I'm Filming a Documentary!
(but it's gettin' kinda weird...)
 

A couple weeks ago, I told you about my new project, Chasing Steam: The Steam Whistle Documentary.  Well, it's underway and I've been sitting here all morning working on it.  Like any living, breathing entity, this project is growing and morphing into something wild...

The original idea was for me to do a simple documentary on the York PA Steam Whistle Concert, an event that has happened every Christmas morning for over 100 years in York PA.  It was a simple premise for a simple documentary.

Well, things got primal...

The more I research and film, the more I'm drawn into it.  I've written a new song inspired by York's factory blue-collar history and we've filmed me performing it inside the York Industrial Heritage Museum. (I use one of my new "Jack Roller" dobro cigar box guitars.)  I'm also working with Ben Baker of C. B. Gitty (pictured below) to create our own version of the Steam Whistle out of an antique bike pump and other junk.  Oh...ahd we're going to use in a Snake Oil Band concert!  All this is documented in the film.

Of course, we're meeting the musician behind the whistle and learning the history, but with all the other elements, this documentary is becoming something so much bigger. 

I'd describe it as "American Pickers meets It Might Get Loud." 

I'm on a journey to discover a very unique instrument...and I end up discovering new music inside myself.  Cool, huh?

So here's my thought for you:  If somebody asks you to do a project, put your spin on it. There's nobody like you in the world and your experiences matter.  Be confident and create something new. 

And most of all, stay primal.
Shane Speal

Ps.  This documentary is a free film that will air on a local community access station in December.  I hope it makes its way to Youtube or DVD, too. 

CAN YOU HELP SPREAD THE WORD?  Please follow all the progress by joining the Chasing Steam Facebook Page.: https://www.facebook.com/chasingsteam

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Show this week:  Sat., Nov 22 @ 10pm
The Shane Speal Duo (Speal/Benway) at the Union Station Grill in Columbia, PA.  INFO 
 

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Jack Roller: the lowest of the low in hobo culture. A hobo so down and mean, he'll steal from another hobo.  See the demo video in the listing!

I call these new resonator cigar box guitars "Jack Rollers" because they're the meanest, gnarliest dobro style instrument.  It's got an antique baking pan resonator, 4 strings a fretless wooden neck and an internal pickup. This is for desperate blues, lonesome cowboy songs and mean prison murder ballads. 

Jack Roller 4-String "Poor Man's Dobro" - $150.00
 

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