Save the future of the steel guitar! (overly dramatic title...)

[Aron Odin Kristensen]

Hello! I am a 24 (one day short of 25) year old steel player, who started playing a little under two years ago. I am fully committed to the instrument, and i study it and its history for hours and hours every day. One thing that really bothers me is that some of the greatest steel records ever created are not available for purchase digitally, and are not on streaming platforms. Personally I like buying albums digitally, through iTunes (and i am aware that most people have stopped doing this). Since most people only listen through streaming services, people my age and younger wont be exposed to this instrument (and the styles of music that come with it) as much as they will be exposed to other kinds of music. The algorithms of the major streaming services could be a great tool to spread the word of steel guitar music. I know there are many great albums by steel players that are on streaming services and such, but i still find myself browsing the forum studying Weldon Myrick or Buddy Charleton, and coming across someone referencing an album. Often times, if that album is not put up for free on YouTube then i am out of luck. I think the future of steel guitar could be brighter if young people could be exposed to it through the platforms they already use for finding music. I know it can be troublesome getting these albums released digitally, but i still think it is worth thinking about for anyone here on the site that have made steel guitar albums, and not yet released them digitally. I also know that there has been some controversy lately about Spotify using the music on the platform to train A.I. , so i completely understand why someone would want to stay away from Spotify specifically.

List of some instrumental albums i wish i could buy through iTunes (i am aware that some of these are on YouTube):

Buddy Charleton - Playing Silk
Buddy Emmons - Emmons Guitar Inc.
Curly Chalker - Counterpoint
Curly Chalker - More Ways To Play
Curly Chalker - Nashville Sundown
Doug Jernigan - Uptown to Country
Doug Jernigan - Jazz By Jernigan
Doug Jernigan – Country Jazz Steel Guitar
Paul Franklin – Just Pickin'
Weldon Myrick – Pedalman

Those are the ones i can think of off the top of my head. I think the Chalker albums are the ones that i want the most to have in my digital collection. It seems that the common theme surrounding steel guitar is "unavailability". Its hard to be exposed to steel guitar music, and once your have been exposed to it, its hard to come by a good steel guitar, and once to you have your steel guitar and you are ready to learn, its hard to find these amazing records!

[Fred Treece]

I’m sure a lot of us share your misery.

You probably already know about Steel Radio
https://www.steelradio.org/
It might be worth sending a message to Ted Smousse and see about how to maybe purchase some of the music that gets played on the shows.

[Bill McCloskey]

A great source for these records is Discogs. I recently picked up some mint copies of steel records, including Buddy Charleton and Lloyd Green. You'll need a turntable and they won't be free though.