8-string lap steel- "Town without Pity"

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 6 Mar 2012 12:09 am

Also posted in Steel Without Pedals, sorry for the cross-posting.
I thought this this Gene Pitney classic would suit the sound of the steel guitar, so I made a short instrumental recording of it.

It's a bit of a departure from most of the stuff I do, especially in the production of the background tracks. I was going for a mood piece here, so I had some fun with the software and the lap steel. This song is very evocative, dark and moody.

I used my homemade 8-string lap, now fitted with an Alumitone pickup. C6th tuning.

Town Without Pity

Roger Shackelton · Post by **Roger Shackelton** » 6 Mar 2012 1:09 am

HI JERRY,

I enjoyed listening to this tune, especially since it isn't a tune that is usually heard on steel guitar.

I saw a pic of your wood fry pan guitar on your website. Does the concentric volume/tone control work well on a lap guitar?

Roger

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 6 Mar 2012 1:19 am

Thanks, Roger. The concentric pots on the wood Frypan (not the guitar I played on this song) are not volume/tone. The two pickups are wired like a Stringmaster, so that the upper pot is volume, and the lower one is a blend control for the pickups. No tone control.

Don McClellan · Post by **Don McClellan** » 6 Mar 2012 4:25 am

Loved it. I forgot what cool chords that song has. Don

Chuck S. Lettes · Post by **Chuck S. Lettes** » 6 Mar 2012 7:48 am

Hi Jerry,
Well done. Great song selection, and I especially like how the organ adds to your arrangement. Viva film noir!
Chuck

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 6 Mar 2012 11:50 am

Thanks, guys! I wasn't sure if I should post this or not. It's just something I couldn't get out of my head. Usually, I do more jazz oriented material, but this doesn't really lend itself to much improvisation. The backing tracks are deliberately a little cheesy, but I was trying to capture the mood of the original as much as I could.

Don, yes, the chord changes are very interesting and not what you'd expect, but you have to stick pretty closely to the original harmonies, or it loses it's "flavor".

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 7 Mar 2012 10:41 am

Love it Gerry! Love the "Space Age Bachelor Pad" backing track too!

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 7 Mar 2012 1:49 pm

Yeah, that's it. " Space Age Bachelor Pad" is exactly the genre I was going for. Kind of a reverb drenched moody feel... Thanks, Rick!

That was fun, but I think I need to fight the urge to share every little thing I do for my own amusement....

Don Drummer · Post by **Don Drummer** » 11 Mar 2012 8:09 am

By all means, keep sharing.

Chris Gabriel · Post by **Chris Gabriel** » 17 Mar 2012 9:35 am

Mmmmmmm.... relaxing.

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8-string lap steel- "Town without Pity"

8-string lap steel- "Town without Pity"

Very cool