Pee Wee - Steel Guitar at CCMA

[charlene]

CCMA- Canadian Country Music Association have decided there is not enough interest in the STEEL GUITAR and will no longer have it as a category in their nominations and voting going forward. Ed Ringwald (Pee Wee Charles) has won in this category 4x since 1991 - His talent can be heard not only in so many iconic Lightfoot tunes but also Anne Murray, George Canyon Jim Witter, Ian Tyson and with his current ensemble- Western Swing Authority.

This is so, so wrong of the CCMA to not include such an integral instrument in country music - Ed's playing on many, many Lightfoot tunes that are now legendary helped make them a part of our national psyche and renowned around the world.
Those songs would not have the soul and emotion without Ed's innovative touch and genius at adding a major layer to the Lightfoot sound.

So many recordings by other artists that have pedal steel in the mix would not be the songs they are without the artistry of the pedal steel musician. At the annual Lightfoot tribute shows in TOronto there is another renowned steel player, Burke Carroll adding that layer of soul to the Lightfoot tunes.

Ed says, : """ .I've always said.....The Steel Guitar is the "sound of rock bottom loneliness, heart stabbing isolation....it' the soundtrack of ecstatic self pity....the musical glue that holds together the emotion in a song" ......it will always be and never change."""

CALL OR E-MAIL your displeasure with this very wrong decision: DON GREEN @ Don Green, President-CCMA
Phone: 416-947-1331 x215
Email: dgreen@ccma.org

[charlene]

PETITION - PLEASE SHARE: https://www.change.org/p/don-green-don-green-president-ccma-phone-416-947-1331-x215-email-dgreen-ccma-org-hey-ccma-bring-back-the-steel-guitar-category-it-s-not-country-without-the-steel?recruiter=61524238&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink

[BILLW]

Thanks Char!

Bill :)

[charlene]

please share and sign the petition!

[charlene]

share and sign!

[charlene]

VIDEO AT LINK: http://www.lfpress.com/2016/03/25/pedal-steel-guitarists-angered-by-ccma-slap-in-the-face

Pedal steel guitarists angered by CCMA ‘slap in the face’

By James Reaney, The London Free Press
Friday, March 25, 2016 6:56:40 EDT PM

The Canadian Country Music Association Awards call it a category being retired, effective immediately.

Top Canadian steel guitar players call it a slap in the face.

When the CCMA Awards land in London in September, the steel guitar contenders who make the cut will be recognized as part of the specialty instrument player category.

That just sounds wrong.

“It’s really synonymous with the music,” Tilbury’s Dale Rivard said of steel this week, when he was in London visiting one of Canada’s few steel guitar makers.

“It can rip your heart out. It’s so emotional,” Brantford’s Doug Johnson said of the instrument he loves. “When people think of country music, they think of steel guitar and they think fiddle.

The beautiful, heart-tugging, difficult and delicate instrument has been “the soul of country music, right from the beginning,” said K-W pedal steel ace Ed Ringwald, who starred with Gordon Lightfoot from 1975-’90. Known as Pee Wee Charles during the Lightfoot years, Ringwald is a multi-CCMA winner, most recently in 2015.

All three aces are polite and passionate musicians.

None would put down the specialty category. It has been dominated in recent years by mandolin players such as Denis Dufresne, Robin Pelletier and Tyler Vollrath.

Alberta-based Shane Chisholm won it in 2011, with his “gas-tank bass.” Now that is a specialty instrument.

The steel guitar is a special instrument.

So are the three aces who talked with The Free Press.

Ringwald has played with such icons as Lightfoot, Sylvia Tyson, Ian Tyson and Anne Murray.

Johnson is busy in the studio. He has worked with such stars as Jason Blaine, Jamie Warren, Diane Chase, The Rankin Family and Beverly Mahood.

Winner of the CCMA steel guitar award in 2001, Johnson is working with CCMA and London Music Hall of Famer Marie Bottrell of London on her Dynamic Duos project.



Rivard was the late Terry Sumsion’s pedal steel player for many years. He works with up-and-coming Chatham-area country singers Brooklyn Roebuck and Ryan Bradley, who use steel guitar in their bands. “They’re recording their music with pedal steel and I’m doing their live gigs. It’s out there. The young artists are still enjoying it and using it,” Rivard said.

