Artist	Song
Buddy Emmons	Wild Mountain Thyme
Sonny Treadway	Jesus Will Fix It For You
Biller & Wakefield	Them There Shoes
Speedy West	Speedin' West
Jon Rauhouse's Steel Guitar Rodeo	Widowmaker
The Fly-Rite Boys	Flyin' Rite
Gary Brandin	In the Dark
Santo & Johnny	Sleep Walk
Greg Leisz	Santo's Dream
Daniel Lanois	JJ Leaves LA
Glenn Lee	Call Him By His Name
Campbell Brothers	Jump for Joy
Speedy West	This Ain't the Blues
Jon Rauhouse's Steel Guitar Rodeo	Roping the Goat
Bob Wills (featuring Leon McAuliffe)	Steel Guitar Rag
Bud Isaacs	Song of the Island
Speedy West	I Love You So Much
Biller & Wakefield	Foggy Island
Glenn Lee	Joyful Sound
Daniel Lanois	Desert Rose
Bruce Kaphan	Clouds
Buddy Emmons	Cannon in D Major

Comment:

Lately I've become very interested in pedal steel guitar music because of three different influences: The virtuoso playing of pedal steel guitar master Speedy West (recordings of the late `50s and `60s), the soulful, passionate steel guitar playing in African American "sacred steel" (gospel music featuring the pedal steel guitar), and the ambient sound of the instrument as played by modern musicians Daniel Lanois and Bruce Kaphan.
There's something about the liquid, wistful sound of the pedal steel guitar that captures me, and I felt moved to put together mix of a pedal steel guitar instrumentals from a variety of genres and styles.
At Wikipedia I found the following information about the instrument:

Pedal steel guitar (also called Steel Guitar) is a type of guitar, and a method of playing the instrument. It was developed from the Lap steel guitar, but there are a few distinctions worth noting. A pedal steel guitar is typically rectangular in shape, and features only the guitar neck and head mounted on a stand equipped with footpedals. Due to the absence of any sounding body, this instrument is fitted with pickups for electric amplification. Many models feature two sets of strings. The most common configuration is ten strings, but eight-string and twelve-string boards are also popular. A number of "pedals" and/or levers on the underside allow the performer to change the instrument's tuning while performing.
These pedals allow for some techniques and sounds unavailable on a lap steel or dobro, which are otherwise often played in a similar fashion.
A performer typically sits on a stool behind the instrument, like a drummer. The strings are placed much higher above the neck than on a standard guitar, and are not pressed to a fret when sounding a note. Rather, the player holds a metal slide called the "steel" in one hand, which is moved along the strings to change the instrument's pitch while the other hand plucks the strings, normally using a set of thumb and finger picks.
The lap steel guitar--and to a lesser extent the dobro--are usually played in similar fashion in that they are laid horizontally and the string pitch is controlled by a slide rather than frets. However, the similarity ends there. Because the steel bar holds all strings to the same length, it is impossible to play different strings at different lengths simultaneously on a non-pedal instrument, ruling out minor chords and other variations accessible on a conventionally-fretted guitar. The pedal steel guitar overcomes this by using a system of pedals and knee levers that sharpen (raise) or flatten (lower) one or more strings when playing while the rest of the strings remain at their normal pitch. This allows for an almost unlimited number of different chords and inversions. It also makes this a much more complex instrument to learn, and in the country music business where this instrument is most commonly used it is considered to be the instrument that "separates the men from the boys."

Thanks to lostinthejazzmix for track 1, and Sean Lally for tracks 4 and 13.

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