Steel This Show

Since its introduction in the 1930s by Willie and Troman Eason into the Pentecostal Church's musical worship, the steel guitar has quietly become a triumphant instrument for praising the Lord. Sacred Steel, the genre of music born out of the African-American Holiness-Pentecostal Church, takes up the original "Hawaiian" steel guitar...

By Abel Folgar

December 1, 2005

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Since its introduction in the 1930s by Willie and Troman Eason into the Pentecostal Church's musical worship, the steel guitar has quietly become a triumphant instrument for praising the Lord. Sacred Steel, the genre of music born out of the African-American Holiness-Pentecostal Church, takes up the original "Hawaiian" steel guitar — oft mistaken as simple, it's renowned for achieving incredible tonal fluctuations in the right hands. And since the Eason family brought it to Jacksonville, throngs of Floridian worshipers have crafted on the strings — greats like Aubrey Ghent, Sonny Treadwell, and Glenn Lee. Reared in the House of God church in Perrine, Florida, the Lee Boys, Glenn's descendants, have had a lifetime's involvement with the instrument. These big guys funk up traditional spirituals and worship songs into danceable numbers wherein the steel mimics soulful, African-American singing and shouting. Also on stage will be Allman Brother's bassist Oteil Burbridge and his Peacemakers. Testify!

The Lee Boys perform with Oteil and the Peacemakers at 8 p.m. Thursday, December 1, at the Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost $12 in advance or $15 at the door. Call 954-564-1074.

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