My biggest influences on the pedal steel guitar are Paul Franklin, Buddy Emmons, Greg Leisz, JD Maness, Bruce Kaphan and Lloyd Green. On six string, I am a fan of Bill Frisell, Leon Rhodes, Allen Epley, Hank Garland, Jim Campilongo, Clarence White and James Burton. My heroes on the resonator guitar, BKA, the dobro are Jerry Douglas, Mike Auldridge, Josh Graves and of course, Bashful Brother Oswald.
Bands, solo artists and composers: Alan Jackson, George Strait, George Jones, Life and Times, Shiner, Red House Painters, Ernest Tubb and the Texas Troubadors, Idaho, The Byrds, Low, Talk Talk, Flying Burrito Bros., Ours, Slint, Swervedriver, The Meters, Townes Van Zandt, Arvo Paert, Michael Nesmith, American Music Club, Blind Idiot God, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Dif Juz, Ui, Neil Young, Iron and Wine, Rein Sanction, Allison Krauss and Union Station, Seldom Scene, Palace Bros. ...and many more
I am a Brooklyn-based sideman, specializing in pedal steel guitar, dobro, lapsteel and six-string guitars. I started playing guitar in 1983, when I was given a nearly unplayable Hondo acoustic instead of the set of drums I'd asked for. Praise the Lord for that. My first sideman job was playing bass guitar for Mercury Rev. We opened for Porno for Pyros and Spiritualized. My next job was playing guitar and percussion for Babe The Blue Ox. We logged about 30,000 miles opening for Cake and Marcy Playground. It was on that tour that I heard a Red House Painters song, "Have You Forgotten" that featured Bruce Kaphan's gorgeous steel guitar work, I knew instantly I had to learn how to do that. I bought my first pedal steel guitar in 2000 and played my first show in June of that year. That July I did my first recording session, for Brooklyn's avant garde pop bliss maestros Stars Like Fleas. Since then I have played on many records, played on Carson Daly, performed on a few soundtracks, and done dialogue beds for One Life to Live. I average 125 shows per year.
I am a member of The Country Music Association and a card-carrying member of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians.
Want some steel or dobro on your demo or album, but don't live anywhere near me? No problem. I am set up to do remote sessions now, using Neumann, AEA and Rode mics, API mic pres, eqs and compressors into Apogee converters. Send me an MP3 and I will send you overdubs via Sendspace, you can use PayPal. Get in touch for more details!
Some of the artists I have recorded and performed with are: Ari Hest, Israel Gripka, Stars Like Fleas, Super Furry Animals, Rosy Nolan, Alec Gross, Downriver, J Granelli and Mr. Lucky, Pinataland, Justin Tracy, Arum Rae Valkonen, Marc Gartman, The Glaciers, M Shanghai String Band, Emily Zuzik, Mr. Lucky, Christian Gibbs, Kristin Mueller, and many more.
I am grateful to some of the artists I have worked with who graciously allowed me to use their music for my page here:
Alec Gross - All The Pretty Women
Sam Barron - The Muse
Downriver - The Waltz
Kristin Mueller - Liberty State Park
I composed and recorded the Credit Music for Bacchanale, and Frontier Lawyer is a song from my Practice Tracks for Instrumentalists CD. Drums by Daniel Menke, bass by Tim Lefebvre, engineered by Michael Kohler at Golden Bug.
I play an Emmons D-10 push pull pedal steel and a Williams 400 Series D-10, I like Peavey Nashville 400 amps with the Ken Fox mod for the steel, and Fenders for Telecaster. I am most fond of Vibroluxes and Deluxe Reverbs. I am a fan of Bob Keeley's pedals, PedalTrain pedal boards, Canare cables, Goodrich volume pedals, and SIT strings for the steels, Ernie Ball 10-46s for the teles. For resonator guitar I use a Beard Vintage cherry, and I like bars by BJS for the steel and Elmer Bradley for the resonator and lap steels. Gear geek anyone?
Will Scott's new album, GNAWBONE is here!!! The CD is available at CDBaby and other online retailers.
Over three years in the making, GNAWBONE is Scott's fully-produced studio debut and features a crack team of hand-picked musicians as well as guest performances by Jan Bell, Jolie Holland, Samantha Parton, and Preacher Boy (the album's producer).
Hey……… Thanks for being our friend over the years…... We're about to release in a few weeks our new 5th CD….”SIGNS” Have a preview listen and a look at our new myspace face lift for the promo for it..... The Streamliners sending you some good vibes for 2009.
Thank you for being our friend and listening to our music! Check out our show in Armonk, NY at the Hillside Church Coffeehouse on May 16!! www.hillsidechurch.org
Be sure to check back often for our latest news, songs, and tour dates! Our new album is coming out THIS Summer!! To find our first two albums, "Couch Sessions LIVE" and "Ukulily," visit http://cdbaby.com/cd/trippinglily
Hi Gerald. Thanks for the add. Lovely playing, my boy! Always nice to meet another steeler inspired to play by Bruce Kaphan. Isn't he amazing!? I emailed him a few times when I was looking for advice when starting out, and he was super kind and a real gentleman too.
I'm glad to see you are also a fan of Idaho and Greg Leisz. If you haven't already got a few of their CDs, I recommend seeking out Richmond Fontaine. Paul Brainard plays some beautiful steel with them. And I see you toured with Cake. We were on the road with Chuck Prophet for a few weeks last year and his drummer Todd Roper was a founder member. And a good guy too. We had a few good drinking sessions with Todd and James DePrato (CP's awesome guitarist)! Fun fun fun.
The Jazzmaster was a prop for the shoot I was doing. This was not a music shoot, but rather a commercial one for trade press where I was playing a "rocker. "
Claire and I have returned from our 3 month EU& UK tour. So, I just posted a note about what's going on with The Bowmans on facebook... and then I started writing a mass email... and then I decided against it... so I'm doing this instead. (begging) Will you visit my profile page to help me spread the word, pretty please??? We have a sneak preview of the new album (Produced by Malcolm Burn, Mastered by Greg Calbi) up for 5 days only… and it can be bought within the next 5 days only!
