Steel Guitar Arts Council Forms, Holds Kickoff Party
If there is one instrument that is immediately identifiable with country music, it’s the pedal steel guitar. And just like an endangered species ripe for protection, preserving the pedal steel should be an imperative of society with the way its dialect of wails and moans mimic the tug and pull of human emotion like no other instrument, while evoking those emotions from the audience as well.
But the steel guitar is also an incredibly versatile instrument—versatile as it is complicated. That is why pedal steel players are like the mad scientists of music. That was on display during the kickoff party for the newly-formed Steel Guitar Arts Council that occurred Wednesday night (11-30) at the Nelson Drum Shop in East Nashville, and streamed on Volume.com.
The Steel Guitar Arts Council is an initiative founded by steel guitar legend Russ Pahl, ambient steel guitarist Luke Schneider, and prolific steel guitarist Whit Wright.
Wright says the purpose of the Arts Council is “to foster and promote the growth of steel guitarists who are willing to bend and break the rules to express themselves. Our goal is to be a vehicle for this movement of steel players. We want to do it in a way that includes steel players of all generations. It is not lost on us that the classic ways of playing pedal steel are special and should be revered. In creating new things, we often look to the past for inspiration. We all have a common interest, a reverence for the steel guitar.”
Specifically, The Steel Guitar Arts Council is looking to curate shows every couple of months to showcase innovative steel guitar players. The kickoff party commenced with ambient steel guitarist Luke Schneider showcasing the very farthest reaches of the instrument in music more indicative of New Age than country. Schneider released an album called Altar of Harmony through Third Man Records in 2020.
Next up was Justin Schipper, who played sublime renditions of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and “Silent Night” with steel guitar in the lead. Then Whit Wright got up with his band Whitten for an extended set. Whitten released numerous singles in 2020.
The event was hosted by Russ Pahl, who also played a set of what he self-described as “steel guitar oddities,” which started off with him using a microphone to play/sing the song “End of the World” made popular by Skeeter Davis. He then played numerous other songs with his “trio” (an MP3 player), before inviting country/Americana singer and songwriter Logan Ledger up. The two worked together on Ledger’s self-titled 2020 album. “He’s one of the finest voices of his generation,” Pahl said about Ledger.
In attendance were also numerous steel guitar luminaries, most notably Lloyd Green, who is one of the most revered and prolific steel guitar players in country music history. The showcase ended with all four featured steel players from the night playing The Grateful Dead’s “Ripple” as Logan Ledger sang.
It was patently obvious from the first showcase of the The Steel Guitar Arts Council that their approach to saving the instrument isn’t through static preservation, but innovation in a way that will keep the steel guitar relevant and appealing to a wide range of audiences well into the future.
December 1, 2022 @ 9:46 am
Caleb. Melo.
December 1, 2022 @ 10:27 am
Great to hear this. Such a beautiful and unique instrument. I was talking to a pedal steel player recently after a show and mentioned if there were one instrument I wish I could play, it would be this one. Stupidly I asked if it was easy to play. He said it’s no more difficult than landing on the moon. I laughed. He wasn’t trying to be funny.
December 1, 2022 @ 10:50 am
I’d literally just got done asking Jesse Daniel the name of his pedal steel player when I saw BJ’s post above. Caleb Melo played with Jesse here opening for American Aquarium and they were quite the duo. Absolutely amazing kid!! Chatted with him in the drink line, says he reads SCM, happy to be here with Jesse. Got a long career ahead. I’m no expert or historian, I know Zach Moulton is incredible from the Moonpies, Cody’s guy Hot Rod too, and Whitey always has A+ players. I’m not sure if there’s a shortage of em but hopefully more young guys are influenced by these fine musicians enough to take it up. Locally we have 1 great one named Gary Victorine and he plays with everybody who needs him. Good article Trig!
