Joe Goldmark
Shines Like Blue Steel on New CD Coming April 20 from Lo-Ball Records
S.F. Bay Area
Favorite Creates Exciting Mix of Americana and Blues/Roots Music with Special
Guests Glenn Walters, Dallis Craft & Jim Campilongo
San
Francisco, CA – Pedal steel guitar ace Joe Goldmark announces an April 20
release date for, Blue Steel, his most exciting album to date,
with a mix of Americana, blues and roots music worthy of the album’s title.
Joining Goldmark and a cadre of Bay Area musical notables for the recording
sessions at Red Rooster Studio in Berkeley were ex-Hoodoo Rhythm Devils lead
singer Glenn Walters, plus chanteuse Dallis Craft, who share the album’s seven
vocal performances, plus long-time Goldmark compadre, Jim Campilongo, who
guests on electric guitar.
Blue
Steel showcases
a number of original songs, plus a diverse mix of cover tunes ranging from
Jimmy McCracklin, Graham Parker, B.B. King and Jeff Lynne, to Lefty Frizzell,
Rufus Thomas and Dallas Frazier. Best known for his honky-tonk country and
Americana sounds, Goldmark has combined an extra component this go-round with
the addition of blues/roots songs like “All Night Worker,” “The Wobble” and
“Beautician Blues,” that are destined for strong play on blues radio stations.
“My
album cover is loosely based on an old Starday Records album by Arthur ‘Guitar
Boogie’ Smith, called Blue Guitar,” Goldmark says. “The artwork
is blue, but the title Blue Steel actually reflects the R&B
feel of the music on the album. Although the pedal steel guitar is considered a
‘country’ instrument by many, I’ve always placed it in other musical genres
with excellent results. Blue Steel is colored by a soulful
approach to all the tunes, especially on the handful of blues numbers.”
Goldmark
was very deliberate in both his choice of musicians and songs he picked to
record on the new disc. “I was fortunate to convince local hero Glenn Walters,
formerly of the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils, to sing some R&B tunes that I thought
would work well with steel. I then recruited Dallis Craft to provide a female
balance with her soulful singing. Finally, I mixed in some of my instrumentals,
plus one that my good friend and former bandmate, guitarist Jim Campilongo,
wrote for this album and played on in his own inimitable way.
“I’m
very pleased with how ‘Howlin’ Wind’ turned out. It was the title tune
from Graham Parker’s debut album, and Dallis really nailed it. Her other tunes
were originally performed by Roy Orbison, Lefty Frizzell and Percy Sledge, and
she interprets them beautifully.
“It
was hard to figure out in which order to put Glenn’s songs, because they’re all
so cool. I decided to start with ‘All Night Worker, written by Rufus Thomas,
which I first heard in a Tex-Mex version by the Stardusters. His other two songs
are by Jimmy McCracklin and B.B. King, so we are covering some classic
R&B.”
Joe Goldmark has
seven pedal steel guitar CDs under his belt, including the popular Seducing
the 60s and critically-acclaimed Steelin’ the Beatles,
which demonstrate his unique vision for the steel guitar. He’s recorded three
seminal albums as a member of the storied “Jim Campilongo and the 10 Gallon
Cats.” He toured and recorded with “The Twangbangers,” and all-star band that
featured Redd Volkaert, Bill Kirchen and Dallas Wayne. He has also toured with
Jim Lauderdale and Peter Rowan, and played in the legendary “Texas Chainsaw
Band.”
Growing up in
Tucson, Arizona, he played cello from the age of nine, but also took up guitar
and played in garage bands. He moved to San Francisco in high school and
started playing bass in soul bands during the late ‘60s. Joe became enamored
with the San Francisco Sound and saw many of the greats, including Hendrix,
Cream, Doors, Big Brother, etc. It was while watching Jerry Garcia play with the
New Riders of the Purple Sage, who were opening for The Grateful Dead, that Joe
got bitten by the pedal steel bug. He soon dropped out of college to play the
steel guitar full time, which he pretty much did for the next fifteen years.
After getting married and having a son in the mid-1980s, Joe was fortunate to
get a day job, going into the pizza business. Ten years later, he came full
circle by becoming a partner at Amoeba Music, and getting totally immersed in
the music business; however, he never stopped performing on the pedal
steel.
Joe
brings the pedal steel guitar into new musical territory playing high-energy
reinterpretations of rock and soul music, as well as writing and performing his
own instrumentals. He also has recorded with other artists, including the True
Stories album with David Byrne, Restless Rambling Heart
with Laurie Lewis, Amazing California Health & Happiness Road Show
with the Mermen, and nine albums with “The Usual Suspects,” a project that
included legends Mike Bloomfield, Taj Mahal, Peter Rowan, Norton Buffalo and
Maria Muldaur.
Joe
Goldmark also has an amazing vinyl website called VinylBeat.com which is
literally “Record Collecting 101.”
