A Chat with B.J. Cole (03.07.25)
Interview with Karen Beishuizen (guest contributor)
B.J. Cole is an English pedal steel guitarist who has worked and played with Elton John, T. Rex, Richard Ashcroft, Liam Gallagher and Sting. We talk about his career, the pedal steel guitar, his favourite songs, and more.
Did you always want to be a musician growing up?
Cole: I always loved music throughout my childhood, but it wasn’t until I heard the British instrumental guitar group, The Shadows, that I felt inspired to learn the electric guitar. That was the beginning of my musicianship, but I went on to discover the steel guitar through a record called Sleep Walk by an American duo called Santo & Johnny. That sound of the steel guitar made me realise that is what I wanted to do. Santo played a lap steel, which is not quite as involved as a pedal steel, but it shares with it that lovely exotic sound, which I found so entrancing.
Why did you choose the pedal steel guitar? What is so special about this instrument?
Cole: I already played the lap steel guitar. One day in about 1963, I was in a record shop in Denmark Street in London, and I found a record with a big picture of a pedal steel guitar on it. I had never seen one before, and I was entranced by it! I had never encountered country music either. This moment changed my life! I had to have one. I ordered a pedal steel guitar from the USA – it took about 6 months to arrive. They were hard to find in the UK at the time. The pedal steel is magical to me – it’s exotic, obscure, and it’s difficult to play, but it does things that no other instrument can do. At the time, not many people were playing it, but it was a niche I thought I could make my own.
You played pedal steel on Elton John’s ‘Tiny Dancer”. How did you meet, and what is your fondest memory of Sir Elton?
Cole: In 1970, I was playing in a British country-rock group called Cochise. We were signed to the same publishing company as Elton, or Reg Dwight as he was better known as then. The publishing company was Dick James Music, which owned a demo recording studio. Elton was also signed to DJM, so I got to see and chat to him regularly, as we used the same facilities. By the time he asked me to play on ’Tiny Dancer’, we knew each other quite well. It was the early ’70s, and he was still establishing himself, and his music of that time had an ‘open’ quality that made it some of the best music he ever created. ‘Your Song’ and ‘Tiny Dancer’, for example. Working on that record is one of the most important and enjoyable recording sessions of my career.
You worked with Marc Bolan and T. Rex. How did you meet, and how was it working with Marc?
Cole: I’m afraid there isn’t a lot to tell you about the session I did for Marc Bolan on the ‘Hidden Riders of Tomorrow’. This was back in the 1970s, and I was doing a lot of sessions where I would spend about 6 hours overdubbing my pedal steel on already recorded tracks. I remember that the producer of this session was Tony Visconti, that is Marc’s regular producer, but I don’t remember meeting Marc Bolan at all. He may have been there, curled up asleep on the sofa. In fact, I had forgotten that I had done that session at all until a music journalist friend reminded me. When I subsequently listened to that record, I was amazed at how good it was. Earlier in the 70s, I did know Bolan’s original sidekick, Steve ‘Peregrine’ Took, very well. He was a nice man.
You toured with The Verve and worked with Richard Ashcroft on his great solo album, Alone With Everybody. How was it to work with Richard on this album, and what is your fondest memory?
Cole: I did a lot of work with Richard. He is a nice guy and a great singer. Originally, he asked me to join The Verve. That was unexpected as I was replacing their regular guitarist, Nick McCabe. As I don’t play regular electric guitar and I certainly don’t play like him, I was quite surprised. The good news was that I was joining them for their first American tour, and it was a big deal. We all got on great, and we played in all the major cities, ending up in Seattle, where bass player Simon Jones introduced me to his good friend Peter Buck of R.E.M. As I am primarily a recording session musician, I am not used to that sort of lifestyle, but I have to confess that I warmed to it, especially on the later gigs. We topped the bill at Slane Castle, and we got the Garda escort after being whisked off stage and hurtled back to the posh Dublin hotel for a night of partying. Richard and the band made me feel right at home, but I don’t think things were going so well for them as it all petered out after that.
I did get to work on his first solo album, Alone With Everybody. He wrote some great songs for that. We recorded it at the great Olympic Studios in Barnes, London, and I remember that the great bass player Pino Palladino was on the sessions too. We did some gigs on the back of that record, but not much happened after that. I loved working with Richard and Kate, but I haven’t seen them since then.
Liam Gallagher’s C’mon You Know is a gem. You worked with him. How did you meet, and what’s it like working with him?
