How Steel Guitar Made Its Way Into the Super Bowl
Country music is on a winning streak. And though it may have been the Kansas City Chiefs who hoisted a trophy at the end of the 2024 Super Bowl, country fans scored a victory too as the instrument that is most indicative of the country sound found its way into the opening festivities, and in a prominent manner.
We knew going into the Super Bowl presentation that country queen Reba McEntire would be performing the National Anthem. What we were surprised by is Post Malone showing up with an acoustic guitar, a turquoise bolo tie, and giving a countrified treatment of “America The Beautiful” backed solely by a pedal steel guitar. When Reba sang “The Star Spangled Banner,” the steel guitar remained, giving country fans something else to cheer about.
No, these steel guitar parts were not played live on the field, though both the performances by Post Malone and Reba McEntire were sung live in real time. The two sang to pre-recorded tracks produced by Adam Blackstone, who is known for producing major music events for television. Though Blackstone is mostly from the hip-hop/R&B/pop realm, he envisioned a more country sound for the Super Bowl’s opening performances, and used the steel guitar to bring that to life.
Steel guitar player Travis Toy has played steel guitar for just about everyone in country music, from Alan Jackson and Loretta Lynn, to more contemporary acts such as Luke Bryan and Rascal Flatts. It was around 2017 when touring with Rascal Flatts that Toy met Adam Blackstone. When Blackstone needed a steel guitar player, Travis Toy got the tap on the shoulder.
“He emailed me, and I was in Vegas, probably around New Year’s and said, ‘Hey, Reba’s doing the National Anthem, and I need steel guitar…'” Travis Toy tells Saving Country Music. “It was super top secret at that time. I played the part a couple of weeks ago, just went into the studio, and recorded some stuff for it. I’ve been super blessed in my career, played on just about every TV show, but haven’t done anything Super Bowl related, so that was super cool.”
During Post Malone’s performance, the steel guitar was played by Chandler Walters, who was discovered by throwback country artist Ernest through Tik-Tok. Ernest first saw him playing to a Josh Turner track.
“I sent him a message. ‘Where are you?’ and he goes, ‘Nashville,’ and I was like ‘OH MY GOD, you’re in my band now.'” Ernest told CMT in 2022. “He immediately sent me a video of him playing the steel solo on ‘Flower Shops.’ Last year, this kid graduated high school, moved to Nashville, bought a steel guitar, and taught himself how to play. He has been a guitar player, but he wanted to stick out. Now, he is hopping on our tour bus. I don’t know how many times that has happened, but that is what it’s all about right there.”
Walters has since become one of the most buzzed about steel players in country, and is one of the young guys trying to resurrect the instrument in the modern era. Meanwhile Travis Toy is one of the steel guitar survivors, who lived through the near evaporation of the instrument in country music in recent years to now be part of its revival as country music embraces the steel guitar sound once again.
“I’ve been able to survive because I’ve been willing to play pop,” Toy tells SCM. “Sometimes it leads to things that aren’t your favorite thing to play, but I have a kid to put clothes on. I’ll play whatever it takes. But I’ve played more steel solos in the last two years than I played in the prior ten. Which is great, I love it.”
Travis Toy continues, “When things take a turn back towards traditionalism, I’m a fan, because it allows me to do more, and play more of the things at my heart that I love. So as things shift back towards traditionalism, I’m certainly a fan.”
Along with his touring and studio work, Travis Toy also gives steel guitar tutorials, helping to teach the next generation of steel guitar players.
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Saving Country Music also reached out to Chandler Walters, but did not hear back before the time of this post.
February 12, 2024 @ 1:31 pm
Travis Toy’s and especially Paul Franklin’s expressed viewpoints on modern country and modern music are very accepting because they are true ambassadors of the instrument. They also want to see the approach to the instrument evolve. I can absolutely respect that despite what I think of Ernest, Hardy, and Post Malone. It’s a large part of why I unabashadly express my beliefs here rather than on social media because I don’t want to lose gigs by saying “Zach Bryan’s music is (stupid to me) and Post Malone is for dumb college chicks who will never like traditional country anyway.
February 16, 2024 @ 12:54 am
For the record, idk why the likes are at 105. I didnt mess with it at all.
February 12, 2024 @ 2:34 pm
It was noticeable and very cool to hear these renditions of the songs. Reba sounded good. Post Malone sounded Melodyned to hell though.
