The Strangers

[Ken Byng]

I bought this album back in 1969 when it was released. Both Norm Hamlet and and Roy Nichols knocked me out with their picking. Norm was a huge influence on me as a wannabe steel player, and his West Coast style was right up my street. I loved those diminished and augmented runs that Roy Nichols put into his solos.

[Danny Mitchell]

It's funny to think that given how much I love this music now (this type of nowhere to hide, beautifully articulated music).that if I'd heard it in 1969, when it came out, I wouldn't have given it the time of day

I was too busy at Hyde Park and the like, trying to get my hands on what I wasn't supposed to.

I love the use of the, "I Can't Believe It's Not Hammond", Leslie on the steel and the way they've photographed the album cover on what looks like a Tele case Spot on!

Great post Ken

[Ken Byng]

Thanks Danny.
I emailed Norm a few years back and told him just what an inspiration he was to me in my early years. He wrote back and said that he was quite emotional about putting someone on the road to becoming a pro musician. He taught Barbara Mandrell to play steel, and a darn good job he did too.

I nearly wore that album out, but I still have it. I bought a Rotosphere unit trying to emulate the Leslie sound that Norm got on that track. I did get pretty close to it.

[Danny Mitchell]

.........I bought a Rotosphere unit trying to emulate the Leslie sound that Norm got on that track. I did get pretty close to it.

Aha! I wrongly assumed it was played through a Leslie, I wasn't aware of the Rotosphere, although this makes so much sense......what right-minded steel player would want to add a Leslie cab to their already heavy load I've humphed a few of them and the pedal unit is definitely the way to go

Thanks for the info, Ken and I hope you have a very 'merry' xmas (I know I will, I've spied the bottle )

[Uncle Roy]

Mexican Rose.

[Ken Byng]

.........I bought a Rotosphere unit trying to emulate the Leslie sound that Norm got on that track. I did get pretty close to it.

Aha! I wrongly assumed it was played through a Leslie, I wasn't aware of the Rotosphere, although this makes so much sense......what right-minded steel player would want to add a Leslie cab to their already heavy load I've humphed a few of them and the pedal unit is definitely the way to go

Thanks for the info, Ken and I hope you have a very 'merry' xmas (I know I will, I've spied the bottle )

Norm did indeed play through a real Leslie to get that sound Danny. Doug Jernigan played through a Leslie on a track on his first album, Uptown to Country. The only way that I could get anywhere near that sound was by playing through a Leslie emulator. Like you, I had to cart a few of them about early in my music career when I played guitar in combos that had a Hammond organ in the line up. Carrying a Hammond and a Leslie up several flights of stairs wasn't for the faint of heart, and was also a recipe for a double hernia!

These days a POG Leslie emulator does a very close facsimile of the sound in a tiny little box.

Re the Christmas greetings, I will return the compliments of the season. I don't drink much - I spill most of it (boom boom). I have bought a barrel of Old Speckled Hen beer which will last me over the Christmas period.