In the first of a series of pieces previewing the 81st National Folk Festival, Peter Solomon speaks with Chuck Campbell, the eldest member of the Campbell Brothers. The family ensemble will represent the sacred steel tradition found in African American Holiness-Pentecostal worship services in House of God Churches.
Steel guitars were brought into House of God congregations beginning in the late 1930’s, when Little Willie Eason repurposed his older brother’s Hawaiian steel instrument to play spirituals. Eason’s innovation became a tradition within the confines of the church. It wasn’t the early nineties, when the Campbell Brothers started to take their music into secular spaces, that the greater listening public was exposed to the stirring sounds of sacred steel guitar.
Chuck Campbell, who started playing pedal steel guitar when he was eleven, discusses the qualities of the instrument that make it ideal for conveying the range of emotions from reflective, mournful laments to jubilant, ecstatic praise.
Despite having to cope with the pandemic and with the loss of their beloved brother Darick Campbell, the Campbell Brothers are carrying on and looking forward to bringing their powerfully expressive music to the National Folk Festival Stage.
