These two amazing releases represent the African American sacred steel tradition, which was first developed in Pentecostal churches by Willie Eason in the 1930s. Though steel guitar originated in Hawaii, the pedal steel has been embraced in the worship at churches in states ranging from Florida to Michigan, where its sound often mimics singing voices and moans, stirring the emotions and fitting perfectly into deep worship.
Title: Testify
Artist: The Lee Boys
Label: Evil Teen Records
Formats: CD, MP3
Release date: October 22, 2012
The Lee Boys, a Miami-based funk and gospel band that performs within the sacred steel tradition, recently released their fourth album, Testify. This family group includes three brothers, Alvin Lee (guitar), Derrick Lee and Keith Lee (vocals), and their three nephews, Roosevelt Collier (pedal steel guitar), Alvin Cordy Jr. (bass) and Earl Walker (drums), who all grew up in the House of God church in Perrine, Florida and learned to play various musical instruments. The fact that their father and grandfather, Rev. Robert E. Lee, was the pastor and a steel guitar player at the church must have definitely led them to this tradition.
Title: Robert Randolph Presents: The Slide Brothers
Artist: The Slide Brothers
Label: Concord Records
Formats: CD, MP3
Release date: February 19, 2013
The Slide Brothers consist of steel guitarists Calvin Cooke, Chuck Campbell and Darick Campbell, with drummer Aubrey Ghent. Cooke, who Nashville country steel guitarists have dubbed the “B.B. King of gospel steel guitar,” grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, in a family that went to the Church of the Living God, Jewell Dominion, which had a strong steel guitar tradition. The group’s album was produced by Robert Randolph, one of the most successful pedal steel guitarists and leader of Robert Randolph and the Family Band, who has made it his mission to share the extraordinary talents of the masters of the sacred steel tradition with audiences throughout the world.
The group demonstrates the bluesy nature of steel guitars throughout their debut project. “Sunday School Blues” starts with moaning steel guitars, leading into a groovy blues tune. “Praise You,” featuring reigning blues queen Shemekia Copeland, lets us hear a great collaboration between human voice and the timbre of steel guitars. Following is a promotional video for the album:
In order to fully appreciate the differences between these two groups, you can listen to their different interpretations of “Wade in the Water” (The Lee Boys “Wade in the Water” and the Slide Brothers “Wade in the Water”). These performances showcase the steel guitar’s powerful mournful sounds which fit perfectly with the strong message of this traditional spiritual.
These new releases are not only a perfect introduction to the sacred steel tradition for those like myself who are not familiar with the genre, but will also be highly prized by those who already appreciate and collect this music. The Lee Boys and the Slide Brothers are certainly destined to become influential steel guitar masters in the music industry now that they’ve expanded their audience beyond the church.
Reviewed by Yukari Shinagawa