Step on it

Written by Dermot on Tuesday, 20 October 2009

The Irish Steel Guitar Festival, held this year in Bettystown, about 40 miles north of Dublin is – as the name would suggest – a celebration of all things steel guitar related…players, instruments and gadgets. If you want a tone bar (the metal slide used on the strings), a volume pedal (a very specialist piece of kit in the steel guitar world) or strobe tuners (try find one of these in your local music shop) this is the place to come to. Perhaps even more importantly, however, is the chance to catch up with an international hardcore of ‘buddies’ who share a love of this hauntingly beautiful but unfairly obscure instrument.

I’ve never been to this before (and unfortunately missed the UK one, now defunct) but it’s obvious that most of the people (generally older chaps) have been coming for years, and look as much forward to seeing each other as they do to the procession of players at the event.

Over two days, steel guitarists from every corner of the globe grace the stage with a 40 minute set, accompanied by an unflappable pickup band reading from chord charts. Needless to say, the emphasis was on 'country' but with lots of western swing, a bit of jazz and even some funk sneaking in.

One of the stars of the event was Sarah Jory, who as well as leading her own outfit is in Van Morrison’s touring band. Sarah certainly won the prize for ‘least appropriate footwear’ (…how do you possibly hit your pedals in those heels!) Obviously a fantastic ambassador for the instrument, she was inducted into the European Steel Guitar Hall of Fame at the event. I must confess I had never heard of it before, but the sentiment was nice and right.

For those of you unaware, the 'standard' tuning for steels is E9 (also know as Nashville tuning) with the typical alternative being C6 (associated with western swing) . On double-neck steels, the front neck is E9 with the back a C6. If you look at the Dave Kirk video below, you can hear the different sound when he changes neck.