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Basil Henriques
Lokahi
United Kingdom
225 Posts |
 Posted - 11/09/2007 : 03:56:31 AM
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Sub Titled :- The Steel Guitar in Early Country Music
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Edited by - Basil Henriques on 11/10/2007 02:56:48 AM |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2007 : 04:55:10 AM
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Basil, Sarah's grandparents both lived 100 years - from exactly 1900 to 2000. Sarah's grandfather was a professor at Vanderbilt in Nashville and originally came from a small village in Kentucky (if you can call what were essentially cabins a village). One of his friends, in a nearby area of Kentucky acquired a "Hawaiian guitar", certainly a lap steel, in 1917. He told Sarah's grandparents that he couldn't figure out how to play it and passed it on to somebody else. This date is certain - these folks were absolutely clear minded until their deaths and remembered, and wrote down details of their lives and geneologies. This exchange was triggered when they learned that Sarah was playing Hawaiian Slack Key by 1997.
The distribution of Hawaiian lap steels into the tiny corners of rural, and poor, mid-southern America was astoundingly quick.
BTW, if you google Sarah or Thomas Whitaker, you will find an astounding series of geneological trees in the US. It is kinda scary that there are, and were, so many of them. It is a tradition in Sarah's family that the Sarahs in each generation (at least one per generation per nuclear family) are distinguished by their middle names.
...Reid (whose last name is also astonishingly common) |
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Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2007 : 08:47:42 AM
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Interesting, Basil.
I'm guessing the Sol Hoopii recordings with various pop stars of the day will appear in vol. 2?
One thing I've always wondered about: I'm I the only one who has noticed the similarity between the standard early country steel/dobro lick (think just about any Jimmy Rogers or Roy Acuff turnaround) and the Hawaiian vamp? Or, for that matter, the similarity to Jimmy Roger's blue yodel vocal turnaround?
I'm guessing the lick came from Hoopii, and the yodel came from the lick... though maybe it was the other way around.
Anyone know how many Jimmy Rogers records were sold in Hawaii?
Ain't it funny how rapid transportation (railroads & steamships) & recordings changed everything? We are talking about a fundamental change in musical styles in two widely seperated places and cultures that took place over just a few years.
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Edited by - Mark on 11/09/2007 08:48:51 AM |
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Basil Henriques
Lokahi
United Kingdom
225 Posts |
Posted - 11/10/2007 : 02:55:44 AM
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Mark, I'm afraid "Sol" will have to wait, my source says :
quote:
Lately I've been working on--the ten different musicians who played steel guitar on Jimmie Rodgers's recordings. (Some interesting facts, and four of his steel guitarists were native Hawaiians, it turns out.) I could foresee three, perhaps, separate articles (each about as long as my first one, or perhaps a little shorter?). I MIGHT be able to get the first article to you after the new year (covering Rodgers's first 3 steel guitarists), IF I can find enough time to work on it as we head into final exams and beyond here.
Anthony
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Edited by - Basil Henriques on 11/10/2007 03:29:07 AM |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2168 Posts |
Posted - 11/10/2007 : 06:29:16 AM
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Baz, this reminds me of the BBC series "Connexions".
One idea bounces around and stimulates others into a cascade of innovation. |
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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2007 : 09:32:48 AM
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| Baz - I was very fortunate to meet Wilbur Ball and Cliff Carlisle, both of whom recorded with jimmie Rodgers, at the San Diego Folk Festival in the mid-1970's. Wilber lived in San Diego, so he appeared every year. His specialty number was "Hello, Hawaii, How Are You?", a tin pan alley Hawaiian song. I think it was Cliff who told me that Jimmie first used steel on "Everybody Does It in Hawaii", and liked the sound so well that he continued to use it on other recordings. According to CLiff, other country performers said "If Jimmie uses a steel, I will, too" and that's how the steel guitar got into country music. It is documented (DeWitt Scott knows, too - you should check with him, Baz) that Leon MacAullife, Herb Remington, and Buddy Emmons, among others, got into steel via Hawaiian music. Scotty's "Steel Guitar International" magazine back in the 80's had a history of steel guitar series you could check on, too. |
keaka |
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Basil Henriques
Lokahi
United Kingdom
225 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2008 : 05:12:30 AM
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From Aloha Dream February 2008 ..
Forgive the goof on the first page .. it should be numbered 11 ! |
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KäneKïHö`alu
Akahai
64 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 1:50:56 PM
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| Yup. The steel guitar is truly Hawaiian. It's funny to explain to mainlanders at my college that the steel guitar was invented in Hawaiʻi. They always don't believe me. |
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