Rock Legend Peter Frampton Recalls Steel Guitarist Pete Drake Introducing Him To The Talk Box

The chance meeting that would influence rock history occurred at Abbey Road Studios in London in 1970. It was there that a 20-year old Peter Frampton got his first glimpse of a new device called the Talk Box. He would go on master it, and use it to create the signature sound that would make him famous. Music fans first heard it on vinyl with the release of 1976 album Frampton Comes Alive! The record would sell more than 8-million copies.

Although Frampton first saw the talk box in England, it was a Nashville-based musician, the late pedal steel guitarist Pete Drake, who introduced him to it.

This past Sunday (May 1st), Drake became the first steel guitarist ever inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In Drake’s honor, Frampton took time to share how that meeting came about – all those years ago.

The two met during a recording session for George Harrison’s album All Things Must Pass.

“I’d been asked by George Harrison, “Frampton explains, “to play acoustic guitar on these recording sessions. And then about the second or third day, George said, ‘We’ve got Pete Drake coming over from Nashville.”

Frampton goes on to describe what happens after Drake arrives.

“So, Pete sets up right in front of me, lovely man, instantly likeable, obviously so famous for all the tracks he played on with Nashville’s A team. And during a slow moment he asks me, ‘Do you want to hear something different?”

Frampton watched as Drake pulled out a small box, set it on his pedal steel guitar, and began connecting it together.

“Then he puts this tube into his mouth,” Frampton recalls, “and the pedal guitar just starts singing to me.”

Drake had created his Prototype Talk Box and used it to record his own hit record called Forever. The album would earn him the nickname “King of the Talking Steel Guitar.”

Frampton was intrigued by the sound as soon as he heard it. It was similar to something he remembered hearing as a young boy listening to Radio Luxemburg. The station used it when announcing their call letters.

“From the time I was eight or nine years old, I always wondered how you make that sound, because audio is so important to me.”

And while Drake’s talk box reminded him of Radio Luxemburg, it also brought to mind something Frampton had heard even more recently.

“I had just heard, within that same year, Stevie Wonder using it on a record called Music of My Mind. And he put synthesizer through it. And also, Roger Troutman who passed away, was also a great synthesizer through the talk box player. So, it was so in my mind, I was like how do they do that, and it was right in front of me.”

Inspired, Frampton would go on to master the talk box, creating his own unique style and sound.

He can remember the first night he used the effect on stage. He had decided to add it to the end of “Do You Feel?” where he did his extended guitar solo.

“It was in an arena somewhere and I was supporting someone bigger who was headlining. And I said to the band, let’s do this, let’s take it down to where I usually start the guitar solo, and I’ll introduce the talk box there. I’ll work out what to say when I get there.”

When he did it that first time, the response was overwhelming.

“As soon as I got it going and I made that first sound, it felt like the entire audience moved forward a foot. I actually felt the stage move because it so caught everyone by surprise. At the time there was no vocoders, there was no Auto-Tune. And people were just, I didn’t think they were going to stop laughing and applauding.”

He said they laughed at first because it was such a funny sound at first, but the applause that followed was deafening

“I’ll never forget that. and of course, the bigger venues we played and then we started headlining, and then we recorded the live album. And they’d heard it before, but they hadn’t heard it the way I did it that night which is what we all know now that’s on the live album.”

While Frampton took the sound and made it his own, others had used it before him.

“There were other people that did it in different ways that were just as good,” he says. “I mentioned Roger Troutman, you have to listen to some of his stuff, it’s beautiful. And, of course Joe Walsh used it not only on “Rocky Mountain Way,” but then there’s a solo with the Eagles where he used it. And I do give Stevie Wonder credit for influencing me to actually learn to talk with it.”

Today, more than five decades later, even with new technology and other advances, Frampton is still doing it, and audiences love it.

“We’ve heard it before, it’s like old hat now, everyone’s used it and there’s so much Auto-Tune out there and vocoder,” Frampton says, “but still, when I use that thing every night, people go nuts!”

He now uses his own Framptone Talkbox to create his signature guitar effect.

Fans will get a chance to see Frampton perform live as he tours Europe this summer.

Prior to COVID, he’d announced his final tour due to a condition he has called IBM (inclusion body myositis), an autoimmune disease which affects the muscles. Many of those shows were cancelled due to the pandemic, but he’s back on the road again.

FramptonPeter Frampton