The strangest and most wonderful byproduct of the Hawaiian music craze of the 1920s and ‘30s is that the lap steel guitar wound its way into some churches in the evangelical, African-American House of God denominations, specifically the Jewell and Keith Dominion churches. The portable electric lap steel and its larger cousin the pedal steel were not only part of the repertoire, they became the lead instrument, replacing the organ. The steel guitar in these churches was played in less of the loping, “slack key” style employed by Sol Ho’opi’i and other Hawaiian greats, and in more of a revved-up way.
The bent notes lent themselves to a call-and-response dynamic with the preacher and congregation, and a repertoire slowly built up. It's energetic and lively in the best Pentecostal tradition, but unlike anything you've ever heard. If you like your gospel music charged with electricity—literally and figuratively—look no further. A handful of virtuosos developed, notably Willie Eason and Aubrey Ghent. Later branded as "Sacred Steel," this flamboyant music even found purchase within the jam band scene in the 1990s, when the Campbell Brothers became mid-sized stars on that circuit.
For years, though, hardly anyone outside these churches heard this music. Two artists—the Elder Utah Smith and Rev. Lonnie Farris—did record rambunctious, blistering, and sanctified music on lap steels for small, regional labels in the '40s and '50s, but it hardly lit up the charts. New Orleans-based Smith's music is very bluesy and intense; Los Angeleno Farris is more subtle and laconic, with a jazzy and occasionally mellow vibe. He could certainly cook when he wanted to, though. Farris is quoted as saying that he'd been "offered a lot of money to play rock and roll," but he always turned it down. "I have also played against a rock and roll band and I stole the show; amen!"
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