Randy Newman- Rider on the Rain steel player

[Craig Stock]

An old friend of mine asked if I knew this song and had heard it recently on a station he listens to.
I didn’t remember it by title, but looked it up and realized it was from the Little Criminals album, which I love but haven’t revisited in a whille.
Along with Eagles, Frey, Henley, and J.D. Souther sing background. The steel is cool on it and kinda think it was Bernie Leadon, but not sure, wasn’t credited on some things I searched.? Would love to see who it was !

[Joachim Kettner]

Waddy Wachtel emulating a steel (probably with a volume pedal). I have the Little Criminals record and he's listed as guitar player on this tune.

[Don R Brown]

This one, Craig? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1zJp_XFJJU

I like it!

[Craig Stock]

Yes Don, that’s the one. Joachim, I did see Waddy listed as guitar, but didn’t see steel
Listed. If he was faking it on guitar he did a great job, fooled me. Got to meet Waddy a few years ago at the iridium in NYC with Kootch, Leland, and Kunkel, what a great night, such talented, but also nice guys!

[Jeff Keyton]

Great song, saw an article from Steve Fishell in a 70's Guitar Player that covers the same subject, the article can easily be found online.

[Bob Carlucci]

First off, what a great song.. Makes me lament how far down the crapper todays music has swirled. If that is waddy on a six string electric , what an incredible job.. I have doubts about that honestly but who knows.. He did some great work for a lot of artists..I think its a steel personally, but hey, I'm wrong sometimes,,,,,,,,,,, well, a little more than sometimes..... actually, I'm wrong quite a bit...... bob

[Kenny Davis]

If it's pedal steel it's marginal playing. If it's six string it's a pretty decent impersonation. The only time I hear what sounds like pedal steel is at the end when grabbing some bottom, other than that it sounds like a guitar player overusing the volume pedal. I agree with Bob - it's a great song!

[Don R Brown]

On the YouTube version I linked above, if you scroll down and read comments (there are 80 of them but it's not that far down) someone posted the following:

I looked this up after reading an article about Waddy Wachtel and how he would emulate a steel guitar with his Les Paul.

That MIGHT refer to the Steve Fishell article that Jeff Keyton mentions above.

[Craig Stock]

Good sleuthing Don, I may call Buck Reid to ask Leland Sklar, if he can ask Waddy what really happened

[Dan Kelly]

Man, it sounds like the Steel to me. I can envision how some of those licks could be done on a guitar... but the player would have to have taken some time to develop the smoothness of some of those licks... to me at least, a lot of work just for one song.

But, the give-a-way. IMHO, was a very quite slide at 3:10 just before the phrase "Take it boys." That could be a single string slide but it sounds like a 3-4-5 string grip slide.

[Douglas Schuch]

I assume Fish knows what he's talking about, but the tone sounds like a pedal steel to me - I don't know how you get that steel guitar tone from a regular guitar. To me it sounds like a novice pedal steeler, riding the volume pedal way too much. I know what that sounds like because I was that guy for a while! Ha! So color me skeptical - I think it's probably a pedal steel. But what do I know?

[Mike Neer]

It's definitely Waddy doing his phony steel guitar thing, as he admitted in Guitar Player magazine. For other examples of this, listen to Carmelita by Ronstadt and Heartache Spoken Here by Zevon.

“When I started out, I found a way of emulating steel guitar on my Les Paul,” Wachtel recalls. “For years, I did that ‘phony steel guitar’ thing, like on Randy Newman’s ‘Rider in the Rain.’ People would hire me for rhythm, but then they’d always ask me to lay down some phony steel-guitar lines as well.”

[Craig Stock]

That’s cool Mike, only makes me appreciate Waddy’s talent even more. Can anyone post a link to Fischell’s article or post?

[Fish]

Hey folks, I’m flattered anyone remembers the first article I ever wrote for Guitar Player magazine way back in 1979. I’m forever grateful to my dear friend Tom Wheeler for giving me that very early opportunity. I was about 26 and very GREEN. He edited the heck out of this and saved my butt.

I had to dig to find this transcription:

https://www.fleetwoodmac.net/fwm/index. ... 4&Itemid=9

PS: Waddy is absolutely playing beautiful pedal steel licks on a standard guitar; it’s so well played and mixed that it’s hard to tell what instrument he’s on.

[Craig Stock]

Great article Fish, Thanks for digging that up.

I wonder if Waddy ever played or messed around with a Pedal Steel, sounds like if he did, he would have been great on it!

[Dan Kelly]

Well, THAT settles that! Waddy's guitar work, it is!

I don't want to rain on Randy's parade here, but, most of Arizona gets an average of about one inch of rain a month. Really, not much of a chance for too much Ridin in the Rain.

But I guess that is beside the point, isn't it?

[Bob Carlucci]

I will go as far as to say that thats the best "fake pedal steel" sound I have ever heard. Its even more amazing because he did it on a Les Paul, not usually the best choice for emulating an E9 steel sound.. Clarence White did a lot of great "fake pedal steel" on his B bender tele, especially on the Byrds Untitled album, but Waddy's stuff was even more convincing, to the point that several of us long time pedal steel players were sure it was a pedal steel guitar..Great stuff, not only the song but our discussion about it! Thank you Steve for weighing in, and straightening us "experts" out!! bob

[Bob Carlucci]

Steve, I took the time to read your article.Very impressive to say the least. If you wanted to you might have become a writer for musician magazines, and made some real money, instead of becoming a pro pedal steel player.. Very fine article, and very well written... bob

[Don R Brown]

I don't want to rain on Randy's parade here, but, most of Arizona gets an average of about one inch of rain a month. Really, not much of a chance for too much Ridin in the Rain.

But I guess that is beside the point, isn't it?

Well, he says "Going to Arizona" so maybe the rain tells us he's not there yet.

[Don R Brown]

Another nice version of that song, and I'd guess the steel one this one is for real.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDEGMfR-iJ0

[Fish]

Thanks very much, Bob and everyone.

Freelance writers and pedal steel players will all tell you the same thing: it ain’t about the money.

[Bob Carlucci]

Thanks very much, Bob and everyone.

Freelance writers and pedal steel players will all tell you the same thing: it ain’t about the money.

Indeed.. I once wrote a freelance 2 part article for a popular fishing magazine here in the northeast, around 1982 or so.. My wife was/is an artist and also did some nice illustrations for it.. I think I got $30 or $35 for each article which was about as long as yours is.. Without the illustrations they would only pay $25!.. Both articles were published, I still have copies of the mag in a drawer, my name on each article.. The publisher wrote me requesting more articles, so I guess they were well received. However, even on a bad night with my old MSA, I was could make twice what I could make writing articles for an outdoor magazine in 1/10 the time.. So right then and there my dreams of being a freelance outdoor writer took a dump, and I resumed my life as a pedal steel/lead guitar/singer guy.. Took another 25 years or so, and realized that was not a big money maker either, but it was a LOT more fun....bob

[Russell Nugent]

Joe Ely did a great version of that song backed by Reckless Kelly. Great steel work, probably by Lloyd Maines