A Way Without Words: The Triumph Of The Solo Guitarist

steelism

Steelism

Nashville maybe known as Guitar Town, but the six-string almost always plays second fiddle to the singer. Not so with Steelism. The instrumental duo of Jeremy Fetzer and Spencer Cullum Jr. – whose names you may recognize from the liner notes of records by Caitlin Rose, Andrew Combs and Johnny Fritz – take the guitar and pedal steel to center stage, right where they belong.

The sound on their debut EP The Intoxicating Sound Of Pedal Steel And Guitar is something instantly recognizable – surf, country, blues, all steeped in soul and heavy on the grooves – but astoundingly outside the contemporary vernacular.

“When I first moved to Nashville I was inspired by Steve Cropper and Mike Bloomfield and they both played white Telecasters, so I kind of copied theirs,” says Fetzer. Fetzer plays a custom Telecaster, based on the late ’50s-era Fender, and a custom Stratocaster, based on the mid-’50s model favored by Derek & the Dominos-era Clapton, both handmade by Dan Shinn at Lay’s Guitars Shop in Akron, Ohio.

Pedal steelist Cullum favors his Nashville-built Show Pro custom and his 1971 Sho-Bud. “A Sho-Bud can be thrown across the room and they stay in tune, which is a rarity because steel guitars tend to have a tuning issue,” says Cullum. “That’s why I play them, you can bash them around on tour and they still stay in tune. And they look cool – they look like an old pickup truck.”

When it comes to amplification, Steelism are Fender men, packing a 1966 Deluxe Reverb, 1960 Fender Princeton, and a 1966 Pro Reverb when it’s time to hit the road or hit the studio. “I like the warmth of an old tube amp, an old Fender amp will break up differently than a new Fender amp,” says Fetzer. “Each tube was put in there by a real person and not by a machine. You can tell the difference.”

Their sound is augmented by an array of effects pedals that provide tone, coloring and variety to their performances, rather than being the focal point of the show. Fetzer uses a simple combination modded Ibanez delay, MXR 90 phase, Menatone Red Snapper overdrive and a Keely Katana boost. Cullum, on the other hand, is not so simple. “I’m worried that if my pedal-board is getting a little U2, it’s out of hand,” says Cullum. “That’s the last thing I wanted out of life, to be The Edge. I’m trying to strip it back.”

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