Country Rendez-Vous: Crappone, France

[Brett Robinson]

There are some cool videos from this festival. Here's the beginning and the tail end of our set:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww8wTtUb ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbvl4Iws ... rofilepage

[John Polstra]

Those are great, Brett! Thanks for sharing them. I bought the "Whitey Morgan and the 78s" album a month ago and have been listening to it and enjoying it a lot. Your steel playing on that album is a real inspiration to me. (I took up pedal steel about 2-1/2 years ago, starting with a pretty solid amateur background on keyboards, guitar, and bass.) Lately, I've been trying to work out your intro and some of your fills from "Cheaters Always Lose". The intro in particular covers a lot of ground in a very fluid way. I don't have it completely worked out yet, but I'm learning a lot and having fun trying.

John

[Brett Robinson]

Thanks for the kind words about the videos! Both records were cut before I joined the band. I've been touring with Whitey for over a year now. Look for me on the next record. Fred Newell did a lot of the work on the first record, along with some Michigan guys. The latest record was cut at Levon Helm's studio in Woodstock. Larry Campbell did some amazing steel playing on several tracks, including the track you mentioned, as well as Pete Ballard and Drew Howard, two great players from Michigan.

I learned a lot from listening to Larry's playing on the record, so I know how you feel. I had been playing for about 2 years when I joined the band and had to learn those parts, haha.

Anyway, good luck with your playing. Mr. Campbell is a great musician to try to emulate.

[John Polstra]

Heh, from the release date of the record I just assumed it was you on the steel. Well, I'm already learning a lot from your videos, too. The camera work on the two recent ones is very good; I can actually see what you're doing during the steel breaks, most of the time. Songs like "Bad News" are really good for me, as they force me to broaden my scope beyond the slow pretty ballads that I always gravitate towards on the steel. I just recently talked my way into the steel seat in a (very) local band that plays in a similar style, so all of a sudden I've got to expand my range quickly.

Very impressive that you were able to join that band after only 2 years of playing pedal steel!

John