Monday, January 02, 2006
Pedal steel guitar players set the record straight
From the Newport News Daily Press
Know what it's like to be picked apart by dozens of angry pedal steel guitar players?
I do.
It's not a sensation I recommend.
In Tuesday's Life section, I wrote a short (and I thought sweet) story about Robert Randolph, an African-American musician who is bringing new life to an old instrument, the pedal steel guitar. Randolph, who played The NorVa on Thursday, comes from the "sacred steel" tradition, meaning he plays a high-energy gospel-based form of music. His sizzling style has made him popular with rock fans - some of whom wouldn't have known pedal steel from pedal pusher before Randolph emerged from the wilds of New Jersey.
None of this presumably offended the pedal steel community at large. It was the nerve-touching lead sentence of my story that caused conniptions all the way to Nashville and back. "It takes a mighty musician to rescue an instrument from the scrap heap of the uncool," I wrote.
Once that sentence began flying around in cyberspace, a crowd of dedicated pedal steelers was ready to burn me in effigy - or worse. Before noon on Tuesday, the e-mails were hitting hard and heavy.
Personal insults and accusations of racism aside, some of these guys had interesting things to say.
"You should come to St. Louis during the Labor Day weekend and see the International Steel Guitar Convention at the Millennium Hotel," suggested one e-mailer. "The pedal steel guitar is far from the junk heap or the closet for that matter ... I'm sure to you rock 'n' roll is the most outstanding music but the steel guitar is not pigeonholed into only country music."
Read the article
The Daily Press
Know what it's like to be picked apart by dozens of angry pedal steel guitar players?
I do.
It's not a sensation I recommend.
In Tuesday's Life section, I wrote a short (and I thought sweet) story about Robert Randolph, an African-American musician who is bringing new life to an old instrument, the pedal steel guitar. Randolph, who played The NorVa on Thursday, comes from the "sacred steel" tradition, meaning he plays a high-energy gospel-based form of music. His sizzling style has made him popular with rock fans - some of whom wouldn't have known pedal steel from pedal pusher before Randolph emerged from the wilds of New Jersey.
None of this presumably offended the pedal steel community at large. It was the nerve-touching lead sentence of my story that caused conniptions all the way to Nashville and back. "It takes a mighty musician to rescue an instrument from the scrap heap of the uncool," I wrote.
Once that sentence began flying around in cyberspace, a crowd of dedicated pedal steelers was ready to burn me in effigy - or worse. Before noon on Tuesday, the e-mails were hitting hard and heavy.
Personal insults and accusations of racism aside, some of these guys had interesting things to say.
"You should come to St. Louis during the Labor Day weekend and see the International Steel Guitar Convention at the Millennium Hotel," suggested one e-mailer. "The pedal steel guitar is far from the junk heap or the closet for that matter ... I'm sure to you rock 'n' roll is the most outstanding music but the steel guitar is not pigeonholed into only country music."
Read the article
The Daily Press
# posted by Dave Sichak @ 9:59 AM 
