robert stone Archives - The Arhoolie Foundation

Deep Dives: The Roots of Sacred Steel

In 1997, Arhoolie Records released its first disc of Sacred Steel music, a gospel tradition with deep roots in the African American holiness churches of the...

Robert Stone Sacred Steel Archive

The Arhoolie Foundation’s Robert Stone Sacred Steel Archive consists of over 150 recorded interviews and over 6,510 photographic negatives documenting the Sacred Steel gospel music tradition....

Sacred Steel Archive: Calvin Cooke Interview

Calvin Cooke lived most of his life in Detroit and is now retired to the greater Atlanta area. As his family first belonged to the Church of the Living God and later joined the House of God, he immersed himself in the steel guitar musical traditions of both denominations.

Sacred Steel Archive: Glenn Lee Interview

A highly influential steel guitarist in Florida, Glenn Lee introduced pedal-steel guitar to the House of God churches of his home state. Eclectic in his musical tastes, he incorporated elements of country music, blues, rock, jazz, funk and other genres into the music he played at the Perrine House of God, about fifteen miles south of Miami, where his father served as pastor.

Sacred Steel Archive: Ted Beard Interview

In about 1933-34, Church of the Living God Chief Overseer Bishop Mattie Lu Jewell brought Ted Beard’s father, Maurice Beard, Sr., from Beaver Dam, Kentucky to play for worship services in Detroit, Michigan. Elder Ted Beard, Bishop Ron Hall, Calvin Cooke and Sonny Treadway grew up together in Detroit.

Sacred Steel Archive: Robert Randolph Interview

When I first photographed Robert Randolph at the House of God headquarters church in Nashville, he was a budding steel guitarist from New Jersey whose extended family included a number of ministers and professional musicians.

Sacred Steel Archive: Robert Stone Biography

The Robert Stone Archive: Robert Stone Biography Bob Stone is an independent folklorist and photographer based in Gainesville, Florida. During his tenure with the Florida Folklife...

Sacred Steel Archive: Chuck Campbell Interview

A resident of Rochester, New York when we met in 1996, Chuck Campbell was one of the first steel guitarists from outside Florida I documented. As a pioneering pedal-steel guitarist in the House of God who possesses a solid knowledge of music theory, he led the way in incorporating the pedal-steel guitar into the House of God musical tradition, which the non-pedal or “lap” steel guitar had dominated for decades.

Sacred Steel Archive: Elton Noble Interview

I met Elton Noble in the early 1990s, when he was learning the House of God, Keith Dominion steel guitar tradition from Aubrey Ghent, under the Florida Folklife Program’s Apprenticeship Program, which I coordinated. Today, Elder Nobel is a talented steel guitarist and a compelling preacher who serves as pastor for House of God No. 2 in Fort Pierce, Florida, and is in high demand as a guest speaker at revivals and other large church meetings throughout the geographic range of the House of God.

Sacred Steel Archive: Willie Eason Interview

As a teenager, Willie Eason learned to play the steel guitar by watching his older brother, Troman, who took lessons in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from a Hawaiian musician he heard on a radio broadcast circa 1937.

Artist: robert stone