Steel Guitar Country
Country defined by the lap and pedal steel guitar as its signature voice — the weeping, gliding, vocal-like swells and bent notes that became the emotional heart of the honky-tonk and classic country sound. Built on shuffles, waltzes, and ballads, the style spotlights the steel's crying fills, smooth glissandos, and harmonized pedal bends behind plaintive lead vocals. The mood is mournful and aching on slow numbers and shimmering and buoyant on dance tunes.
History
The Hawaiian-derived lap steel entered country through Western swing and the playing of Leon McAuliffe with Bob Wills in the late 1930s. The instrument was revolutionized when Bud Isaacs added pedals, heard prominently on Webb Pierce's 1953 hit "Slowly," producing the gliding note-bending that defined modern pedal steel. Players like Ralph Mooney (with Buck Owens and Wynn Stewart), Lloyd Green, Buddy Emmons, and Pete Drake made the steel guitar indispensable to honky-tonk and the Bakersfield Sound.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
- Steel Guitar Hall of Fame
- AllMusic