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Series 1 - Episode 2
Research

Spotify Playlist

This is a compilation of tracks mentioned in the podcast as well as some discussed / sent over privately by the guests that relates to the topic:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2u7CtmJRQDicVjvg3SliRa?si=f0812fbc173048e6

The Pedal steel Guitar

Tuning, playing, technique & the mechanics of the Pedal steel Guitar:

(Podcast reference: 2:07 - 4:46)

https://www.gunlaug.com/contents/music/steelguitar-peculiarities.html

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The Pedal steel's Origin Story

(Podcast reference: 13:04 - 13:30)

The Hawaiian origin story of the lap steel guitar traces back to Joseph Kekuku, who is considered its founder. At just 11 years old, while walking along train tracks, Kekuku accidentally dropped a metal bolt onto the strings of his guitar and was captivated by the unique sound it produced. Inspired, he dedicated his life to transforming this sound into a new musical instrument. Kekuku later taught the lap steel guitar in schools across Hawaii, and his students, inspired by his teachings, brought the instrument and its evolving playing style to their own islands, further developing its technique and cultural significance.

See this PBS short doc for more information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpPsRQx5r0w

The evolution of the pedal steel guitar

By the late 1940s, lap virtuoso Nook Boggs had developed a piano-style chordal approach and adopted the first-ever Fender pedal steel. But it was Santo & Johnny who gave the instrument its moment in the sun. In 1953, a steel player called Bud Isaacs attached a single pedal to one of his guitar necks and altered it to change the pitch of two strings simultaneously. With that, the modern pedal steel was born.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBRCvVpknvg

Examples of Pedal steel being used in Live Performances across multiple genres and cultures:

(Podcast reference: 45:33 - 48:03)

BJ Cole played on the classic albums "Tumbleweed Connection" (1970), "Honky Château" (1972), and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (1973) by Elton John but was also known for playing classical repetiour.
https://www.discogs.com/artist/61104-BJ-Cole

MF Doom sampling Hula Rock (Podcast reference: 49:30)

Lew Howard & the All-Stars
https://www.whosampled.com/Lew-Howard-%26-the-All-Stars/Hula-Rock/


MF Doom x Madlib - Meat Grinder
https://open.spotify.com/track/4WM1hvYr2NC6bQnQXcj3sH?si=8f12706ad0d44791

Funkadelic - Biological Speculation (funk) (Album: ‘America eats its young’) (Pedal Steel player:Sneaky Pete Kleinow) (Podcast reference: 53:15)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzzDDxadlV8

Use of Lap Steel across the world:

(Podcast reference: 55:05 - 01:02)

Juju music and The Pedal Steel:

“In 1977, pedal steel appeared for the first time on a juju record: King Sunny Ade and His African Beats’ Syncro Chapter One. Demola Adepoju was credited with playing the “Hawaiian guitar” on the album. According to Perlowin,“Demola’s first exposure was to non-pedal steel. He was in Lagos where he lived. And somehow he heard a record of Hawaiian music, which uses the non-pedal steel and he thought, ‘I want to learn to play that instrument.”

Album linked at bottom of the doc.

https://oldtimeparty.wordpress.com/2015/06/25/juju-and-pedal-steel/

(Live performances): https://youtu.be/gaV7G9nxOfI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLzw7cxYXhU

Jùjú music is a vibrant genre from Nigeria, deeply rooted in the traditional music of the Yoruba people. It features complex guitar melodies, rich percussion, and the distinctive talking drum. Emerging prominently after World War II, it was popularized by artists like I.K. Dairo and King Sunny Adé, who expanded its sound with electric instruments and larger ensembles. The lyrics often draw from Yoruba folklore and oral traditions, making it both a musical and cultural expression. For more detailed information, you can check out sources like:AllMusic Wikipedia

Other uses of the Peddal steel we found:

The 'Sacred Steel'

(Podcast reference: 19:25 - 21:30)

“Sacred Steel is a musical style and African-American gospel tradition that features the steel guitar as part of religious services. The style developed in a group of related Pentecostal churches in the 1930s, and is associated in particular with some branches of the Church of the Living God. The Church of the Living God was founded in 1903 by Mary Magdalena Lewis Tate. Following her death in 1930, the church divided into three branches, known as the Keith, Jewell and Lewis dominions. The steel guitar was embraced in the worship of two of these dominions, the Keith Dominion (officially known as The House of God Which Is the Church of the Living God the Pillar and Ground of the Truth Without Controversy), headquartered in Nashville, and the Jewell Dominion (officially known as Church of the Living God, Pillar and Ground of the Truth.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Steel_(musical_tradition)

