A steel guitar is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar in that it is played without using frets; conceptually, it is somewhat akin to playing a guitar with one finger. Known for its portamento capabilities, gliding smoothly over every pitch between notes, the instrument can produce a sinuous crying sound and deep vibrato emulating the human singing voice. Typically, the strings are plucked by the fingers of the dominant hand, while the steel tone bar is pressed lightly against the strings and moved by the opposite hand.
Vincent Grant Gill is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He began in a number of local bluegrass bands in the 1970s, and from 1978 to 1982, he achieved his first mainstream attention as lead singer of the soft rock band Pure Prairie League. Gill sang lead on their hit single "Let Me Love You Tonight" in addition to writing several songs of theirs. After leaving Pure Prairie League, Gill briefly played guitar in Rodney Crowell's backing band the Cherry Bombs before beginning a solo career in country music in 1984. Gill recorded for RCA Records Nashville from then until 1988 with minimal success. A year later he signed with MCA Nashville, and he has recorded for this label ever since.
The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or Lap Slide Guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional acoustic guitar, in which the performer's fingertips press the strings against frets, the pitch of a steel guitar is changed by pressing a polished steel bar against plucked strings. Though the instrument does not have frets, it displays markers that resemble them. Lap steels may differ markedly from one another in external appearance, depending on whether they are acoustic or electric, but in either case, do not have pedals, distinguishing them from pedal steel guitars.
The Blue Rose of Texas is the fourth studio album by American country music artist Holly Dunn, and the first with the Warner Bros. Records label. A single from this album, "Are You Ever Gonna Love Me", was her first number 1 Billboard country single. Another major hit from the album was the fourth track, "There Goes My Heart Again". Dolly Parton provides supporting vocals on her own "Most of All, Why" and Joe Diffie provides backing vocals on "There Goes My Heart Again" a song he had a part in writing. Dunn co-produced the album with her brother, Chris Waters.
The New Nashville Cats is a country album by Mark O'Connor, in conjunction with a variety of other musical artists. O'Connor selected a group of over fifty Nashville musicians, many of whom had worked with him as session musicians. The album was intended to "showcase the instrumental side of the Nashville recording scene". It was awarded two Grammys: Best Country Instrumental Performance for O'Connor, and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, and Steve Wariner's performance in "Restless". This song also charted at #25 on Hot Country Songs in 1991.
I Lived to Tell It All is an album by country music artist George Jones, released on August 13, 1996, on the MCA Nashville Records label. It was also a companion piece to his best-selling autobiography of the same name, I Lived to Tell It All.
Neck to Neck is a collaborative album by American guitarist Chet Atkins and British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler, released on October 9, 1990, by Columbia Records. "Poor Boy Blues" was released as a single.
Old 8×10 is the third studio album by American country music artist Randy Travis. It was released on July 12, 1988 by Warner Records. The album produced the singles "Honky Tonk Moon", "Deeper Than the Holler", "Is It Still Over", and "Promises". All of these except "Promises" reached Number One on the Hot Country Songs charts in the late 1980s. The British and German editions of the album contained the bonus track "Forever and Ever, Amen". In January 1990, Old 8×10 earned Travis three American Music Awards for 'Favorite Country Male Artist', 'Favorite Country Album', and 'Favorite Country Single'.
Thunder & Roses is the seventh studio album by American country music artist Pam Tillis. It was released on March 6, 2001 by Arista Nashville. It is also the last album she recorded for the Arista label. Its lead-off single, "Please", was a #22 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in 2002. "It Isn't Just Raining" was later recorded in 2003 by its co-writer, Jennifer Hanson, on her self-titled debut album, and the title track was previously recorded by Mindy McCready on her 1999 album I'm Not So Tough. "Please" would go on to be Pam's last appearance on the Country Singles Chart after it peaked in spring of 2001.
Wind in the Wire is the eighth studio album released by American country music artist Randy Travis. It was released on August 17, 1993, by Warner Records. The album was made to accompany a television series also entitled Wind in the Wire. Two of the album's singles — "Cowboy Boogie" and the title track — entered the Billboard country music charts, peaking at #46 and #65, respectively, making this the first album of Travis's career not to produce any Top 40 hits in the United States. "Cowboy Boogie", however, was a #10 on the RPM Country Tracks charts in Canada.
