Of all the instruments that I've dabbled with over the years, I prefer playing pedal steel, but it's so cool getting to watch other steelers up close!
So far this October, I've played with Whitney Eisenwinter with the Dusty Drapes band in Boulder Colo. Great swing steel Whitney! Then the great Ricky Davis (& his Fulawka "Blue Darlin") w/ Heather Myles on 6 dates in Texas. Outta site Ricky!
The big surprize for me was getting to play with the Japanese father/son steel team...Run "D" Ozaki and his dad Takashi in Kumamoto Japan! I was booked to play with Heather again at Charlie(Japans biggest country star) Nagatani's huge "Country Gold" festival. We heard Charlie's great band at his real honky tonk bar in downtown Kumamoto (yeah, you heard me...real honky tonk!)...and was knocked out by 20 year old Run "D", who had only been playing steel 4 years (yeah you heard me again...4 YEARS!!!) We needed a steeler, so we gave the young picker two of Heather's CD's and a set list and sent him off to chart out the show. When he came back in less than an hour, not only had he charted out all the tunes on both CD's (we only needed SOME of them for the show but couldnt speak enough Japanese to tell him...), but he actually wrote out all the steel parts in perfect "score" like notation...all without sitting down to figure it out at a steel!!!!! I was flabbergasted!
When it came time for the show, he played flawlessly and soulfully. I felt a bit like Soliere hearing Mozart for the first time. I'm thinking about permanently switching to bass now
I also got to jam and talk steel with young Ozaki's dad Takashi....a real monster and very well known in Japan!
Thank goodness I have a couple weeks to let my ego heal before I have to back up the great Kevin Ryan (producer of Jay Dee's video) at a couple shows.
Your bass playing correspondent....Rick
....is what makes you such the great Bass player.