February 12, 2024 @ 2:41 pm
Reba’s performance was fine.I’m glad she didn’t try for any of the multi-syllabic vocal gymnastics that many of her ballads are known for, and wrapped up the anthem in even less time than Chris Stapleton did last year. Malone was unimpressive. I was watching with my younger brother, who is neither a Malone nor a country fan, and he was giving me a scriunched-up-nose expression of puzzlement and mild distaste and Malone barely whispered his way through the anthem.
I explained to him that Malone was a rapper of some renown who’d been making noise about going country in the way that Jelly Roll has. (He knows about Jelly Roll because I occasionally have a mainstream country station on in my car.) That’s OK with me, but I didn’t expect Post’s “country” voice to sound as if he’d been listening to an old stack of sofr-rock ’70s singles. Does country music — or any music — need the second coming of Randy Van Warmer or Leo Sayer?
February 12, 2024 @ 4:06 pm
Aw c’mon Howard, Leo Sayer makes me feel like dancin’
February 12, 2024 @ 4:11 pm
Post Malone’s, AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL, was wonderful.
Beautifully sung, with heartfelt emotion.
By the way, love Leo Sayer’s singing
February 12, 2024 @ 2:48 pm
So that’s not Ashton Kutcher on the right?
February 13, 2024 @ 7:46 am
Travis, I thought the same thing!
February 12, 2024 @ 3:11 pm
FYI,
I just permanently removed the “like” button feature from comments. After calling out whomever was gaming the buttons recently on another article, they thought it would be cute to game all the buttons on the articles posted today. It really sucks, because I think it’s a great way for people to leave feedback or gauge sentiment without leaving comments themselves. As the old saying goes “This is why we can’t have nice things.” In the last update we did to the website, we went through Hurculean efforts to make the “like” button functional with the new coding and keep this comments section dynamic for everyone. Now, nobody will get to use that function at all. Perfect example of one asshole ruining something for everyone.
February 12, 2024 @ 3:25 pm
You’re the A-hole, though. As someone who doesn’t comment much, the like button was my comment. You’ve petulantly removed it to punish someone.
February 12, 2024 @ 3:38 pm
How the fuck am I the A-hole here? When every comment on an article has 100+ likes on it, which is basically what happened with the last two articles, whether you’ve liked something or not is basically irrelevant at that point because the data is muddied.
90% of websites don’t even have a comments section, let alone a dynamic one like this.
February 12, 2024 @ 3:48 pm
Permanent removal? Be serious, Kyle. That’s punitive, not corrective.
I come here just as much for the comments as I do the articles. If you remove them, this website doesn’t suck, but it becomes significantly less interesting. Less interesting means less clicks.
I love clicking like on comments I agree with and seeing where public opinion lies.
February 12, 2024 @ 4:11 pm
Look, I’m not saying that I will never bring them back. But at this point, they were not only ineffective at gauging sentiment, they were dramatically misleading. I had no other choice.
February 12, 2024 @ 8:20 pm
Only a few people were abusing the ‘like’ function and it was obvious. Highly liked comments that are long tell me that they are worth reading. I think removing it is a mistake.
February 12, 2024 @ 11:57 pm
Folks, this is very very simple: All the likes buttons on all the recent articles were hacked and showing “likes” between 80-120. This rendered them not just non-functional, but actively serving misleading data. There was one solution to this and one solution only: pull the plug. If you don’t like it, tough shit. Go try to like a comment on Whiskey Riff or Rolling Stone. Oh wait, you can’t even leave comments over there.
Meanwhile, the asshole who hacked the “like” buttons is popping champagne not just because he caused chaos in this comments section, but because my own readers are turning on me over it. So thanks for that. Nobody is more pissed over the situation than myself.
Any further comments on this issue will be deleted, full stop. Maybe the “like” button will return at some point, but your comments are only making the situation dramatically worse.
I’m sick of these comments sections being a constant source of drama and a vector of attack on this website.
February 12, 2024 @ 10:47 pm
Agreed. The rest of us didn’t do anything.
February 13, 2024 @ 6:48 am
Ladies and gentlemen: if the removal of the like button is the thing that actually makes you mad today, thank whatever power you thank for good things that THIS is the issue that is most pressing in your life right now. It’s a like button on a comment. It doesn’t give you money, or status, or power, or make your grass greener, or hand deliver you a delicious milkshake. Deep breath, calm down, don’t draw attention to the troll. Life will keep on going.
February 13, 2024 @ 7:41 am
Wooley, I “like” this comment!
Also, Trig it is a bit ironic that we found steel guitar during the Super Bowl pre-game, but it is damn hard to find on commercial country radio!
