Cage!

[Don R Brown]

For the chicks and the money. Duh.

Yeah, me too. I'm 14 years in, I have yet to have any lingerie thrown at the stage in my direction nor have any groupies invited me to their hotel room. (Of course if that did happen, I'd have to say "Let me run it by my wife first" ) The money part is a little better, a couple times I even made enough to pay for my gas to get there.

But being low on the ladder has its rewards. When one of those rare occasions rolls around when I get the nod, do my ride and somehow, amazingly, play over my head and just nail it, it makes it all worthwhile. That keeps me practicing for days to come, trying to make that accomplishment routine and looking for the next thing to improve on or learn.

[Chuck Lemasters]

Rusty Young

[Bill McCloskey]

One day I saw this in a magazine and my life changed forever.

[J D Sauser]

One day I saw this in a magazine and my life changed forever.

I started on non-pedal in a Rockabilly band going “Hillbilly”. I discovered Jerry Byrd and later Speedy West. Once I learned that Speedy had pedals, I thought that ALL I couldn’t seem to do required “pedal”… now I play a single 12 C6th PSG with 6P & 8K… and I play on for hours without touching the changes. No put down on PSG… it’s almost a must for these E9th sounds (although Jerry Byrd could mimick it quite close on a single 8 non-pedal…, but then, we shouldn’t ve expected to be “a Jerry Byrd”), and it makes all them immaginable chords on a “swing”-Tuning like C6th (although Mr. “Universal” Maurice Anderson came out in the later season of his career, playing many of these chords on a single 12 non-pedal… but again, we should not be expected to be “a Reese”).

…. JD.

[John De Maille]

What caught my ear was the Sweetheart of the Rodeo album by the Byrds. I didn’t know what made that sound or who was playing, but, I was totally hooked on it. I got my first playable pedal steel in 1973. It was a ShoBud Maverick with 3+1 and I was in 7th Heaven.
I played that Maverick until 1976, when, I bought my first pro guitar.
It was an S-11 RusLer with 5+4. I played that until 2003, when, I bought my U-12 ZumSteel with 7+5. I found out that, the sound of the steel, plus, the steel guitar itself have wound their way into my total psyche. They’re in my heart and in my mind totally!
I’m 76 years old and do hope I have a few more years of playing left.

[Craig Stock]

Bill, that's a great poster, would love to have a print of that

[Dale Rottacker]

I heard Together Again on the AM radio in my brother car. I was probably 15 or 16, a die hard blues guitar guy. I heard that sound and said "I want to do that". Then I found out what they cost, this would have been early 70s.
Finally got one in the early 2000s. And yea, I sometimes get to play Together Again.

For me it was hearing John Hughey on Cal Smiths, "The Lord Knows I'm Drinking" in the back of my Dads 63 Coupe De Ville, in the early 70's, and suddenly I connected to "that sound", and exclaimed, "THATS what I want to play" ... Wasn't long after Dad had gotten me a Fender 400, which on my own could not figure out, but a Sho~Bud or 3 later and a couple Mullen, a couple Rittenberry's and 3 more MSA's I guess the connection was for real.

[D Schubert]

For the money, fame, and chicks? All because I bought that black "Panama Red" album with Buddy Cage all over it.

[Fred Treece]

I could also site the usual suspects for the inspiration and desire. After dabbling with a Dobro and D8 Stringmaster and 40 years of making excuses for avoiding it (I’m too tall! I’m too poor! It’s too complicated! I’m a guitar player!), I guess I just needed to know at age 60 if I actually could play a pedal steel. It has been every bit as difficult as I thought it would be, but also more fun and satisfying than I could have imagined.

[Dennis Lee]

Having been a bass guitar player in the 70's, I still had a few pedal steel instrumental records, Buddy Emmons, Lloyd Green, Joe Goldmark...
I was truly inspired by JayDee Maness, not really paying attention to who this man was, listening to his memorable Misty for Ray Stevens, and Could I Have This Dance, Anne Murray.
Of course I had no idea all the other great recordings he was a part of. Lloyd Green melted me in his albums, such as Tammy Wynette's You And Me.
I purchased a Carter Starter, not knowing one end from the other. One thing led to another, I was introduced to my longtime friend and mentor, Mr. Larry Behm. It was Larry who introduced me one evening to a gentleman seated and eating dinner at the Spokane Valley Convention Center. Little did I know I was being introduced to Mr. JayDee Maness. Well, you can imagine, it was a memorable weekend in the presence of the man who really pulled me toward playing the pedal steel.
Life will never be the same since...and I'm blessed for that! I intend to play until I cannot. Move the bar, rock the pedals says Larry Behm!
Thanks Larry, my friend!

[Roger Rettig]

'Why do you play pedal steel?'

I've been asked that a lot, usually just after I've played a set.

I have to lay the blame at Jay Dee's door. I suppose he and Buddy will always be my favourites. I'm still trying to get that magical staccato that's Jay Dee's trademark, and I fear I'm not much closer than I was fifty years ago.

Emmons provided the Valhalla moment: as a complete neophyte, I was so motivated when I heard his 'Wichita Lineman', and hearing that Bb major 9 at the top of his solo demonstrated that advanced chords were 'available' on E9th.

Even in retirement from road work, my steel is an endless source of frustration and joy.

[Brett Day]

There are several reasons why I play pedal steel. The first and main reason is because I wanted to find an instrument I could possibly handle with cerebral palsy in my left hand. I started loving country music as a kid in the eighties, and after my aunt told me about the steel guitar, I got curious at the age of eight, and went to a country music show that featured the steel guitar, and at the show, the steel guitar became my favorite instrument. A few years later, I remember singing "The Old Rugged Cross" and the backing instrument on the cassette tape was the steel guitar, which really amazed me! Then, in either 1993 or 1994, I asked my aunt Denise, who told me about the steel guitar if she had ever seen one in a store, and she said yes. My curiosity was really going up in 1994 as I listened to the "I Still Believe In You" record, released by Vince Gill in 1994, because as I listened to the steel parts on the record, I wondered what it would be like to play the steel guitar. In 1996, I was listening to the radio, and a band called Ricochet had just released their first single on Columbia Records, "What Do I Know" and as I listened to the song, I heard great steel work-I didn't know at the time who had played steel on that record, but wanted to find out, so I did some research on Ricochet later on in 1998, and found out their steel player was Teddy Carr and he was their touring steel player. After I started playing steel, I looked at the credits on Ricochet's first record, and it wasn't Teddy on the record-it was steel guitarist Bruce Bouton, the steel guitarist I first saw on TV. I play steel because I love the instrument itself and its' role in country music

[Terry Sneed]

Purtiest instrument ever made !!!