Randolph

[Jim Pitman]

My sentiments too Jim.

As you knpow the Fess (Jerry) and I attended too. Robert had called Jerry (at 2:30am!) the morning before asking if he could show up to swap out his BL pickup. Appernetly, he had been experiencing some trouble and didn't want to perform without his primary guitar. Jerry called me and we went down during sound check. Under great time pressure a tuning key broke. Luckily one from an acoustic guitar fit perfectly. A sound check in the band room proved our efforts fruitful.

Jerry and I stepped out during the opening act (hip hop). We were astounded at the number of young people showing up. - There's hope for a bigger future market for steel guitar after all. Of course, none of the kids knew they were in the presence of the guy who made Robert's instrument. As far as they knew we were the token "old guys"

Robert plays with a Steven's bar I suppose to make hammer -ons and pull-offs easier. This is something you would hear from a dobro player. Occasionally he'll pick a note then slide it into several other postions quickly executing a long melody section on the same string without picking again. You can also hear his sacred steel roots - emulating the human voice. Combine this with his tuning that's short on major thirds and some pedal action and you get a rock flavor. He's certainly his own man on pedal steel.

Looking forward to the Austin City airing.

Jim P

[HowardR]

He is also an exciting, lively, and personable ENTERTAINER. He captures and holds people's attention. This is very important since he is playing something that most people there, know nothing about.

Heck, when I was 18 and heard that there was this guy, Johnny Winter who played bottleneck guitar, I thought it was a guitar with a glass neck!

I've come a short way since then......<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by HowardR on 28 September 2002 at 07:16 AM.]</p></FONT>