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The pedal steel guitar is probably one of my favourite musical instruments. Slinky, slidey, shimmering, angelic…the pedal steel is all of this and more. Ten strings (or twenty on a doubleneck), a solid plank of wood adorned with clubs, hearts, diamonds, and spades, a handful of foot pedals and an elbowful of knee levers; these simple ingredients come together to form the slide-rule of musical instruments, a well-known yet mysterious feat of industrial design that has been decorating classic country records since the dawn of classic country recording.
Heck, the blatantly attractive timbre of the pedal steel is probably what drew me to Country & Western music in the first place (plus the influence of both the Grateful Dead and my dad, despite myself). But of course it ain’t just “both kinds of music” that features the pedal steel, the thing occasionally pops up in all kinds of songs. I have an album containing a wonderful jazz collaboration between the great, great, great Lenny Breau on guitar and the also very great Buddy Emmons, who is such a famous name in the pedal steel world that half of his name appears on the most popular brand of pedal steel guitar in the world, the ubiquitous “Sho-Bud”, of which I own a beautiful bird’s-eye maple ’72 single neck. Gosh, what a beautiful instrument, in both sight and sound.
And there, dear readers, is the introductory preamble which brings us – okay, me – to the Ottawa Bluesfest on July 13th, 2003, which I believe was the first time I saw Robert Randolph & The Family Band.
Robert Randolph is the name in pedal steel nowadays* (by which I mean the last two decades or so). To be fair, there has never been a lot of “names” to compete with in the pedal steel game, but that point notwithstanding you can rest assured: the dude has got it going on. And he ain’t playing no Country & Western neither. No, Robert and his band are a straight-up blistering bluesy rock & roll band, and they are super-great at it. It’s not unusual for Randolph to rise right up out of his chair, leaning his bulky instrument towards the audience while he tears away at it looking like Jimi Hendrix was ferocously making stage clothes on a Fender sewing machine.
Would I like the band as much if there was no pedal steel? Not a chance. I never find myself humming a Robert Randolph song so I don’t think his songwriting is the thing, and though his band is kickin’, well, there are lots of kickin’ bands out there that I often find myself walking right by. But I tell you, even a mediocre local band at the county fair will turn my head if there’s a half-decent pedal steel player up on stage, so yeah, for me the steel is the big attraction.
I can’t quite recall whether or not I caught any other acts at the Bluesfest that night. Though I probably bounced to another stage or two around the old City Hall venue I doubt I would have seen anything as well suited to a pleasant summer Bluesfest evening than Robert Randolph’s raucous, sweaty set, so it’s no surprise that his appearance is what stands out.
*I’m leaving Daniel Lanois out of the equation despite the fact that the pedal steel is basically his main instrument now, and he plays it like nobody else. But really, Lanois is known more for his singing/songwriting/guitar playing (and especially producing) so most people don’t think of him as a pedal steel player.
But man, he sure is.
Todd Man Out 