December 1, 2022 @ 5:17 pm
Ironically through social media somehow a few years back I became friends with one. Never met in person though. Name is chris castle. From eastern Kentucky and not too far from Nashville. We had some friends in common at that point in July 2019. Must’ve saw my photos. He played for midland, opening for Garth at Heinz field. He was with them for a bit. That was his first time flying. Currently he’s mostly playing with Darryl Worley and fills in some dates with mo Pitney. Young guy too.
December 1, 2022 @ 10:57 am
Was intrigued & greatly enamored, & honored at meeting and being in the studio, in Upstate, & listening to a pedal steel guitar player (Nashville sessions musician) play on a recording by Ronnie, called, For Diana. Beautiful song, non published. Ronnie was waiting for a guitarist from Commander Cody to get back from Europe to record the song, but i asked if we could use Gordon (who owns the studio) if he could play on it.
Beautiful song, & the pedal steel was wonderful
December 1, 2022 @ 11:11 am
Most of the steel players from the East Nashville Hipster Country Movement can’t play worth a damn. I hope they listen to and take notes from the legends that attend these events.
December 1, 2022 @ 12:44 pm
looking forward to an album from you, in that case. You got something we can listen to?
December 2, 2022 @ 7:28 am
I’ll take mediocre steel guitar over no steel guitar every day of the week. Even if you’re not skilled enough to be a lead instrument, super basic steel playing can add a nice texture to a song.
December 2, 2022 @ 4:15 pm
I’m with you. Not that I would call either one of these two players’ steel guitar work mediocre, but both Toy Caldwell and Jerry Garcia were world class guitarists that also contributed great pedal steel to their bands. To the best of my knowledge, both were self taught.
December 3, 2022 @ 9:23 pm
Yes and after both were already established and well-respected lead guitarists. I have multiple songs with each playing pedal steel on playlists.
Duane Allman didn’t start playing slide guitar until he was 21. Within 2 years he became the Jimi Hendrix of the bottleneck.
December 1, 2022 @ 11:23 am
I would argue that there is a resurgence of novice and intermediate steel players because of the internet and easy access to training courses.
Last month I was in attendance at a Steel Guitar even at the Troubadour (near the Opryland) in Nashville and it was great to see Doug Jernigan play. I still haven’t seen Lloyd Green play live and he’s the greatest living steel player from the golden age.
December 1, 2022 @ 11:39 am
Maybe they can put on instructional lessons at these meetups about how to carry their own gear to the van… lookin at you twin reverb.
December 1, 2022 @ 1:01 pm
Ameripolitan Weekender is going to have a steel showcase this year, which should be fantastic judging by the kinds of people who come to that event.
December 1, 2022 @ 1:14 pm
I played steel guitar for a while. If I took two weeks off from practicing, I lost two months in skill. Calculus was so much easier. My hat is firmly off to these guys!
December 1, 2022 @ 4:53 pm
Such a great and unique instrument!
Loved seeing Paul Franklin, a true master whether playing with the Time Jumpers or with Vince Gill or even Dire Straits years back!!
December 3, 2022 @ 2:21 am
Paul Franklin has a course available!!! Also I think I’ve mentioned his great interviews, there are interviews with him all over youtube. What a guy.
December 1, 2022 @ 5:34 pm
The part of Virginia where I live has a store dedicated to the pedal steel called Billy cooper’s. I bought a Carter starter model probably fifteen years ago, having been inspired by Robert Randolph. I had tried to learn myself, but was getting nowhere, so I signed on for some lessons at said store. It turns out the lessons were given by Buddy Charleton, formerly of the Texas Troubadours. He was very old and very sick at that point, but he at least got me to the point where I could play a couple chords. His best advice to me: get a little drunk before practicing.
December 2, 2022 @ 8:34 am
The steel is definitely coming back! I started playing about six years ago at the age of 19. There’s a few of us younger guys that are out there; we all tend to use social media (mainly tiktok & instagram) to introduce the instrument to people closer to our age. I primarily use the former and have built a decent following. The steel guitar forum is a good site for steel players, but it doesn’t have the same pull/traction as current social media sites like the ones mentioned earlier.
