The smooth and subtle sound of the steel guitar — a mix between Hawaiian roots and Southern twang — will resonate through the Carrboro ArtsCenter on Saturday night.
The steel guitar will be presented as the third and final part of UNC’s Southern Folklife Collection’s instrument series, which featured the banjo in the summer and the fiddle in the fall.
“Taken together, these three instruments show how these technologies came to America from other places and were transformed into integral parts of American music and American culture,” said Tim Miller, a UNC musicology Ph.D. student.
Steve Weiss, curator of the Southern Folklife Collection, said the steel guitar is very iconic — although it is usually used as a subtle accompaniment.
“The steel guitar was a little bit of a wild card,” Weiss said.
The instrument, which is essentially a guitar without frets, is unique because musicians play it with a bar instead of pressing down on frets.
“There’s a real connection between the guitarist and the strings that you can lose with a fretted instrument,” said Chris Scruggs, grandson of renowned bluegrass musician Earl Scruggs. “I think steel guitar is the most vocal instrument that there is. It’s the closest, in my opinion, to the human voice.”
The first ArtsCenter event to showcase the steel guitar will be an afternoon symposium and will be free to the public.
Miller and John Troutman will speak as the musical scholars for the event, followed by a demonstration of playing styles by Allyn Love and Cindy Cashdollar.