Cole: Yes, that one was just a few years ago. A great record, and it was great to work with the American record producer Andrew Wyatt. Unfortunately, it was another one of those sessions where the artist was not present, so I did not meet Liam, and I was recording the pedal steel as an overdub to augment the orchestra. The whole album was very different from Liam’s other records and betrayed the taste and style of the producer. However, Liam’s vocal was great and it turned out to be a very great record. The recording session was done at RAK studio, one of my favourite London recording studios.
Sting calls you the best pedal steel player in the world. What is your reaction?
Cole: I have worked with Sting on a total of four album projects, including Mercury Falling, Brand New Day, and All This Time, so one could say that we have built up a good working relationship, and he really liked working with me on those albums. He obviously believes that I am the best pedal steel player for his music. But his statement about me being the best in the world makes me feel self-conscious, because such an accolade is ultimately his opinion. For that, I am thankful, and I am honoured that he said that as I respect his judgement. I hope that we get to work together again.
You worked with so many artists, and you also had your own projects. What is your favourite genre in music where you can put in your talent the most and why?
Cole: As I am a session musician, I have come to like and respect most styles of music, but as a pedal steel guitar player, I have a mission: to integrate and educate the music community into using the instrument in all styles of music. I started playing this instrument with the implicit belief that the pedal steel is underused. Because of how it evolved, it is always in danger of being marginalised and is viewed as simplistic, when in fact it is an instrument of orchestral potential; and when it is taken out of its normal context in country music, it can be a powerful tool for innovation. That is why I am most proud of my reputation and work as an innovator, and especially my own records where I have worked with collaborators in French Impressionist music, jazz, ambient music and electronica. I believe that my own records lead toward more session opportunities in new musical styles. My work with John Cale and Brian Eno, for instance, came out of the interest created by my ambient album Transparent Music.
If I let you make an album with your most favourite songs (where you have NOT played pedal steel before), what would you pick and why?
Cole: I assume that you mean favourite songs of mine. That you want me to play on? This is kind of strange, as I will have grown up loving these songs as they stand, and I do not presume that I could improve on them any further. However, I will go along with your conceit.
1. ‘Andmoreagain’, from the 1967 album Forever Changes by the Los Angeles psychedelic group LOVE. This is my favourite track from what is my favourite album of the 1960s. It embodies my experiences of growing up and living in the 1960s, so it represents the magical quality of that time for me.
2. Pretty much anything by the artist Prince. I am so sorry that I never got the chance to work with or even meet the man before he left us. He was a genius, and like all geniuses, he was sometimes very impulsive, but I just love where he was coming from. His album Parade is probably my favourite. I really would have loved to play on that.
3. As for country artists, well, I have played with a lot of them, but the few that I didn’t play with but would have loved to include Willie Nelson, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Bob Wills, and all the greats that have passed away before I got to them.
4. A great artist and producer that I do know, but have never been produced by, is Daniel Lanois. A track of his that I would have loved to have played on is called ’The Man In The Long Black Coat’ from the Bob Dylan album he produced called Oh Mercy. I have to include at least one Bob Dylan song in this list, and this is my favourite album of his, and he is our greatest contemporary songwriter.
5. Although I did play on Elton John’s ’Tiny Dancer’ and also several tracks from his 1980 album A Single Man, he never called me up to play on my favourite song of his, which is ‘Blue Eyes’. In my opinion, this song needs pedal steel, and I think I am the one that should have done it.
6. I have worked with a lot of great female singers, including the great country singer Tammy Wynette. It would have been nice to have played on her big hit ’Stand By Your Man’, but Pete Drake got there first.
What are you currently up to?
Cole: I’m being a bit more selective about who I choose to work with these days. There’s always the occasional online recording session, which is where I do most of my work. And various projects that take up a lot of my time. Right now I’m working with two fine jazz musicians who I’ve already done an album with – bassist Simon Thorpe and vibraphonist Roger Beaujolais. We’ve done an album’s worth of tracks that we’re now banging into shape. It’s hard to describe it. It’s partly jazz, and I suppose that’s where the market will be, but it’s a bit more eclectic than that. I don’t like to put a label on it until it’s finished, and hopefully not even then. Also, I’m thinking of writing my autobiography. Everybody is advising me to do it, as I’ve done so much and played with so many well-known artists in my long career. So I better get on with it.
Thanks to B.J. Cole for speaking with us. Find out more about B.J. Cole on his official website, Facebook, Allmusic, Spotify, and Instagram.
