The British Steelies Society

We have a couple of gigs this week for this unique tribute to the New Riders of the Purple Sage. The first is a warm-up gig at Porter's in Cardiff at 8pm on Thursday, 9 July. And the second is a spot at Playing On The Farm festival near Cirencester, on Saturday, 11 July – this one's sold out, sorry.

If you want to hear me butcher some Jerry Garcia and Buddy Cage licks, now's your chance

Would have loved to be there, have a great time

Thanks, John and Geoff. I'm looking forward to these shows. I just hope I can keep the steel in tune during the heatwave!

Have a great gig, their first album is my favourite with Garcia on steel. Have fun - regards Jules

Crawfurd123 wrote:Have a great gig, their first album is my favourite with Garcia on steel. Have fun - regards Jules

Thanks, Jules.

OK, so the first gig is done and dusted. Here are my observations: on stage, 1. the volume was high and at times I could barely hear what I was playing, which is not ideal for a fretless instrument 2. Lighting was low and when the bass player walked in front of me I couldn't see the fretboard 3. I can't and never will be able to play like Buddy Cage.

I'm not complaining, I loved it all, and it was a learning experience. These guys are not genteel country players, but out-and-out rockers. I need to adapt (and maybe get some earplugs )

Yeah the new riders played loud and their live sets could be chaotic. The burritos were the same sneaky Pete’s steel guitar vol was deafening. Both of those bands were were more like rock bands live.
It’s a great experience to play live and a huge learning curve. I look forward to hearing about your next gig

JohnDavisStringsHere wrote:Second gig report please? Plus a copy of the set list so we can see what we are missing......

Thanks for your interest, John. Second gig was much better than the first but posed a new challenge: the intense heat. It must have close to 40°C on stage. Luckily I had brought my clip-on fan, attached it to one leg of the steel and it worked a treat. My trusty little ZumSteel Encore stayed in tune throughout it all. I could hear myself more clearly this time and positioned my speaker cab behind me on a stand. I used my Milkman The Amp and the sound guy took a balanced XLR out from that into the PA.

The audience (300) was amazing and danced through the whole set. They asked for three encores, but we were only allowed to do two because of timing. A thoroughly enjoyable gig. I've always wanted to play in a kick-a§§ country rock band since I first heard Rusty Young, Jerry Garcia, Buddy Cage, Bobby Black, Sneaky Pete and Al Perkins back in the '70s, so this was a big tick on the bucket list. It's a shame there aren't more outlets for this type of music.

Here's the set list:

Watcha Gonna Do (D)
I Don't Know You (E)
Glendale Train (D)
Panama Red (C)
Looks Like Rain (E) – Bob Weir solo album, Ace
Louisiana Lady (G)
The Wheel (C) – Jerry Garcia first solo album
Dirty Business (A)
Henry (G)
Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (G)
Take A Letter, Maria (G)
Willie And The Hand Jive (B)
Truck Drivin' Man (G)

Encore
I Don't Need No Doctor (C)
She's No Angel (D)

Fun fact: We segued from The Wheel into Dirty Business via a freeform jam section. During this we hushed the band and I played a soundbite from an interview with Jerry Garcia by playing it through my phone over the pickup on the steel. It works really well. I learned that trick from seeing the wonderful ambient steel player Joe Harvey Whyte at Kilkenny Roots Festival back in May. It's a neat trick.