We'll be hearing country twang in ambient terrain with pedal steel guitars and slide dobros resonating in space. These musicians take an unusual approach to the pedal and lap steel guitars that retain the instrument's sweetness but sends it into a different space. It's new atmospheric music with a decidedly country tinge. And don't miss the hour-long Twangquility excursion at the end.

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B.J. Cole's Classical Pedal Steel    (1990)     

If you hear a pedal steel guitar on a British record, chances are it's BJ Cole. But in 1990, on his CD TRANSPARENT MUSIC, Cole turned the C&W instrument into a classical voice. On it, he plays atmopheric renditions of Debussey, Ravel and Satie, along with his own ambient compositions

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Bruce Kaphan plays the pedal steel guitar, but you won't hear him putting licks on Nashville country & western records. Instead, he has played with rock groups like American Music Club, REM and Sting.

On SLIDER, his 2001 solo debut, he createed the definitive ambient pedal steel guitar album, exploiting the instrument's penchant for singing sustains and mournful bends. We journeyed to Bruce Kaphan's studio where he slid us out into space.

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Robert Rich: Space Organics  (1994)

Robert Rich is one of the geniuses of space music. His 1994 CD PROPAGATION used synthesizers as the glue that bound together throbbing tribal rhythms played on urdu drums, sensual melodies played on clay and pvc pipe flutes, and siren atmospheres performed on lap-steel guitar.

Rich takes us through his garden and inside his sound, including a demonstration of his lap-steel guitar style.

listen>> (approx 7 minutes)