The Gospel Of Sacred Steel TV (on every Saturday on the Buckeye Broadband channel 69 in Ohio USA) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NhrOek9Ki4


The Campbel brothers (Podcast reference: 22:18 - 25:09)

“The four Campbell brothers - - Chuck on pedal steel, Phillip on electric guitar and bass, Carlton (Phillip's son) on drums, and Darick on eight-string lap steel -- play electric gospel music for the House of God, Keith Dominion church. Emphasizing the steel guitar, the group stick to a repertoire that avoids rock and blues, but nonetheless betrays the influences of those forms in their arrangements, which also draw from country, jazz, and other forms. Although their selection of material is spiritual, the guitar work of Chuck Campbell in particular is imaginative and at times even experimental, using a tuning he devised himself and the E-bow to produce eerie sustain…”

- Spotify -

“Chuck Campbell comes out of a different non-jazz background: Sacred Steel. That’s the name for the liturgical music of the House of God, a small African-American congregation that uses steel guitars as its primary instruments. Campbell found it a short leap from the gospel/blues roots of Sacred Steel to the Miles Davis and John Coltrane tributes that his band, the Campbell Brothers, was invited to join. The quintet’s Sacred Steel version of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme has become a popular touring production in recent years.”

(Further reading) https://jazztimes.com/features/profiles/pedal-steel-guitar-slides-into-jazz/

Jon Madeski (Hammond Organ) & The Campbel brothers (Pedal Steel)

(Podcast reference: 23:48)

https://open.spotify.com/album/1QkM69v1OcftB2Rs2xEAnR?si=IKSnYBF4TQ2G6v6FKxwshQ

Popular uses of Peddal Steel with particular focus on ‘country music’

(Podcast reference: 21:00 - 22:26)

Paul franklin played with Dier straight’s mark knopfler’s side project ‘The Nottinghill billys’

See a whole performance of the band from 1990 at Snape Maltings in Suffolk UK here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbn_F_VEpsk

1990 they released their only studio album called: ‘Missing: persumed haing a good time’

https://open.spotify.com/album/4HyXgM6clwGCwHe2Yhxt1B?si=xa2IrO5uSGmDIUVMMPxX_Q

(Podcast reference: 22:16)

Chet Atkins; revolutionized music with his signature fingerpicking guitar style and helped create the "Nashville Sound," blending country with pop influences. His work as a guitarist and producer transformed country music and inspired countless musicians.

https://open.spotify.com/track/0Gc5rsNFs2l5TKxeSLAYyK?si=8e71466dbbb24f62


(Podcast reference: 40:39)

Buddy Emmons revolutionized the pedal steel guitar by co-creating the Sho-Bud brand and introducing the double-neck design with E9 and C6 tunings, which became the industry standard. His innovative techniques allowed the pedal steel to blend seamlessly into country and jazz, influencing countless musicians and shaping the sound of modern music​

The parallel worlds of dance music culture and the Sacred Steel movement

(Podcast Refrence 29:34 - 32:00)

(quote from Sacred Steel: Inside and African American Steel Guitar Tradition)

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Sacred_Steel/3hyakc6r-A4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Sacred+Steel:+Inside+an+African+American+Steel+Guitar+Tradition&printsec=frontcover

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Emmons

Further reading: ​Live Steel Strings

Contempory use of the Pedal Steel:

Robert Randolph (A descendant of the Sacred Steel tradition) (Podcast reference: 32:40)

https://open.spotify.com/track/2WNJKzb1CE205hZxwgXR9j?si=d6d6f999c438424e

Dave Heartly - Distinguished UK Peddal steel player and teacher

(Podcast reference: 42:48)

https://www.henrysenior.co.uk/wordpress/lesson-with-david-hartley/

A deep dive into the first piece performed by Jon & Matt: ‘A closer walk with thee’

(Podcast reference: 33:50)

https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/just-a-closer-walk-with-thee

Tuning, playing, technique & Mechanics of the Hammond

(Podcast reference: 7:47 - 12:02)

Organ Tuning:

A notorious example of an RI (rational intonation) which is not synonymous with just intonation, is the tuning of the Hammond organ. All 12 pitches bear rational relationships, with terms of one or two digits (thus, this tuning is a 100-integer-limit tuning), but which sounds for all intents and purposes like 12-edo.

