Lloyd Green on new Tom T. Hall project

Friends of Tom T. Hall have re-recorded his children's album, "Songs of Fox Hollow". The sessions at Hall's Fox Hollow recording studio included the legendary Lloyd Green on steel guitar. From what I can hear on the YouTube promo clip (below), Lloyd is in top form. Here's what Lloyd had to say about the sessions:

We recorded the Tom T. Hall project last summer at his recording studio on his elegant estate Fox Hollow with 12 different singers, one for each of the songs from his 1960s children's album.

Steel Jam in Codorus, PA

I don't know much about this steel show and jam, other than what Mike Sweeney posted on the Steel Guitar Forum:

"There will be a steel guitar show and jam in Codorus, PA, on Saturday, April 30, 2011, at the Jefferson Firehall. The show will start at 12 Noon and run till 9 PM. I will be playing as well as several local favorites. Tickets are $15.00 per person. The contact number is 717-792-5060.

"This show is in it's third year and is growing every year. The proceeds are donated to a different charity each year. This year all proceeds will go the The American Cancer Society. I'm looking forward to being a small part of this show that is benefiting such a worthy cause. I hope to see many of you there."

Saturday April 30, Noon to 9:00 PM
Jefferson Fire Hall (Google map)
31 Berlin Street
Township of Codorus, PA

Central Iowa Steel Guitar Show

It's not as big as the Siloam Springs show happening this weekend, but I'm sure it's just as friendly. The Central Iowa Steel Guitar Show & Dance features nine steel guitar players, each doing a nice long set to fill a Sunday afternoon. A good time for all, with lots of traditional country music and pedal steel. Last year was the first for this show, which is now becoming an annual event.

Sunday May 1, starting at 11 AM
Knights of Columbus Hall (Google map)
201 west High Street
Marshalltown, Iowa

Schedule of performers:

Dave Giegerich Tribute Show

Aloha Dave! - A tribute show honoring steel guitarist Dave Giegerich will be held in Baltimore this Friday evening. Dave passed away last December. Performers include The Hula Monsters, Smooth Kentucky, Dede Wyland, Randy Barrett and Mama Tried, Tracey Eldridge and the Flying Aces, Stoney Point, Arty Hill, and Karen Collins. The audience is invited to wear Hawaiian shirts in honor of Dave.

April 29, 7:30 p.m.
Creative Alliance at the Patterson
3134 Eastern Ave.
Baltimore, Maryland (Google map)
Phone 410-276-1651
www.creativealliance.org
Price: $20

Here's a wonderful video of Dave playing the 7-string reso:

Paul Franklin touring with Vince Gill

Seems like it's been a long time since anyone outside of Nashville has seen Paul Franklin perform. Well, this year Paul is touring with Vince Gill! Vince loves great steel guitar, having employed such heavyweights as John Hughey and JayDee Maness in the past. You can see his tour schedule at VinceGill.com. Paul says he will be playing all of the dates.

The upcoming shows in May are:

May 5 - Macon, GA - Macon City Auditorium
May 6 - Hiawassee, GA - Anderson Music Hall
May 7 - Pinehurst, NC - The Village Arboretum

Siloam Springs Steel Guitar Show (Arkansas)

The Siloam Springs Steel Guitar Club will have their big annual show this coming weekend. This is the 17th year for the event, which attracts many players from Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and beyond. Here are the details:

April 30 and May 1, 2011
Southside Elementary School Cafeteria (Google Map)
200 West Tulsa
Siloam Springs, Arkansas

Schedule of performers:

Henry Kaleialoha Allen Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival

Next weekend, the Kaanapali Beach Hotel on Maui will present the 3rd annual Henry Kaleialoha Allen Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival. This festival features free concerts, presentations and hands-on workshops to celebrate the tradition of Hawaiian steel guitar music.

Henry Kaleialoha Allen was one of the original steel guitarists for a Hawaii radio show, “Hawaii Calls,” and has been playing music for over 60 years. He actively promotes the Hawaiian steel guitar on the islands. You may be familiar with his excellent instruction book, "How to Play the Hawaiian Steel Guitar".

The Kindness Killers

It's always nice to see lap steel players singing out front, so I was delighted to come across a review of The Kindness Killers in the Brunswick News. Lap guitarist Nick Ferrio shares the vocal spotlight with bandmate Julia Fenn in this folk quartet. Nick plays a 6 string National in an authentic Appalachian style. There are virtually no Hawaiian, swing or blues influences in his playing - it's such pure folk/country that you can barely call tell it's electric. Delightful! You can hear and download their EP at theKindnessKillers.Bandcamp.com

The Kindness Killers are from Peterborough, Ontario, and they run a busy tour schedule all over eastern Canada. This weekend they're at the Lawnya Vawnya Festival in St. John's, Newfoundland. For more information, visit their web site KindnessKillers.com.

