Maiden Voyage Recording Company is the new record label launched by Del Day (Ark PR, Big City Lights UK) and Danny George Wilson (Danny & The Champions Of The World, Grand Drive).

Maiden Voyage Recording Company are delighted to announce the release of the debut album from pedal steel player Henry Senior Jr.

As pedal steel player for Danny And The Champions Of The World these last few years Henry has become one of the finest steel players around, as this startling album will testify. A fervent, exciting mix of Allman Brothers jam band grit, The Headhunters intoxicating funk and Booker T and The MGs soulful elegance, ‘Plates Of Meat’ is a record that will appeal not just to lovers of pedal steel guitar but to anyone with a sense of playful adventure. The album, recorded at Reservoir Studios in North London, produced by Chris Clarke and features all members of ‘The Champs’.

On first hearing David Gilmour’s gliding intro to Breathe, Henry, a 14 year old electric guitarist, decided the future was fretless. Helped by his father, he built six-string lap steel from some timber, an old pickup and some square doorknobs, and started to slide inspired and encouraged by likes of BJ Cole, a regular on the London music scene and pedal steel legend.

After some years of playing gigs and sessions around London’s Country and Americana scene, he joined Danny and the Champions of the World, whose rootsy but experimental approach has provided both an education in music and room to find his own sound.

“I wanted to use the pedal steel outside its traditional context. Picking up rhythm parts that guitar players or keyboard players would play, and using sounds and effects that they use,” notes Senior. “Instrumentals are no a guilty pleasure. They grant the listener insight into the pleasure of performance – the artist is sharing their love of the instrument with anyone willing to come along for the ride.”

Plates Of Meat underlines Senior’s high standing in the pedal steel world and highlights what is possible on an instrument so long sidelined in the country world. As displayed here on this wonderfully inventive debut, Senior aims to bring this amazing instrument to a new audience.