Steelin': Al Murray & Freddie Roulette
Steel Guitar Heroes
I’ve always been a big fan of the steel guitar and its offspring, the pedal steel guitar. From its origins in Hawaii, where the islanders retuned Spanish guitars brought over by sailors to an open tuning (‘slack key’) and slid a strip of metal up and down the neck to change chords, it has become a major ingredient in the sound of American music. Remember that the first electric guitars were steel guitars, and just look what that led to.
Al Murray
There’s hardly any information available on Al Murray, but we do know that in 1956 he was the steel player for country artist Curtis Gordon. Following Elvis Presley’s huge success, the essence of country radio changed overnight from hillbilly and honky tonk to rockabilly, and Gordon needed to step up. In April 1956 he recorded four songs at Bradley Film and Recording in Nashville with Al Murray, guitarist ‘Dusty’ Stewart, and double bassist Joseph E. ‘Slick’ Gillespie alongside Nashville session regulars, guitarist Eddie Hill and drummer T. Tommy Cutrer. All four songs from the session turned out great, with Murray playing Merle Travis and Scotty Moore style licks (what they used to call ‘takeoff guitar’) on ‘I’m Sittin’ On Top of the World’, ‘Draggin’’, and ‘Rock, Roll, Jump and Jive’. But it’s on ‘Mobile Alabama’ that he pulls out all the stops, especially on that spectacular second solo. Although he was probably influenced by Speedy West, Murray sounded unique with his unconventional approach and space age sounds. At only 1:56 it’s a tremendous slice of rockabilly and a total joy every time I hear it.
Freddie Roulette
Still going strong at 82 (update: Roulette died in December 2022), Freddie Roulette plays the blues on an electric lap steel. He grew up in Illinois and was a part of the Chicago scene playing with Earl Hooker and Charlie Musselwhite before moving out west to San Francisco at the end of the ‘60s. ‘Cold Chicago Wind’ is a track from Jack Bonus’ eponymous album released on Jefferson Airplane’s Grunt vanity label in 1972. The album is probably best known for its wonderful cover photo by Bob Seidemann with artwork by Stanley Mouse, but it’s a minor classic of its time with some strong tracks, especially ‘The Hobo Song’ which became was recorded by Jerry Garcia’s bluegrass band Old & In The Way. But ‘Cold Chicago Wind’ features my favourite playing by Roulette here, with high register swoops and swells, gutty picking and sweet chiming, it’s all perfect for the song and complements Bonus’ excellent pre-Tom Waits vocal and fine saxophone solo. The whole album is below, but the song starts at 6:14.
Thanks to all the great musicians for their inspiration to keep that steel rolling: Al Murray, Freddie Roulette, Buddy Emmons, Speedy West, Rose Sinclair, Lloyd Maines, Ralph Mooney, Russ Hicks, Herb Remington, Cindy Cashdollar, Lucky Oceans, Weldon Myrick, Noel Boggs, Leon McAuliffe, Sonny Curtis, Pete Drake, Don Helms, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Jay Dee Maness, Rusty Young, Junior Brown, B.J. Cole, Bobby Black, Al Perkins and many, many more.
I'm a huge fan of both these guys even though I didn't know Murray's name until I stumbled upon your blog! Years ago, I heard the Curtis Gordon cuts on Mercury Rockabillies (circa 1974?). It took me a few listens to realize that it was steel. I knew you couldn't do that with a vibrato bar but still, it was Travis/Scotty style! In 1992, I heard Bobbe Seymour, Johnny Rivers' steel player, do the same time of stuff at Scotty's Steel Convention in St. Louis. For years, I thought maybe he'd been in Gordon's band! Now about Mr. Roulette: I first heard him on records with Louis Myers and Charlie Musselwhite (The Chicago Blue Stars.) I love his early work with Big Moose Walker, Bo Dudley (no, not Diddley), J.L. Smith and above all, fellow slider Earl Hooker. For Chicago blues, his style was unique: old 8-string lap/console in (I think) C7 or some a similar Hawaiian tuning. He also knew how to use external electronics like delay and phase shifters without sounding gimmicky. Somehow always very musical and yet, always a little out of left field, Roulette was the Santo Farina of funk and blues.
Great history here, thank you!