Prog songs that feature pedal steel guitar

[yoyiceu]

British Seventies prog band Wally had a pedal steel player (Paul Middleton) as a well as a violinist and played a kind of prog-country fusion in their two albums.

[GuitarGeek]

re: Howe's Fender doubleneck console steel:

IIRC, he had a table on extended legs with wheels in tracks, so that it could be slid into and out of position.

That came later, I think starting on either the "solo albums" tour in 76 or the Going For The One tour. He took the Fender console steel and dolly casters mounted under the underside of the legs, then mounted it on a track that allowed him to move it back and forth a few feet. There's video footage from the GFTO tour, where he sort of walks the Fender steel back and forth during the solo in GFTO itself.

I don't think he used such a setup on the Tormato tour, though, as I don't think there was as much room on the rotating stage as there had been on the previous tour. He did bring it back for the Drama tour, as there's photos in the guitar collection book showing it. The way he made it sound like in the book, I thought that was the first tour he used it on, until I saw the video footage from 77.

I think he must have abandoned the sliding casters setup for awhile, because all concert footage I've seen from the 90's, he doesn't seem to use it. On some tours, he had his roadie...er, I mean guitar tech, bring the Fender out for the songs that he needed it, but it was otherwise kept out of audience view, for songs that didn't require the instrument. I think when I saw them the first time, in 97, he kept it onstage through the whole show, but in 99, the guitar tech had to bring it out for the songs that used it.

I know when I saw them in 2002, he had gone back to the casters and track setup, but with the addition of an arm to support the Coral sitar. I remember this, because when I saw them in Akron on that tour, during intro of Close To The Edge itself, when Steve's playing that initial guitar solo, the guitar tech pushed the steel out toward Steve, apparently a little too early, because Steve then pushed it back toward the wings, as if to say, "No, not yet!".

(and by 2004, he had replaced the Coral sitar with one of those "virtual" guitars made by Line 6, which apparently allows you to dial in a very life like emulation of the Coral, which he presumably preferred using onstage, rather than the original instrument)

[regenerativemusic]

Not quite Prog but Jerry Garcia played pedal on Graham Nash's song "I used to be a King." Up there with "And You and I" for me.

[jake]

There’s tons of pedal-steel on the Super Active Wizzo album, which is one of the most bizarre records ever made: sort of jazz fusion meets Western swing with a very typically Roy Wood-ish patina over it all. Kind of an acquired taste, for sure, but I love it!

What a coincidence - I just heard this album for the first time this weekend and was very impressed - I then watched a couple of YouTubes and remembered that I had actually seen the BBC2 in concert which they came from. I remember thinking this band was very much a 'work in progress' and unusual - even for a serial eclectic like Roy. Pity he wasn't able to follow through with that direction.

As for the main theme of this thread - after their fake country album Ween kept a pedal steel player in the band for most of their albums thereafter - used to great effect on White Pepper especially.

[jamesmanzi]

I know Lanois' name came up earlier in the thread, but I just got around to picking up his latest album yesterday and was listening to it on the morning commute.

This one is all processed lap and pedal steel, no other instruments, very ambient.

https://daniellanois.bandcamp.com/al...ye-to-language