Full Circle is the tenth studio album by American country music artist Randy Travis. It was released on August 13, 1996 by Warner Records. His last album for Warner Bros. Records until 2008, the album produced four singles: "Are We in Trouble Now", "Would I", "Price to Pay", and a cover of Roger Miller's hit single "King of the Road"; the cover also appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 film Traveller.
You and You Alone is the eleventh studio album by American country music artist Randy Travis. It was released on April 21, 1998, by DreamWorks Records. It was produced four singles on the Billboard country music charts between 1998 and 1999: "Out of My Bones", "The Hole", "Spirit of a Boy, Wisdom of a Man", and "Stranger in My Mirror", which peaked at numbers 2, 9, 2 and 16, respectively, on the country charts. Counting his 1993 side project Wind in the Wire, this is also the second of three studio albums of his career not to be produced by longtime producer Kyle Lehning. Instead, Travis co-produced the album with Byron Gallimore and James Stroud.
Around the Bend is the nineteenth studio album released in 2008 by American country music artist Randy Travis. The album is Travis' first mainstream country music album since 1999's A Man Ain't Made of Stone as all his other studio albums in the 2000s were composed of Christian country music. It sold 31,000 copies in its first week of release, the best opening week of Travis' career. Three singles were released from the album: "Faith in You", "Dig Two Graves" and "Turn It Around", none of which charted.
John Hughey was an American musician. He was known for his work as a session pedal steel guitar player for various country music acts, most notably Vince Gill and Conway Twitty. A member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, Hughey was known for a distinctive playing style called "crying steel", which focused primarily on the higher range of the guitar.
Greatest Hits is the first compilation album by American country music artist Bryan White. It was released in 2000 on Asylum Records. The album includes ten of his greatest hits from his first three studio albums: his 1994 self-titled debut, 1996's Between Now and Forever and 1997's The Right Place, as well as "From This Moment On", his 1998 duet with Shania Twain. Two new tracks, "How Long" and "The Way You Look at Me", are also included. The former was released as a single, peaking at #56 on the country charts in 2000.
What You Don't Know is the debut studio album by country music artist Jon Randall and his first studio album released on the RCA Nashville label. Because of restructuring within the record company, this album received minimal promotion. His proposed next album, entitled Great Day to Be Alive, was shelved for the same reasons, although its title track was later a Top 5 hit for Travis Tritt in 2001.
Doug Pettibone is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and studio musician.
Bakersfield is the thirteenth studio album by American country music artist Vince Gill and steel guitar player Paul Franklin. It was released on July 30, 2013, via MCA Nashville. The album is a collaborative tribute of Merle Haggard and Buck Owens songs. It reached number 4 on Top Country Albums.
JayDee Maness is an American pedal steel guitarist who is a veteran session musician in Los Angeles. He is known for his work with Gram Parsons, the Byrds, Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, Ray Stevens, Vince Gill, and the Desert Rose Band. Maness received The Academy of Country Music's "Steel Guitarist of the Year" award 18 times and was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 2003.
Jimmy Day was an American steel guitarist active in the 1950s and 1960s. His career in country music blossomed about the time the pedal steel guitar was invented—after pedals were added to the lap steel guitar. He was a pioneer on pedal steel in the genres of Western swing and Honky tonk and his modifications of the instrument's design have become a standard on the modern pedal steel. Day's first job after high school was performing on the Louisiana Hayride as a sideman accompanying developing country artists including Hank Williams, Webb Pierce, Willie Nelson, Jim Reeves, Ray Price and Elvis Presley. He recorded and toured with all these artists and was featured on hit records by many of them, including Ray Price's, "Crazy Arms" and "Heartaches by the Number". He was a member of Elvis Presley's band for about a year, but, along with fellow bandmate Floyd Cramer, resigned after Presley requested them to re-locate to Hollywood. Day moved to Nashville to work as a session player and a Grand Ole Opry musician. He was a member of the Western Swing Hall of Fame (1994) and the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame (1999). Day died of cancer in 1999.
