Track Listing

1. Secret Steel

2. First Flight

3. Two Trains

4. The Banks of the Ponchartrain

5. In the Stillness of the Night

6. Earl Grey's Magnificent Tickle

7. Woodwork

8.  Weisenheimer

9. Junior's Breakdown

10. Neptune's Dream

11.  Funk Indeed

12. I Want Someone To Tell Me

13. Leela's Long Winter

Click on above buttons to hear samples of select tracks

   

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In the 1970s he was part of the acclaimed country/jazz crossover band, Asleep at the Wheel [with whom he won two Grammy Awards}. In 1981 he moved from the US to Perth, the most isolated city on Earth, since when he has probably become best known in Australia as the presenter of "The Planet", on ABC Radio National. In this role he has opened countless hearts and minds to all sorts of music which otherwise might never have been encountered by his listeners. Lucky says presenting the show has also served to broaden his own tastes. "This experience, and living in Perth's isolation - which lessened the influence of other players on my style - led me to start composing pieces that would take the pedal steel into new directions," he enthuses. The result is an enthralling new CD called "Secret Steel", for which he pulled together a purpose-built band that crosses the generations as much as it does musical styles.

Lucky (now in his 50s) is joined by ex-Catholics and Mighty Reapers guitarist Dave Brewer (40s), drummer Ric Eastman (30s) and bassist Matt Willis (20s). Together they head off on a musical adventure that at a stroke redefines the pedal steel as one of the most versatile and expressive of all instruments, shaking off its type-casting as a strictly country sound. The album needs to be heard in its entirety to appreciate the full scope and brilliance of what has been achieved, but highlights include the funky New Orleans feel and slinky melody of "Earl Grey's Magnificent Tickle" and the impossibly liquid essence of the drifting "Neptune's Dream". Always there is the joyous warmth of Lucky's pedal steel playing, glistening on the sadder and dreamier pieces, as well as glowing on the "up" ones. The work of the other musicians is consistently exceptional, and the appeal should be as broad as the music itself.

" Since taking up the pedal steel guitar in 1970, I have had many hours of pleasure listening to and copying the masters of this evocative and under-utilised instrument. The lion’s share of pedal steel employment happens in the country music field and while playing with the group Asleep at the Wheel our gigs were split between country and alternative, as our music was split between country music and jazz. As much as the playing of my heroes has awed me, I have sometimes been disappointed by the narrow appeal of their albums due to the restricted range of the repertoire and the overplaying of the same old country and jazz standards. Since moving to Perth W. Australia (the most isolated city on earth) in 1981 I have played pedal steel in top 40 bands, in reggae groups, in jazz groups, and once in a while, even in country or Western Swing lineups. No matter what the lineup, most of the people I play to have never seen a pedal steel before and I meet other players of it very rarely. Since 1995, I have been presenting a music show called ‘The Planet’ on ABC Radio National, which has opened my ears to thousands of wonderful players and musical styles from all over the world and has broadened my musical tastes beyond skilled but predictable ‘generic’ music. This experience and living in Perth’s isolation which lessened the influence of other players on my style led me to start composing pieces that would take the pedal steel guitar into new directions. In January 2005, I went into the studio with fine Perth musicians of different generations – Bassist Matt Willis (20s), Drummer Ric Eastman (30s), Guitarist Dave Brewer (40s) and myself (50s) to record this album –a lineup that had never done a gig together. Almost exclusively we used first and second takes of material some of which was written the week before recording. (Secret Steel, First Flight, In the Stillness of the Night, and Junior’s Breakdown) ‘Secret Steel’ is a play on the wonderful African-American music style ‘Sacred Steel’ but it also describes the secret laboratory for pedal steel guitar that I have been overseeing in this windswept corner of the world."

 Tell me about the enthusiasm for music, and intentions for the group, that you, Ray and LeRoy Preston had when you formed up. I guess that's two questions. How did ya'll feel about music? What were your intentions for the band?

