Dobro – Luegra

First off, I hope that everyone here in the US had a good and safe Thanksgiving!

So because I do a lot of web searching for both musical instruments and bluegrass-related material, I get a lot of pop-ups on items for sale that (by a long shot) have some connection to these two areas due to my algorithms. I usually just delete them and move on, but recently I got one that piqued my curiosity.

It stated that a bluegrass resonator guitar was on sale for $159.00. Now reso guitars, better known with the bluegrass crowd as a dobro (one of the original manufacturers was a company called Dobro, formed by the Dopyera brothers), are not as “affordable” as beginner acoustic guitars. Even low-end dobros are rarely under $300.00, and many of them are used models. So I clicked on the ad.

Acoustic Electric Guitar, Rich Sound, Built-in Preamp, Deep Cherry Finish

It turned out to be what I expected. This was round-neck reso guitar set up for guitar players. Some blues and folk guitarists like to play a reso guitar to get a swampy sound from it, courtesy of the metal cone that replaces where the soundhole would be on a regular acoustic guitar. They have a brighter, more metallic tone, but can be louder than a normal acoustic. Players like to use a bottleneck-style slide on them to get that bluesy slide sound. The brand name is Pyle, better known for high-fidelity and guitar amplifier speakers, so I am sure it is just contracted with them. I am also certain that these are probably made in some Asian country with very cheap labor. The funny thing is, the actual item is listed as an acoustic-electric guitar with built-in preamp.

The dobro models that are used by bluegrass players almost always have a square neck. This is for stability, but also serves as a better anchor for a dobro capo. This type of capo, rather than clamping down on the fretboard, rests solely on the strings. The string height on a dobro is much higher than a regular guitar so that the slide will move freely along the strings and not come in contact with the frets (which only serve as a note marker). While it is easily possible to play a round neck by raising the strings at the nut with a special nut (available from sources like Elderly Instruments, Guitar Center or Sweetwater for under $20.00), you are still limited if you want to play upon strings in a different key than the standard G tuning on a Dobro.

Another aspect of a bluegrass dobro player is that they almost always use fingerpicks and a thumbpick, similar to a banjo player. Tut Taylor was one of the few dobro players that used a flatpick, but he is an exception. The finger/thumb combination allows for rolls on the strings like a banjo player, but with the different G tuning than a banjo, the rolls sound much different.

I have seen a few bluegrass dobro players use a round-neck model, but again, they were usually having to stick to playing barred strings when in different keys. Now I am not saying that a round-neck reso guitar would be a good starter model for the beginner, especially if one of those raised nuts is installed over the regular nut. Most beginner dobro lesson books and videos are going to instruct the basics in the key of G anyways.

When I was working at the musical instrument petting zoo at the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival last June, one young girl was very interested in trying out and playing the dobro. I explained to her parents that while the cost of a good dobro may be high, there are many low-cost alternatives for beginners, including converting a regular acoustic guitar with the nut-raiser and playing it sideways like a dobro. In such a case, if the student takes a true interest in playing the dobro, money can be saved up for a regular square-neck model.

I was fortunate years ago to get my hands on a Regal dobro for a very good price. I still have it, and althoughj I don’t play it as much as I would like, it is a great sounding dobro that I use to embellish some demos of mine. If I ever got the time, I definitely would like to work more on it.

The dobro is often thought of as a minor instrument in the bluegrass field. Josh Graves and a very few others were the purveyors, and the greatest dobro player out there today, Jerry Douglas, has helped to promote it in the bluegrass and country music fields more than anyone. It has a unique sound that does change the overall composition of a bluegrass band, whether you like that sound or not. However, it does make a great bluegrass instrument for beginners to consider if not interested in the sometimes complex fretting of a banjo or mandolin, or the coordination of a fiddle. I would encourage parents to offer the dobro up as a possible instrument to play to their children interested in bluegrass.

Chew on it and comment.

Phil Leadbetter/Paddy Moloney RIP

Last week just after I posted my blog, I learned of the deaths of two great musicians. This week, I will briefly cover the lives and influential presence of dobroist Phil Leadbetter and The Chieftains’ leader, Paddy Moloney.