February 12, 2024 @ 4:01 pm
It’s a shitty reason this happened but thank you for doing this. I think likes often times cause people to try to win Internet points instead of having a substantial convo. My hope is there will be better discourse in the comment section because of this.
February 12, 2024 @ 4:19 pm
And just when I was gonna like your comment…
February 12, 2024 @ 4:07 pm
Can’t you limit the “likes” by IP address?
You said you already did that…. so are 100+ unique people actually liking random posts?
If its just 1 person doing this, then you didn’t limit the “likes” by IP address….
February 12, 2024 @ 4:22 pm
No, somebody is fucking with the “like” buttons, period. Yes, the IP addresses are limited to 1 like per. Clearly someone or a group of someones has hacked it.
Last comment about this.
February 13, 2024 @ 1:17 pm
As a fan of yours, and as someone who often fundamentally disagrees with your opinions, and finally as an occasional commentator, amazed at the level of ignorance in the comment section, I think this is a smart move, although I’m sorry you’ve been forced to make it. This pushes the keyboard warriors to move along, or step up and say the quiet part out loud. In this case, thanks for highlighting steel guitar in contemporary country, from a true master like Travis, to a guy that simply copied a few of other peoples’ licks and got plucked from tiktok. It’s all gravy- any exposure is positive.
February 15, 2024 @ 11:40 am
Ignorance in your world is anyone who disagrees with you.
February 15, 2024 @ 1:46 pm
…and there it is. Unilateral analysis with 0 nuance by a total stranger, adding nothing to the conversation. This isn’t Facebook uncle Bud- we can do better.
February 12, 2024 @ 5:11 pm
Did we cover another state of the country union with both Lana Del Rey and Beyoncé putting out country records and now singles? This is major news even if their style doesn’t jive with a traditional format.
February 13, 2024 @ 9:55 am
The two Beyonce tracks I’ve heard are not very country. One is hip-hop flavored, the other is rapid-fire lyrics over a pounding beat and marginal melody. I like her voice and have no doubt she could make a decent country album if matched with the right producers, songwriters and musicians, but based on the two-song sample now available, that doesn’t appear to be the patch she’s taking. Would I rather hear Beyonce on country radio rather than Kane Brown, Brett Young or Walker Hayes? I guess, but deep down, I think “none of them” is a more honest reply.
February 14, 2024 @ 5:10 am
Opportunism rules in the music industry. But I guess some people are so far gone that they think wearing a cowboy hat makes you a country artist.
February 12, 2024 @ 11:20 pm
Even when Reba was doing her big production shows she always put a spotlight on her steel player. I’m so happy it was put into her anthem performance! Her twang + steel is where she truly shines.
February 13, 2024 @ 1:11 am
…next year we might get a pain killer super bowl commercial in which the cma awards and paul franklin are freatured.
February 13, 2024 @ 2:56 am
Thanks for doing this article promoting steel guitar, we need more people playing and using the ‘electric cheese slicer’.
February 13, 2024 @ 8:51 am
I’ll add some positive words about the vibrant steel guitar scene in Texas. There’s a steel guitar showcase at Ameripolitan this week, a steel guitar showcase at Heart of Texas next month, and the Texas Steel Guitar Association annual event. I’ll also mention the weekly steel guitar shows at Sam’s Town Point in Austin.
February 13, 2024 @ 4:57 am
Is it Jim Bones who always posts the Jeremy pinell ripz comments? If I’m wrong I’m sorry, but don’t quit man. I’ll still like your comment in my head. It’s become the cleanest funniest part of the comments over the last few years.
Ya gotta do what ya gotta do trigger. We’ll live and we’ll all be here to keep reading lol
All hail to the steel guitar getting positive publicity!
February 13, 2024 @ 7:51 am
Without the steel guitar, there is no country in country music. Travis Toy is a master player in both older country or modern country music! “Nuff said”. Thanks
February 13, 2024 @ 8:00 am
Trig, weirdly we got steel guitar during Super Bowl pre-game, but can’t get much of it on commercial country radio!
February 13, 2024 @ 8:38 am
The steel is for real. I keep trying to “like” everything! ha!
February 13, 2024 @ 9:54 am
I enjoyed reading your article and the comments. Long time musician (guitar, bass, vocals) I’ve been playing a little dobro, lap and pedal steel for about 2 years. I find the PSG to be quite challenging but love the sound.
February 13, 2024 @ 5:30 pm
Reba did a fantastic job of the national anthem. And Beyonce going country. ? Hell yes! Count me in I think her country sound is fantastic.