"Ray was always the one with the long term vision. The threesome of Ray, Leroy and I first played together in an impromptu jam when Ray and I went to visit Ray’s sister in Boston. I remember playing bluesy kind of stuff, but when Leroy came to West Virginia, he had a real country thing going through his passion for Hank Williams and little known New England singer Dick Curless. Ray and I were into music bigtime. When he was little (10 yo is a guess) he played in a folk group called the 4Gs. Ray got me into the high school band where he played tuba. I remember him studying with the Philadelphia Orchestra’s ‘Torchy’ Torchinski. I got into the blues and the current rock things going on – so much into the blues that I even taught a course in it in the year I was a student at Antioch Columbia. My parents were into early jazz – Ellington, Morton and Armstrong, so that was the prime music I heard around the house. Ray and I were good friends so he heard it too. My parents loved music so much that 3 of their 4 children became musicians. Ray’s family, particularly his father Maury, was a bit more practical. When Ray dropped out of college and we formed the band in W. Virginia, Maury famously said, ‘So you’ll be the only truckdriver who reads Nietzche.’ Music was the main thing for us. We formed a school band called ‘Orange Juice.’ When we met up in W. Virginia, Ray had had an epiphany when he saw Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen and brought that to the mix. I had a lap steel that I’d borrowed from Houstonian Kurt Linhof who was also going to school at Antioch Columbia (having recently contacted him via the internet – I think he’s in Colorado – I did more than borrow the steel – he never got it back) and was playing blues on it. When the country element came in, I upgraded to a pedal steel, finding my ‘soulmate instrument.’ Really, I had no intentions for the band beyond playing the music I loved, discovering more of it and experiencing the life. Ray was always one step ahead. For instance, when we left W. Virginia for California, to play gigs with Cody (and live in their houses when they were on the road) I assumed it was just a summer excursion and left heaps of books and records back in W. Va. Somehow Ray knew that we needed to get to an urban center to move on to the next phase. Doing gigs with Cody and Dan Hicks, Clover and Van Morrison, as well as a regular Tuesday Night at the ‘Longbranch Saloon’ (bringing a bit of W. Virginia to drug crazed Berkeley) established us way beyond what we could have done back on the farm. A record deal with United Artists followed, with their A&R man Dan Bourgeoise coming to a gig, screeching, “You guys are going to be the next Beatles!” Imagine! Dan actually got fired from United Artists, partly for signing us and partly for spending $6,000 on a record by ‘some dead guy from Texas’ named Bob Wills (For the Last Time) but he went on to found the very successful independent publisher, ‘Bug Music.’ Negotiating the record deal, Ray (not much over 20 yo) found himself having to conceal his surprise when they offered us way over what we expected."

 What are your recollections of Ray Benson's passion for music at the time? Tell me about the name please. Do you recall anything of the inspiration for it, or why it seemed so right? (And by the way, how did Reuben Gosfield become Lucky Oceans? (great name)).

The name ‘Asleep at the Wheel’ really did come to me in a moment of inspiration in the outhouse at our first (squatters) digs in Paw Paw, W. Va. For me, it had implications of society at large ‘asleep at the wheel’ of the juggernaut of rapid technological, social and political change. It works for the band because it has echoes of the ‘Grateful Dead’ mixed with country connotations of Truck Drivers – Hippies playing country music. When Ray was at Antioch College and I was at its satellite branch, Antioch Columbia, we used to write each other letters. I would sign them with humorous nom de plumes, most of which I can’t remember, but I signed one Lucky Oceans, from the first line of a poem I’d written – ‘Oh lucky oceans, lulled and sunken time Red your decks with running rust’…. I think it self destructed in an orgy of alliteration after that, but Ray started calling me that and gradually, that was what everyone called me. Not a bad monicker, for its self – fulfilling fortune and also a bit prescient, as I live in an Ocean dominated country now. I'm unclear on the Bob Wills meeting but I gather the whole band was there. If so, what are your recollections of that? I remember getting into Garland studios and seeing all the guys – Bob in his wheelchair, Merle and all the Playboys. As I was a steel player, I hung out with Leon McAuliffe, who was especially friendly and open with information. I was impressed at how he put his monstrous four neck steel guitar into his trunk without packing it up. (he played pretty good – great in fact – too) It was such a buzz to see these guys making elegant, beautiful music as easy as talking to each other. In some way it opened a window to what would be possible for us.