The CCMA snub hurts — like a slap in the face. All three aces used those words — or close variations — when it came out what the CCMA is offering: recognition within the specialty instrument player category.

“We’re all very unhappy,” Johnson said.

Ringwald helped fire up the social media storm as pedal steel players and fans sounded off.

“Ed Ringwald put a blurb on Facebook on it. That got the ball rolling,” Rivard said.

Toronto-based CCMA president Don Green said he had not heard from any association members yet.

The association does not respond to social media. Over more than three decades of CCMA Awards, 25 awards “morphed” into other categories, Green said.

“This is not the first time an award has been touched. In the steel guitar, there’s just not enough individual contenders in the category . . . I’m a big steel guitar fan and always have been. I’m a very traditional country fan from Day One.”

There is a process in place for reinstating awards. “Talk to me,” Green urged association members who want to see retirement change to reinstatement.

Before signing off, here is a surprising tale about London’s connection with Norway — a place where the pedal steel guitar is revered.

Rivard was in London this week to try out a new pedal steel built by Bent Romnes, who came to Canada from Norway in 1973.

“For the size of the country and the population, there is a great number of pedal steel guitarists there,” Romnes said.

He has been building pedal steel guitars — under the Ben Rom brand — as a “hobby.” The Ben Rom logo was designed as a favour by a Swedish customer and combines the Norwegian flag and a red Canadian maple leaf.

Romnes partnered about two years ago with George Leite, a Cayuga-based entrepreneur and engineer formerly of Plattsville.

Also an accomplished musician, Leite took up the pedal steel with Rivard has his teacher.

This week, Rivard played some Buck Owens, George Strait and Alan Jackson on a new Ben Rom instrument that has been given the name Emerald Green. He worked the volume with one foot and twisted notes and shifted pitches via the pedals with the other.

Rivard moved the steel guitar “bar” up and down the neck. He checked on the tuning to help Romnes prepare Emerald Green for its new owner.

Emerald Green is off to Norway. Its purchaser had wanted it to be called “Lloyd Green” after the famous Nashville player.

The Lloyd Green pedal steel name has its own domain. So Romnes went with the emerald colour of the neck and the Green surname. Another new pedal steel, called Viking, was nearby.

Soon, Romnes will be taking Emerald Green to its new home.

He will be greeted like a returning hero in his homeland as Norway’s top pedal steel players and country fans gather at an Oslo-area mini-convention in his honour.

OK, that sounds cool — a London steel guitar-maker is being honoured in Norway.

So what does Norway know that we don’t?

JReaney@postmedia.com

Twitter @JamesatLFPress

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Pedal steel guitar blues

What: Selected background on the CCMA decision to stop awards in the pedal steel category and the instrument.

New rules: "ALL-STAR BAND – STEEL GUITAR AWARD CATEGORY HAS BEEN RETIRED: Due to the small number of nominees in the past few years, this award category will be retired, effective immediately. All future steel guitar contenders will be recognized within the Specialty Instrument Player of the Year award category.” — ccma.org posted March 11

Men and women of steel: Aces from the U.S., Canada and Britain mentioned by contacts for this column include Barbara Mandrell (who played steel early in her career), Buddy Emmons, Steve Smith, Burke Carroll, Sarah Jory, BJ Cole, Lloyd Green, Steve Smith, Bob Egan.

Taking it Slowly: The 1954 Webb Pierce classic Slowly is hailed as the first big hit to bring pedal steel, then a new instrument, to the fore as it challenged the lap steel model. Bud Isaacs played on the Pierce hit.

Estimates: New steel costs $4,000, used $1,200.

Flexible steel: "You can fit it into pop, rock, jazz, blues — anything." — Dale Rivard, the man with the double-neck steel.

Hearing steel: Dale Rivard guests with Tom Dunphy & The Cold Hard Facts in London early next month. Hear Rivard, Dunphy, Paul Wickerson and Carl Welch Sunday, April 3, 3 p.m., Richmond Tavern, 370 Richmond St. (at King). Call 519-679-9777.

[charlene]

sign the petition!

