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This Pedal Steel Player Is Doing The Lord’s Work Adding Its Glorious Sound To Non-Country Songs
A song can always use a little bit more pedal steel guitar. For my money, the pedal steel guitar is the most underrated instruments that exists. Its sound is unmistakable. Its style is incomparable. Its presence in any song is like a musical blanket that makes the listener feel warm and right at home. And for the most part, country music is the only genre that features it. And hey, you won’t hear me complaining about that. I’ll happily fire […] The post This Pedal Steel Player Is Doing The Lord’s Work Adding Its Glorious Sound To Non-Country Songs first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
A song can always use a little bit more pedal steel guitar.
For my money, the pedal steel guitar is the most underrated instruments that exists. Its sound is unmistakable. Its style is incomparable. Its presence in any song is like a musical blanket that makes the listener feel warm and right at home. And for the most part, country music is the only genre that features it.
And hey, you won’t hear me complaining about that. I’ll happily fire up songs like “Family Tradition” by Hank Williams Jr. or Alan Jackson’s “Little Bitty” and relish in the peddle steel guitar that’s included. The instrument can often be a “scene stealer,” so maybe that’s why other genres shy away from it?
Maybe the better question to ask is… what would other genres sound like with pedal steel guitar inserted into them?
One pedal steel player by the name of Asher Roseman is answering that question for us. He’s doing the Lord’s work and letting the world know how songs from all different corners of the musical universe would sound if there was a little pedal steel featured.
Now that I’ve heard some of these tracks with pedal steel included, I feel like I’m Christopher Walken in SNL‘s famous “Blue Oyster Cult Cowbell” sketch, only I’ve got a fever… and the only prescription is more pedal steel. Like the cowbell, maybe we’re all sleeping on the importance and versatility of the instrument.
Roseman kicked off his “Adding pedal steel to non-country songs” series by testing out the waters in the country music’s close friend: the southern rock genre. When you hear southern rock, you should immediately and instinctively think Lynyrd Skynyrd (work on that if you didn’t). The musician let us know what the famous rock band’s 1973 hit would sound like with a hit of pedal steel:
“Tuesday’s Gone” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Brilliant… but also country adjacent.
That first video was obviously a big hit for Asher Roseman (who doesn’t love Lynyrd Skynyrd?), so he decided to keep things going with another song that was requested by a fan. This one leaned into the grunge side of the musical spectrum with an Alice In Chains track. Think the pedal steel guitar wouldn’t work with that? You’d be wrong:
“Nutshell” by Alice In Chains
Keep ’em coming.
In my mind, Roseman was 2-for-2 with those first two pedal steel additions. I’m starting to think that every song could use a healthy dose of pedal steel guitar? That feeling was only furthered by the New York-based musician’s take on another grunge classic, one of Pearl Jam’s biggest hits:
“Black” by Pearl Jam
How good is that?
I’ve loved all of these just because I had no idea I needed them. Sometimes that’s how the most life-changing things come into your life, and I’ll be making sure to follow Roseman’s account closely so that I can continue to experience these pedal steel song enhancements. I’m hoping we can really get weird and start putting some pedal steel on pop music.
I’ll leave you with what might be the best one that he’s done thus far:
“Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits
LONG LIVE PEDAL STEEL GUITAR.The post This Pedal Steel Player Is Doing The Lord’s Work Adding Its Glorious Sound To Non-Country Songs first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
