Biography
When performing with American Music Club, Bruce Kaphan steered the pedal steel guitar beyond its conventional country associations and into alternative rock territory. As a solo artist he issued the instrumental recording Slider: Ambient Excursions for Pedal Steel Guitar on the Hearts of Space label in 2001. His pedal steel guitar appears on John Lee Hooker’s Grammy-winning Chill Out and the Grammy-nominated Jealous. Additional session contributions feature on albums by Jewel, Chris Isaak, the Black Crowes, R.E.M., Red House Painters, Love & Rockets, and Jellyfish, while later dates include work for Glasstown, Dakota Suite, and Sheryl Crow. Engineering credits encompass projects by Crooked Jades and Cracker. During the late ’90s he joined David Byrne on tour. His tenure with American Music Club encompassed extensive travel throughout Europe and North America plus engineering and production duties on the 1992 album Everclear, which Rolling Stone ranked among that year’s Top Five releases. Kaphan also pursues sound design and composes and produces music for documentaries, industrial films, and motion pictures; in 2000 a score of his earned top honors in its category at the Northern California Film & Video Festival. Beyond pedal steel guitar he performs on mandolin, viola, bass, fiddle, keyboards, dobro, and drums, and his writing has appeared in Recording and EQ magazines.
Albums
