Slash, Marcus King, Robert Randolph, and "Mr. Nashville Sound" Lloyd Green gathered in Nashville for a celebration of the Sho-Bud pedal steel guitar

A certain kind of joy permeated the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville last week — a specific, cultish, even nerdy joy — as thousands of steel guitar enthusiasts gathered for a celebration of the instrument dubbed the “Sho-Bud Showcase Live.” (And I, myself a pedal steel player , was one of them.)

Presented by Sho-Bud, the pedal steel manufacturer synonymous with country music and Nashville, the evening assembled expert steel players from across genres to show just what the 10-stringed contraption can do. Now, as the “Mother Church of Country Music,” the Ryman has seen its fair share of pedal-steel guitars in its storied history, but nothing like the galaxy of steels that graced the stage on this night.

But first, a little back story for the uninitiated.…