Tito's Steel Guitar Fetish Blog

There are many Steelers that awe me, there are only a few that inspire me.Some of these players are the ones who play on the music I have been listening to lately and I'll try to learn their songs and style. I like to listen to the classics (from 40's swing up to the 70's) and modern (80's to Nash Vegas) and when I hear something I like, I look up the credits for the album/CD and see who the steeler was. I have listed a few of the "not so big" names that deserve notice. There are many more, I just have these guys blasting through my iPod more than the others. (I might also mention that I think maybe all of these fellas are from Texas?!)

Gary Hogue
Steve Palousek
Gary Morse (if he ain't from Texas he oughta be)
Marty Muse
Lloyd Maines
Robert Snell
Tom Morrell
Maurice Anderson


To me, as a rookie steeler with limited abilities on the steel at this point,who tries to cop licks note for note off of recordings from great players and innovators, the magical players like Buddy Emmons, Jimmy Day, Lloyd Green, Paul Franklin etc... are a roadblock if I want to emulate them. Why, because unlike guitar, piano, dobro, mandolin etc... these gentlemen have setup each of their respected instruments to behave and react to their preferred tunings and mechanics. There are nuances you are not going to be able to play without a similar setup up pedals, levers, tunings and talent. Oh you can get close. You can also argue that the previous instruments can be altered in different tunings also, but it's really no comparison because they are still limited in how far you can go.

So when one hears a beautiful steel guitar phrase in today's modern Nash Vegas country song, chances are that the average player (let's define an average player as someone with a single neck steel tuned to E9 with minimum Emmons setup of 3 pedals and 3 or 4 levers) can only dream of copying it note for note, unless they match their guitar setup and playing technique (talent). And why not play that way, it's their talent, style and setup that made that pretty sound so why not make a statement with their style of phrases and leads. I can, and do respect that they are trying to take the instrument as far as their God given abilities will allow them. Steelers aren't alone in wanting to set themselves apart from their peers, as musician's, guitarists are usually the most guilty at looking for that "identifiable" sound and style that sets them apart from the crowd.

Again, I'm not new to country but as a recent steeler I can tell you with all honesty that I can't tell that many of the players apart, all I know is that if it's something modern and it's on a big stars record, that steeler is doing his or her darndest to play something in a way that's never been played before, or they pay respect to the classic sounds with some proprietary technique just to put their stamp on it. That's magic in itself because the steel will sound traditional because, well, it's a steel, but they are able to throw something new and fresh at you for your listening enjoyment..

Who's going to recognize any of that, only .0000000000000001 of the Earths inhabitants that play, love, listen to, and understand the pedal steel guitar.

There are other sites on the web that pay respect to the great steelers of past and present so I'll defer to those for a comprehensive list of that talent.

There is only one site in the world of Steel Guitar that encompases everything and everybody into one place, and that my friends is SteelGuitarForum.com!
There is not a nicer bunch of folks and musicians in the entire world.

With much respect! Billy "Tito" Fuentes
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