For interest :

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=237902

I personally think pedal steel sounds great in Cajun music.

In fact, there seems to be lots of it in lots of music genres...just some more subtle than others.

Well played steel guitar, either pedal or not, makes any band sound better.

Texas probably leads the world in steel guitar players and wantabee's.
Lot's of wantbee's.

If in SW Louisiana you can shake a tree and 3 accordion players will fall out,the same thing happens in Texas; shake a cactus and 3 steel player magically appear.

I can think of about 5 really good ones who live close by here in San Antonio, a couple to whom I am related!

A steel's versitility comes from the player's ability to 'utch' chords, adding to the rhythm, and also create those angelic rides and backgrounds that just can't be matched by the best lead pickers. In fact a good steel player can eliminate the need for either a lead or rhythm guitar player.

The best Cajun steel player I've ever heard so far was Mr. Orsy Vanicor of the Lacassine Playboys. He's World-Class!

JB

Texas steel..and plenty of it by the sounds, JB. Not sure I'd have the patience to sit down and learn..or the coordination..or the money to buy one.....but I wish I did. A friend of mine is Lucky Oceans of Asleep at the Wheel fame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Oceans
He's been living here in Australia for a LONG time and our band is looking to play with him in 2013. Now THERE'S a guy who knows his way around pedal steel. Hoooey !

My son is a top violinist/fiddle player..toured the world...can turn his hand to mando etc...anything with a string on it !! He bought a Fender Lap Steel circa 1956, I think, whilst in NYC...man, he can belt it out on that as well...but it's a different sound to pedal.

Junior Martin is a 'dab hand', to say the least, and a friend of Luckys. But like you say JB...if you shook a tree plenty would fall out of it. It's like if you start looking for pedal in band line-ups you start to see more than you ever thought you would.

That young dude Robert Randolph is just about the best pedal player I've ever seen...but Cajun he ain't ! But he could probably play it with his eyes shut if asked.

Thanx Roger for the video link. Real NICE fiddle playing BTW...

I like it sometimes, but I also know people who hate it. It's not a part of traditional cajun-music, they say. But it's always a matter of taste and it's used very much nowadays. I have a single neck MSA Red baron pedal steel and the tuning is E9. I know that Richard Comeaux(great musician) is playing cajun with that tuning. Most Cajun steelers use an open tuning and I write this also as a question. It would be great to get some more information about how to play the steel in Cajun. Such as how are the ten/six strings tuned and how is the pedal setup (copedant) on a pedal steel.

Yeah..good points.
Wonder if you made a separate post of the subject of Cajun Pedal steel eg. 'OT Cajun Pedal information required'...like, who plays it, contact numbers, location.
Or got in touch with Richard Comeaux,Junior Martin etc. etc. in the meantime?

Or is there a separate pedal steel forum with Cajun as a sub- heading?

Seems to me you don't absolutely need Pedal Steel in Cajun music but when it is included I find it fills some spaces musically and flavours the music positively. Like harp( harmonica ) players..you just need to know how much to play in a song and when to pull back as almost half strength fill sound behind the accordions and fiddles or simply stop playing altogether . Us harp players tend to get carried away !!