[charlene]

UPDATE re: Petition to re-instate Steel Guitar Player in it's own category at the CCMA's.! So happy for Ed (Pee Wee Charles) and his peers. I'm glad the petition and FB page helped the folks at CCMA see how important this issue is. Changes are happening already! YAY Ed!
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu324/inspirationlady/12980474_10153442714071770_403436626_n.jpg (http://s660.photobucket.com/user/inspirationlady/media/12980474_10153442714071770_403436626_n.jpg.html)

[charlene]

http://cashboxcanada.ca/7462/ed-ringwald-man-steel
photos at link.
Submitted by Don Graham

You may not know his name but unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve heard the work of Ed Ringwald. Ed was Gordon Lightfoot’s steel guitarist for 16 years and if you are a country music fan you have no doubt heard his masterful steel guitar work on records by such artists as George Canyon, Beverley Mahood, Shane Yellowbird, Jim Witter, Jamie Warren, Gord Bamford, Jason Blaine, Jason McCoy and so many more.

Ed started playing steel relatively late in life compared to guitarists that start out as youngsters. “I went to a concert when I was 17 years old and saw Ray Price who had a pedal steel player named Buddy Emmons in his band. I was mesmerized by it; the sound , the look, all of it . I wanted to play that instrument. I got a little lap steel and started learning on that.”

Then at age 20, Ed made a decision that would change his life. “I moved to Dallas, Texas in 1972 to study steel guitar with Maurice “Reese” Anderson. It was a period of saturation for me. I lived in a tiny little apartment and did nothing, and I mean nothing , but work on my skills. That’s how dedicated I was. Then I moved back to my hometown of Kitchener, Waterloo and the phone rang a day after I got home. My mom said “It’s Ian Tyson !”. I got on the phone and Ian said ‘I want you to play on my TV show, The Ian Tyson Show with the Great Speckled Bird, no audition needed, I know all about you.’ Wow, I got to back up all the Nashville artists that appeared on his show as part of The Great Speckled Bird as well as a nationally syndicated TV show. It would be an understatement to say it was going well. Then Gordon Lightfoot called me to play on his record and then asked me if I wanted to join his road band. I was comfortable with Ian and the show but couldn’t turn down Gord’s offer.

As it turned out Ian’s show ended not long after so it was a wise move. Gordon flew me to Seattle in his private jet to see him playing a show to see if I'd like to join his band. I became a full band member and recorded on all his hits for 16 years, toured the world, playing some of the most amazing Concert Halls on the planet, Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, La Amphitheatre, Greek Theatre, Hollywood Bowl and so many more. Then we did .Saturday Night Live in the John Belushi and Dan Akroyd, we did the Midnight Special as well as movie scores, jingles, and on so many artists recordings.

During this period I was called to do some Eagle sessions in New York in 1973 but I couldn't do them as I was at Massey Hall with Lightfoot for 10 days sold out shows that he did every year.”

After 16 years Ed had another choice to make. There are obvious upsides to touring with an artist of Gordon Lightfoot’s caliber but there are downsides as well. “I was missing my family and didn’t want to be gone so much. I made the decision to leave the band and drove out to Gord’s house to tell him in person. He was very gracious and understanding and thanked me for my work and said “I will never replace you Ed” That meant so much to me to hear that from him and he was true this word, he never hired another steel player.

Now Ed had more time at home and could be available for more session work. He has been named Steel Player of the Year by the Canadian Country Music Association 4 times. The most anyone can win in one category is 5 but sadly unless the CCMA has a change of mind, there will not be a 5th award. For reasons known only to them the category of Steel Guitar has been eliminated from the ballot. At the time of this writing there has been no word of reinstating the category despite the disbelief and confusion and social media outcry surrounding the decision. After all nothing says country music like a steel guitar. Here’s hoping more music minded heads prevail.

(after this story was submitted the CCMA reversed their elimenation of the category and reinstated the steel guitar effective immediately. Yay !)

At present Ed is really happy to be a part of one of the top bands in Canada, The Western Swing Authority. “The WSA was the brainchild of my fiddle playing friend Shane Guse. The band is modeled after The Time Jumpers in Nashville. We have an amazing lead singer, Stacey Lee Guse, who was a formerly with the hit act Lace. This band is so talented and we have such a blast playing music together. “

To sum it all up the man of steel says, “What a life and career I’ve had so far. I have been so blessed in so many ways. A great career, a beautiful, loving wife, great kids and grandkids, amazing friends musical and otherwise and more good memories than one man can hope for. And I am so grateful and take none of it for granted. Life is a gift, make the most of every minute.”

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ed.ringwald?fref=ts