Spencer Cullum

English musician Spencer Cullum earned acclaim for crafting inventive pedal steel guitar contributions for numerous leading Nashville performers, and he strengthened that standing as half of the wide-ranging instrumental pair Steelism. Across the 2010s he accumulated extensive studio work alongside acts from Deer Tick through Little Big Town, all while holding a post in Miranda Lambert's band. His core influences—surf rock, spaghetti Western textures, and jazz—surfaced more clearly across the Steelism releases, and in 2021 he blended his U.K. folk and prog rock foundations with a Nashville studio approach on the debut solo album Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection. The follow-up, 2023's Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection 2, delivered another richly atmospheric set grounded in prog rock, British folk, and bright psychedelic hues.

Cullum first encountered the pedal steel guitar through fellow English virtuoso B.J. Cole, whose extensive credits stretch back to 1970s albums by Cat Stevens, Procol Harum, and Gerry Rafferty. After training under Cole, Cullum and his brother Jeff Cullum moved to the United States and spent time in the Detroit outfit the Deadstring Brothers. Once established in Nashville, Spencer built an uncommonly broad list of credits during the first half of the 2010s that encompassed Caitlin Rose, City and Colour, Nikki Lane, and Andrew Combs. He also joined forces with guitarist Jeremy Fetzer in Steelism, issuing a run of recordings that reflected the pair's shared admiration for surf music, Ennio Morricone soundtracks, jazz, and vintage R&B.

During the latter half of the decade Cullum toured and recorded with country figure Miranda Lambert, took part in sessions ranging from Lambchop to Kesha, and shaped the solo songs that would form his first album as a singer-songwriter. Joined by an ensemble of skilled Nashville musicians, he tracked 2021's Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection, an effort shaped by '60s and '70s psych, British folk, and prog rock. He maintained an active sideman schedule that included dates with Charlie Worsham, Angel Olsen, Caroline Spence, and Griffin Anthony, and he supplied a track to the 2022 various-artists set Luke Schneider Presents... Imaginational Anthem Vol. XI: Chrome Universal – A Survey of Modern Pedal Steel. Entering a Nashville studio with Erin Rae, Caitlin Rose, and Rich Ruth, Cullum completed two days of concentrated sessions that yielded the material for 2023's Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection 2, another album steeped in British folk, prog rock, freak folk, and pastoral psychedelia.