Album Notes

Joel Paterson and The Modern Sounds is a Chicago based group featuring Joel Paterson on guitar, vocals and pedal steel; Beau Sample on string bass and vocals; Alex Hall on drums and vocals. The Trio is dedicated to performing many styles of traditional American music, specializing in classic blues, hot jazz, western swing, rockabilly and everything in between.

Joel "Fats" Paterson hails from Madison, Wisconsin and has lived in Chicago for many years, performing with various bands including Jimmy Sutton's Four Charms, The Wabash Jug Band and Kelly Hogan's Wooden Leg. He currently fronts The Modern Sounds and Joel Paterson's Blues Roundup. He can also be seen playing pedal steel with The Western Elstons. Beau Sample is from San Antonio, Texas. He spent a few years on the Austin, TX music scene and has recently moved to Chicago to play with Joel and Alex and to freeze his @$% off. Alex Hall is from Chicago and is a very talented drummer and recording engineer.

Together they founded Ventrella Records in an effort to get rich quick or go broke slow, depending on how you look at it. Ventrella Records has recently released a CD featuring The Modern Sounds backing up boogie woogie piano master Carl Sonny Leyland. "A Chicago Session" is also available on CDBaby. "Steel is Real" is Ventrella's second release and features the steel guitar sounds of Joel Paterson.

Liner Notes from "Steel is Real" by Beau Sample:
When Chicago’s music scene comes up in conversation, you are not likely to hear the words “steel guitar.” If Joel Paterson has his way that will all change soon. Paterson is the Windy City’s champion of the steel guitar.

When I moved to Chicago from Austin I thought my days of playing with steel guitarists were over. Luckily, I could not have been more wrong. Within days of my arrival I got the chance to sit down for an informal jam session with Joel Paterson and Alex Hall. What started as a laid-back afternoon turned into a real-deal project, and ultimately, the first session for our new record label. The three of us founded the Ventrella Recording Company to document our new-found empathy and dedication to American roots music.

Joel Paterson is one of the most lyrical players on the steel scene today. He is comfortable using space and dynamics in his improvisations, a true sign of maturity on any instrument. He can make his steel guitar sound like a ragtime piano, a punchy brass section, a blues guitar or even the most mellifluous of female vocalists. I feel any listener with an aural palate, refined or not, will be able to enjoy the variety of music Joel has served up for this record. You will hear him play western swing, jazz, blues, hawaiian, latin, and country – and even dish up some soul jazz organ grooves. He is a musician who knows no stylistic boundaries.
I feel very lucky to have been a part of this session. “Steel is Real” will be a welcome addition to the record collection of any connoisseur of Americana.