Joel Stewart
Joel Stewart
He had a lovely signature sound on that steel guitar. Not "correct" country steel by any stretch, but soulful, and a perfect fit for Neil Young's music. Long partnership, those two.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
RIP Ben Keith
- Thread starter Joel Stewart
- Start date
Eden Mylunsch
Eden Mylunsch
In the interest of keeping up the decorum of Wine disorder, I'll disagree with you slightly and say that he most certainly did have a "correct" country steel sound, but that he didn't always use it. It served as a foundation upon which to help bring the instrument into more mainstream sounds. Whereas Buddy Emmons took the instrument into a jazz direction, Ben's work fit into more of a rock vein, and maybe more importantly, influenced the sound and feel of Neil Young's music and midwifing out its country influences.
I would have to say that all of the steel players I've ever worked with have woodshedded not only all of his parts from "Harvest", but could play his licks on Patsy Cline's "I Fall To Pieces" in any key that any wannabe chick singer wanted to try it in. His career spanned about 50 years and he'd remained vital in a number of genres as a pedal steel guitarist and a producers; we should all have such an impact on others in our fields.
-Eden (awed to learn that Ben Keith had produced a Perez Prado album back in 1991 using some of the top young Nashville session players. Why oh why would anyone do such a thing?That's like the Lawrence Welk band playing Mahler's 8th. Sure, they're great musicians, but it's just not going to feel right, y'know?)
I would have to say that all of the steel players I've ever worked with have woodshedded not only all of his parts from "Harvest", but could play his licks on Patsy Cline's "I Fall To Pieces" in any key that any wannabe chick singer wanted to try it in. His career spanned about 50 years and he'd remained vital in a number of genres as a pedal steel guitarist and a producers; we should all have such an impact on others in our fields.
-Eden (awed to learn that Ben Keith had produced a Perez Prado album back in 1991 using some of the top young Nashville session players. Why oh why would anyone do such a thing?That's like the Lawrence Welk band playing Mahler's 8th. Sure, they're great musicians, but it's just not going to feel right, y'know?)
Arnt Egil Nordlien
Arnt Egil Nordlien
Very sad. RIP.
Joel Stewart
Joel Stewart
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
In the interest of keeping up the decorum of Wine disorder, I'll disagree with you slightly and say that he most certainly did have a "correct" country steel sound, but that he didn't always use it. It served as a foundation upon which to help bring the instrument into more mainstream sounds. Whereas Buddy Emmons took the instrument into a jazz direction, Ben's work fit into more of a rock vein, and maybe more importantly, influenced the sound and feel of Neil Young's music and midwifing out its country influences.
I would have to say that all of the steel players I've ever worked with have woodshedded not only all of his parts from "Harvest", but could play his licks on Patsy Cline's "I Fall To Pieces" in any key that any wannabe chick singer wanted to try it in. His career spanned about 50 years and he'd remained vital in a number of genres as a pedal steel guitarist and a producers; we should all have such an impact on others in our fields.
-Eden (awed to learn that Ben Keith had produced a Perez Prado album back in 1991 using some of the top young Nashville session players. Why oh why would anyone do such a thing?That's like the Lawrence Welk band playing Mahler's 8th. Sure, they're great musicians, but it's just not going to feel right, y'know?)
Nice obit, Eden (humbly standing corrected about BK's steely correctness)...until I heard about his passing, I didn't realize he played with Patsy!
Now I gotta pull out Harvest again...