What did coming to Austin mean to the band and to you and to the music? How was Austin then?

Austin was like coming home. It had the university town hippie vibe and it had the dance halls where they actually knew what Western Swing was. Not too big, not too small, but a nice Mama Bear size. It was bursting at the seams with newness and creativity – all the singer-songwriters and country and rock and jazz bands all thrown in together and playing the Armadillo and Soap Creek Saloon. I remember how uncomfortable it often was to me in the 60s when it was the long-hair types (me) and the flat-top pro-war types (a bunch of the folks I worked with). So I gotta wonder: what was it like, being a long-haired hippie playing country and swing and roots music and going into the roadhouses and bars with people who look like they might shoot you after a couple of beers. Really, it wasn’t so bad, and it was probably a good thing in the end, because once the flat-tops heard hippies playing their music, they had to re-think a lot of things. Comments ranged from a whining, “Pearl, tain’t right for a man to have long hair!” to “You guys should be in Nashville, you’re that good.” Asleep had countless years of ups and downs and occasional hits and comebacks. Most bands would have ended several times through all that. What is it in Ray that has held it together all this time? When the bus is broken, when the debt is massive, when the business screws you, when everyone quits the band at once, Ray doesn’t let the current reality get in the way of his dreams. He’s always got a million projects on the boil, and each one is better than the last one. He’s the opposite to the person who looks at the potential problems in a deal and never does anything. He knows EVERYONE in the music business and is always totally on when he meets someone who can make a connection for him. He’s got an elephant’s memory, remembering events and people that my mind jettisoned long ago. There’s nothing he likes better than putting two parties into a mutually beneficial musical or business relationship. He’s got this inclusive view of the world – whether you’re music business or any kind of good musician, he wants to know you – he feeds off people’s creativity. So with that never say die attitude, a love of new ventures and a network that goes on forever and a commitment to the band and the kind of music it plays, you can’t stop him. And why do you think such a niche band has survived? Or is it wrong to think of it as a niche band? AATW has survived for the above reasons and because it’s a refuge for crazy musicians who love playing this music that we all know should be more popular if it wasn’t such a wild blend of styles that makes it hard to label. I think that there are enough people out there that realize that this is an important genre – one that blurs the line between country and jazz and rhythm and blues. Ray has a diversified business, so he doesn’t have to depend on only the band. And Ray knows how to sell it. And, of course, that great name, which I left them to use for free.

 I know you married and then decided to move to Australia (about 1980?), but I'm not clear if that was when you left the band, and if not, why you left.

I quit and went to Australia for the first time in November of 1979. I had stayed home for 7 weeks for the birth of my daughter Leela and that really broke the rhythm of being on the road. I realized that I was really tired of it. Many band members had already left. We didn’t seem to be going anywhere commercially or artistically. I came home from the road one time and Leela didn’t recognize me, so I decided that it was time to get off the road. Christine is from Australia and when we visited there, it really charmed me and I knew it would be a good place to raise a family. Austin still exerts its pull – I get back every few years and it still seems more like home than anywhere. Leela lived there for a few years, digging all the great music and working at Jovita’s and she feels the same. Her two younger brothers, Toby and Jacob are both musicians and they love our visits to Texas.

OK, Lucky, that's it. Hope it's not too much or too little. I really appreciate you taking the time. And by the way, what kind of music comes from the Zydecats? I mean, it sounds more Louisiana than what I think of as Australian, but what do I know?

