Leisz has such a great melodic sense, and this song has it on full display. Were going to try and match the sound and have you play the 12-string in the parts that arent there. If you look at the credits, it has two players playing 12-string on the song. I know Greg plays other guitars live, but I gotta believe that unmistakable Leisz sound comes from the bolt-on. He said, OK, Im going to do a Hop Wilson song where I can feature you. That was a big deal for me since when we actually did go on tour, I just played utility. She came in and she was real sweet. I had produced a bunch of his records too. Once youre in that world, your ears become really open to hearing stuff. Rather, it is usually tuned to an open chord, often an extended chord like a 6th, 7th, or 9th. There was a lot of questioning, to be totally honest. Id sometimes listen to the band just to hear the pedal-steel player. I didnt have one and said Id like to play it. I love the Victoria Williams song Crazy Mary. You play on that. Leisz is no stranger to rock n roll, and always has the ability to add grit and bite to songs. He came out of that world in England where he heard Muddy Waters and it was all over for him. Another funny story is that when we were in the studio, he had a banjo. Editors picks With origins dating back to the 19thCentury, the steel guitar found its way to Hawaii by courtesy of Mexican settlers. He showed me the song [River Runs Deep] and pulled out an acoustic guitar. Im looking at your credits and theres a 10-year gap after the Funky Kings and before you start racking up a ton of credits. Getting to all the great records hes played on would have resulted in an interview longer than Infinite Jest and the uncut edition of Stephen Kings The Stand combined. He was great. For decades, the Southern California-based multi-instrumentalist has been a go-to guitarist and pedal steel player for musicians such as Eric Clapton, Buddy Miller, John Mayer, Bill Frisell, k.d. I taught myself how to play. Leisz's playing has appeared throughout the years on recordings by Aaron Neville, Alison Krauss, Amos Lee, Beck, Bill Frisell, Black Crowes, Bon Iver, Bruce Cockburn, Bruce Springsteen, Cass McCombs, Chuck Prophet, Daft Punk, Dave Alvin, Eagles, Emmylou Harris, Eric Clapton, Glenn Frey, Grant Lee Buffalo, Haim, Jackson Browne, Joe Cocker, John Fogerty, John Mayer, John Stewart, Joni Mitchell, k.d. He came back and I said, Want to hear it? He goes, Later, but Ive got another song. And then they put on this Gene Clark song Through the Morning, Through the Night. I did that and I just put it together with the engineer. How did you feel when you first heard the record and realized theyd used that much of your work? anyone know? I especially love what came out of that. Powered by Infopop www.infopop.com 2000 There was a lot of stuff in your head, so you didnt think that was a possibility. When she was making Car Wheels, that was really at the end stages of the record. Some of it is credited and other things arent properly credited since that thing was a mess in the latter stages of that record. I heard this, and could not get that steel guitar sound out of my head. Playpedalsteel.com is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'playpedalsteel_com-large-leaderboard-1','ezslot_8',176,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-playpedalsteel_com-large-leaderboard-1-0');report this ad, Pedal Steel Fretboards (Info, Functions, Types), Pedal Steel Guitar in Nashville (Shows, Players, Info), Pedal Steel on Todays Music Scene: A Hidden Gem, 9 Best Pedal Steel Guitars (That Sound AMAZING). I saw Rosie play in San Francisco a couple years ago - she was great! I went back to Chicago and worked on that with James. He is one of my favorites. It Took Me 25 YEARS to Get STEADY SESSION WORK | Greg Leisz ], Note: Messages not explicitly copyrighted are in the Public Domain. During this time, are you thinking of music as a possible career, or is it more a fun hobby? Great album. I was able to play a lot of different kinds of music. Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.46, Powered by Infopop www.infopop.com 2000 For blues, rock, jazz, and many other styles, using the Mixolydian scale in the form of harmonized sixths can be a great avenue for musical expression. I did his whole record last year, which isnt out yet. Ive worked a lot with him. Thats another one of those random things. The 100 Best Albums of 2022. And now hes one of my best friends. She got treated a little rough in the press in the reviews. A few weeks later, they called me back and I did another song. I knew Lucinda from way back and had even worked stuff of hers that she ultimately shelved and then rerecorded. Getting paid for anything is always a pain in the neck. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. They recorded a version of it after she got MS. That was the first Sweet Relief album. He heard my pedal steel and thought that was something that Joni would embrace in her music. I was shaking on my way to the studio. I had put in my time many years before that, learning that stuff. Youre on the James Iha track Take Me Down. I'm learning to appreciate and love the form but it's just not my natural habitat, musically speaking. Everything was recorded onto a Zoom R24 then ported to a PC for mastering using Reaper. Everybody was trying to get record deals. It has really great songs, but it had some amazing pedal steel by Buddy Emmons. Hes credited with playing 12-string too. It wasnt from the manager or a business person. I didnt know it was Eric Clapton. That record was Album of the Year at the Grammys. We had a laugh about that. They were amazing. Married to Mai Leisz . The first couple minutes of this track display how well these two musicians can create soundscapes within songs. T Bone wasnt even there to tell me it was good. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. What drew you to the pedal steel? The C6 tuning for 6 strings is (beginning with string 1): E C A G E C. Lap steel players have been spelling their tunings from high to low for many years. Every instrument and musical note seems to fall right in place, with great sounding timbres, and Leiszs pedal steel is no different. The year after that, Morning Phase was the album of the year. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . Thats probably the longest time I havent spent on a plane since I was a teenager. I was usually to shy to go up and talk to anybody about it, but I just kind of absorbed the music. Did you work with Taylor? I guess because of that, Ive been fairly active. Youve recorded and toured a ton together over the years. Terry . Help Why am I going there? I had no idea. I can see why his recording career show so many credits. Pearl Jam have played that song countless times. Leisz grew up in the garage band culture of mid-1960s Southern California. [Laughs] He was like, Heres this carrot. He began playing guitar and soon added dobro and lap steel. I can teach myself.. I really liked that project. Wayne Shorter, Jazz Legend Who Collaborated With Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell, Dead at 89 She was very focused, so it was great working with her. He spent time at the Ashgrove, the Troubador, and clubs on the Sunset Strip . Thats another crazy story. How has your pandemic year gone? Versatile and musically accommodating, Greg shapes up many tracks with his pedal steel playing. Ive worked with Lucinda a lot since then, and even co-produced two of the last three albums [The Ghosts of Highway 20 and Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone] that shes made. I worked on a bunch of stuff with her, including a bunch of stuff that was never released when she got dropped from Warner Bros. To jump ahead, youre on Right on Time on Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. He appeared in the 2016 Cameron Crowe cable television series Roadies, accompanying Jackson Browne on three songs in the last episode of the series. Steel guitarist Greg Leisz, who first made his name playing on Americana records from Dave Alvin, Lucinda Williams and Bonnie Raitt, has more recently been playing on progressive-jazz albums. Buddy Miller's "Majestic Silver Strings". Tell me your first memories of being a kid and hearing music that really reached you. They were all playing together and I was in the band with them. Greg Leisz | | Discogs Its got a great honky-tonk sound, and Leisz shows how at home he feels playing pedal steel in a more traditional context too. We were both sitting there with acoustic guitars and I play a little on this song. At first he said, Ill play a solo in the middle, and then you play a solo, and Ill play a solo. Eventually he said, I just want you you to play all the solos. It was amazing for me because I got to be featured. I loved it. 148 South Cloverdale Blvd. What they did was amazing. Hundreds of pages of practice, instruction, and reference materials for E9 pedal steel. I had met Victoria before that. from $995.00 $1,773.00 Sale He uses phosphor bronze light strings and tunes to open D (D A D F# A D). The record came out and you cant even hear what I played. I cant really believe it myself. Mint items are in essentially new original condition but have been opened or played. "A lot of people that I've worked with, you think they're going to be intimidating, but they're so good at making you feel comfortable," says Greg Leisz. lang, adding pedal steel to this Grammy-winning album. He basically put the band together since he was the only person that knew everyone that ended up in it. The first note of the solo slides up to the 12th fret. Starting in 1986 or so, your credits list gets insane pretty quick. Was this the 1998 tour with Bob Dylan and Van Morrison? Podcast 66: Greg Leisz on Buddy Emmons. This would encompass all the work he does with T-Bone, and likely the Bon Iver and other indie records he's doing these days. I think I was working on another record at the time, a Jakob Dylan record. your profile | join | preferences | help | search. Bob [This message was edited by Bob Hoffnar on 26 November 2003 at 07:59 AM. The experience was great. Im going to make a list and send it to people. He told me the band, that he wanted Willie Weeks and Steve Jordan to be the rhythm section and Doyle and Chris Stainton. It didnt say who it was from. And now Im going, There is something here . Like what? lang's Grammy-winning Absolute Torch and Twang and joined her on the resulting tour. In 2010 and 2011, Leisz toured with Ray LaMontagne as a member of his backing band, The Pariah Dogs. Thats what I kind of remember. There was a Judy Collins album called Who Knows Where the Time Goes. He felt it would be too many musicians and that it should be more stripped-down. And Id save money from doing that and come back to California with several thousand dollars, which is a lot of money for fighting fires. Going back here, can you talk about playing with the Smashing Pumpkins on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness? At the same time, I was heavily influenced by Bob Dylan and that type of songwriting. Right on Nate! Pedal Steel Guitar: Why Its So Hard To Play, Pedal Steel Guitar WEIGHT (Lighter vs. Thats another crazy story. Pick up any Matthew Sweet album.. That was kind of a cool thing. It wasnt much. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. I went through a little bit of soul searching. I was like, Thats an unusual thing, to play on two different Albums of the Year two years in a row. Not only that, the year that Daft Punk won, I played at the Grammys. And it came out really good. I said, Oh great. And I had to go, How do you deal with that? But thats another story.