Quasar Steel Guitar

It's sort of a slow news day, so I'll plug my old CD:

The CD that launched my Pedal Steel Pages web site was recorded in 1995 at Hoffmann Studio in Occidental, California. It includes 5 original songs* and 5 standards. A 12 string Sierra Crown series pedal steel was used (extended E9th), except for the Hawaiian song "Sand" which was played on a Fender Stringmaster. The musicians are all friends of mine from here in northern California.

1. Sagebrush Shuffle*
2. Steel Guitar Rag
3. Round The Horn*
4. Southern Sunday
5. St. James Infirmary
6. Alva's Occidental Melody*
7. Steelin' the Blues
8. I Walk Downtown*
9. Theme Time*
10. Sand

You can listen to the original songs at BandCamp.com, or buy the CD at The SGF Store.

Thanks for reading my ad.

Zoe Muth "Starlight Hotel" CD Features Dave Harmonson

Country singer songwriter Zoe Muth has released a new CD called "Starlight Hotel" with her Lost High Rollers band. Pedal steel guitarist Dave Harmonson really shines on this project. Dave's a really good steel player and Zoe's traditional-sounding country music is perfect for his E9th backup style. You can hear samples from the CD at ZoeMuth.com.

Zoe and the band are promoting the disc this week with a radio show and a CD release concert. The radio show is on KEXP 90.3 in Seattle, Thursday evening April 21 at 7:00 PM PDT. It's the Swinging Doors show with Don Slack. This live show will be streamed on the net at www.kexp.org and then archived.

The CD release show is actually two concerts on Saturday evening April 23 at The Columbia City Theater in Seattle. Showtimes are 6:30 and 10:00 PM. Even if you can't make these shows, you can pick up the CD at CDBaby or Amazon, or download it from iTunes. Good country music with smooth and pretty steel guitar by Dave Harmonson - that's what we like to hear!

You can also hear Dave playing his instrumental "The 4 M Swing" on our own Steel Guitar Forum Members Showcase CD, available from The SGF Store at SteelGuitarShopper.com or from Kunaki.com.

DoDaJam Festival in Georgia (USA)

Jam band festivals don't feature much steel guitar, but the crowd at next weekend's DoDaJam will be treated to two unique and talented pedal steel players. First there's Roosevelt Collier of The Lee Boys, an uplifting group in the Sacred Steel tradition. The Lee Boys will be on the Do Da Stage at 1:30 Friday afternoon, April 22 (if I'm reading the schedule correctly).

The New Riders of the Purple Sage need no introduction to "boomer" steel guitar fans. Jerry Garcia, the band's original steeler, yielded the steel chair to Buddy Cage in 1971 and rock history was made. While most of the original original members have passed on, Buddy Cage and David Nelson re-formed the band a few years ago and continue to rock audiences on tour. They'll be on the Do Da Jam Stage this Saturday night, April 23 at 11:00 PM.

The DoDaJam Festival is at the Etawah River Campground in Dahlonega, Georgia (USA). Visit DoDaJam.com for more information.

Spotlight on Big B

I had the pleasure of subbing for David Phillips last weekend with Big B and his Snake Oil Saviors. What a great band! Bandleader Ben “Big B” Buettner fronts the band on guitar and vocals, and Jennifer Jolly's rolling boogie-woogie piano style is something that you don't hear enough of these days.

David plays a 10-string lap steel with this band to maintain the vintage flavor of the music. You can hear David's hot licks on their CD. I don't have that much confidence in my non-pedal chops, so I used my 8-string Desert Rose pedal steel. The gig was at a dance school (Monroe Hall in Santa Rosa), and the crowd had just finished a jitterbug lesson. What a perfect setup for this music!

Big B plays in the San Francisco Bay area - they don't often get this far north. A big thanks to David Phillips for plugging me into this gig. It was a pleasurable and unique experience.

Junior Brown at The Iridium, NYC

Guit-steel wizard Junior Brown will be playing with the Les Paul Trio at The Iridium on Monday. This should be a real treat! Junior plays a double-neck instrument of his own design - half guitar, half 8-string steel. He switches necks effortlessly in mid-tune, often while singing.

The Iridium stage is known best as the home of Les Paul. Often called "The Father of the Electric Guitar", Paul performed at The Iridium weekly for more than a decade until his passing in 2009. Today, the Les Paul Trio continues in his honor, showcasing the diversity of the electric guitar every Monday night.

April 18, 2011
Iridium Jazz Club
1650 Broadway
New York, 10020
(212)582-2121

Learn more about Junior Brown at his web site, JuniorBrown.com.