Phil Leadbetter was a true traditionalist when it came to the dobro. He kept his feet firmly in bluegrass while others took it to other genres. He began playing the dobro at age 12, and soon after graduating high school worked with country legend Grandpa Jones. He spent his longest tenure with J.D. Crowe and the New South, often serving as booking agent as well, from 1990-2001. He helped form a number of superstar bluegrass bands, including Wildfire, Flashback and Grasstowne.

In 2011, Phil was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. He was part of trials that tested the drug Opdivo for his type of cancer, and became a five-time survivor. He returned to performing part-time in 2013, working with Dale Ann Bradley as well as his own band, Phil Leadbetter and the All-Stars of Bluegrass. Unfortunately, his health kept deteriorating, and there were a number of benefit concerts and funding pages. Phil passed away October 14 from COVID-19 complications working against his already poor health. He was 59 years old.

While Phil’s work can be heard on the aforementioned bands, as well as work with The Whites and Vern Godsin, if you want to hear probably his best work on the dobro, seek out his 2005 solo album Slide Effects on Pinecastle Records. The cut “California Cottonfields” was a Number 1 hit for two months on the bluegrass charts, and the disc won the Instrumental Album of the Year award that year at the IBMA World of Bluegrass show. He was a three-time Dobro Player of the Year winner, and both Gibson and Recording King released signature resonator guitars in the past few years.

Phil will definitely be missed in the bluegrass community. I had the chance to meet up with him after a Grasstowne show, and he was one of the most humble people you would ever get a chance to meet. Hopefully, there are a number of young dobro players out there listening to his fine work.

My first true experience in watching The Chieftains was when the band appeared on a special St. Patrick’s Day showing of Saturday Night Live back in 1979. By then, the band was just starting to get some notoriety in the US, after much success in Ireland and the UK. This was not the usual musical fare of SNL, and I was blown away. The sound was magical, moving, hitting at your heart strings. And in the middle of this ensemble sitting, playing the uillean bagpipes and with a big grin, was Paddy Moloney. One could tell after just a few seconds of watching that he was the leader, and that his direction was similar to a classical music conductor, but not as obvious. He knew where to guide the music, and everyone in the band trusted his instinct.

Paddy formed The Chieftains in 1962, but the band did not become full-time professionals until the early 1970s. They built up a large following in Ireland and Europe, but it was the band’s work on the Stanley Kubrick film Barry Lyndon in 1975. From there, it was international success. They have performed with dozens of other famous musicians and singers, have held concerts for Pope John Paul II and a number of other dignitaries, and in 1983 were invited to perform at the Great Wall of China, the first non-Chinese artist to do so.

Paddy was born in Dublin in 1938. He first picked up the tin whistle at age six, then the uillean pipes at age eight. In 1962 he invited local musicians Sean Potts and Michael Tubridy to his house for a jam session, and The Chieftains was born. The band signed with a local label Claddagh Records, and Paddy served as leader, composer, and arranger for the band’s music. His endless work to promote the band made it an international success. If any big-time producer or film director needed Irish or Celtic music, they would call on The Chieftains.

I cannot begin to list the different artists that the band has worked with. Almost everyone from Luciano Pavarotti and John Williams to Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney. While The Chieftains had never had a huge hit in the US, it did score minor hits with Van Morrison and The Coors in the UK. They also performed on the soundtracks for the films Gangs of New York and Bravehart. Paddy was a major reason that The Chieftains have such a huge following. His business head knew that it was important for the band to work with different people to get the best exposure, but his musical heart knew not to sell out. The sound of the band stayed pure and close to its roots, so that other performers gladly adapted to the band’s sound.

Paddy recorded 44 albums with The Chieftains, and there is not a bad one among them (although I can honestly say that I have not heard all of them, but trust me). If you were to pick only one, you might try to locate The Best of The Chieftains from 1992, which contains selections from the band’s 7th, 8th, and 9th albums. The 1993 disc The Celtic Harp is hauntingly beautiful. To hear how well the band worked with American artists, get a copy of Down the Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions from 2002.

I only got to see The Chieftains once live. It was during a tour promoting Down the Old Plank Road with Allison Moorer as a guest. The sound of the band live cannot be described with words. One could close his/her eyes and be transported into a different world. If Ireland had a sound, it would be The Chieftains.

Paddy passed away at age 83 on October 12, and is now buried in Glendalough, Ireland. He was the last original member of the band. There will never be another band like The Chieftains, and definitely never be another beautiful man such as Paddy Moloney.

Chew on it and comment.