Hammond Organ tuning

--------------------

absolute 1/1 = 320 Hz (internal gear only; does not get heard)

  • "absolute ratio" is the list of ratios of the notes to the

unheard 320 Hz

  • "relative ratio" fixes each one of the 12 notes as 1/1 in turn

and measures all others from that.

  • "c" marks ratios which appear in the table of

"Some rational convergents to 12-edo degrees".

the maximum error from true 12-edo is just over __ cent.

http://tonalsoft.com/enc/h/hammond-organ.aspx

Organ Draw bars:

https://120years.net/the-hammond-organlaurens-hammondusa1935/

The Hammond organ origin story

(Podcast reference: 12:15 - 17:18)

Laurens Hammond, inventor of the Hammond organ, began his career as a clockmaker, innovating the first marketable electric clock. During the Great Depression, his family struggled to remain solvent, so Hammond created an automated shuffling poker table. Seeking another way to use his synchronous motor technology, he developed a musical instrument. His Model A Hammond Organ, introduced in 1935, targeted churches as a low-cost substitute for expensive pipe organs, quickly gaining popularity with over 1,400 pre-orders.

However, this success was met with resistance from pipe organ manufacturers, who filed complaints about Hammond's advertising claims. The FTC's investigation led to a series of blind tests between Hammond's organ and a $75,000 Skinner pipe organ. While public listening tests favored the Hammond, scientific analyses gave the edge to traditional organs. The final ruling required Hammond to adjust his claims but allowed him to continue marketing the organ. Despite this, the instrument's unique sound became a massive success, especially in churches and later in genres like jazz and rock.

Further reading:

https://newmusicusa.org/nmbx/hearing-the-hammond-organ/

https://bookerlab.com/2023/01/06/hammond-part2/

https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=2719

Pipe organ V Hammond Organ

(Podcast reference - 17:17 - 19:22)

Fats Waller - Aint Missbehaving (1939 - The London suite) performed on a pipe organ

https://open.spotify.com/track/2WCJ1NiJYDmezb6VfJWSoT?si=703f443c70dd4b2a


Jimmy Smith - Aint Missbehaving (1962 - Jimmy Smith plays Fats Waller) performed on the Hammond Organ

https://open.spotify.com/track/5P2ubMjjBOFb6hy1gQFakN?si=9e9357d480d64ac0


The way Jon Uses the Hammond:

Franc Moody: Night Flight (Podcast reference: 01:03:17)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YpZjRYBDGg

(The hammond line jon references appears at 2:25 in the YouTube video)


Jon sent me a list of tunes that inspired him to play the hammond, each one has a short paragraph attached:


1) JIMI HENDRIX - VODOO CHILE LIVE - STEVE WINWOOD https://open.spotify.com/track/0auKlivXpm76wR63mMJ3pR?si=zupj2dHXSbeTyKxtMUj1Iw

“The live energy of this record is insane. Recorded in one take at 7:30am with a small studio crowd it comes over raw and direct, giving the impression it sounds just how it was in the room. Steve Winwood on the hammond on full crunch compliments Hendrix weaving around his vocals and guitar with tasty little licks in the verse adding so much energy to it. He makes it sound like he's striking a match which then sets fire in the full sections when the hammond is on full throttle.”


2) SCOFIELD MADESKI MARTIN AND WOOD (LIVE) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpCGjIz3p-Q

“Medeski is another hero of mine. One of the most experimental and tasty players I've come across. Love the guttural, percussive comping and then the sweet soulfulness of the chords in the b section. He uses just about every single sound the Hammond can make in the solo and it makes beautiful musical sense. I love the way medeski manipulates the sound constantly, always riding and adjusting the drawbars.”


3) CORY HENRY PERFORMENCE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwO7rQD_uZU

“Soul soul soul soul! Such a beautiful taste and feel. He's so playful with the instrument but at the same time gives such an emotional performance. If there's ever an example of a master of an instrument.”


4) JIMMY MCGRIFF - ALL ABOUT MY GIRL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmK8YDcbXCY

“Jimmy Mcgriff is my personal favorite of all the hammond jazz / blues greats. His tone is always so raw and direct, piercing through the microphones. The shuffle on this tune kills me.. And his solos are so lyrical.