Quad City Steel Guitar Show in Iowa - Today

I apologize for the lateness of this notice - it's happening today! This is the 19th annual Quad City Steel Guitar Show in Davenport, Iowa. This year's featured artist is Steel Guitar Hall Of Fame member Ron Elliott from Madison, Tennessee. But that's not all - 16 of the best steel guitarists in the region will be playing in concert (see schedule below).

Saturday, April 16th, 2011, 10:00am - 11:30pm
Clarion Hotel Conference Center (Google map)
5202 Brady Street
Davenport, Iowa
Admission: $15 at the door

Robert Randolph in Australia

Pedal steel superstar Robert Randolph and the Family Band are touring Australia. The schedule on their web site is a bit confused, but it's clear that they're playing Sunday, April 17 at the West Coast Blues 'n' Roots Festival in Fremantle. From what I can tell, that's a very big deal (Bob Dylan is the headliner). Here's the link:

http://westcoastbluesnroots.com.au/

Robert's getting a bit of good press in advance of this tour. Check out the Entertainment section of The West Australian.

Mike Perlowin's L.A. Steel Jam

From time to time Mike Perlowin hosts a steel guitar jam in the Los Angeles area. These are circle jams where people play in turn to Band-In-A-Box tracks. The 2-day event is scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday at the Sam Ash store in Cerritos.

Apr 16 & 17
Sam Ash Music Store (Google map)
12651 Artesia Boulevard
Cerritos, CA
562-468-1107

Sonny Rhodes in Edmonton

I just learned that Texas bluesman Sonny Rhodes is playing all week at Blues On Whyte in Edmonton, Alberta. Sonny sings and plays lap steel in the authentic blues style, and he's one of the best you'll hear anywhere. Sorry for the late notice, but I hear the weekends are really jumpin' at this place so you still have time to catch his show.

April 11-16, 2011
Blues on Whyte (Google map)
10329 Whyte Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T6E 1Z9
Canada
Phone: (780) 439 5058

Southern Illinois Steel Guitar Show

The annual Southern Illinois Steel Guitar Show will take place this Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. Organized by Bobby D. Reed, this show features many of the best steel players in midwest. Guest singers Leona Williams, Dottie Jack and Ron Williams will also perform.

Holiday Inn
222 Potomac Blvd
Mt Vernon, IL
I-57 Exit #95 (Google map)
(618) 244-7100

The performance schedule was announced last week on The Steel Guitar Forum:

Florida Steel Guitar Club

The Florida Steel Guitar Club's monthly jam will be held this Wednesday, April 13, from 5:30 to 8:30. This free event is held at Catfish Johnny's Restaurant in Lake Panasoffkee. Click here for the Google map.

Catfish Johnny's Restaurant
2396 N. County Route 470
Lake Panasoffkee, Fl
352-793-2083

The Florida Steel Guitar Club is an informal organization run by Jack Stoner and Don Sulesky. For more information, check their web site at FloridaSteelGuitarClub.com.

Jack Stoner will bring the new 4-ohm Eminence PS15 speaker to this month's meeting for members to try out.

David Lindley and Harry Manx in BC

Rock lap steel legend David Lindley will team up with Harry Manx this Tuesday at the University of Victoria (Victoria, BC), and Wednesday at the Vogue Theater (Vancouver, BC). These are the final shows of their 5-city Canadian tour. Both shows start at 8:00 PM. You can order tickets at Manx's web site HarryManx.com.

There's a good article about their music, including interview quotes from Manx, at the Vancouver web site Straight.com.

Middletown Ohio Pedal Steel Show

This Sunday, April 10, there will be a steel guitar show in Middleton, Ohio.

Middletown Fraternal Order of Orioles
3010 South Main Street
Middletown OH 45044
(513) 424-6879

Middletown Orioles Pedal Steel Show, April 10, 2011
Doors open at 1 PM, music starts at 2 PM.
$5 admission, bar and kitchen will be open for business

Schedule of performers:

The Clarks Tonight in Erie PA

Apparently Gary W. Jacob has been playing pedal steel with The Clarks for "a couple of years", but this is the first time it hit my radar. They'll be at Sherlock's in Erie, PA tonight. Read the article about them at GoErie.com:

Clarks, with steel additions, return to Erie

Pedal steel always sounds good in roots rock music.

Ralph Mooney 1928-2011

Ralph Mooney, one of the most influential pedal steel guitarists ever, passed away on March 20, 2011. Musicologist Rich Keinzel remembers Moon in this article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

Ralph Mooney, Pedal Steel Master: 1928-2011

The New York Times also ran an obituary:

Ralph Mooney, Master of the Steel Guitar, Dies at 82

Rest in peace, Ralph.