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Pedal steel guitar isn't most people’s idea of rock n roll. It was always associated with lachrymose country and western songs. And let’s face it, it’s a bit of a contraption which you sit down to play. Again, not very rock n roll.
However, fans of country rock will all have seen the same name on countless records. ‘Sneaky’ Pete Kleinow. He was the man who put pedal steel (a Fender 400, cable-operated eight-string model, if you’re interested) into rock, and after years doing TV music, joined the Flying Burrito Brothers. He wasn’t traditional in that he used fuzz boxes and Leslie speakers amongst other things.
He’s on loads of records from Joe Cocker to Frank Zappa to Linda Ronstadt, Sandy Denny, Joni, Fleetwood Mac, Leonard Cohen, John Lennon and apart from Al Perkins, who replaced him in the Burritos, Jerry Garcia and the bloke in New Riders whose name escapes me, no one else played pedal steel in an even vaguely rock context.
But he also had another career as an animator and won 1983 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for his work on the highly successful ABC miniseries The Winds of War. He released 4 solo albums of which 1974’s Cold Steel is very good, though you hardly ever see it now.
He really was the pedal steel man to hire for the 70s and it’s surprising where he crops up. For example, he’s on Stevie Wonder’s ‘Fulfillingness' First Finale’. He passed in 2007 aged 72, was married for 54 years and left a largely unheralded legacy to the general public, though in the business was incredibly highly regarded. His last gig was a 2005 tribute to Gram Parsons in Joshua Tree. If you look at your country rock albums from the 70s and other genres, you’ll find him under ‘guest musicians’ a man who did more than most to add a warp or weft to rock’s tapestry.
