Sacred Steel

Inside an African American Steel Guitar Tradition

Robert Stone

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9780252090301
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

In this book, Robert L. Stone follows the sound of steel guitar into the music-driven Pentecostal worship of two related churches: the House of God and the Church of the Living God. A rare outsider who has gained the trust of members and musicians inside the church, Stone uses nearly two decades of research, interviews, and fieldwork to tell the story of a vibrant musical tradition that straddles sacred and secular contexts. Most often identified with country and western bands, steel guitar is almost unheard of in African American churches--except for the House of God and the Church of the Living God, where it has been part of worship since the 1930s. Sacred Steel traces the tradition through four generations of musicians and in some two hundred churches extending across the country from Florida to California, Michigan to Alabama. Presenting detailed portraits of musical pioneers such as brothers Troman and Willie Eason and contemporary masters such as Chuck Campbell, Glenn Lee, and Robert Randolph, Stone expertly outlines the fundamental tensions between sacred steel musicians and church hierarchy. In this thorough analysis of the tradition, Stone explores the function of the music in church meetings and its effect on the congregations. He also examines recent developments such as the growing number of female performers, the commercial appeal of the music, and younger musicians' controversial move of the music from the church to secular contexts.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Discovery
• 2. The Churches: Beliefs, Social Milieu, and the Development of the Steel Guitar Traditions
• 3. Church Meetings and the Steel Guitarist’s Role in Them
• 4. The Steel Guitar
• 5. The Eason Brothers
• 6. Little Willie and His Talking Guitar
• 7. Henry Nelson: The Liberace of Sacred Steel
• 8. The Jewell Dominion
• 9. Motor City Steel
• 10. Calvin Cooke
• 11. Shaping the Modern Sound: Pedal-Steel Guitar Innovators Chuck Campbell and Glenn Lee
• 12. Negotiating the New Millennium
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Interviews
• Discography
• Videography
• Index
• Photographs