Side note, I understand that country music is mainly produced out of Texas and Tennessee, I just wish these types of events were more accessible in person. You have a lot of us younger guys who’d like to attend but are spread across the US. Plane tickets and hotels are expensive these days!
December 2, 2022 @ 9:01 am
I will say I did not attend this event in person but watched on a live stream , and I almost felt like I was right in the room. Someone put a lot of effort into it, and there were multiple camera angles, the audio was mixed for the stream, and everything sounded great. I do hope they do these events in different places at different times.
December 2, 2022 @ 2:56 pm
Are they including or excluding non-pedal steel guitars, in other words lap steel guitars?
December 2, 2022 @ 4:32 pm
Don’t see why they would not include non-pedal players too.
December 3, 2022 @ 5:47 am
I started playing a lap steel a couple years ago and switched to this summer. So much more versatile but also much more complex. If I hadn’t already played regular guitar and spent time with a lap steel in a6 tuning, the learning curve would have been so much harder. Fortunately I have that background and a decent grasp of music theory. I’ve been using the internet to wrap my head around it, and I have begun working on learning to play the parts from Turnpike Troubadours a Long Way from your heart album. I’m playing it on some songs in an indie rock band, and can’t overstate the importance of playing with people in a band to force you to step up your playing. Seems like these guys are picking up where Scotty’s international steel guitar convention left off.
December 3, 2022 @ 5:49 am
Thanks Trigger for the article, good to get the word out about the steel guitar, or the ‘Electric Cheese Slicer’ haha.
Some people also say that playing the pegal steel is like flying a helicopter blindfolded!
December 3, 2022 @ 8:02 am
For those interested in learning to play, there are courses (including FREE) from Paul Franklin, Russ Pahl, Bruce Bouton, Tommy White, Lloyd Green and Dobro master Jerry Douglas available here: https://www.mmmlearn.com/collections/pedal-steel
December 3, 2022 @ 12:37 pm
Just a note to those commenting, including the salespeople above- if you read the article you’ll notice the entire intent of this project is to give voice to players doing something different than copying the Lloyd Green / Franklin/ Emmons parts on records.
December 3, 2022 @ 8:30 pm
We are proud to give voice to players doing something different and were fortunate to have SGAC founder Russ Pahl partner with us to produce his course “21st Century Pedal Steel: A Masterclass In Out-Of-The-Box Thinking”, based on his concert performance at our Nashville Steel Guitar Camp last year. Details at the link we already posted.
Just a note, if you read the Paul Franklin Method info, you’ll notice the entire intent of Franklin’s Method is to teach you how to play like yourself in any style or genre, and expressly NOT to copy him, Green, Emmons…or anyone else. It’s the antidote to TABs and copying licks.
Here’s a detailed blog post about the history of learning pedal steel guitar: https://www.paulfranklinmethod.com/post/a-new-era
Thanks for the opportunity to clear that up!
December 3, 2022 @ 9:28 pm
Question for people with a better musical ear than I have.
Is it easy/possible to tell the difference between a lap steel and pedal steel?
I can’t ever tell and am just guessing. I end up looking at Discogs for album credits out of curiosity.
The steel guitar is what pulled me into country and Americana about 5 years ago. I love the sound just like I’ve loved listening to slide guitarist for the past 40 years.
December 3, 2022 @ 10:35 pm
Since you seem interested in clarification- you make your money by partnering with the most popular musicians, in this case a few of the most recorded popular steel players in Nashville, packaging, cross marketing and selling their work. I like Paul a lot, Russ too, but these are not unheard styles and voices- probably the furthest from that. There’s great value (and great cost) to the product you’re trying to sell here, but let’s not pretend this is where your sales pitch belongs.