I remember the first time I heard the Daniel Lanois tunes From Eno's Apollo album, I didn't really care for them. I didn't like the pedal steel guitar. I absolutely hated country music back then and I associated the sound of pedal steel with country.
Eventually, the tunes grew on me and I've come to love the sound of pedal steel guitar. I also came around on country-tinged music as I fell in love with indie-folk which can make great use of traditional instrumentation minus the pickups trucks, girls & booze of crappy country.
This brings me back around to pedal steel in ambient. There's not a ton of it out there but definitely enough for a good mix. There are 4 main practitioners of ambient twang - Daniel Lanois, Chuck Johnson, Bruce Kaphan and Chas Smith. All are in this mix as well as Eno/Lanois tunes, other tracks, and some YouTube recordings. Many of the tracks here use an actual pedal steel guitar and some use lap steel.
The tracklist is in comments.
Cheers!
Comments
Playlist plz?
T R A C K L I S T :
00:00 Brian Eno - Weightless
04:15 Bruce Kaphan - Outpost
11:55 Chas Smith - Santa Fe
14:00 Chuck Johnson - Balm of Gilead
21:05 Daniel Lanois - In Crystal
24:22 Will Van Horn - Aphex Twin - Avril 14 on pedal steel
26:18 Joe Carolino - Ambient drone with lap steel & guitar
32:53 Youth - Lotus Rhubarb(Colliding Sky Whale Dub)
34:18 The National Pool - Solace
36:15 Ryan Lutton - Ambient Improv XXIII
39:03 Brian Eno - Deep Blue Day
42:28 Xploding Plastix - Ritalin For Four Pedal Steel Guitars
49:05 Chuck Johnson - Eye on the Sparrow
55:42 Brian Eno - Last Step from the Surface
59:31 end
I love this mix. I keep returning to it over and over again. The mixture of ambient sounds and pedal steel is unexpected, yet absolutely wonderful. It just works. Thank you for making this excellent mix.
I'm so glad you liked the mix! Thanks for listening and commenting. In case you didn't know I recently did another pedal steel mix - https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/slow-road-the-endless-potential-of-the-pedal-steel-guitar/
Whoa this is awesome! Have you heard a Raymond Richards’ “The Lost Art of Wandering”? Steel player for Brian Jonestown, Mojave 3, Acetone,... It’s definitely in this family. https://raymondrichards.bandcamp.com/album/the-lost-art-of-wandering
Oh my goodness that Raymond Richards album is fantastic! Thanks for the heads up, I bought it immediately. I'm glad you enjoyed the mix. Cheers & thanks again!
A fabulous mix, totally entrancing.
Thanks for listening!
Avril 14 on pedal steel is beautiful. A great rendition of one of my fav Aphex tracks
My thoughts exactly! Thanks for listening & commenting. Cheers!
Absolutely beautiful! Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed the tunes!
Love it! I'm a huge fan of the pedal steel. I made a mix with a similar theme recently. Keep on rocking LLM!
Thanks for hanging out and absorbing the pedal steel vibes!
amigo, yeah!!
:-)
lovely mix, great concept - im a big fan of the steel/slide guitar sound used in ambient in general so this is right up my street
I'm so glad you enjoyed the tunes!
Thank you again! I love it!
Thanks so much for checking this out!