 I have tried the Western Swing thing in Australia, but it’s too hard to get people interested in it – players and audiences. I have recorded and toured with a couple of great Australian artists – Paul Kelly and Joe Camilleri, but I wanted to have my own band. I was missing the sounds of Louisiana. (AATW played there at least once a month in the early 70s) so I bought a button accordion and started a Cajun/zydeco band. The people relate better to the straight rock and funky beats of this music than to the swing of Western Swing. But like Western Swing groups, we don’t let categories get in the way of making good music. We do two or three gigs a week. I also play all pedal steel guitar in a band to play my original instrumentals. And there’s the World Music show on national radio, the World Music course at the University of Western Australia, and I’m a on the music board of the Australia Council

Q: What would you say where your earliest musical influences?

A: The earliest sounds that I would have heard would have been my parents' jazz records - classics from the 20s and 30s by Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. I discovered the blues when I was 12. Two records provided the starting point for further explorations - a series on the defunct OJL label called 'Really the Country Blues,' and a 'Best of Muddy Waters' lp which nearly blew me out of my chair when I discovered it in the Philadelphia Public Library. I saw many concerts when I was young - the blues revival was in full swing - John Hammond, Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James and many more, but the concerts which affected me the most were one by John Coltrane and another by Son House - both of them musicians who held nothing back in their playing. I also listened to small bits of country - Doc Watson and plenty of contemporary music - Dylan, Beatles, Doors, Stones, etc... I spent a brief period chauffeuring Big Joe Williams around when I was living in Chicago and working at the Jazz Record Mart.

Q: Why did you choose the pedal steel guitar?

A: The Pedal Steel was kind of a happy accident. I didn't listen to any country music when I was growing up, but when Asleep at the Wheel first formed, I had a 6 string lap steel that Kurt Linhoff, a college buddy from Texas had lent me. I was using it to play blues on, but as Asleep at the Wheel mutated into a country band, I started learning country licks. Ray Benson who I co-founded the band with, suggested I become a PEDAL steel guitarist, so we drove from West Virginia, where we were based, to New York City, where Manny's Music had 40% off everything. I bought a single neck pedal steel from them and worked out how to play it, mostly in isolation, with a few instructional records and by copying recordings.

Q: How long where you with Asleep At The Wheel?

A: I was with the band from when we started, in 1969 or 70, until I left at the end of 1978

Q: Why did you choose to settle in Australia?

A: My wife, Christine, who I met in Nashville, is from Australia. Born in a little mining town called Broad Arrow, she grew up in Perth from the age of 6. When we had our daughter Leela, I took some time off the road with the Wheel. That broke my momentum and I found going back on the bus really hard after that. The band was in a slump and I wanted to do something new. We took Leela to meet her Grandmother Eileen in Perth and I had a wonderful type enjoying the sun and surf. I also enjoyed the more laid back attitude and the humour of the people and we thought it would be a better place to raise kids, so we settled here. At the time, I wasn't thinking of it as a career move - not a very smart one for a western swing steel guitarist, but things have worked out fine.

Q: You seem prepared to take chances in your playing which often leads to some very intersting improvisations. How do you describe your approach improvisation?

 A: I like to improvise with a clean slate every time. Sometimes I paint myself into a corner, but I love the thrill of not knowing where I'm going. I just try to clear my mind before I start, and do something new - otherwise it's not improvisation, is it? Sometimes I rely on devices, like licks, phrases, scales or tricks, but I aim to make melodic and rhythmic contours that work in that moment. Sometimes it's great to play within a style, other times it's better to mix up all the different musical approaches that I love. In the past few years, I've taken the latter approach, as it's more conducive to building a personal style.

Q: How did you become involved with The Planet?

A: I was an admirer of the show, having enjoyed it frequently coming home from gigs. One day, the show's presenter, Robyn Johnston, who lived near me in Fremantle, told me they were looking for a part time programmer. I knew that I would love to do that - listening to CDs and reading liner notes all day isn't really like work to me, so I applied for the job. (Only the second job I'd ever applied for) I got the position as programmer, then Robyn went on holidays and was looking for a substitute presenter. I had never broadcast on my own before, but she told me that it wasn't as hard as playing pedal steel guitar, and besides, I was a natural. When Robyn returned from holidays, she went on to found the Sunday morning show, Melisma, so I stayed in the Planet chair.